Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 5626 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| THE LONG DRAG | 1963 | 1963-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 50 mins Subject: Transport Railways |
| Summary This is an award winning film made by members of Halifax Cine Club around the time of the impending Beeching Report of 1963, which the filmmakers clearly had in mind. It shows members of the club traversing the whole 72 miles of the line by train and by foot, stopping off to highlight many of the viaducts, tunnels and features on the line, includi ... |
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Description
This is an award winning film made by members of Halifax Cine Club around the time of the impending Beeching Report of 1963, which the filmmakers clearly had in mind. It shows members of the club traversing the whole 72 miles of the line by train and by foot, stopping off to highlight many of the viaducts, tunnels and features on the line, including the temporary shanty town for those who built it. The commentary not only provides a history of, and architectural guide to, the places along...
This is an award winning film made by members of Halifax Cine Club around the time of the impending Beeching Report of 1963, which the filmmakers clearly had in mind. It shows members of the club traversing the whole 72 miles of the line by train and by foot, stopping off to highlight many of the viaducts, tunnels and features on the line, including the temporary shanty town for those who built it. The commentary not only provides a history of, and architectural guide to, the places along the line they visit, but also notes the importance of the line for those places it serves.
The film begins with a woman on a train smoking a cigarette as she looks out the window of a train and leafs through a magazine. Other passengers are shown on the Thames Clyde Express as it makes its way along the 426 mile route from London to Glasgow in just over 8 hours. The commentary explains the origins of the line developing out of the desire of the Midland Railway Company to have a line through to Scotland to rival those of the North Eastern and Western railways.
A train pulls out of Helifield Station, pulled by locomotive 45232, delivering milk to the stations en route to Settle, with the film making team on board. A signalman, Mr Evans, pulls off several signals at the Settle junction, allowing a diesel hauled train to make its way up the long climb. They next do a tour of Settle Station, meeting the Station Master, Mr Taylor, who shows them his alpine plants which adorn the station.
They continue on their journey, pointing out various places on the way, including: Stainforth Force, Sherriff Brow Viaduct, Helwith Bridge, the limestone quarry near Horton in Ribblesdale station, looking towards Pen-y-ghent mountain and they stop at No 1 Salt Lake railway cottages. Here, Alfred Fleck, a descendant of one of the original workmen, shows an original desk used to pay the workmen during construction. The train continues on its journey, passing Kirkby Stephen. At Ribblehead Station, the Station Master, Bill Sharp, shows his weather recording apparatus, which he still uses, assisted by his son Geoffrey. One of the film crew walks over the ruined navvy settlement at Batty Green towards the Ribblehead Viaduct, examining some of the remains and giving an account of its history and that of Ribblehead Viaduct, over which a steam engine passes pulling a train of coal wagons. He continues to Blea Moor Tunnel. They stand clear as the Clyde Express enters the tunnel. Here they stop to brew some tea and watch as a diesel traction unit goes through the tunnel pulling a passenger train. They clamber over the rocks at Blea Moor and at the top look over Dentdale, and on to Dent Head Viaduct, over which a steam locomotive hauls a goods train.
They visit the Church of St Leonard at Chapel-le-Dale, showing the tablet dedicated to those who died constructing the line, and some of the graves. They pass a part of the line where new track is being laid using a steam powered crane, and another goods train passes (locomotive 44854). They continue on foot to Artem Gill Viaduct, looking over the Vale of Dent and on to Dent village. The journey continues by train, stopping at Dent Station, visiting the house of the Station Master, Davy Graham. Here they sit and watch a passenger train pass. They walk on to Rise Hill Tunnel and onto to Garsdale, showing the water troughs, as another passenger train passes (pulled by 60023). We see the closed 6 mile line to Hawes, with the derelict station and track.
Then they visit Garsdale Station and the stockade turntable there. Then on to Dandry Mire Viaduct, then in Westmorland, and the signal box at the county border. They proceed by car along the old turnpike road, from Lancaster to Ingleton. Inside the Hill Inn, with landlord Tom Kilburn, patrons are playing dominoes. There is then film of the area in winter covered in snow. They move on to Blea Moor Tunnel and Ribblehead Station, also covered in snow, with an engine passing through light. We are informed that there is a speed restriction because the cold has distorted the gauge of the track. It is explained that in such conditions the local communities are particularly dependent on the railway line.
Leaving the winter landscape behind, they continue through Birkett Tunnel and Kirkby Stephen West Station, visiting the town of Kirkby Stephen and Smardale Viaduct, with a passenger train passing being pulled by the locomotive ‘Venus’ (70023). They continue by train, stopping to wander around the village of Appleby. Their train stops to take in water and pick up six milk wagons. On through Eden Gorge, passing the station of Culgaith, stopping to pick up passengers before arriving at Carlisle, where they disembark and take a rest on a bench on the platform. Then there follows more shots of steam trains passing along various parts of the line. It is stated that over 90 years the line has carried 80 trains for each 24 hour period. Then we see coal being shovelled into the boiler of engine 70048 with some boys watching.
The End
1963
Filmed by kind permission of British Rail and with the co-operation of railway staff.
Directed by Donald Horsfield
Photographed and edited by Peter Boocock
Narration and script by Tom Blackburn
Context
This film was made in 1963 by the Halifax Cine club, which was founded in 1938. The club is still going today, and now goes by the moniker ‘Halifax Cine & Video Club’, the video part added in 1982 to recognise advances in technology. The club produced mainly documentary and actuality films, and several of these are available to view on the Yorkshire Film Archive’s Website. Popular films among the members were the holiday films of C.C Thomas, the quality and length of which were so great...
This film was made in 1963 by the Halifax Cine club, which was founded in 1938. The club is still going today, and now goes by the moniker ‘Halifax Cine & Video Club’, the video part added in 1982 to recognise advances in technology. The club produced mainly documentary and actuality films, and several of these are available to view on the Yorkshire Film Archive’s Website. Popular films among the members were the holiday films of C.C Thomas, the quality and length of which were so great that they inspired other members to improve their own films. The Long Drag was made by Peter Boocock, a Halifax local and prominent member of the Halifax Cine Club, who produced many of the club’s films.
The Long Drag was filmed over three years starting in 1960 and was a real labour of love. The film was made as a direct response to the threat of governmental cuts to the railways, with the impending Beeching Report of 1963. This was an issue that these filmmakers as well as other locals felt passionate about, as many of the threatened lines where vital lifelines to many. (See below for more historical context.) The filmmakers use the journey itself to carry the narrative; the filmmakers catch the 11.58 from Settle and then travel the entirety of the line to Carlisle, focusing on significant and interesting landmarks along the way. The narrator describes a ‘gruelling climb’ that the line begins with and recognises the plight and ingenuity of the men that originally built the line around 100 years prior. The filmmakers made the efforts to disembark at various stops to get some beautiful shots of the surrounding countryside – Mr. Boocock’s talent for photography shining through. We can only imagine how time consuming and difficult it would have been to carry and set up the heavy, delicate equipment numerous times a day. Amateur filmmaking was expensive as well as cumbersome; C.C Thomas, another member of the club, estimated in 1966 that “a minute of film cost about £1 to produce” – an incredible £17.50 in today’s money, meaning that the cost of film alone for The Long Drag would have been about £850! Their hard work paid off and the film was named one of the world-wide “Ten best” films of 1963 in an annual competition held by Amateur Cine World, a highly regarded weekly publication. The Settle-Carlisle line was first opened to the public in 1876, as part of Midland Railway and was designed to follow the natural pathways across the Pennines. The reasoning for this was to increase speed on journeys as a way of securing more passengers than their rivals. The line was built by 6,000 men almost completely by hand, the last main line railway in England to do so. Many workers died while constructing the line from smallpox outbreaks and work-related accidents; there are memorials dotted along the line to commemorate those that lost their lives. The filmmakers took great care to capture all the sights the line has to offer, highlighting the historical significance of the site and this helped the line stay open. In 1981 proposals to close the line to the public and have it used solely for commercial purposes began to surface. Public protest and an upsurge in passengers ensured that the line would stay open once and for all. Today, the line thrives, with over a million passengers each year. This film was made in response to the Beeching Report, an infamous government report which recommended different cuts and closures to the railways following the failure to modernise British Railways. The report would often overlook the importance of certain lines, instead focusing on the very basic economic benefits of closing or keeping lines open. As a result, 4,500 route miles, 2,500 stations and 67,700 jobs were all lost. This had an understandable impact across the nation and people were up in arms against Dr Beeching’s recommendations, with many vital lifelines for small towns now severed. This film is about the Settle-Carlisle Line, which survived two falls of the Beeching Axe; once in the 1960s and again in the 1980s. As previously mentioned, the film highlights the various landmarks that dot the countryside surrounding the track and this helped the survival of this historical line. This shows us that film, even when made by amateurs, can be an extremely powerful and thought-provoking medium that has the potential to change lives. The Settle-Carlisle line has its own canine mascot; Ruswarp, a border collie belonging to Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line Co-founder, Graham Nuttall, as featured in End of the Line?. Mr Nuttall and his trusty companion set off walking in the hills in January 1990, sadly never to return. Mr Nuttall’s body was found 11 weeks later and astonishingly, so was Ruswarp, who had never left his master’s side. The faithful pooch had survived and lived long enough to attend his master’s funeral. A statue commemorating the loyalty of Ruswarp and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the line’s restoration was erected in 2009 at the pair’s favourite station, Garsdale, which is near the summit of the line. The line is still well-known and admired today, and has even been featured in at least three computer games! References: (There are lots of books available that have been written about the Settle-Carlisle line, and the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Railway have collated an impressive bibliography here, which include details on how to access different primary sources too) Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line Bibliography Fountain, Mark, Home Movies Beyond the Home: The Amateur Holiday Film of C.C. Thomas and The Halifax Cine Club, 1957-1973 (2008) The statue of Ruswarp in memory of Graham Nuttall |
