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  • Title
    Film - Miles of Progress: the Electrification of the East Coast Main Line (ECML)
  • Reference
    GEC/4/6/15
  • Production date
    1987 - 1987
  • Creator
    • GEC Traction LimitedBiography
  • Scope and Content
    Corporate film produced for British Rail, by Cinécosse, and presented by Martin Young. Miles of Progress: the electrification of the ECML, also subtitled The High Road North, reviews the on-going ECML electrification project which started two years earlier. The film is the follow up of the film Going electric which introduced the beginning of the project. The film comes back to the successful and important steps of the projects through footage of electrification works and official celebrations on the ECML between 1985 and 1987. Martin Young explains how the project is ahead of schedule and the promises offered for passengers with electrified lines and the Electra Class 91 Intercity 225 for which the construction started. Some footage shows construction works on the lines, workers raising steel mass supports and overhead power lines, bridges being raised or rebuilt, construction depot in Peterborough, Doncaster and Newcastle. Also the most recent Millerhill depot in Edinburgh, which allows starting electrification work going South towards England. The film also focuses on tracks and signalling and the new fibre optic link that will be carrying signals between London and Edinburgh. This sequence includes archival black and white footage of signalling in York. The ECML project director (Don Heath) evokes the question of design for the overhead lines and how they were designed to fit with the landscapes and towns they would go across. A sequence focuses on the construction of the new Intercity 225 Class 91 Electra, to be completed by 1991, using footage of the units under construction and a wooden mock-up of a locomotive. The film also tells about the safety measure taken towards the public. The British Transport Police is filmed visiting a school to inform children about the danger of the railway and electric lines, showing the British Transport Film 'Robbie' to the children. Finally, the film concludes with the new timescale as the project is ahead of schedule: Peterborough to be completed by May 1987, Doncaster and Leeds by October 1988 and York to Edinburgh by May 1991.
  • Extent
    13 mins video on VHS cassette
  • Physical description
    Colour and sound video on Scotch and Maxell E-30 cassettes (2 copies), magnetic video tape in plastic cassettes, stored in plastic cases. The general condition is fair. VHS cassette can be viewed with a VHS player connected to a television screen or monitor.
  • Language
    English
  • Level of description
    ITEM
  • Repository name
    National Railway Museum, York
  • Associated people and organisations
    • British Railways BoardBiography
    • British Rail: Eastern RegionBiography
  • 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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