Classic Railway Film 4 The Bristolian in 1957

Travel back to a bygone era, a world filled with steam, steel, and the spirit of adventure. In this video, we travel back to the late 1950s, a golden age for rail travel in the UK, and take a special steam tour along Bristol’s iconic Bath Road
Bristol in the late 1950s was a vibrant hub of activity-a city in transition, bustling with life. The city was embracing modernity, yet the romance of steam trains still captivated the hearts of many.”
The Bristolian was inaugurated in 1935 by the Great Western Railway (GWR) to celebrate the opening of the Great Western Main Line from Paddington to Bristol in 1835,[1] and is notable in that the route taken differed in the up and down directions. The down train (from Paddington) took Brunel's original route via Bath, but the up train (from Bristol) climbed the 1 in 75 of Filton Bank through what is now Bristol Parkway and then continued climbing the 1 in 300 of the Badminton Line to Badminton before rejoining the down route at Wootton Bassett. This meant that the up train had a slightly shorter route of 117.6 miles (compared to 118.3 miles in the down direction via Bath), but with the stiff climb was probably the harder

[@johnbristow8099]

As a young teenager I remember seeing ‘Castles’ hurtling through Maidenhead. The exhaust sound was just a purr. Thrilling!

[@landhopper4296]

Interesting that both the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe and Drysllwyn Castle are still with us!

[@AndreiTupolev]

3:58Pioneer GoPro! 😁 Nice sound synchronisation; I presume it was dubbed. Was 7018 chosen for the film deliberately as it recorded the fastest ever time from Bristol to Paddington in steam days, I wonder?

[@Uftonwood2]

Shovelling coal in an open cab at 100mph shows why the steam engine had to go.

[@lynnmorton7544]

The name of the driver on the side of the cab is a strange one. How well was that policy received? Some would have enjoyed their celebrity status, whilst others would have preferred anonymity, I suppose