Steam over Ais Gill 1966/7

8mm cine film shot by me on the Settle to Carlisle line towards the end of BR steam on this route.
The opening scenes demonstrate how severe the weather can be in the northern hills as a lorry mounted snow plough gets stuck in a drift near Garsdale. We had travelled to Garsdale behind the plough in order to film Flying Scotsman on the northbound Lakes and Fells rail tour from Manchester. While we were waiting a pair of Standard 4-6-0s turned up with rail mounted ploughs and stopped to take water.
The wind was so strong that it was difficult to hold the camera still even on a tripod!
Even in the summer the weather can change quickly to heavy rain as some of the later shots demonstrate.
As well as Garsdale other locations filmed include Mallerstang, Ribblehead viaduct, Birkett tunnel, Smardale viaduct. Dent, Arton Gill viaduct, Kirby Stephen West and Ais Gill summit.
The video has an authentic soundtrack most of which was recorded at the time of filming

[@johnjephcote7636]

Wonderfully edited! The wind aided the effects of smoke and steam. For me, a great time to be eighteen. Must go through my neglected slides from that time.

[@updistant]

Unbelievable that these historical views are turning up. Fantastic quality and sound. Thank you for posting and eternal gratitude to all who took such images.

[@MichaelTaylor-ei7es]

I’m a bit of a steam video junky. This is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Thank you.

[@alantunbridge8919]

This line in steam days was something of a holy grail for railway enthusiasts. I travelled over it northwards in 1961 behind a”Jubilee “& in 1962 behind a”Royal Scot” & southwards in 1966 behind a “Britannia”,also returned in 1967 to Ribblehead to do photography. Great days! Nice film ,brings back good memories.

[@kennethstill5945]

Fantastic, more please! A time when the railways were at their most interesting, mixture of stem and diesel and the infrastructure not obliterated by the impending cuts. Used that line a few times on the forties when driver training from 55H.
Love films from 51A being a Darlington man myself. That winter of 1962/63 was terrible, the Up Thames/Clyde was blocked by snow drifts exiting Dent head tunnel in 63.

[@larx4074]

Wonderful!! More please...... Many thanks for sharing........👍👍

[@antmerritt]

Brilliant! A great record of steam on the line. So many of those beautiful engines look in dire need of a visit to the works for a decent overhaul, so sad. They all are working so hard! 👊😎👍

[@limeyfox]

This is stunning footage and with original sound, wow!

[@melodymonger]

Amazing footage again 🤩👍. At least it is to me. I lived in Carlisle for 9 years from 2001 and used to photograph all the steam excursions coming through the station and I regularly travelled the Settle-Carlisle line but to see it around the time I was born is just priceless 👏

[@SWRural-fk2ub]

So impressive to see the amount of goods traffic still on rail then.

[@jeremylewis3514]

really enjoyed this many thanks for sharing!

[@cedarcam]

Great to see the line back then. Glad you recorded the sound at the same time as well. Did you use a clockwork camera?

[@PeterHutchinson-jc6wv]

Yes I had (and still have ) a Bolex P4 standard 8 camera which has a 30 second run time when fully wound.

[@cedarcam]

@@PeterHutchinson-jc6wv Nice you still have the camera. I thought it was likely clockwork because of the gaps during filming. Someone I knew had one. We don't know how lucky we are now able to record continuously for hours.

[@PeterHutchinson-jc6wv]

Hello again.
Another consideration when filming with a cine camera was the cost of film and the need to use all of the capacity of the reel which was 2 minutes each side making 4 minutes in all at a cost of £1 and 5 shillings in 1966. Therefor it could prove expensive to film complete rakes of wagons or coaches as they passed.