British Transport Films Collection
- Made:
- 1950-1986
- maker:
- British Transport Films
Photographs, a collection of approximately 2,000 film and glass negatives; 5131 card-mounted silver prints; approximately 10,000 monochrome lantern slides and colour transparencies. The collection represents stills and 116 filmstrips taken during production of British Transport Films (BTF) films, covering British transport, travelogues and training, 1950-1986. Also includes notes and manuscript score for Intercity 1250. Full schedule compiled.
The films themselves reside with the British Film Institute but the National Railway Museum holds the stills archive, which is comprised of negatives, filmstrips, reference prints, and colour transparencies.
The success of the LMS and Southern Railway's publicity film units inspired the British Transport Commission to found a film unit which would promote the newly nationalised transport concerns. Established in 1949, the British Transport Films unit was to play a leading role in the documentary film movement, at one time being the most active documentary film unit in Britain.
The majority of the BTF's output was produced for British Railways but the archive is significant not just as a history of the railways, but as a study of daily life in mid-twentieth century Britain.
Details
- Category:
- Photographic Collections (Railway)
- Object Number:
- 1996-7038
- type:
- photographs
- credit:
- British Railways Board