The songs in this film are just classic.  The first was sung by Ewan McColl who sung the "Ballad of John Axon GC" that was immortalised after a train crash.

A very interesting snapshot of British Railways during the steam to diesel transition.  I would have liked to have seen the full credits at the end though.

I like the music here

Reminds  me in some way of the short film on Newton Heath shed , as it was and no frills!

I work on the trains which pass through Darlington. It’s crazy to see how much has changed since then. Things were definitely better back then. The modern railway has no soul to it.

Folk music isn’t normally my genre, however I thoroughly enjoyed both the film and the accompanying music, thank you so much for posting.😊

Talking to an old driver who worked alongside(2nd man) ex steam drivers.Said most couldn't wait to get on the diesels for the easier life. Another told me the ex steam drivers were physically absolutely knackered,struggled to step on to a pavement when they crossed a road. Wasn't as romantic as it seems.

Ewan McColl songs, documenting the work of railway people taken for granted by most people who relied on them

everyone there had one during the Seventies, those roadworks lanterns with big cat eye lenses glazing each of their four verticle sides -- they were everywhere and were so dim at functioning that as a kid I couldn't comprehend the fuss & bother just for imperceptible lighting, yet just the other day I found myself missing how they made home feel homier  🍷

A very interesting and nostalgic look at a bygone era. Having lived though part of that era I can confirm it was a much better time, But the working man had few luxuries and worked hard for anything he got. Hade no doubt drivers and passed firemen couldn’t wait to get into a diesel cab but there where those nearer retirement who chose to leave when steam died out, their working lives all had been with coal and steam and that’s what they where used too

Where can I find the train passing sound effect in 5:02?

Very atypical of Tyne Tees, which was heavily criticized in early days (launch 1959) for lack of regional content and bland showbizzery. Ewan McColl (r/n Jimmy Miller) was the leading exponent of synthetic pseudo-folk music, always with far-left undertones- he had been graylisted by the BBC as a Communist. Not, one suspects, a natural fit for the London-based impresarios who ran TTTV, or for its proletarian audience; though no doubt lefty schoolmasters in big hairy sweaters appreciated Ewan's warblings.

The film and its soundtrack are a nostalgic throwback to the Thirties, with its worker worshipping documentaries. But this was the age of Macmillan's 'never had it so good' consumerism.

Song at 1:09 ?

Could have done without the ghastly patronising folk music soundtrack. Probably some middle class tv producers idea of what the working classes listened to. Far from it. In all my years as a railwayman I never met a single railwaymen who liked this kind of folk music. After a hard days work in a loco shed the last thing you wanted to listen to on the pub jukebox was some bearded twit twanging on a banjo and burbling on about the dignity of the working man.