Saturday Night Out -- Longmoor Train Crash

Saturday Night Out was originally hosted by Robert Beatty as 'The Man with the Mike'. The memorable title sequence started with a picture of a telephone on a desk. This would ring and a voice would say: "Outside Broadcast, we're starting now...". The camera would then pan out of the window, where we saw the Outside Broadcast vans ("Roving Eyes") on the move and a BBC doorman saluting. The action would then cut to show the camera on the roof on the Roving Eye travelling fast down a straight road towards a hoarding showing the inscription "Saturday Night Out". The brakes would squeal and the camera would burst through the hoarding and cut to the O.B. live transmission for this week.

So began a weekly, hour long, live programme which was never filmed. The firm rule was that it was always live. One week it would be coming from the Midlands, the next week Brussels and the following week it might be Paris or London.

In February 1956 The Royal Engineer's were planning to send a steam engine named Merlin, a 1919 engine of the King Arthur class along the track, blowing up the track so the train went over an embankment.

The driverless train goes speeding along the track, whistle blowing, it arrives at the embankment, where there is an explosion, the train rises slightly in the air, drives down the embankment & comes to rest in the middle of the plain, whistle still blowing. The train, tender & three carriages still remain upright! Somewhat of an anticlimax to the expected wreck of tangled metal!

This recording is the from the last part of the programme which was transmitted live from the Royal Engineers private training depot, Longmoor Military Camp in Hampshire, England.

Transmitted: 11th February 1956

This film footage is from the Archive Collection held and administered by the Alexandra Palace Television Society.

~ APTS ~
Preserving the televisual past for the digital future

www.apts.org.uk

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[Duncanish41]

I remember watching the live broadcast at the time and how disappointed I was at the result.

[aptsarchive]

@Duncanish41 After all the dramatic build-up, the end result is rather disappointing, but that's live television for you!

[relaxingfoot]

A marvellous piece of television but a pity that Longmoor is spelled incorrectly in the opening caption.

[aptsarchive]

@relaxingfoot Unfortunately, the spelling of Longmoor in the opening caption was an over-sight on our part. The opening captions have been re-written and will be uploaded to our YouTube Channel in due course.

[AJHans12]

Lol

[E350tb]

You have to admit, that was pretty funny. :D

[EastwoodBirds]

It wasn't a very big crash



[Gagie72]

I've caused more damage by flushing the toilet on a train while in a station!

[Gagie72]

It's like Top Gear with trains

[antaloliver]

2:57 Brigadier? Reminds me of the one from Doctor Who!

[Starfield1959]

What a shame it didn't roll on it's side with the carriages being stripped of their wheels, and piling up one atop the other with a terrific boiler explosion, flying metal and splintered sleepers and track gravel going every which way, then the whole pile-up bursting into flames. Crikey, It was like some bird pulling her knickers down to give it a go, and then she says, "I'll be off then" and leaves you there at full mast !

[notinfrimstime]

I remember going to school at logmoor army camp eating wild blueberry's on the way home, the school was a big tin shed with 4 classes in it with 1 teacher with a big burner in the middle of it.down the road was an sweet shop where I saw my 1st Fluorescent Tube with a paper cones made with sheet of paper to hold the sweets, ooohh happy days even there was rationing still on.