This programme documents the ten year anniversary of the opening of the National Railway Museum in York. The programme includes a look at the exhibits and interviews with various officials about their plans for the future of the museum.  The programme begins with archive film inside York railway station where some boys are buying platform tickets from a machine, and going onto a platform.  An A3 Class Pacific locomotive hauling a rake of carriages enters the station as the boys take down...

This programme documents the ten year anniversary of the opening of the National Railway Museum in York. The programme includes a look at the exhibits and interviews with various officials about their plans for the future of the museum.  The programme begins with archive film inside York railway station where some boys are buying platform tickets from a machine, and going onto a platform.  An A3 Class Pacific locomotive hauling a rake of carriages enters the station as the boys take down engine numbers at the end of the platform.  The commentary states that at one time 25 steam trains entered the station every hour.  A steam hauled train crosses the Scarborough bridge over the River Ouse in York, followed by a train headed by steam locomotive 'Evening Star' running through a cutting.  A fireman on 'Evening Star' shovels coal into the boiler on the footplate of a steam special from Leeds to York, watched by the engine driver.   It then switches to show the interior of one of the carriages.  The fireman adjusts the steam valve as the driver operates the regulator, and looks ahead through the cab window. The fireman relaxes on the footplate as a passenger pokes his head out of a carriage window as the train races along.   The train is shown entering York station from the footplate, with passengers crowded on the platform.   The film switches to show York Minster and a diesel hauled train crossing the Ouse and passing the National Railway Museum.  There is an interview with John Van Reemsdijk, who talks about the establishment of the Museum in 1975, and his role in moving it to York from Clapham, accompanied by more film of York.   Visitors wait to enter the Museum, and then walk around the various exhibits.  This is followed by an interview with deputy curator Peter Semens, who states that the Museum is top of the list of tourist attractions for families.  Visitors view the locomotives in the Museum, and the keeper, Dr. John Coylie, talks to the camera in front of locomotive No: 673. The film switches to show the Museum’s Head of Education and Research, David Jenkinson, and other staff members, walking through the Museum to examine stained glass windows removed from the former Station Buffet at Hull.  He talks about the restoration of items, including a beautifully restored sleeping car No: 14241, which was found in very poor condition in sidings in Bedfordshire.  Inside David demonstrates the action of the bunk bed.  We then see the A4 Pacific 'Silver Fox' travelling at speed.  There is archive film of passengers being served in a buffet car, and also eating a meal served in a dining car.  Many of the items in a typical dining car of the period are on display, including a silver service, a North-western Railway coffee pot, a cake server and grape scissors.  David Jenkinson, seated in front of display of silverware, explains their value, showing a Royal Worcester china which was in use on royal trains, an engraved glassware provided for Queen Victoria in the waiting room at Perth station, and China bearing arms of various railway companies together with assorted silverware in the vault at the National Rail Museum. We see inside the library of the National Rail Museum, with Dr. John Coylie explaining its use.  There is archive film of a streamlined Princess Coronation Class locomotive with a rake of carriages forming the 'up' 'Coronation Scot' express travelling at speed, and of the London and North - Eastern Railway A4 Pacific 'Golden Eagle', also travelling at speed past the camera hauling a rake of coaches, including beaver-tailed observation car, marked 'Coronation'. Back at the Museum children are helped a member of staff to have a go at pulling signalling levers. There is a restored Edwardian dining coach No.76, which is being temporarily housed in a nearby shed along with many other items of rolling stock.  A Craftsman is polishing a newly restored Great Western Railway steam locomotive.  There is the Coat of Arms of the Pullman Car Company and the exterior and interior of the restored Pullman Car 'Topaz'.  David Jenkinson explains that much of the restored interior, such as the panelling, is in fact new.  Various freight wagons are standing in a siding, awaiting either scrapping or restoration.  Railway items, from locomotives to bath chairs, are in a storage shed waiting to be displayed in the National Rail Museum. The restored locomotive 'Sir Lamiel' draws into Scarborough station hauling a 'steam special' train, the 'Scarborough Spa Express', with the crew and an unidentified woman of talking on camera.  The Duchess of Hamilton' is shown hauling a rake of carriages on a 'steam special' across a long viaduct.  John Bellwood, leaning out of cab of locomotive 4771, talks about the dilemma of running steam trains, the risks this involves, and the conflict between preservation and operation.  A fireman shovels coal into the firebox of the 'City of Wells' locomotive as it moves out of a sidings.  There is archive film of the Mallard, minus wheel valences, hauling a train of carriages, and then we see restoration of the Mallard at the National Rail Museum in 1985.     David Elliott, talking on camera against the backdrop of the beach at Scarborough, explains that Scarborough has contributed £25,000 to the restoration of the Evening Star, and that this this will now carry the name of Scarborough on it.  The Evening Star is seen backing on to a rake of carriages in York Station, and then pulling out of the station, watched by enthusiasts on platforms; as John Bellwood, standing in the cab of a locomotive, talks about how “steam people are a dying breed”. Dr. John Coylie, standing alongside locomotive 673, is interviewed about the expansion of the National Rail Museum into the 1990s.  There is more film of the interior of the National Rail Museum and its exhibits.  Again a steam train is shown crossing the rail-bridge across the River Ouse at York.  There is further archive film of passengers on a steam train in the 1940s.  David Jenkinson, seated on platform inside the storage shed, describes plans for the shed to be converted into an exhibition hall for Royal Trains and opened in 1987, with details of restored Royal saloons in the shed.   The film switches to show a long lost, and newly restored, archive film of a steam train running on the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway in early the 1930s.  There are photos of a newly found Lynton and Barnstaple Railway carriage rotting away in a field in North Devon in extremely poor condition.  It is explained that this was bought for £3,000 and has been restored at much greater cost.  Again there are visitors in the main hall of the National Rail Museum, before the programme finishes showing various locomotives: a London and North - Eastern Railway A1/A3 locomotive heading a train pulling away from platform, pre-1948; a BR A1 Class locomotive No:60077 pulling a rake of BR Mk.1 coaches; a London and North-Eastern Railway A4 Pacific No:4465 'Guillemot' heading train passing a  lineside camera; a London and North-Eastern Railway A4 Pacific No:4482 'Golden Eagle' travelling at speed ; an unidentified London and North-Eastern Railway A4 Pacific;  various unidentified steam locomotives; and, lastly, the London and North-Eastern Railway V2 No:4771 'Green Arrow' stood in sidings. Yorkshire Television Director  – Wilson, David  Reporter – Dunstan, Paul