"Black Five"

Black Five focuses on the final days of steam motive power in the North West of England, and especially in Carnforth.

This was the station which, over twenty years earlier, had been the setting of the archetypal railway romance, Brief Encounter (1945), filmed there in the closing days of the war.

The 'Black Five' class of locomotive was the most common of the remaining steam traction in that area, used in 1968 mainly for hauling freight and heavy goods traffic.

The film records the reactions of the engine men themselves to their changing lives. Often sad, frequently humorous, the railway men speak of the heady days of steam, dispelling the popular notion that life on the railways in the old days was all fun and romance.

Here we are told of the early risers - often lads straight from school starting their lifetime careers on the railways - who would start work at four in the morning, cleaning out the burnt out ashes from yesterdays engines, and crawling through the bowels of the locomotive to check and repair worn boiler pipes.

We hear of the several hours' preparation needed on cold winter mornings in order to raise steam, and of the skill of the driver. 'Any fool can start a locomotive; it's stopping it in the right place that counts'.

The fireman's skills are also shown; far from simply shovelling coal all day, this back-breaking work is revealed to be an art born of years of training and experience. There are humorous anecdotes, recounted in a dry, crusty Lancashire accent.

And finally, a sadness which reflects an acceptance that the life as they know it will soon change, perhaps for the better, perhaps not, but a realisation that changes are inevitable and count as progress, a move forward which will engulf everybody and change the pattern of their lives.

In Black Five, Paul Barnes' use of words and sound effects to create a mood perfectly complements his slow paced images of heavy trundling iron beasts scraping their way round their final bend, on their way to the knacker's yard at Barry or elsewhere.

It is a hymn to old-fashioned skills, craftsmanship, loyalty and a camaraderie between fellow workmen which formed part of an unbroken tradition going back one hundred years and more, but which would now vanish forever, replaced by diesel, automation, speed and the eternal quest for bland, boring, faceless, cost-saving efficiency.

Black Five was produced by the BFI Production Board and received its premiere screening at the Royal Festival Hall in November 1968.

Approximately 21 minutes duration (Black & White) �12.95 plus �1.50 p&p from

"Black Five" is available from:-

Trevor Tattersall, 58 Bare Avenue, Morecambe, Lancashire, LA4 6BE

Cheques to be made out to "The Carnforth Station Trust"

Please allow up to 28 days for delivery.

"Black Five" Produced by the BFI, November 1968

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