"Rediscovering "'Let's Go To Birmingham" | Restored VHS Gem"

In 1952 the BBC produced a short novelty film under the title London to Brighton in Four Minutes. Filmed from the front of a train at two frames per second and then run at the standard 24, it gave the illusion of a spectacularly high-speed journey. This technique proved so popular with audiences that it was copied many times by other film units. Let’s Go to Birmingham was British Transport Films’ first attempt. 

To the accompaniment of Johann Strauss’s Perpetuum Mobile, the film speeds the viewer from Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill in five and a half minutes – at about 960mph! Inside the train, passengers eat and drink, sleep or read, oblivious to the giddy speed at which they seem to travel. Shot from the cab of one of British Railway’s new 90mph Diesel Luxury Express Blue Pullmans, this film is a wonderful time capsule from the steam-to-diesel crossover period, as seen from the driver’s view.

Director

Jack West

Genres

Documentary

Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

The Blue Pullman Train was the height of Luxury of the early 1960s. It was the foreunner of the HST intercity 125 fleet. The film "let's go to Birmingham" was made in 1962. The driver featured was Ernest Morris, he was one of the first to be passed out to drive the Blue Pullmans; sadly he was killed shortly after this film was made in a train accident at Knowle and Dorridge. The Pullman train was I believe 1040 Western Queen, a replacement for the usual Blue Pullman hit a freight train of flat wagons loaded with Land Rovers that were crossing over the main line from the MAT Transport yard. The guard of the Landrover train managed to jump clear, it was reported that Land Rovers and the loco were wedged up high against the brick footbridge. With Ernest in the cab were two other men and tragically all died at the scene.

Driver Ernest Morris from the Film thanks to BFI

http://i45.servimg.com/u/f45/12/05/77/62/pullma10.jpg

The film covers the journey between Paddington to Birmingham and is interesting as it shows steam locos passing on the adjacent tracks. The film is shot at 2 frames per second and then shown at 24 frames per second, which was the way that the railways had done it since they made the first one; Brighton run made in the 1930s. The film is 6 minutes long, the quality is not bad but a bit dark. The film is available from the British Film Institute who have given a common licence to use this one and there are other interesting ones on their site. Thanks to BFI.