A special edition of the Tyne Tees Television current affairs programme ‘Briefing’ on Sidney Weighell who between 1975 and 1983 was General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen. Taking a journey aboard a train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Sid speaks with presenter Ian Breach about his early life, his career both on the railway as well as in the union leading up to his resignation following revelations that he voted against his own delegates at the 1982 Labour Party Conference...

A special edition of the Tyne Tees Television current affairs programme ‘Briefing’ on Sidney Weighell who between 1975 and 1983 was General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen. Taking a journey aboard a train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway Sid speaks with presenter Ian Breach about his early life, his career both on the railway as well as in the union leading up to his resignation following revelations that he voted against his own delegates at the 1982 Labour Party Conference to support the National Union of Mineworkers under it’s new President Arthur Scargill. Title: Tyne Tees Briefing Special A steam train on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway pulls carriages along the line between Pickering and Malton in North Yorkshire. Title: On Weighells News footage from October 1982 of a special meeting of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) taking place in Birmingham where its General Secretary Sid Weighell is forced to resign when members discovered he had voted against them and their support for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) led by Arthur Scargill. He gives a press conference where he explains his position and his plans for the future. The train steams into the platform at Malton while Sid Weighell sitting onboard as it speeds through the North Yorkshire landscape. He talks to presenter Ian Breach about his early career on the railways and with the NU and provides details on what he sees as his purpose being a member of the union and his realisation that he could become General Secretary. A montage of historic postcards and photographs of the market town of Northallerton where Sid came from. Standing on Malpas Drive in the town he recalls growing up in the town and his early experience of socialism via is father and grandfather who were both members of the NUR, the only union in Northallerton at the time. Standing on the platform at Northallerton railway station Sid talks about their experience working on the railway with relevant archival images used to illustrate some of the points being made. Sid walks along a path beside a large warehouse remembering his time work at here where it was the Northallerton rail depot. Archive images of the depot are shown as the builds are now gone. As he walks past the front of the warehouse a forklift loads a pallet of sacks onto an articulated lorry. An Inter-City 125 passenger train passes through Northallerton station changes to archival image of smaller steam locomotives passing through the town. From the cabin of a Class 56 diesel locomotive passing over a level-crossing, the driver collects a token from the signalman. Standing in the guard van at the back of this cargo train Sid Weighell talks about working as a fireman on this branch line thorough Wensleydale. With Ian Breach beside him, Sid looks over a steam locomotive in a shed of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Malton. He looks back with nostalgia at his time working at Darlington, then a hub of the steam age, but wouldn’t do it again because of the grind and hard work. A photograph of Sid meeting the driver of Chairman Mo’s train in Peking China changes to him speaking with an ex-British Rail driver, now volunteer on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, about his locomotive standing on the nearby platform. Holding a small hammer, the driver shows him his bigger implement hidden beside the driver cab. Black and white newsreel of Sid speaking at the Labour Party Conference in 1966 in which he gives NUR support to Harold Wilson’s government is followed by him speaking at the 1978 Labour Party conference where he warned delegates that if they can’t keep their ‘snouts out of the trough’ they will eventually lose all power and influence. He goes onto reject a pay offer made by James Callaghan’s Labour government. The steam train deports Malton heading back towards Pickering, a boy sitting in the first carriage waves at the camera. Sitting onboard Sid talks about why he rejected the pay offer. A British Rail Class 55 or Deltic diesel engine passes the steam train stopped at another station, as he gets underway again Sid talks about a meeting with then Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 1975 and other members of the Labour cabinet with regards establishing a social contract that prevented a national rail strike. As the journey on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway continues, Sid complains that as governments change on such a regular basis it is hard to get politicians and ministers to be able to support long-term development as they are only politically interested in the short-term. Having travelled across the world Sid explains that he has seen many examples of changing governments have a consistent plan for investments in railways as they see it as vital to their economy. In the bar of The Station public house Sid speaks with a group of older railwaymen about the current state of the industry. There is a criticism of management with too many people coming in with qualifications rather than experience. They are also critical of government interference. Back onboard the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Sid talks about his working relationship with both William Rogers Secretary of State for Transporter in James Callahan’s Labour government and then later with Norman Fowler secretary under Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government. As the steam train speeds past along its track, the film changes to Sid speaking at the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Conference of 1981 against privatisation. A montage of still and moving images relating to what Ian Breach describes as the threats to the ‘old guard’ of the NUR ends with another Inter-City 125 passenger train speeding past along a track passing a sign that reads ‘Stockton and Darlington Railway 1825’. Back onboard the North Yorkshire Moors Railway train Sid talks about attempts to create a federation between the NUR and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) and the strained relationship with Ray Buckton its General Secretary. Another Inter-City 125 passenger train speeds through Northallerton station changes to Sid leaving the meeting of the NUR in Birmingham following his resignation. The railway shunting yard just outside Bank Top Station in Darlington changes to a derelict piece of land where Sid talks to Ian about his resignation and the lead up to it. Over the closing credits another Inter-City 125 passenger train heading south towards Darlington’s Bank Top Station. Credit: Executive Producer Michael Partington Camera Fred Crone Sound Ed Gray Editor John Louvre Researcher Ian Krause Director Paul Dickin Producer Bob Farnworth End title: Tyne Tees. © Tyne Tees Television Ltd. MCMLXXXV