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New TV series: The Architecture the Railways Built

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RichT54

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Starting on 28th April at 8pm, a new 10 part series on Yesterday TV.

Brand new series that explores the stunning architecture that lines the railway network. Transport historian and architecture enthusiast Tim Dunn celebrates the radical design and often challenging construction of many station buildings across the UK and Europe, from grand edifices in major cities to tiny rural stations serving small communities.

https://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/shows/architecture-the-railways-built/
 
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Envoy

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Excellent programme - many thanks for the tip-off. Will now watch the whole series (Tuesdays at 8pm on Yesterday). These programmes are new.
 

edwin_m

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Yes indeed, seemed the right balance of railway and general interest and I didn't notice any glaring errors!
 

midland1

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Yes how often do you hear things like Grand Northern Railway not Great Northern Railway and this line was built by the London Midland Railway not Midland Railway, on TV.
 

timmydunn

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There'd better not be any errors. The team and I went through those scripts really very carefully. ;)
Glad you enjoyed episode one; nine more to go.
 
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There'd better not be any errors. The team and I went through those scripts really very carefully. ;)
And what a fine job you did with the concept @timmydunn.The construction and engineering of the infrastructure has always interested me more than what runs on the rails, and a series like this is long overdue. It also complements Rob Bells "Lost Railways" on another channel, and how refreshing that you both share a passion and youthful excitement for the subject matter. I am sure I'm not alone in envying the special access you obtain through your work to places of great interest. Do keep up the great work.
 

timmydunn

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Thank you both. It's nice to know that it's being enjoyed. It might look like a ball, but there is a lot of very concentrated work that goes in from a big team for every minute that gets aired :)
 

Mcr Warrior

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Next week's episode of "The Architecture the Railways Built" (Yesterday, Tuesday 19th May 2020 at 8.00 p.m.) sees historian and enthusiast Tim Dunn visit the signal box at Settle station and a nearby water tower. Also featured in the episode is Ribblehead viaduct and... Surbiton station (?!)
 

edwin_m

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Yes it is grade II listed and a modernist masterpiece. A treat to look forward to indeed.
It looked very fine on the brief shot at the end of this week's episode. Congratulations to Tim for including some less well known places as well as the obvious ones (from a distant relative of the designer of the Clifton Rocks Railway...).
 

Envoy

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Tonight (26 May, 2020) it will feature the Victorian station at Great Malvern and ‘Metroland’ (London's commuter belt). Continues to be an excellent series.
 

timmydunn

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Next week: St Pancras (main station plus adjoining hotel - and yes, going up on the roof looking down through the glass at the eurostars is as nervewracking as it looks), stoosbahn funicular, and the former castle howard station in north yorks. Nothing if not varied ;)
 

RichT54

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Next week: St Pancras (main station plus adjoining hotel - and yes, going up on the roof looking down through the glass at the eurostars is as nervewracking as it looks), stoosbahn funicular, and the former castle howard station in north yorks. Nothing if not varied ;)

That has been one of the best features of these excellent programs for me - the great variety of the subjects covered!
 
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That has been one of the best features of these excellent programs for me - the great variety of the subjects covered!
Absolutely agree. And getting an insight from the horses mouth so to speak is an added bonus. Nice to meet the parents this week, I am sure they are justifiably proud.
 

geoffk

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I've enjoyed Tim Dunn's series and look forward to tonight at St. Pancras. I had a tour of the hotel some years ago before it reopened. I'm originally from Bristol and had no idea the Clifton Rocks Railway was the subject of a restoration project. Must get down there again.
 

Mcr Warrior

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The next episode of "The Architecture the Railways Built" is scheduled for Tuesday 9th June 2020 ('Yesterday' channel, 8.00 pm) and sees railway historian Tim Dunn visit the Severn Bridge Junction signal box at Shrewsbury Station. There's also a trip up the Snowdon Mountain railway to the summit café.
 

ashkeba

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Yes, well done to all involved, please!

Is that a moquette scarf, is it Bakerloo and did you know it'd appear on both Yesterday and Channel 5 within a week?
 

timmydunn

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did you know it'd appear on both Yesterday and Channel 5 within a week?

No! Filmed 6 months apart, but that's the joy of scheduling. I did the france trip just a couple of days before lockdown. Was all very quiet. Tonight's ep is probably one of my favourites - one doesn't often get the chance to meet the architect behind a building that's known so well, and to see someone so quietly pleased (rightly so) at the way people admired and used his Summit building - Hafod Eryri - was pretty special. I think I caveat every time that it's the largest operating mechanical signal box in the world - rather than the largest mechanically-operated signal box in the world, as the latter is a now-disused one in Oz.
 

Mcr Warrior

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The intricacies of the mechanical interlocking within Severn Bridge Junction box as seen in yesterday's episode were absolutely fascinating! N.B. There's a repeat showing of this episode on Saturday 13th June 2020 (Yesterday Channel, 11.00 p.m.)

Next week's episode of "The Architecture the Railways Built" (Yesterday Channel, Tuesday 16th June 2020, 8.00 p.m.) sees railway historian Tim Dunn have a look round the tiny former railway station of Wolferton in Norfolk. Located close to Sandringham, Tim looks at the role it fulfilled in the past, playing host to Britain's royals.

In addition, there are visits to the art nouveau inspired central station in Helsinki (Finland) as well as the iconic Transport for London HQ at 55 Broadway, London.
 

Envoy

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I can’t understand why filming had to take place on Snowdon during bad weather.

The signal box at Shrewsbury was amazing. Very strange how at such a busy place, an ancient mechanical signalling system still exists. (Being listed, it will continue to exist once a modern system is installed in this area).
 

edwin_m

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I can’t understand why filming had to take place on Snowdon during bad weather.
How long would they have had to wait until it was fine? This article illustrates the sort of issues and the packed itinerary involved in making this series: https://www.railmagazine.com/news/r...architecture-the-railways-built-1?image=28178
We might think of television as a lucrative, profit-rich enterprise. But it really isn’t. As TV channels have multiplied and our screen-watching habits have splintered a million ways, budgets for specialist documentaries (known in the industry as ‘Specialist Factual’ content) can be tight. Quite often they are not made with (nor indeed planned to make) oodles of cash - they are made with love and passion.
...
The UK-based Producer Director had scripted the story arcs with the team, and the Europe-roving PD was set to head off to ten places on the continent. Both also had a researcher who had been responsible for finding the contributors, setting up the shoot and keeping tabs on the ever-growing admin.

Filming like this means long days. Once you’re done in one location, you’re off to the next by car or by train. The crew would follow on with a carload of cameras, sound equipment, notes and sugar-based snacks. You would meet at the overnight digs, and I’d get busy learning a few interview questions for the next day. It is frenetic, criss-crossing the country to meet people at times that best suit them or when a piece of architecture or engineering is accessible.
 

DelW

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Having just caught up with this week's episode (Snowdon, Strasbourg and Severn Bridge Junction at Shrewsbury), I agree that it was one of the most interesting I've seen. I hadn't read of the Strasbourg development, nor been up Snowdon since the last days of the old summit cafe, so it was all new to me.

My only minor complaint, common to many documentaries, is the way the editor (or producer or director?) splits each separate location into two or three segments spread through the programme, rather than completing one before moving to the next. I assume it's done to keep you watching as long as possible, but I find it mildly irritating.

None the less, it's one of the best railway themed programmes I've seen for quite a while, and far more interesting than the seemingly endless stream of rude / drunk / ticketless passengers featuring on some other recent series.
 

timmydunn

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Hi folks - tonight on The Architecture The Railways Built at 8pm on TV, it's a varied bunch of interesting stuff:
  • Wolferton "royal" station in Norfolk - closed in 1969, for a while a very good railway museum which you may have visited, but now beautifully restored as a private home and semi-open garden - we got rare permission to film inside, and get into the converted GER signal box too
  • 55 Broadway - London Transport's former HQ at St James's's's Park - I think we were the last film crew in as it's now been sold
  • Barmouth Bridge (a brief history of - and showing how it's maintained by Network Rail)
  • Helsinki station - including a v rare visit into the massive clock tower. Very kind of the VR Group, Finnish Railways, to let us go up there.

Will also be available to catch-up online here: https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/the-architecture-the-railways-built/watch-online/
 

davetheguard

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Hi folks - tonight on The Architecture The Railways Built at 8pm on TV, it's a varied bunch of interesting stuff:
  • Wolferton "royal" station in Norfolk - closed in 1969, for a while a very good railway museum which you may have visited, but now beautifully restored as a private home and semi-open garden - we got rare permission to film inside, and get into the converted GER signal box too
  • 55 Broadway - London Transport's former HQ at St James's's's Park - I think we were the last film crew in as it's now been sold
  • Barmouth Bridge (a brief history of - and showing how it's maintained by Network Rail)
  • Helsinki station - including a v rare visit into the massive clock tower. Very kind of the VR Group, Finnish Railways, to let us go up there.

Will also be available to catch-up online here: https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/the-architecture-the-railways-built/watch-online/

I've just registered and watched the first programme on line; hugely enjoyable, thanks Tim! There's so much great railway architecture out there - should keep you going for a few series......

Last time I was in Rotterdam, I was changing trains, and the station was still a building site; fascinating to see how it has all turned out.
 
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306024

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Another excellent episode tonight. We went behind the scenes at Helsinki station on a tour a few years ago now so it bought back memories. Chappel viaduct on the Marks Tey - Sudbury Line to look forward to next week, a remarkable structure you can’t appreciate just by travelling over it.
 
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