The West Midlands in the early 1960s was a hive of activity with Stourbridge Junction yards handling large tonnages of freight both into and out of the Birmingham area.

To the northwest, Shrewsbury handled a constant flow of passenger traffic with the Western region running London to Birkenhead services, plus through trains to the Cambrian coast.

In addition, routes had to be found for north/south expresses, local branch trains and stopping trains.

The steelworks at Brymbo is visited en route way to Chester, where heavy North Wales Coast holiday traffic competed with freight workings for a path through the station.

Between 1959 and 1968, railway enthusiast and cine-cameraman, Michael Marsden, recorded views and sounds of the rapidly changing face of Britain's rail network.

For over twenty-five years after steam ended, he captivated audiences throughout the country with his unique film collection that captured steam's last decade and the full emergence of the diesel locomotive.

The blending of this film and that of other cameramen with true sounds of the era, plus an informative narrative, has resulted in the creation of this superb range of railway videos detailing the last decade of British mainline steam operations.

Produced by - Marsden Rail
Running time - 55 Minutes
DVD only