Corporate film produced for GEC Traction and Signal (Pty) Ltd, co-produced by SABI productions and Group Editors.

The film presents GEC Traction and Signal (Pty) Ltd., as the leader manufacturer and supplier for electric traction equipment in South Africa since the invention of the electric train. The company has been the supplier for South African Railways for more than 50 years. It supplies and manufactures traction equipment for locomotives, motor coaches (suburban railways) and provides signalling engineering services.

The film starts with a selection of still images (drawings, paintings) of early steam locomotives. Most footage was shot on the company’s work site near Johannesburg, showing employees and machines at work manufacturing electrical traction equipment. The various phases of manufacturing are filmed: winding, welding, testing.

Further shots show the completed equipment leaving the works for Union Carriage & Wagon, based in Nigel, to be fitted on locomotive bogies. Some footage also illustrates the company’s signalling services and shots were taken of the centralised traffic control system based in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

There are also images of South African electric locomotives and motor coaches running on the lines.