How to Fix a Railway

Somewhere in the world right now-much closer than you think-people are playing with trains. You might not see them at first, but they're there. In basements. In garages. In converted Army barracks. They're among the world's most compelling underground communities.

An amusing view of the machine that has taken the country by winter storm: the snowmobile, revving, raring, ready to go. What the motorboat was to the summer lake, this motorized sled now is to the snow-covered fields. This film shows it all-the pull of this sit-down sport, the eagerness of the trade to keep it booming, the daring rivalry of the racing crowd, and the bemused pleasure of the family outing.

At any given moment hundreds of people are soaring above us in a 747. From the moment the very first jumbo jet took off in 1969, it has been the aircraft against which all others are judged. But its 45-year journey has been anything but smooth. This is the definitive story of the Boeing 747, from its milestones and triumphs to its turning points and disasters. Witness its history through rare archival footage and tales from pilots, engineers, designers, and passengers who were there when it all began.

A day-to-day record of the construction of the Confederation Bridge linking Prince Edward Island to the mainland, Abegweit reveals some of the innovations that made this mammoth project one of the most impressive engineering feats in Canadian history.

In hand-built, double-hulled canoes sixty feet long, the ancestors of today's Polynesians sailed vast distances using only the waves, the stars, and the flights of birds to navigate. Anthropologist Sanford Low visits the Caroline Islands of Micronesia to meet Mau Piailug, the last navigator initiated on his island and one of few men still practicing this once-essential art. He demonstrates his skill by sailing a replica canoe 2500 miles from Hawaii to Tahiti with no modern navigational instruments.

Class 31s in Kent, Last 31s on Bedford to Bletchley line, Scottish 117 DMUs, Last 37s on China Clay in West Country, Freightliner 66s, Class 92s on West Coast duties, Yarmouth loco haulage, West Coast convoys with 37s, 73s and 31s, Sandite Class 37s, Welsh Rugby Specials, Dumfries Diversions, Class 66s News, Deltic and ‘Ixion’ specials, Bo’Ness Preservation, Dereham Anniversary, ‘Hastings’ unit on Yarmouth Special,Class 56s in decline with Ketton Cement, 56007 on engineers, Class 37 variety with double heading on steel workings, Sandite 37s, Freight News with Norfolk Freight, Green 101 unit, Double headed 37s on MGR and Baglan Bay Tanks, Freightliner 66s, Eurostars on test on ECML, Royal Train, Modernisation on Cromer Branch, ‘Crompton’ Special, West Somerset Autumn Gala, ‘Hastings’ unit, Extra trains to Rugby International at Cardiff with Deltic.

First transmitted in 1969, this documentary follows the construction of the world’s most advanced underground system. Macdonald Hastings narrates the story of one of the most complex tunnel engineering feats of its time. He reveals the isolation felt by the miners who spent six years burrowing deep beneath the streets of London, shows what they did beneath one of London's most famous department stores and explains why the ground at Tottenham Court Road had to be frozen during the hottest weeks of 1966. The result is a brave new world of transport with automated trains, two way mirrors, automatic fare collection and closed-circuit television, all choreographed by a computer programme played out by an updated version of a pianola located in a control room somewhere near Euston station.

This short documentary shows how a city's water supply is purified at a filtration plant. The complex system of the underground mains that supply all parts of the city with water is also illustrated, as is the safeguarding of water supplies on trains, ships and aircrafts.

This Traveltalk series short celebrates San Francisco, past and present.

A film looking at the first 100 years of the Underground Railway in London from 1863 to 1963. A range of well known people and senior managers speak alongside some excellent archive film.

A close-up of a snow-bound city, and the men, money and machinery it takes to dig it out.