THE RAILWAYS PLAY AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE BUILD UP FOR D-DAY (PART 1) [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: THE RAILWAYS PLAY AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE BUILD UP FOR D-DAY (PART 1) [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: A70 20-1
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Miscellaneous railway scenes in Shropshire, Worcestershire, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire.
  • Description: I. A Royal Engineers signalman waves 'All Clear' to a passing ammunition train at Ford station. Two RE footplatemen are seen manning a WD (War Department) locomotive. The signalman sets the points for a goods train. The station master, an old Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railways employee, is seen with his scottie dog. Wagons are shunted into the station's sidings. The stationmaster's daughter cranks a crane handle to lift logs onto a wagon. A WD ammunition train leaves Hookagate near Shrewsbury. Lieutenant Handford films the scenery between Hookagate and Ford and observes a mobile railway workshop in action and engineers repairing locomotives at Kinnerley Junction. II. Goods wagons, some loaded with pontoon bridge equipment, lie in a marshalling yard at Long Marston, Worcestershire, the site of an RE stores depot. A GWR American 'Austerity' locomotive hauls a goods train through the yard. III. Another 'Austerity' locomotive and goods train leave Whitemoor LNER marshalling yards near March, Cambridgeshire. One man in a control tower controls the descent of goods wagons from a 'hump' into the sorting sidings by remote-controlled points and 'Froehlich' hydraulic brakes. IV. Lieutenant Handford films the scenery between March and St Ives, Huntingdonshire.
  • Access Conditions: IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1944-05-16
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Army Film Unit (Production company) Handford, Peter1919-03-212007-11-06Handford is known as a a pioneer of location sound recording. He was an AFPU Lieutenant photographer during the Second World War. He volunteered as part of the British Expeditionary Force and went to France, though he was evacuated after the German invasion. He returned as a cameraman in the D-Day landings. He was shot during fighting two days later, saved by a diary and silver cigarette lighter in his pocket. He was informant in the "Wartime Filming" interview project. His first major film was in 1949 working for Alfred Hitchcock. However, what he is best known for is his involvment in the English new wave cinema movement of the 1960s. Later he was involved in did the sound for famous films such as Gorillas in the Mist and Dangerous Liaisons. He retired in 1988. (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: GB, England & <Midlands area> (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 791 ft; Running time: 8 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Notes: Remarks: see A70 20-2, 3 and 4 for footage taken by Sergeants Wilkes and Carpenter and refer generally to A70 11-3 and 17-4 for further coverage of British railways pre D-Day of which a good deal was shot by Lieutenant Handford who seems to be something of a railway enthusiast. The yards at Whitemoor, modelled on those at Hammin, Germany, were the most modern ones in Britain. Summary: good material for railway enthusiasts - tank locomotives and American 'Austerities' in abundance - and a useful record of a small railway company in army service, best seen with similar items listed above. Good tracking shots of the countryside between March and St Ives, in particular of the 15th century bridge over the Great Ouse just outside the latter.
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    A70 20-1

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    A70 20-2 (THE RAILWAYS PLAY AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE BUILD-UP FOR D-DAY (PART 2) [Allocated Title])
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