AARCHIVE FILM PRODUCTIONS

Plymouth to Gunnislake, From the Cab (50-mins) ()

Ref: AR121D

'From The Cab' is a series of films that enables the viewer to see the railway journey from the driver's point of view. Plymouth to Gunnislake on the Tamar Valley line is an excellent place to start.

Filmed on a sunny August day in 2000, the 11.30 Wales & West commuter service hosted our camera crew for the 43 minute journey through some of the most superb scenery in the West Country. We pass through Devonport Dockyard, Keyham, St Budeaux (Victoria Road), over Tavy Viaduct into Bere Ferrers, onto Bere Alston for the change, across the Calstock Viaduct into Calstock Station and finally through to Gunnislake. The entire journey is filmed and edited digitally to obtain maximum quality.

To introduce the viewer to the line, there is a four minute history section at the start, which features snippets of archive film footage of the Bere Alston to Callington Railway.

In order to maintain authenticity the journey down to Gunnislake contains only original sounds and titles to show you where you are. Then, we return to Plymouth at 150 m.p.h. with speeded up visual effects - what takes you 43 minutes on the down run will take you only five minutes to return from a journey that you will want to see over and over again.

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Memories of the Plymouth to Yealmpton Railway (40-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR120D

The GWR opened a branch from Millbay to Yealmpton in January 1898. Originally planned to terminate at Modbury, the line served the villages of Plymstock, Billacombe, Elburton and Brixton. It stopped at Steer Point where ferries would take passengers across the river to the villages of Noss Mayo and Newton Ferrers.

The film uses photographs and aerial photography together with simulated movie footage to plot the journey through some of the most beautiful countryside in the South Hams. The railway is rich in historical experiences and this film will invoke memories of the old line in those who remember it and educate those who don't.

Based on the book by Plymouth author, Anthony Kingdom, this unique documentary has arisen due to the extended nature of its companion film 'The Plymouth to Turnchapel and Cattewater Railways' originally intended tobe 30 minutes long, but ended up as a 50 minute film. Therefore, a seperate account of the Yealmpton branch has been documented.

94 year old Myrtle Hockaday tells us about the days when she caught the Kitley Belle ferry from Noss Mayo to connect with the train and a section giving brief information about the power units used on the line will add interest for the railway buffs. A short section showing the LSWR Branch from Friary Station to Turnchapel is also included.

This film signals a first, in that it includes narration from Plymouth author Anthony Kingdom, on whose book the film is based.

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Back Along North Devon's Lines (57-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR107D

The two main journeys, Exeter to Barnstaple (1978) and Ilfracombe to Braunton (1970), were produced after a meeting with six steam 'veterans', drivers all, who poured out memories and anecdotes. An overall cabside run from Exeter used three films with frantic re-loadings. All was done again from the passengers point of view. Then again for the trackside shots.

A year after, the drivers gave it their approval as did the rail clubs from Taunton & Yeovil, Exeter to Plymouth & Launceston, plus a hundred more from the W.I.s to schools. Archive film from 1898 and vintage steam clips tell the story with stills of the 'silence' that fell on the Ilfracombe branch, providing an ending which no buff will resist without a tissue.

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Back Along the Kingsbridge Line (58-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR109D

In 1963 the branch line from Brent to Kingsbridge closed after a hard fight by locals to keep it open as a preserved line. The publishers have put together unique vintage movie footage of the days when the line ran through South Hams. The film also takes you on location to the five stations as they look with interviews at the homes of Bob Gale at Avonwick and Sheila Bolan from Loddiswell telling the uplifting stories of the restoration of these buildings to their former glory. With additional archive photographs and slides, the 51-minute will take you on a memorable journey through time.

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Images of the Culm Valley Light Railway (60-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR115D

This film chronicles a history of the CVLR and explains breifly the philosophy of Arthur Cadlink Pain, an exponant of light railways. With aerial footage over the Culm Valley following the old track bed to each station site and recreate sights of how things used to be. The journey is then made over ground using archive 8mm film. After looking at some technical information about the locos used on the line, we view a now and then section showing how things have changed over the years. Finally, we take a brief look at the Tiverton Branch.

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

The Last Train to Callington (60-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR117D

Bere Alston to Callington was one of those beautiful LSWR lines cutting through some of the most vivid terrain in Devon & Cornwall. This long awaited documentary features the journey with unique archive footage, rare photographs and modern day aerials to show the route of the trackbed. In 1966, the section from Callington to Gunnislake was cut short, and Luckett, Latchley & Chilsworthy as stations in

between, were axed as a result of cut backs. But thanks to

amateur cinematographers such as John Sandercock we are able to reconstruct those nostalgic days of steam and early diesels to tell the story. First we take a brief look at the history of the East Cornwall Mineral Railway & the building of Calstock Viaduct. Then we journey from Bere Aiston To Callington, linking each station from the air. Using more archive footage we undertake the return journey at ground level calling at all stations including those now closed. John Snell, a veteran of the line narrates some fine experiences and included is a montage of steam-powered units used on the line in those memorable days. The section “Now & Then” shows how things looked in the vintage days and how they look today. With interspersed shots of the beautiful Tamar valley, this documentary will invoke happy memories of those great days on a unique branch line.

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Plymouth to Launceston, via Tavistock South (57-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR101D

On 29th.December 1962, the old Plymouth to Launceston train service ceased in very dramatic style during one of the worst snow blizzards to hit the West Country in years.

Amateur cinematographer, Reg Blackett was there with his 16mm cameras to record the journey. He also filmed many of the old stations on the active line, complete with their familiar engines, mainly Pannier & Praire tanks in the early 1960s. Nostalgic memories of the line that closed in 1962 also featuring archive & modern footage from Roger Underwood which includes Marsh Mills, Plym Bridge, Yelverton, Tavistock South, Lydford and Launceston. Featured also is the Launceston Steam Railway and some unique footage of the Plym Valley Railway with their No.3 engine in full steam.

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

Rails Across the Moor (60-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR114D

A comprehensive study of the Dartmoor Line from Yelverton to Princetown with archive footage & arial shots.

The film opens with a history of the line and progresses onto the journey with movie footage and photographs. The next part is all movie footage of the entire journey with experiences from retired guards and drivers. Then we hear the experiences of some who lived around the line at Burrator, followed by other recollections. A now and then section follows, showing how the line looks today and finally, unique and beautifully filmed aerial footage of the entire track bed filmed in 1998.

Finally, we are taken back to the days of the Southern Region line from Plymouth to Exeter and unique footage of the last train from Newton Abbot to Moretonhampstead, thus bringing to a fitting end, a pictorial history of how Dartmoor once enjoyed 'Rails Across the Moor.'

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

The Southern Way - Plymouth to Exeter (67-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR098D

When the LSWR/SR ran into Devon and Cornwall, mighty steam engines crossed the national park of Dartmoor. In later years, DMUs were prominent on the line just before its closure. Now, brought to the screen with the aid of archive cine footage taken from the 1940s to the 1960s, comes this latest production from the Aarchive team.

Featured are all the stations from Plymouth Friary, including St Budeaux, Tamerton Foliet, Bere Ferrers, Bere Alston, Tavistock North, Brentor, Bridestowe, Meldon, Okehampton, Crediton and other stations, as they used to look and as they are today.

Also featured is the last passenger service from Exeter to Okehampton in 1972. Many of the West Country class engines are also featured. To round off the SR images, 12 minutes of superb archive steam footage is included at Southampton Central station in the 1950s.

Engines such as Axminster, Brentor and Seaton, plus a whole host of activity at Weymouth and the South.

EXTRA: Aarchive Scrapbook No.1 - Southern Region steam at Southampton, Weymouth & The South.

Price: £15.99 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.61 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity:

The Plymouth to Turnchapel & Cattewater Railways (50-mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: AR119D

On 30th September 1961, passenger travel from Plymouth Friary to Turnchapel ended with the Plymouth Railways Circle's final run along the branch in guards vans hauled by SR Class engine M7 No. 30034; public services ended 10 years earlier.

The journey was captured on 16mm film and preserved by TSW Archives of Plymouth and this video features that unique footage. It also shows in detail the journey from Friary, through Cattewater Junction, Plymstock Station, Oreston and Turnchapel. With the invaluble aid of author Anthony Kingdom and rare archive photographs, the story unfolds and is both compelling and historically an important document for all who remember the LSWR Branch.

Various people who remembered and worked the branch feature and the bombing of the military oil tanks beside Turnchapel station together with narration. The film also records a brief history and early morning activity on the former LSWR Cattewater Branch line with its 5 a.m. arrival of bitumen tanks to the Esso plant there. To tell this compelling story further, we also unearthed archive footage of Plymouth Trams in 1922, driven by electricity from the Prince Rock Power Station fed by coal imported by rail since the 19th century.

For true rail enthusiasts there is a section detailing more technical information including details of the power units used on the Turnchapel Branch over the years of its operation. A short section features the GWR Yealmpton Branch, which is the subject of a companion film. Finally, a montage of colour shots by Peter Gray will invoke memories of the Friary to Turnchapel Branch.

Price: £15.94 (Including VAT at 17.5%)
Price: £13.57 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

Quantity: