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  • Title
    Film - It's Experience that Counts
  • Reference
    GEC/4/6/32/3
  • Production date
    1979 - 1979
  • Creator
    • GEC Traction LimitedBiography
  • Scope and Content
    Corporate film produced for GEC Transportation Projects Limited by Anvil Film and Recording Group Limited, directed by David Stevens. The film addresses British and foreign clients and offers an insight into the teams behind GEC TPL. The film is presented by actor Clifford Earl, who visits GEC TPL headquarters in St Albans and meets with a series of GEC managers and employees who go through their jobs and responsibilities in the making of modern electric railways. The film starts with shots introducing presenter Clifford Earl getting off British Rail Inter-City Class 87 87034 William Shakespeare at a station. Clifford Earl is filmed in GEC TPL St Albans offices where he meets with a GEC TPL representative. This last introduces GEC TPL and the different disciplines behind it: power supplies, substations, overhead catenaries, rolling stocks, signalling, controls and telecommunications which are produced and supplied by companies within the GEC Group. Following Clifford Earl, the film focuses on the human side of GEC TPL and how each discipline and employee roles are tied together to bring up modern railway projects to life for their clients. Using footage taken of the different sites, close up shots of workers and shots of talk with employees, the film go through the different aspects of building a modern electric railway. The activities represented include a project group in a meeting, engineers conducting survey on site, employees operating computers for calculation and power study. Shots present the project engineering offices at St Albans. Further footage taken on British Rail illustrates construction work coordinated by GEC TPL: track laying; catenaries, overhead lines and pantographs construction and tests. Images are taken of an operating control centre on British Rail. Clifford Earl goes on various sites and meets with representatives of various companies of the GEC Group. His visits are filmed at GEC High Voltage Switch Gear Limited factory located in Trafalgar Park in Manchester, GEC Traction offices, including the computer aided design centre and the electronics control lab. Also in Stafford, where are presented GEC Power Transformers and GEC Rectifiers roles. Footage then introduces GEC Development section and engineers researching new methods of propulsions. Additional companies of the group are filmed: GEC General Signal Limited, GEC Telecommunication Limited and GEC Research Centre where research and development is undergone for fibre optic cables. GEC TPL presents in this film the people in the GEC group they entrust to carry on the modernisation and electrification projects clients would commission them to build and coordinate. The end credits acknowledge the following companies for their help in the making of the film: The GEC Group of companies, Balfour Beatty Power Construction Ltd, British Rail, British Transport Films, Costain Concrete Co. Ltd, Grant Lyon Eagre Ltd, Hylton Warner, London Transport Executive, and the Railways of Brazil, India, New-Zealand, South Africa, Spain and Taiwan
  • Extent
    Approximately 32 minutes of film on 16mm print
  • Physical description
    16 mm film print (copy), colour, optical sound, stored in plastic canister. This is acetate base film. In September 2016 it was tested with A-D strip as level 2 of deterioration (advanced chemical deterioration). The general condition is moderate: the copy presents some scratches and shows fading with a magenta predominance. Wear cotton gloves when manipulating 16 mm copies. 16 mm requires specific equipment to be viewed such as 16mm editing bench or projector. 16 mm can also be unrolled with the help of a manual film coiler to look at frames with a magnifying glass and a light table, but this system won't allow to see footage in motion.
  • Language
    English
  • Level of description
    ITEM
  • Repository name
    National Railway Museum, York
  • Associated people and organisations
    • GEC Transportation Projects LtdBiography
    • GEC Traction LimitedBiography
    • British Railways BoardBiography
    • Transport for LondonBiography
    • New Zealand Railways DepartmentBiography
    • RENFEBiography
    • South African Railways and HarboursBiography
  • Subject
  • Conditions governing access
    Access is given in accordance with the NRM access policy. Access to film collections is assessed on a case by case basis.
  • Conditions governing Reproduction
    Copies may be supplied of items in the collection, provided that the copying process used does not damage the item or is not detrimental to its preservation. Copies will be supplied in accordance with the NRM’s terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies, and the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Copyright is retained by the author of the footage.
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