Road, Rail and Runways Britain on Film

The vintage locos of a dying era

are gradually being run off the tracks into retirement.

By 1972, the last of the 18,000 steam locos of British railways

will have gone to make way for the more efficient,

but less romantic diesels and overhead electrification.

And they're coming fast off the production lines.

Last year, 1,000 went into service.

New trains, new tracks to give a faster, smoother, quieter ride.

Tracks already welded into lengths of up to 300 feet,

with sleepers and rails joined at the depot.

Long welded track like this is being laid at a rate of 300 miles a year,

but it'll be a long time before passengers no longer hear

the monotonous clickety-click of wheels on rails.

All over the country, steam engines in their hundreds

line up at breakers' yards.

All this adds up to big business

for the scrap department of British Railways,

which today has an annual turnover of £20 million.

And away to the sidings go the old carriages, whose day is done.

British Railways is producing one sixth of the country's scrap metal

by cutting down on excessive rolling stock and track.

These carriages, which have carried generations of holidaymakers

and people going to the office, have come to the end of the line.

Anything that can be used again economically is salvaged,

but there's nothing much that can be done with old woodwork except this.

Above all, oil does away with this.

Many's the housewife living near a loco depot,

this one's at Chalk Farm, incidentally,

who has views on the changeover from the smoke age.

Well, it can't come too soon for me.

We get so much smoke and dirt in this district.

This boy's finding out that a ride in the cab

is far more comfortable and cleaner than in a steam locomotive.

And instead of waiting to get up steam,

she's off at the touch of a button,

like the self-starter on the family car.

British Railways has schools where drivers learn the new techniques.

What do they think of the change?

It's just very much cleaner and warmer.

And the absence of coal dust and grime

is evident in cleaner hands.

And it's true to say you can finish the day's work with a white collar.

It's possible now to ride in trains and keep your clothes clean.

For the long-suffering passengers

who make a thousand million train journeys a year,

the revolution has come none too soon.

This is the Midland Pullman.

One of the expresses helping to give the railways their new image.

It's a train with services like those of a top hotel.

Catering to the international businessman,

as well as the ordinary passenger.

You can even wine and dine on credit.

And instead of having to peer out of the windows to know where you are,

the conductor tells you over the loud speaker.

On many routes, the new diesels save 10-15 minutes on the hour.

And more and more passengers are getting used to the idea of comfort

in air-conditioned carriages with adjustable seats,

double-glazed windows and even venetian blinds.

The next generation of locos is in the minds of the backroom boys.

This is the linear induction motor,

developed at Manchester University for the Railways Board.

A simple electric motor that runs on a continuous metal strip

set between the rails.

It accelerates to 30mph in 65 feet

and makes 200mph trains a possibility.

There are now about 50 of these preservation societies,

large and small, in Britain.

Several thousand will often turn out to admire the old champions.

To the real railway lover, the star of stars

is probably the Flying Scotsman.

Which, apart from its early predecessor, the Rocket,

is almost certainly the most famous engine

in the history of British steam trains.

It takes eight hours to get steam up,

starting from a box of matches.

Coaling up has to be done from a lorry,

for nowadays, there are scarcely any coalbunkers

and practically no water left on the railway network.

This means that long before the run,

coaling and watering points have to be arranged along the route.

Then 4472 is off on another run

packed with 500 enthusiasts

who've paid up to £5 for the day's round trip.

Railway fans don't only buy records and tapes of their favourite sounds,

they take recordings and timings themselves

and build up their own record books.

It's certainly a great day for us.

I've never been behind a steam engine before.

Well, I suppose I've always been interested in railways,

right from when I was a little girl.

I haven't been over this line for some years. I'm getting a bit lost.

The driver's cabin is certainly swinging at just under 80.

The Scotsman used to do a ton and could still do it if it had to.

Britain is on the road to a transport revolution.

Compared with the rest of Europe, we're late starters,

but Britain today has 1,000 miles of motorways

either built or planned.

Part of a £100 million a year programme

needed to keep up with a hurrying world.

For years, Britain has been handicapped by a road system

geared to a bygone age.

With traffic jammed at times to a standstill

on roads that were never made to take so many family cars.

Nearly half of the roads Britain will build over the next five years

will be bypasses. Roads that take traffic around towns and villages

instead of through them.

Hundreds of thousands of drivers on the Great North Road

will give a sigh of relief when they know

they can avoid passing through the centre of Stevenage.

This section of the Birmingham Penrith motorway being opened here

cost £750,000 a mile to build.

It takes the load from perhaps the worst stretch of trunk road in Britain,

a road passing for more than half its length through built-up areas.

The excavations alone are a vast project.

On one 26-mile stretch of the M6,

some six-million tons of earth had to be moved

and another 750,000 tons of filling brought in

to complete the roadside banking.

The men who travel with the motorways,

the road builders who must often work miles from anywhere,

have come, and with their families.

For these people, home is where the motorways take them,

in a caravan on the edge of tomorrow.

Don't talk to the road makers of the '60s about Britain being

a tight little island already built up to its limits.

Often they have to carve a way through rough country,

taking hills and valleys and rivers in their stride.

For those artists of transport engineering, the bridge builders,

it's an age of opportunity.

To bring variety and interest to the motorway bridges,

they're encouraged to use imagination and artistry,

as well as new materials.

On this length of the M6, 81 bridges. Three miles of them.

Here, the road shoulders have been coloured

to contrast with the traffic lanes.

With the increasing speed of traffic on bypasses and similar roads,

a lot of thought has been put into signposting.

It must be clear and concise, yet nothing left out.

At the beginning of a Yorkshire bypass, experimental signs

indicate the amenities which motorists can find in the town

that the road will avoid.

In this way, it's hoped to meet the complaint of many traders

in bypassed towns and villages

that the loss of traffic has given them peace, but killed their trade.

When the motorways are completed,

every 25 miles of road will have its own service area

where motorists can pause to refuel their cars and themselves.

And the refreshment is strictly non-alcoholic.

This mosaic shows the Medway area and the M2.

Each service area is due to have self-service snack bars,

lorry drivers' pull-ins and a luxury restaurant.

And already there's a motorway vogue in leisure pursuits

among those who like to dine out while watching the cars go by.

The revolution in transport is coming none too soon

if Britain is to move with the tide of progress.

Traffic could ruin Bath, but remove all the traffic

and Bath would be ruined in another way.

Who would want to live in a city where you couldn't use vehicles?

It's dangerous, the noise is deafening,

vibration shakes buildings to pieces.

Imagine how much better all this would be without the cars in the way.

This conflict between traffic and cities is universal.

Look at Norwich, the most important town of East Anglia.

It is planned that one day, the whole shopping centre

will be freed of traffic that has no business there.

A start has been made with London Street,

recently part of a main route across the city.

Oh, it's much more pleasant now than it used to be.

It gives you much more opportunity to do your shopping in comfort.

And it has increased business immensely.

-Don't you think so, Brian?

-I would say approximately 40%.

Another thing Norwich people were worried about was

what was going to happen to the traffic

if we stopped it from coming through London Street?

Wouldn't it pile up a bigger jam somewhere else?

It's been siphoned off into the one-way circuit which runs parallel.

Much better for everybody.

In Bath, some streets have been all pedestrian for 200 years or so.

So this all shows what nonsense it is to think

that traffic must be allowed into every street

or else trade will collapse.

It simply isn't true.

By the year 2000,

national motorways will have taken away part of the through traffic,

but the city's own traffic would still remain.

We must be sure they really are going to make our cities

not just settlements where people merely exist amid a whirl of traffic,

but places to enjoy and to live in fully.

Right near the city of London at Woolwich, something is being done.

This eight-storey car park will have space for 256 cars

and it'll get the full load off the street in 50 minutes.

This is how it'll work.

The car is driven onto roller conveyors, a button is pressed

and the car's whisked off and up to its appointed cubbyhole.

The owner does nothing else

until he wants it back and presses the button again.

Each space has a keyhole in the control panel.

It's as individual as a changing room locker

and just as simple to operate.

No risk of getting the wrong vehicle back either.

But until there are very many more multi-storey parks,

it looks as if there's only one bit of land

where you can leave a car unattended without fearing the consequences.

The last parking space,

where those products of proud workmanship

are disposed of in a rather cruder way.

A motor scooter, for instance, can weave in and out of the traffic.

Some motorists look on them as a bit of a nuisance.

They often leave the highest-powered car in the jam just standing.

And parking a scooter is easier than parking a car.

With these advantages, it's not surprising

that the scooter population of Britain

has in 10 years increased from 4,250 to 470,000.

The motor scooter was invented in Britain just after the First World War.

But the idea didn't catch on.

In World War II, a special machine was produced

to be dropped with paratroops into enemy-occupied territory.

This miniature, called a Corgi,

came down by parachute folded up in its own container.

Today's version of the Corgi has no gears and is very simple to drive

and it doesn't go very fast.

But it's just the thing to put in the boot of the family car

if you don't want to drive into a busy shopping centre.

Today, nearly 90,000 new scooters are sold in Britain each year.

About 40% are owned by women.

This new light scooter has been designed with women in mind.

But before it reaches the public, it is man tested.

Here on a tank-testing course, a new scooter is put through its paces.

If a scooter survives this sort of thing,

it should stand up to Mum popping round to the shops on it,

even if she's a heavyweight.

Phew! What a getaway!

There are nearly 1,000 accidents a day on the roads of Britain.

Research into car and road safety takes a hundred forms.

Simple but ingenious experiments

can show up the likely variation in road grip

between two different types of rubber.

Then the full-size tyres go off to the track

and are tried out in real life.

Crash helmets aren't worn by all motorcyclists by any means,

but they help to save lives.

Some experts want car drivers to wear them as well.

Cameras and cathode ray tubes are used to help measure the impact

as a 12lb weight is dropped on the lid.

This could make the difference between life and death in a road accident.

And the simple-looking skid lid

is in fact a major safety factor on the roads today.

Yet it's not compulsory.

The safety seat is fairly new and catching on.

It took two years to design and it may be shape of seats to come.

Everything about the seat appears to be simple, but that's deceptive.

It looks rather like a dentist's chair.

And even the safety belt, which appears to be simplicity itself,

was specially designed after much experiment in Manchester University.

Safety belts have reduced front-seat injuries by a half.

Visitors are shown the egg trick.

Strapped in, the egg is safe.

Now off it goes again. This time, it isn't strapped in.

Poor Humpty Dumpty.

Things like these are all being tested in the name of safety.

Anyone who is free from giddy spells

and excessive short sight can learn to drive.

Or at least have a go.

Some learners don't look as though they'll ever pass the test.

Of course, it's never the driver's fault when he or she fails the test,

it's always sheer bad luck

or the examiner was niggly.

Last year, rather more than half the learners

got through their driving tests.

Which mean simply that they were considered safe enough to be allowed out solo.

Many drivers learn through a school.

There are several thousands to choose from.

Though not every school is recognised by such bodies as these.

Remember that woman who failed her test?

She's decided to learn properly before she goes again.

And this school won't let her near a real car

until she's learnt what makes a clutch engage or not.

On an ingenious mock-up car,

she demonstrates her own special method of steering.

Then, by learning to follow a moving light, she picks up the right idea.

Now her reactions to all sorts of hazards

are tested by other gadgets on this versatile training machine.

By time she gets back on the road, she'll know a lot more than she did.

At police driving schools like this one at Chelmsford,

which looks after 20 different forces,

models are used to demonstrate the possible causes of accidents

and teach drivers how to avoid them.

When they learn driving on the road,

police drivers have to give a running commentary

on what they're doing and why.

Still following the road ahead at a speed of 30mph.

There's a pedal cyclist, stationary vehicle, one opposing vehicle.

Still checking the mirrors.

Some of the safest vehicles in the world are London buses.

Handling a monster this size full of passengers

is quite a different matter.

But all learner drivers have to go through the ordeal by skid

before they qualify.

And here, a veteran shows just what can be done.

But perhaps the greatest lesson in road safety they are taught is this.

Never go faster than the speed you're safe at.

And always remember the other fellow may not be sober or even sane.

Today, there are more than 600 business, taxi and private aircraft

operating in Britain.

Top executives fly to meetings in various parts of the country

and get business done during the flight, too.

Today, all kinds of people use them to go about their business.

Jockeys, for instance, hire air taxis

to fly them to racecourses when time is short.

They can land right on the course and the plane will wait

until they've finished racing to take them home again.

Only in the past 10 years has the business plane become big business.

In Britain, about 80 firms own them.

Mostly conventional planes. But a few have helicopters.

By remote control, Mr Sebastian Ferranti

brings out his own tiny helicopter

from the garage at his Cheshire home.

Flying at 80mph, it does 10 miles to the gallon and costs £11,000.

When its owner sets off from his home in Knutsford

to fly to his factory at Wythenshawe 10 miles away,

he'll arrive in only a few minutes longer

than it takes him to take off and land.

If you've a pilot's licence, you can even self-drive hire an aircraft.

In London, you can arrange for a taxi helicopter

to be waiting for you at Battersea heliport by the River Thames.

But most businessmen want to hire the pilot with the aircraft.

Today, it's almost as simple as hailing a taxi in the street

and may not cost more than three or four times as much.

Here on a Buckinghamshire airfield,

the pilot plans his route for the journey

and an hour before takeoff, checks the plane is in good order

and puts coffee and biscuits aboard.

The aircraft, one of a fleet of six of varying sizes

which this company operates, is soundproofed

so that passengers can get on with their work.

It's almost like being in the office.

The boss starts to dictate to his secretary.

Later on, there's a break for elevenses.

Just like being in the office.

In these days, when time has become a very valuable commodity indeed,

more and more businesspeople

are using aircraft for all sorts of jobs.

They can fly to work and they can work as they fly.

It's a city in itself, covering more than four square miles.

It's Heathrow.

Better known to millions of air travellers as London airport.

And in a few years' time, such is the growth of civil aviation,

it won't be able to cope with the air traffic

flying in and out of London.

In a single month, more than a million passengers

have landed or taken off from here.

And the yearly average is eight million.

Soon it'll be 10 million.

Announcing the arrival of British Overseas Airways

Flight 713 from Sydney and Zurich.

But whatever the destination, every man and his wife are in a hurry.

Behind the scenes, unusual services such as this,

for families with time on their hands at the airport.

Trained nurses and welfare staff

look after the children while the mothers rest.

And the nurseries equipped with toys and playrooms.

In the airport's kitchens, thousands of meals

are prepared for eating in the air.

The weekly order runs to nearly 500lbs fillet steak,

1,000 chickens, 40lbs of caviar

and a ton of English cheeses.

And the meals range from open sandwiches

to full four-course dinners

that'll be eaten 20,000 feet or so over Europe.

To take some of the pressure off London airport,

this airport at Gatwick is being extended.

It's already handling over a million passengers a year.

By 1970, it'll be handling 2.5 million.

And not long after that, five million.

But in the 1970s, London airport and Gatwick together

won't be able to cope with all London's air traffic.

And Stansted airport in Essex is planned as London's third airport.

At present, it's mainly used for flying training and diversions.

Ladies and gentlemen, we're descending now

for our landing at London airport Heathrow.

Heathrow is known the world over

as the pilots' ideal of what an airport should be.

But it's reaching full capacity.

And many a takeoff tomorrow

will have to be from one of London's newer airports.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd