Thursday 31 January 2013

This and That!

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the 30 minute programmes on BBC 2,  this week, on the Welsh Highland Railway. Another example of dedicated and heroic work by heritage railway volunteers. Every character you see on the film you will know an equivalent that works next to you! If you missed the films they are on the BBC iplayer for a few more days at:

Part 1

Part 2

The programmes followed Michael Portillo's new series of Great British Railway Journeys which is well worth a watch - the GWR Paddington to Newton Abbot run  this week.

2 comments:

Norfolkman said...

I watched the series on mini-series on the Welsh Highland Railway. It was very enjoyable but when comparing it to great work being done at Broadway (and elsewhwere on the GWR) it should be emphasised that the Ffestiniog Railway (who masterminded the WHR rebuilding) received a huge grant of something like £30 million from I think, the EU. I followed their rebuilding blog and can confirm they used mostly contractors for rebuilding the line. They did however use volunteer labour for the track laying and a few other projects. If only other steam railways in the UK could get the finacial support that the Ffestiniog did for the WHR project! In the meantime, keep up the great work at Broadway!

Richard said...

Mr Portaloo's railway journey's are a delight to watch and he certainly likes to ride a heritage line wherever possible. The West Somerset almost got last night's episode to itself. He was there toward the end of May last year. It will be interesting to see if the WSR can identify an uplift in passenger numbers directly attributable to the broadcast. What with Dan Snow's just finished railway history series plus the half-hour contributions from BBC Wales straight after Mr P, there's been something decent to watch on telly, lately. Has he been invited to visit the GWSR for the next series?