Miniature Railway (1959)

Romney, Kent.
L/S of a lovely looking train locomotive. A man stands next to it and one realises how small the train is. It is one third of an ordinary train size - says voiceover. However, this is not a toy but a regular public railway, smallest in the world. It is officially known as the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, it runs between Romney and Dungeness and its passengers are children. This tiny railway must conform to the same Ministry of Transport regulations as any other trains. M/S of a driver Mr Bill Hart, checking the train. C/U shot of a plaque reading "Winston Churchill". This is the engine's name. Several shots of Mr Hart checking the train. Mr Hart enters his cabin and starts shovelling coal into a boiler. C/U shot of the coal being thrown in and a little door closed. This train takes one third of the coal needed for a regular size train. The train starts moving.
L/S of the two men turning derailed locomotive on turntable to place it on rails. M/S of a woman cleaning windows along the train. Children arrive and station master, Reg Marsh, directs them to their coaches. M/S of the group of girls entering the train. M/S of the station master Mr Marsh blowing a whistle as a sign that train leaves the station. M/S of an elderly man looking at a huge pocket watch on a chain, and afterwards, in direction of the train. He is Captain Howey, a man responsible for having the line built. C/U shot of the watch - Roman numerals. M/S of Mr Howey as he puts the watch in his pocket. C/U shot of Mr Howey's face.
M/S of the little train moving. C/U shot of its little chimney with a smoke coming out. M/S of the Rose family from Sanderstead, Surrey with their dog Trixie enjoying the ride C/U shot of driver's face with the smoke covering it up to the point it becomes invisible. Another little train passes it going in different direction. Several shots of the two little trains moving. A car stops to wait for the train to pass. L/S of the little train as it approaches the station.
Note: Another driver appearing in the film is Peter Catt. Combined print for this story is missing.
FILM ID:91.17
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[@nigelcarren]

Tiny train but Massive watch? Perhaps this is the legendary 'Village of forced Perspective' I have heard so much about.

[@robertdenton3641]

Fantastic railway. Very enjoyable.

[@Eddy2730]

Sadly, Capt. Howey died in 1963. Since then, the RHDR was taken over by railway-minded businessmen and with its Centenary now fast approaching, it continues to thrive today.

[@HunterSW1]

Always been my dream to have a miniature railway with trains about that big

[@StuartMorrison-gt1eh]

A fantastic experience for all ages travel from Hythe to Dungeness Via New Romney Great shops at Hythe bar and restaurants, a Fantastic Day out.

[@LordTantrums007]

RHDR an absolute gem!

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

And home to the smallest armoured train during WW2 which shot down a German fighter aircraft.

[@Ghost_train_1915]

It did not shot down a a plane it crashed because he thought the engine was big and he dived in into the ground

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@Ghost_train_1915 and surrounded by giant buildings and trees? Talk about target fixation.

[@robnewman6101]

Wow. Interesting.

[@martinleicht5911]

Vell done !! 🍺 😎 👍

[@johndavies1090]

A few years after this film was made the RH&D starred in a spoof train robbery film, which was part of Michael Bentine's "It's a Square World" series on the BBC. Does anybody know if that film still exists? The viaduct you see in this one also appeared in that.

[@ДаниилЛевильен]

1:53 - he reminds me Leonid Kanevsky

[@pianotrainee9314]

"Именно на таком миниатюрном поезде преступник покинул место преступления..." :)

[@krzysztofkosak4720]

I would gladly pay 8000 pounds for this engine 🙂 I guess at that time you could buy a small house for that amount...

[@SalmanMentos]

The average house prices in uk (as of december 2023) is £291029

[@luisvalencia4038]

Estos trenes pertenecen a la civilización anterior creada por Dios, despierten patriotas saludos Q 🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🇨🇱🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰🇨🇱🥰

[@simonsimon325]

Hey you! Are you vibrating that sheep?

[@BlueAgaveStudios]

Nice, but no Swayze Express...

[@BlueAgaveStudios]

Very nice, but should have a little engineer in there, in the interest of scale old boy...

[@TinnyTiT4N]

Does this still exist?

[@maxwellthehedgehog6273]

Of course it does

[@billsmith281]

@@maxwellthehedgehog6273 Wow thanks for the detailed info🤤

[@bertroost1675]

I love European culture.

[@BirbarianHomeGuard]

Have you ever noticed that it is Europeans that always design and develop “transportation management” video games in the current age?

[@abracadabra5418]

WASP the best one