Museum plays host to week of classic films on railways

Visitors to the museum will be able to watch a selection of classic British Film Institute and British Transport films dating from the 1930s to the 1960s.

The films showcase work on the railways across the UK, and include an Oscar-nominated work, called Snow, which documents the harsh winter of 1963. The British Transport Film shows how the Herculean efforts of workers kept the rail network running despite hazardous conditions created by huge snow drifts.

Other films include Carrying the Load, a retrospective piece about the role of the railways during the Second World War, including the evacuation of children to the country to escape the Blitz.

Floods in the North shows how the railways recovered from major deluges in the late 1940s which led to the East Coast Mainline being washed away in the Scottish Borders.

The film week is running until Sunday in the museum's Gibb Theatre. Two films are being shown daily from 11am until 4pm.

More information is available at www.nrm.org.uk or by calling 0844 815 3139.

preview: Museum curator of film, photography and sound Chris Hogg examines film from the diesel era in front of a 1957 Class 31 diesel electric locomotive. picture: mike cowling.

LONG HAUL: A still taken from the 1957 film Fully Fitted Freight, which is one of those being showcased at the National Railway Museum in York.