News on Screen

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 6th Year

Issue

Issue No.

4

Date Released

Dec 1952

Stories in this Issue:

• 1. SPECIAL TRAIN
• 2. LADY DAY
• 3. LONG HAUL
• 4. FREE FOR ALL

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: amateur model makers at a Birmingham rally.
NCB Commentary - Yes, it’s another railway story - but it’s not quite the same as usual.
Many miners are keen model builders - Mr. Mellantin here, pithead baths superintendent at Silksworth Colliery, has put in untold man-hours on his LNER model. All these scale models appeared recently at a model engineers’ rally in Birmingham.
Mr. Lawson, from Lambton Engine Works, is another man who just can’t tear himself away from trains. To fire these locos you use crushed coal, and you measure it by the teaspoon rather than by the ton.
One of the trials at these rallies is to see what an engine can do on a measured quantity of fuel. From puffing billies to main line specials, they’re all there - with full loads and a critical audience. Here’s the one that topped them all for power - over 30 people being pulled by a model running on a 5-inch track.
Now she’s really away. doing a good 20 miles an hour. You can work out for yourself the speed she’d be doing if she was the full-size job.

Researcher Comments

BFI sources suggest that this story was filmed on the 6th September 1952. Commentary recorded 3 November 1952.

Keywords

Railways; Toys and models

Locations

Birmingham; England

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
Film User   Vol.8 No.87 January 1954, p32.
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Director

John H. Shaw-Jones

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Camera

W. Donat