1961 Ponteland Rail plant exhibition.

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Bryan Blundell

Posted: 5 June 2018, 20:43

I was pointed in the direction of this old film today.

Early version of Rail Live I guess.

Some rare beasts on view.

http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/plant-display-ponteland-june-1961

David French

Posted: 6 June 2018, 14:00

An absolutely fascinating film - will probably need several views to take it all in. Very surprised to see a Gradall excavator being demonstrated. A popular make in the USA but for some reason the telescopic boom design never caught on over here.

Ben Williams Editor

Posted: 6 June 2018, 16:17

Agreed - very interesting to see such clear video footage from this era. I'm sure many others here will appreciate you posting - thanks.

Lerpass Mapter

Posted: 7 June 2018, 21:29

The ER imported a few Gradall machines, non were RR though, note all had York road registrations and LH drive.

Was well before my time, but I remember several conversations with older operators and fitters involved who all said what a fantastic machine they were.

A good operator could grade a perfect track bed with them, also the telescoping jib could rotate a full 360', so good for grading crossfall and embankments.

As said, surprised why they didn't catch on in the UK, I heard nothing but praise for them!

John Brown

Posted: 10 June 2018, 03:26

i remember the wagon mounted digger from when i was a kid in the late 60's. it came down to pannal on the harrogate / leeds line and thay used it to remove all the vegitaion on the banking at the back of are old house.

Keith Gunner

Posted: 10 June 2018, 17:51

A big thank you to Bryan for alerting us to this rare footage.

Any more?

Keith Gunner

Bryan Blundell

Posted: 10 June 2018, 19:07

As I said at the top , I was pointed towards it so can not claim to have found it.

There are a number of other titles that have been added to the Yorkshire Film Archive, many to do with the early days of the NYMR.

http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/search?search_api_views_fulltext=pickering+railway&sort_by=search_api_relevance&sort_order=DESC&=Submit

I have not looked at all of them so do not know what is on them.

There are some that have appeared on the Fastline Photographic series of DVDs about 10 years or more back.

http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/search?search_api_views_fulltext=pickering+railway&sort_by=search_api_relevance&sort_order=DESC&=Submit

Lerpass Mapter

Posted: 17 June 2018, 16:55

@John Brown

Yes, I was told the Gradall machines worked a lot on the Harrogate line, so interesting to hear your comments.

As commented by Bryan, I would recommend getting hold of some of the "Fastline Photographic" DVD's (or telerail) that show these, and other old machines working.