Great Little Railways - The Good and The Quick

Complete episode originally aired March 29, 1983.

In 1983 the BBC produced a series on rail travel - "Great Little Railways" - which exclusively featured narrow gauge railways. The series relied on narrators rather than presenters who appeared on camera. The episodes are thoughtful, observant, and beautifully crafted.

"The Good and The Quick" is the final series episode and chronicles an at times harrowing 280 mile journey into the Ecuadorian Andes by steam train and auto ferro from Guayaquil at sea level to Quito at 2850 m/9350 ft elevation. This railway is 1.1 m/42" gauge and traverses some very steep and narrow situations. The piece was aired in the UK March 29, 1983.

There are recent autoferro(a bus body running on train tracks) videos from Ecuador, but this 40 minute piece shows the concept as of more than a quarter century ago.

The writer/narrator, Stanley Reynolds, is an American who has lived most of his life in England. He writes for the Guardian newspaper as a humorous columnist and was Literary Editor of Punch.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railway_Journeys

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• steam
• train
• nariz
• del
• diablo
• devil's
• nose
• autoferro
• auto
• ferro
• ecuador
• riobamba
• guayaquil
• bucay
• quito
• travel

[1973ts]

Thank you so much for posting this. I last saw this program when it was shown in 1983. I was 9 years old and it left a great impression on me. It's just as good as it was back then.

[arrowcatcher]

@1973ts

Gosh I'm glad I found this 25+ year old video tape - and it still played. I agree with you and truly love this documentary.

[dukeofscouse]

thanks VERY much for posting, my father is Stanley Reynolds and I had not seen this doc for many years!

[arrowcatcher]

@dukeofscouse Wonderful. I'm so glad you found this post. It is arguably my personal top favorite documentary presentation ever and was one of my first YT posts. At all levels it is a beautiful piece. I looked all over for more information about Stanley Reynolds, but there wasn't too much on the Internet. If you can lead me to more, please do so, and I'll post the links.

[arrowcatcher]

¡Contento que usted lo quiere! Es uno de mis favoritos de todo.

[arrowcatcher]

@arrowcatcher

Mí también. ¡Adoro esta película!

[dukeofscouse]

Stanley Reynolds has a Facebook page with links to buy his novels (new and old), past articles from the Guardian and this documentary. His latest book, Death Dyed Blonde, was published by Quartet. Dad will be pleased to know that this is on (a) youtube and (b) that you like it. Do check his page and click like. Once again, thanks for posting, I forgot what a great documentary this was.

[arrowcatcher]

@lowtit These were beautifully done documentaries. Simply superb. The observant presenter embraces a lot more than the pretty mountains and valleys.

[lowtit]

fascinating and top narration - old school -

[nycworldsfair]

MUY INTERESANTE CLASICO VIDEO , LA GRAN MAYORIA DE ECUATORIANOS TENEMOS UNA MEMORIA VOLATIL DE LA HISTORIA Y DE LA IMPORTANCIA DEL FERROCARRIL Y ESO ES VERDAD . MAS NOS INTERESA IR A LA TIENDA DE TELEFONOS CELULARES Y NO SABEMOS SI COMTRAR EL TELEFONO DE $400.00 O $600.00 DOLARES . HOY POR HOY YA SE ESTA REABILITANDO EL FERROCARRL GRACIAS A UN GOVIERNO NACIONALISTA COMO EL DE ALFARO,OJALA SE EXPANDA MAS LA RED FERROVIARIA Y ESO IMPULSE EL TURISMO . SUENO CON UN TREN QUE CONECTE A SURAMERICA.