This film by railway enthusiast and filmmaker Chris Lawson is of working steam engines in and around the engine works at Philadelphia on Tyneside. The opening view is of a saddle tank engine National Coal Board No.29 (?) (Kitson 4263, built 1904) [The loco was new to Lambton Collieries at Philadelphia loco shed and used for pulling coal trains between here and Sunderland over the NER (later British Railways)]. The engine is reversing and pulling a large piece of timber on the end of a chain...

This film by railway enthusiast and filmmaker Chris Lawson is of working steam engines in and around the engine works at Philadelphia on Tyneside. The opening view is of a saddle tank engine National Coal Board No.29 (?) (Kitson 4263, built 1904) [The loco was new to Lambton Collieries at Philadelphia loco shed and used for pulling coal trains between here and Sunderland over the NER (later British Railways)]. The engine is reversing and pulling a large piece of timber on the end of a chain attached to the front buffer. A photographer tries to position himself for a good trackside shot. Another view follows of no. 29 as it takes on water. A man stands on top of the engine guiding the filling nozzle into one of the engines water tanks. The engine moves off over snow covered railways passing a gantry like structure and pulling a couple of wagons and a brake van. The film cuts to a view of National Coal Board No.45 (Stephenson & Hawthorn 7113, built 1943).[ The loco was acquired from the Port of London Authority in 1960, and was scrapped in March 1973]. It reverses along the track, on its own without a train. The film cuts to the large doorway of an (engine?) shed (interior quite dark difficult to see detail). A long view follows of an engine pulling a train of coal trucks, taken against the strong backlight of a setting sun. The train makes progress along an embankment as the camera follows it. It heads away from the camera towards silhouettes of industrial chimneys and other buildings. A trackside view follows showing snow next to the track and an approaching steam train, (the image becomes overexposed at this point). The view changes to a steam train approaching going past industrial buildings and covered conveyor belts(?). Plumes of steam rise high into the cold air. Another similar view shows the engine making its way past parked coal wagons. A landscape view follows showing snow covered fields  with a housing estate in the distance. Also in the distance a steam train makes its way across the landscape. The film ends as a steam engine without a train heads towards the camera, on a single track.