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Railway Roundabout theme tune
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RailUK Forums
Gloster
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A bit of searching produces the answer ‘Paris Metro’ by William Hill-Bowen (1918-1964). The tune appears to be on YouTube, so if you have a version of Railway Roundabout with the theme tune, it is possible to check the one against the other.
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Music to bring memories of coming home from school to watch it 
Unfortunately it was perceived as an "after school children" programme, so was not shown in school holidays, which were the one chance I might have got to see it regularly. About the first 40 seconds of the recording were used, so it didn't include the change of arrangement after that point.
Television producers in those times were very simplistic, and just chose theme music from a catalogue it seemed, based on just the title, hence how this little-known piece got picked. I seem to recall its composer said it reflected the rush on the Metro. A contemporary programme about animals called Zoo Time just used the opening from Peter and the Wolf.
The programme was shown live, the sound man would just have run the cued-up record (looks like a 78) at the appropriate moment on the turntable at their console, and although the film inserts (which were most of it) have survived, the studio pair of John Adams and Pat Whitehouse, prominent enthusiasts and amateur filmers of the era, just read the scripts live to camera for their introductory links, and their commentaries while the short filmpieces, about three per programme, were shown. It was done from their local BBC studio in Birmingham as they were neighbours of the Midlands producer. Recent issues of the films with commentary have an uncanny voice resemblance to the original for accent and pace, but images of John and Pat in the studio don't seem to have survived. The BBC didn't used to keep such stuff.
Interesting article here for those who remember the programmes : https://www.therailwayhub.co.uk/9385/from-the-archive-p-b-whitehouse/
Unfortunately it was perceived as an "after school children" programme, so was not shown in school holidays, which were the one chance I might have got to see it regularly. About the first 40 seconds of the recording were used, so it didn't include the change of arrangement after that point.Television producers in those times were very simplistic, and just chose theme music from a catalogue it seemed, based on just the title, hence how this little-known piece got picked. I seem to recall its composer said it reflected the rush on the Metro. A contemporary programme about animals called Zoo Time just used the opening from Peter and the Wolf.
The programme was shown live, the sound man would just have run the cued-up record (looks like a 78) at the appropriate moment on the turntable at their console, and although the film inserts (which were most of it) have survived, the studio pair of John Adams and Pat Whitehouse, prominent enthusiasts and amateur filmers of the era, just read the scripts live to camera for their introductory links, and their commentaries while the short filmpieces, about three per programme, were shown. It was done from their local BBC studio in Birmingham as they were neighbours of the Midlands producer. Recent issues of the films with commentary have an uncanny voice resemblance to the original for accent and pace, but images of John and Pat in the studio don't seem to have survived. The BBC didn't used to keep such stuff.
Interesting article here for those who remember the programmes : https://www.therailwayhub.co.uk/9385/from-the-archive-p-b-whitehouse/
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