Return of the General

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

June 1896 •French

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

September 1927 •German

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

TGV, la réussite française

June 2017 •French

TGV, 30 ans de vitesse

December 2011 •French

London's Railways in the 1960s

April 2010 •English

The British Railways modernisation programme of the 1960s radically changed the rail network, and the British Transport Films unit and the TV news were there to capture it. Compiled here is never before released colour footage of Southern steam at Waterloo (with Nine Elms depot), all the major London stations, The Blue Pullman and early diesels, The Golden Arrow and Night Ferry service, goods and mail, steam on the Metropolitan Railway and building the Victoria Line.

Cavalcade of San Francisco

September 1940 •English

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

We

February 2022 •French

An urban train link, the RER B, crosses Paris and its outskirts from north to south. A journey within indistinct spaces known as inner cities and suburbs. Several portraits, all individual pieces that form a whole. We.

RER B

June 2017 •French

Alice Diop's enchanting short film, a work of transcendent transformation, shows how the rough lines of Drancy station are immortalized in watercolor by the French artist Benoît Peyrucq. A tribute to a location fraught with historical and contemporary poignancy.

hello, WORLD!

April 2021 •English

A man ventures out into the streets of a pandemic-ridden London.

Bofi

Invalid date •Spanish

Dream-Plan-Build Horseshoe Curve

January 2006 •English

Ride along as Horseshoe Curve takes you on a captivating behind-the-scenes railroad journey in Pennsylvania's Allegheny Mountains. Trackside views allow you to see first hand some of railroading's greatest accomplishments in action. This special edition of the Dream Plan Build Video Series covers the many miles of scenery from Altoona to Johnstown, PA, complete with dynamic views that will inspire the modeler in you!

Faces Places

June 2017 •French

Director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.

When Giants Roamed: The Golden Age of Steam

January 2005 •English

In the first half of the 20th century, America's railroads were radically transformed by the innovation of gargantuan steam locomotives. Pushed by the need to haul ever longer and heavier trains, the nation's locomotive works responded with the invention of awe-inspiring articulated engines. Delivering up to 7,500 horsepower, these steel behemoths could haul mile-long, 15,000-ton trains. In this riveting program, journey back to the golden age of steam for an up-close look at these legendary locomotives. See the Union Pacific's famed "Big Boy" in action and ride the rails of the Chesapeake & Ohio and Norfolk & Western railways. Meet the men who drove engines like the Allegheny and Yellowstone, and visit the museums and yards where the largest steamers ever built remain preserved in time. THE HISTORY CHANNEL' proudly presents this rollicking retrospective, sure to set any rail fan's heart pounding

Saving South Sudan

May 2014 •English

The famous adventurer Robert Young Pelton travels with a former "Lost Boy" child soldier back to the violence of South Sudan to track down the recently deposed Vice President Riek Machar in his secret jungle camp and become the first to film the brutal White Army in combat.

Vignettes of New England Steam

January 2004 •English

Vignettes of the New England Steam features the films of noted rail photographers Albert Michaud and William P. Price, as they document the handsome steam power (and the occasional pesky diesel) of the Grand Trump, Central Vermont, Boston & Maine, and New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroads. The mostly color and mostly 16mm production begins with the Grand Trunk in New Hampshire, then moves to the Central Vermont in the White River Jct vicinity, and the Boston & Maine and New Haven, primarily around Boston. Many wheel arrangements are featured, as is the passenger and freight rolling stock of the era ...including truss-rodded clerestory-roofed wooden maroon passenger cars on the B&M! So come along with Clear Block Productions as we journey back to the late 1940's and early 1950's to witness Steam's Final Stand in the Northeast in Vignettes of the New England Steam.

Great Model Railroads Vol. 55

January 2007 •English

Jerry Macri's Pennsylvania Railroad is huge, 4300 square feet of big time four track mainline! In fact this may be the largest home layout ever built! This HO layout runs from Chicago to New York and can handle more than 1200 pieces of rolling stock. It takes a train 25 minutes to run across the layout. Along the line there is a massive steel mill and a 30 foot deep Horseshoe Curve-- two signature elements of Western Pennsylvania. The Pennsy began in 1990 in a 2800 square foot basement. But then Jerry decided to add more layout space and more house and even a patio above. So the layout is now 3 inter-connected rooms with about 50% of the scenery completed. There are more than 20,000 trees on the layout. This is a prototype-based HO layout with a lot of freelanced scenic elements. Creating realistic and evocative scenes is Jerry's favorite part of the hobby because this helps him remember special times and places from his youth in the late 50s and early 60s.

Hear That Train a Comin'

June 2006 •English

Meet the crew of the Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985, the largest and most powerful steam engine in the world. This colorful documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at the conductors, engineers and mechanics who keep this fickle train running, an engaging history of steam power, and a scenic tour the Great Plains -- from Cheyenne, Wyo., through Denver and across Nebraska to the Omaha headquarters of the Union Pacific.

Maria's Story

September 1990 •English

It is El Salvador, 1989, three years before the end of a brutal civil war that took 75,000 lives. Maria Serrano, wife, mother, and guerrilla leader is on the front lines of the battle for her people and her country. With unprecedented access to FMLN guerrilla camps, the filmmakers dramatically chronicle Maria's daily life in the war.

The Wars of the Roses: A Bloody Crown

January 2002 •English

Using historically-accurate, battle-filled re-enactments and interviews with expert historians and noted authors, this two-part documentary series brings to vivid life the captivating true stories behind Britain's bloody civil wars.

In Battle Against the Enemy of the World: German Volunteers in Spain

July 1939 •German

Nazi propaganda film about the Condor Legion, a unit of German "volunteers" who fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of eventual dictator Francisco Franco against the elected government of Spain.