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Railway Films

H

Hobbler

proper brummie kid
In the course of my research into the history of the Kinver Light Railway I have come across information that a Documentary film "A Ride on the Kinver Railway" was made by one of the pioneer Silent Movie Directors Frank Mottershaw (aka Frank Storm) in 1904.

Copies of many of his films have survived (He himself died in 1932) and I am trying to find if the Kinver film is one of them . I have tried the British Film Institute and the Yorkshire Film Archive as the film company was the Sheffield Photo Company and although both places have some other Mottershaw Films they do not include the Kinver one.

It maybe that film has been lost but I wonder if anyone can point me in the direction of any other archive or organisation that may have copies of early silent films relevant to the Midlands in their care ?.
 
sospiri said:
Hobbler,

It's quite surprising that https://www.citwf.com/film424295.htm can record that the film is 245 feet in length yet not know what happened to surviving copies. The BBC is a slim possibility I suppose.

There's also a list of archives here: https://filmarchives.org.uk/archives.html

Maurice :cool:
Click to expand...

Thanks Maurice - at first I thought it was me not using that web site properly and then it was a poster they were referring to and not the film but I think you are right in that they dont know.

Off topic - my better half is a Sheppard but having checked your site we dont think there is any connection.

Richard
 
Plenty of them about, Richard. Mine arrived in Birmingham from the Hanley Castle area via a short detour to Upper Landywood (Great Wyrley).

Maurice :cool:
 
Apart from the suggestion that the Tramway Museum Society have done a lot of research in the past about trams on film , no other leads as yet but it has occurred to me that the people behind "Nation on Film" may be able to help so hopefully I can find a contact for them .
 
Hobbler, do you happen to know when this film was last viewed? Lets hope copies have been made and lets hope they have been made on the more stable "acetate" stock as opposed to the unstable" nitrate" There is another film archive that the BBC have contact with, I donated them some 16mm film and I believe they copy it, unfortunately I cant remember any contact names. Maybe just contacting the BBC in Birmihgham might throw a few leads?
 
Hi Hobbler: You may have already been "down this road" but in case you haven't you might get in touch with the Sedgeley Local History Group https://www.sedgleylocalhistory.org.uk/na/oct2006.asp as they were in contact sometime ago with a Dr. Paul Collins who gives talks about the Kinver Light Railway history. Dr. Collins may know about the film and if it is still in existence. I notice that he has a book coming out next year in April calledhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Kinver-Lig...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315173630&sr=1-1 The Kinver Light Railway: Echoes of a Lost Tramway
This link in on the Amazon.co.uk web site
 
Mitchell and Kenyon produced a huge number of actuality films of streets, factories and other scenes. After the miraculous discovery of the negatives in the 1990s the BBC ran a series showing a small selection of them. You have probably seen it. The images were stunning. Wikipedia summarises their activity as follows:

The Mitchell & Kenyon film company was a pioneer of early commercial movies based in Blackburn in Lancashire, England at the start of the 20th century. They were originally best known for minor contributions to early fictional narrative film and Boer War dramatisation films, but the discovery in 1994 of a hoard of film negatives led to restoration of the Mitchell & Kenyon Collection, the largest surviving collection of early non-fiction actuality films in the world. This collection provides a fresh view of Edwardian England and an important resource for historians.​

The Wikipedia page contains a lot of additional information.

Whilst the vast majority of the material is from the north-west I know that they also filmed similar scenes in the Midlands. A bit of Googling will probably tell you how to enquire further about the detail of the collection. It might be worth asking the question.

Chris
 
Thanks for the input everyone - the hunt goes on.

Bill Parker - Its a bit like chasing shadows - lots of people know about the film even down to how many feet of film made up the reel but when pressed no-one has actually seen it.

Jennyann - thanks for that suggestion . I believe Paul Collins is on the committee of the Wollaston Local History Society . I noticed last week that Amazon have his new book listed for preorder and scheduled to be published in April 2012 by The History Press.

ChrisM - Good point about Mitchell and Kenyon as I have to admit I had only thought about them in a North West context.

One thing that has come to light is that there is a photograph in the second edition of the Kinver Light Railway published by Oakwood Press that shows some of the film crew on the towpath of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal just south of Dunsley Tunnel with two very large cameras pointed over the hedge towards a tram approaching from the Stewponey direction.
 
Interesting that this very rural part of Staffordshire had at least two early films made in the area considering that this new technology was expensive to say the least.
Benjamin Priest a local cinema owner and businessman made a film called "Bladys Of The Stewpony" based on a novel by the Reverand Baring-Gould a few more details are here if anyone is interested.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256652/
 
I have been in contact with an organisation called MACE (Media Archive for Central England) who specialise in tv and films about or made by people from the Midlands . They are in the process of moving and from today will be based at the University of Lincoln but they have said they will do some research into the film when the move is completed.
 
If you check on the MACE Archive there are many great railway films on there - here are a few to get you in the mood for searching (tip - tick the "Has Video" box):-
www.macearchive.org

ATV Today: 06.03.1967: Your New Railway

Special report about the electrification of the railway line between London and Birmingham and the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street station.
www.macearchive.org www.macearchive.org
www.macearchive.org

ATV Today: 27.08.1968: Snow Hill Station

Snow Hill railway station in Birmingham after its closure.
www.macearchive.org www.macearchive.org
www.macearchive.org

Midlands News: 15.08.1962: Last steam engine - Birmingham to Paddington

Last steam engine to haul the Birmingham to Paddington Express from Snow Hill.
www.macearchive.org www.macearchive.org
www.macearchive.org

ATV Today: 17.09.1965: Steam Locomotives

The scrapping of steam locomotives at Tipton, locos in store at Tyseley in Birmingham, and shots of a restored LNER locomotive 'The Great Marquess' at Snow Hill station.
www.macearchive.org www.macearchive.org
www.macearchive.org

ATV Today: 16.02.1968: Kidderminster Railway Station

The closure of Kidderminster railway station.
www.macearchive.org www.macearchive.org
www.macearchive.org

Midlands News: 17.05.1963: Birmingham New Street Station

Birmingham New Street railway station prior to its redevelopment.
www.macearchive.org www.macearchive.org
www.macearchive.org

ATV Today: 06.11.1964: Sale of Railway Fittings

Lionel Hampden reports from Derby on a sale of fixtures and fittings from closed railway stations.
www.macearchive.org www.macearchive.org
 

LMS - General Repairs. on 5605​

a steam locomotive goes through a full overhaul in under 2 weeks in the 1930's
thats what i call fitters and craftsmen.
 
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