NICK LERA VIDEO COLLECTION

South Africa - Garratt Country (70 mins) (DVD-R) (16:9 Widescreen)

Ref: NL449D

A portrait of six classic Beyer-Garratt locomotives in South Africa, the world's biggest user of the type. The highly scenic mountains of Natal and the Cape form the setting for stunning action secquens with these articulated giants, while the 2ft gauge versions take us down to the shores of the Indian Ocean in Alfred Country. With special archive feature of GEA class being delivered to Utenhage in 1946.

• GF Class 4-6-2+2-6-4 No.2380 on the 1-in-33 gradients of the Greytown line and running to Riverside past the aloe slopes of the Ingangwana Gorge.
• GMA/M Class 4-8-2+2-8-4 No.4709 storming the reverse curves of the Cape Natal line between Deepdale and Donnybrook.
• GO Class 4-8-2+2-8-4 No.2575 winds through the Outeniqua Range northern approaches in stunning ealy morning light.
• GEA Class 4-8-2+2-8-4 No.4023 literally shakes the mountain as it storms out of Tunnel 5 on the Montagu Pass, South African Railway's most spectacular location.
• On the famous 2ft gauge lines of Natal, we see South Africa's oldest working Garratt, Class NGG11 2-6-0+0-6-2 No.55 on the Paton's Country Railway. Finally, we see the "Toy Train By The Ocean", the beautiful Alfred County Railway with its Class NGG16 Garratts on the Hibiscus Coast.

The commentary gives full technical and topgraphical information. There is also some old Black and White film of the arrival and testing of the Class GEA Garratts in 1946.

Price: £22.96 (Including VAT at 20%)
Price: £19.13 Excluding VAT (non-EU countries e.g.Australia)

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The Cape to Cairo Railway (60 mins) (DVD-R)

Ref: NL455D

50 years of steam on Cecil Rhodes' historic route through Africal

"The Civilisation of Africa" (1930) B/W 20-mins:- Vintage 1930s travelogue from the days of the British Empire with period commentary and music. The Union Express from cape Town is piloted up the Hex River Pass by a Mallett. In Rhodesia a 12th.Class is on the traverser in Bulowayo Works while an 11th.Class steams over the famous Victoria Falls. Plus early Garrattts in Angola and a supershine loco parade at Atbara in the Sudan. With full supporting cast of double-deck trams, vintage road motors, rickshaws and Nile river steamers.

"Birth of a Giant" (1946) B/W 9-mins :- Construction of Class GEA Beyer-Garratt articulated locomotives for the South African Railways at Beyer-Peacock's Gorton Works in Manchester, plus an East African 2-8-2 being hauled from the North British Works to Glasgow Docks by a steam traction engine.

"African Steam in Action" (1980) Colour 27-mins:- Steam in Cape Town, Class 24 on the classic Ladysmith branch, the mighty Class 25s double heading freight across the Karoo Plains, the Garrratt's last stronghold in Rhodeaia and steam on Hwange coal.

16mm film.

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

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Kenya - Steam To Mombassa (50-mins) ()

Ref: NL470D

After twenty years in Nairobi's Railway Museum, the former East African Railways Beyer-Garratt No. 5918 ‘Mount Gelai' steams once more on the Mombasa run, following months of restoration in Kenya Railways' Nairobi workshops.

The Man in the Cab

The loco's former regular driver, Kirpal Singh Sandhu, takes charge again to recreate the line's glory days of the nineteen sixties and seventies, steaming past the wildlife of the African bush. Kirpal's perfect recall of every undulation along the 330 mile route enables him to `drive blind' through the night with total confidence.

Through the African Bush

TheAthi Plains, green sisal plantations, the famous Tsavo River and Voi's Taita Hills form just some of the classic backgrounds in this scenic journey, ending with the classic spiral descent into Mombasa. When the line was built, the construction gangs had to brave man-eating lions. Those pioneer days are captured in wonderful archive photographs - one of which shows a newly captured beast.

Raw Vintage Power

The articulated Class 59 was the largest and most powerful steam locomotive design in the whole of Africa, with a massive tractive effort exceeding 80,000 pounds. A flashback to the seventies brings us a 16mm film portrait of a ‘Governor' Class Garratt on the Taveta branch. There are also rare and exceptionally high quality archive photographs of early Baldwin locos from the USA.

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

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