THIS is the latest DVD from the Ivo Peters Railway Archive Collection. Volume 4 features North Wales Narrow Gauge Steam, recorded on high quality 16mm colour film, from nearly 60 years ago.
Though the programme was originally released on VHS in 1988 the material has been totally re-mastered for DVD.
And what a fascinating feast of rare material!
There is substantial coverage of the well-known ‘preserved’ narrow gauge steam lines – Talyllyn as far as Abergynolyn, the Vale of Rheidol in BR days, the Snowdon Mountain Railway, and the Ffestiniog Railway as far as Tan-y-Bwlch.
It is certainly a very different yet intriguing world of preservation to that which we know today. The programme is further enhanced by an excellent commentary.
The main treat is the substantial coverage devoted to ‘real’ working narrow gauge Welsh railways. Both the Penrhyn Slate Quarry Railway down through Bethesda to Port Penrhyn and the Padarn and Dinorwic Quarries Railways receive extensive coverage.
We should be thankful that Ivo Peters took the time and trouble to record scenes on these two systems just before closure. The coverage of quarry activity and transhipment at Padarn are amazing.
Many narrow gauge industrial steam locos are featured – especially the various models of Hunslet. Thankfully, many of these locos have survived into preservation in the UK, US and elsewhere.
Luckily, a significant stretch of the 4ft-gauge Padarn Railway survives as the trackbed for the Llanberis Lake Railway. However, so much has been completely lost, and this DVD provides a very important record of these industrial quarry railways when they were still working.
This is a DVD that should delight all fans of Welsh narrow gauge railways – whether it be early preservation scenes or classic scenes of quarry-related industrial activity. Recommended very strongly. RSS
2 Dark Lane, Steeple Aston, Near Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 6EY
DVD c.49 minutes £16.95
Read more Reviews, Letters, Opinion, News and Features in the June 2019 issue of The RM –on sale now
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