NICK LERA VIDEO COLLECTION

India - Relics of the Raj (52 mins) ()

Ref: NL456D

The Gaekwar of Baroda's State Railway, 1988

The 13th century fortress town of Dabhoi forms the hub of a former native state railway, a network of over 300 miles of 2'6" gauge lines in western India,filmed when still 100% steam. The depot was the largest on the Indian narrow gauge, with 34 engines allocated of four different types, including the classic William Bagnall 'W' Class 0-6-2s built in 1912 and doing sterling work on the picturesque Waghai branch.

Broad Gauge Classics, 1970

In West Bengal modernisation completely swept away the former steam stronghold of Calcutta. Before the damage was done, our cameras captured the scene back in 1970, with WP Pacifies hauling the Delhi Mail out of Howrah Terminus while Glasgow-built 0-6-0s dating from 1915 shunted alongside,with CWD and WG types also appearing.

Top of the bill were the HPS Class 4-6-0s, originally used for the Frontier Mail in the twenties.

Bengal Narrow Gauge,1970

The 2'6" gauge line from Santipur to Nabadwip used to be worked by some charming little 2-4-Os built by the Yorkshire Engine Co. in Sheffield, and captured by our cameras rattling across the green flatlands of the Ganges delta.

Patiala State Monorail, 1980

After laying derelict for fifty years, this unique hybrid, half traction engine and half railway locomotive, was taken to Delhi Railway Museum for restoration and now runs with one of its original coaches on a specially laid track.

Metre Guage at Goa, 1988

British-built 2-8-2s steam past a backdrop of tropical palms through the former Portuguese colony of Goa on India's west coast. Featuring a cab ride on the ghat, or hill section, and unique archive film of the shipment of the last batch of engines from Newton-le-Wiilows in 1949.

Rack and Pinion to Ooty, 1988

The Nilgiri Express with an average speed of six and a quarter miles per hour has the distinction of being India's slowest train. The line up to the former colonial hill-station of Ootacamund is also one of India's most scenic with breathtaking vistas of the Blue Mountains opening up to the traveller as his coach is propelled through the tea plantations by the 'Nilgiri Queen', a steam rack locomotive designed in 1914.

Price: £19.96 (Including VAT at 20%)
Price: £16.63 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Indonesia - Wheels of Fire (46-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: NL462D

The 3'6" gauge state railways of Indonesia, the PJKA, once had the most exotic collection of antique steam locomotives in the world. The islands of Java and Sumatra form the exotic backdrop for this outstanding assortment of rare locomotives featuring lumbering eight-coupled Mallet articulateds in the mountains, tiny steam trams in the streets of Surabaya, the last of their kind in the world, rack-and-pinion (cog) railways in the jungle, and a special treat for the British enthusiast, a former 2-4-0 express tender engine built by Sharp Stewart in Manchester in 1880. With the exception of 'Slamet' in the sugar plantations and the B25 rack engine at Ambarawa Museum, all these engines succumbed to the scrapper's torch in the 1970s, even the few modern ones. This detailed study was made on professional 16mm film with natural sound, the only such record in existence.

Locomotives filmed in service:
• B12 0-4-0T tram 1903 Beyer-Peacock
• B25 0-4-2T rack 1903 Esslingen
• B50 2-4-0 1880 Sharp-Stewart
• B53 4-4-0 1912 Hartmann
• C27 4-6-4T 1916 SLM/Werkspoor
• C32 2-6-2T 1940 Nippon
• E10 0-10-0T rack 1967 Nippon
• CC10 2-6-6-0T 1905 Werkspoor
• CC50 2-6-6-0 1926 Werkspoor/SLM
• DD52 2-8-8-0 1924 Werkspoor/SLM
• D14 2-8-2T 1921 Hanomag
• D52 2-8-2 1950 Krupp
• C51 4-6-0 1912 Beyer-Peacock
• ----- 0-8-0T 1930 Orenstein & Koppel

41-minutes of 16mm film was shot in 1972/4 plus 5 minutes of location updates, Ambarawa Rail Museum & PJKA diesels videoed in 1992.

Price: £19.96 (Including VAT at 20%)
Price: £16.63 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Pakistan - Rails to the North West Frontier (48-mins)

Ref: NL465D

The Bolan Pass:- Vintage Alco diesels from the 1950s growl their way up 1 in 25 gradients on Asia's steepest and most dramatic main line. Over the great Elgin Viaduct, through the baronial portals of 'Cascade' and 'Mary Jane' tunnels, our camera is specially mounted on the front of the locomotive to give us a unique view of these engineering marvels of the old British Raj.

Edwardian Classics:- Stars of the broad gauge steam roster are the elegant Edwardian inside cylinder 4-4-0s of the SPS Class, seen on local passenger service at Malakwal, along with their 0-6-0 stablemates of the SGS type. In the desert regions near the Indian border we see Pakistan's newest steam engines, Canadian War Department locos of 1946, in their last months of service at Samasata, and meter gauge British 4-6-0s dating from 1914 at Mirpur Khas on an isolated stretch of the old Jodhpur Railway.

The Khyber Pass:- Closed for many years, the railway through the famous Khyber Pass has now been re-opened using its original 1925-built 2-8-0s from Kitson of Leeds. These doughty veterans storm up the switchbacks through the rugged scenery of this tribal territory to the summit at Landi Kotal, with its breathtaking views of the great Afghan Plain beyond.

Filmed in 1993/1994/1997.

Price: £19.96 (Including VAT at 20%)
Price: £16.63 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

India - Steam's Indian Summer (50 mins)

Ref: NL467D

End of an Era

Mark Tully visits the Delhi Railway Museum and

using Nick Lera's archive takes us through steam's final years, with 85 year old narrow-gauge locos in Bengal, the last bullet-nosed WP express locos in Delhi, Pacifics in the Punjab and a flashback to Edwardian veterans in Calcutta in the 70s.

In Search of Survivors

On the metre gauge provincial railways of Western India, Mark finds steam still hard at work and he

rides the locomotive up the famous Mhow Ghat,

on the milk train to Indore - the last long distance steam passenger train in India. By contrast, Tully

rides on the diesel 'Shatabdi' express to Gujerat

state, where we meet the 92-year old Maharajah of Wankaner in his lofty and ornate

palace with architecture from around the world. The Maharajah tells us of the rivalry

between the former Indian princely state railways.

The Historic Salt Train

It was in Gujerat that Mahatma Gandhi held his famous protest march to abolish the tax on salt. This humble commodity acquired historic significance in the campaign for Independence so it seems fitting that India's very last steam freight train should be used to carry it. With a closing image of the salt train reflected in the waters of the Little Rann, Mark Tully rounds off his personal farewell to the trains he loved.

Price: £19.96 (Including VAT at 20%)
Price: £16.63 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

India - Toy Train To The Clouds (50-mins) ()

Ref: NL468D

A Unique Railway

The Darjeeling Himalayan, Asia's best-known steam railway, was founded in the 19th century and now steams into the 21st with its original locomotives. It is frequently blocked by landslips and has been threatened by withdrawal of subsidies, but its future is assured now that UNESCO has declared it a World Heritage Site. This varied and affectionate portrait of the line starts on the edge of the hot dusty Bengal Plains. The picturesque 'toy trains' toil up through lowland forest, round dramatic spirals, see-sawing through numerous switchbacks and ploughing through village markets before reaching the cool climate of Darjeeling, dubbed 'Queen of The Hill Stations' in the days of the British Raj. Stars of the show are the charming little Sharp Stewart locomotives designed in the 1880s and still going strong.

Price: £20.95 (Including VAT at 20%)
Price: £17.46 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Burma to the River Kwai (58 mins)

Ref: NL452D

A journey by steam through Myanmar and Thailand in search of the WW2 Burma-Siam Railway, riding vintage British Pacifics on genuine local trains in Burma and preserved steam on the famous Wampo wood trestles of the Death Railway in Thailand, Exotic local colour and previously unexplored WW2 relics en route plus a surprise ending.

Price: £20.95 (Including VAT at 20%)
Price: £17.46 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity: