BFI Lets go to Birmingham (1962) speeded up rail journey

This brilliant film shows a speeded up, drivers eye view of the journey from London Paddington railway station to Birmingham via Leamington Spa. It was filmed on the classic Blue Pullman train to the tune of Johann Strauss's Perpetuum Mobile. Original footage courtesy of the British Film Institute (BFI) under the terms of the Creative Archive Licence.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• BFI
• Lets
• go
• to
• Birmingham
• BTF
• British
• rail
• railway
• station
• blue
• pullman
• film
• high
• speed
• speeded
• up
• London
• Paddington

[LOCOMOTIONNUMBER1]

Why did the drivers dress like milkmen?

[MrBooojangles]

@LOCOMOTIONNUMBER1 Don't know but I agree they do look like milkmen :D

[Boristhe3rd]

shuryley its a sped up fiml, not speeded up like you have put in the discription

[MrBooojangles]

In these instances 'speeded up' is a better use of English grammar. If it was 'he sped upstairs' or 'the years sped by' in those phrases 'sped' would be better then 'speeded.'

[applecounty]

"Who wants to go to Birmingham!?"

Whatever your opinion of Britain's second city, you could not do it this way anymore.

[lepin]

Hey!  The engineer isn't texting! That would never do in today's high-speed rail service.

[xxxchrist1]

Thanks for posting this. It is great to see how much of our landscape was dominated by the railways, it is a crying shame how the car has become king. Progress eh?

[chanctonbury63]

What a grey, grimy and poor country we lived in then. Only bit that was better was the countryside that had not been concreted over yet.

[PistonBroke046]

@BFICreativeArchive

And I for one.. Being a Railwayman.. is thankful for the job you have done in keeping things like this alive.. keep up the good work! :-)

[LeamingtonSteve]

1040 Western Queen

[freethoughtmusic]

Cool, should be in Manchester in about 45 seconds after pulling out of Brum.

[scriltist]

@ianbillericay Health and Safety I'm afraid. Many passengers were suffering bruised ears due to their cheeks flapping wildly with the G-force.

[scriltist]

Wow, I never knew a MAN V12 could rev to 20.000rpm!

[BFICreativeArchive]

Please note that this video uses footage from the BFI Creative Archive website. The BFI should be credited as following: "Original footage courtesy of the British Film Institute (BFI) under the terms of the Creative Archive Licence." Thank you.