Eastleigh Rail Works 1994
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- A Resource Base Production video of Eastleigh Railway Works filmed and produced in 1994 to showcase the 1000+ person rail engineering repair and refurbishment team and facilities of British Rail Engineering Ltd, then known as British Rail Maintenance Ltd at the rail depot in Eastleigh, Hampshire, UK ahead of the Wessex Traincare 1995 management buyout privatisation, later being sold to Alstom SA and rebranded Alstom Wessex Traincare
The film includes full narration plus brief explanation interviews with various trades persons including Kevin Warne [Painter], Sharon Simmonds [Slinger], Benny Hill [Inspector], Malcolm Boudier [Bogie and under-frame Repairer], Chris Beare [Wheel Shop Manager], Dave Folland [Electrical Superintendent], Gordon Merritt [Chief Foreman, Electrical Production], Bill Merryman [Chief Foreman, Paint Shop], Tony Kilmartin [Project Engineer], Graham Redfern [Resource Manager] and Works Manager, Malcolm Stainthorpe
Copyright originally lay with Resource Base Production who, from what I can establish, are no longer trading. As far as I can establish, the film is unedited from the original version except the addition of the beginning title added for clarity
I had two great uncles that worked there. One was a signwriter and he did beautiful work.
Hi Philip, Thanks for taking a look at the video and for your comment. Two men from the same family was not unusual at all. The company encouraged employing multiple members of the same family. Vince
My Dad was the architect behind the Eastleigh Station rebuild in the 90's, still got his drawings and photos.
Hi and thanks for your comment. The drawings and photos would make a great video. Perhaps you could tell an illustrated story of the rebuild one day. As you can see from the number of views of the video I uploaded I am sure you will find a willing audience. Vince
Really enjoyed this seeing faces I knew, me ex coach trimmer 1970 -1987
Hi Fred, Thanks for watching. Glad it bought back some nice memories. Vince
So many different skills, brought back so many memories.
Hi Julie, Thanks for taking a look at my video and for your comment. You're right, the works required so many different trades employing so many people. Vince
i worked at 2 London train care centres doing maintenance to underground tube stock. very enjoyable
Hi Mike, Thanks for watching the video and for your comment. I could interpret your thought of 'very enjoyable' to either your experience with the tube team or the video content. Either way, I'm pleased for you. Vince
Fascinating insight and a great piece of recorded history, though a million miles away from today's concept of advanced manufacturing. Thanks for sharing .
You're welcome. Thanks for your comment. Vince
I'm as sad as anyone about the decline in UK rail engineering and engineering in general but watching videos like this tells us why. There's some progressive initiatives like the CNC machines here however so many of these skills are of the past - not modern engineering. It was just stuck in the past...
Hi George, thanks for watching the video and commenting. It's true we are moving way from a skills based country to a service based one but that's what fate has in store for us, it seems. I agree that traditional skills should be applauded and TV programmes like The Repair Shop exemplify this. It is true that this is shown in part in this video and anyone who had worked in Eastleigh Works should have realised it was a decaying model with all the major woks being gradually outsourced to often foreign companies. Somehow management failed to see this happening soon enough and the current mish mash of companies working under one roof is indicative of our modern attitude to skills. There were some very talented trades but not enough incentive to invest in training others. Vince
Your right those men were skilled, modern trains might be assembled in a shorter time frame but it’s debatable if there any better, and no doubt they will have a shorter working life. Towards the end of my railway career I was trained on the new Hitachi’s and what a disappointment they were, sterile, awful seat quality, and nearly double the cost of leasing compared to a HST, give me a British built train with a design life of forty plus years, built with that old fashioned quality any day.
Depending on the outcome of our present economic woes, a return to skills might well be on the cards. I doubt it will look the same as before, but shortages of commodities and the ever lengthening of supply chains will force us back to refurbishment rather than replacement. Really you only have to look at the class 69 to begin to see this happening. I wonder how much scope there is to refurbish modern multiple units forever? The thing about the "dying model" was that with skill you could refurbish forever. A piece of hardwood here, a piece of steel angle there. made by hand, re-made by hand. A modern carriage door is a complex extruded aluminium weldment. It has epoxy bonded carbon fibre parts. Built by robots in a land far away. Disposable. Once it is worn out, you melt it down and start again with something new and different. Maybe it lasts longer, but nothing lasts forever.
Hi Andy, Thanks for your comment Personally, I don't think our country will return to a skills based market. There will always be a more willing and cheaper labour supply elsewhere in the world and current supply chain issues will resolve shortly, certainly sooner than we can retrain. Vince
@@vinceunlimited I think the increasing cost of energy has changed everything. Those with the energy don't want to sell it to us. We don't want to pay them even if they did. With an ever more resolute intent to be environmentally friendly we have to move on from the throwaway society. People think of the environmental cost of using infrastructure, but they rarely consider the environmental cost of providing infrastructure. The supply chain problems are here to stay as far as I can see, but I accept it depends on exactly how that fact turns out - and no one knows for sure.
At least train travel is environmentally friendly
The company I worked for throughout the 60's / 70's and 80's made all the carriage doors for br
And as far as I recall they all worked as required allowing entrance through an otherwise sealed tube. I'm sure you played your part admirably Graham. Thanks for the comment. Vince
Nice soundtrack, like on a wobbly vhs tape!
Little known fact, VHS tape recording was surprisingly accurate. Back in the day everything sounded like that
I went to an open day there, I believe when it was Knight Loco Works, and this brought back memories of the day. Ws it Peter Purves narrating?
Hi Brian, Thanks for taking a look at the video and making a comment. My wife, Lynda, worked there for 30 years and cannot recall when it was Knight Loco Works. it went from British Rail Engineering Limited [BREL] then went to British Rail Maintenance Limited [BRML] the privatised to Wessex Traincare, then sold to Alstom, when she left. After leaving, there were a number of leased companies under an umbrella structure I think, such as Siemens carrying out various specialist functions. In regard to the commentary the voice is familiar to me but not Peter Purves. I think it was a South Today news presenter. Vince
PS Have since checked and Wkipedia has a page entitled Eastleigh Works which details more data but confirms what I said above
Sounds like the narrator was none other than Fred Dineage, as you say, the local news presenter
You could be right Paul. Thanks for your input. Vince
@@vinceunlimited Arlington Fleet are the company that has occupied the site for over 15 years that I can remember. Siemens and Hitachi rent space from Arlington. The current story I heard is the issue they have now is the site was still owned by a company involved in the rail industry and they offered the site for sale not that long ago. Due to other investments Arlington sadly couldn't afford it, so Savills ended up buying it and have started jacking up the rent. The issue is that when Savills have made it uneconomical to operate and it all shuts down to be turned in to housing, where is the work going to be done? Are we going to ship trains off to Poland for repair?
Hi Robin, thanks for your thoughts on the site. Over the years the business has altered with some work being relocated to other UK sites and other stuff moving abroad. I'm no expert on the rail industry but it seems that the site is nearing the end of its time with rail works. I did hear about the proposal to turn the site towards housing but as with many brownfield site developments on ex-industrial land there would be a big problem with soil contamination. No-one wants their kids digging up their new garden and finding it full of waste oil and minerals even if the thought of discovering interesting artefacts from the golden age of rail would be interesting.
Where’s the 07? I once asked the security guard at the works gates. Just as he was giving me a load of old boll*cks a car pulled up,a works manager. He asked what I was up to so I told him. “I’m looking for the 07”. He opened his car door for me,drove round to where it was and then drove me back to the gate. Nice chap,bet it wouldn’t happen now.
Most at the works were railway fans themselves so would understand what doing something to help you would mean. Thanks for watching the video and your anecdote. Vince
And I thought that Benny Hill was dead but he was working for BR until Sir John Major gave it away to his mates for a song at least.
Thanks for your comment Kevan
Could I post this in our group on Facebook? We are based at Eastleigh with 2 class 50s. Thanks in advance 😊
Hi Nick,
Thanks for taking an interest in my video. You are welcome to put it on your group page.
I do not use FaceBook anymore so have not put this video on that site myself and am unable to check if it is on the site anywhere else.
I do not mind if you direct your viewers to my UA-cam video itself the link of which can be found at ua-cam.com/video/aDnjIvCmbQo/v-deo.html or even to my general Rail Related UA-cam videos collection at
ua-cam.com/play/PLKfB1CzjYz1VBz6CCsQt7pmEMZgot1cAV.html
A credit to my UA-cam site at www.youtube.com/@vinceunlimited would be welcomed.
You will be aware that I am not the © owner of the content itself. It was made for Eastleigh Works by Resource Base Productions and I acquired a copy. As it was not available on UA-cam at the time, plus I thought it of interest to many, I posted it for others to see. I have no idea whether Resource Base Productions still exist and as you will know the old Eastleigh Works changed corporate identity a few times itself. Check out my video description for more information.
Best wishes to you and your group.
Vince
𝓅𝓇o𝓂o𝓈𝓂 💖
Thanks Roddie
what happened !!!!!!!!!!!!! to all the skills !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! , something not right here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Thanks Tom for your comment. It used to be an engineering company but moved to being primarily a maintenance works. Plus later on, after privatisation, a lot of work was lost to Siemens in Germany. Obviously. At least this record of the works has been partially captured. Vince