1/Steve, finally had a chance to watch this - I couldn't take my eyes off it! What an amazing record of this once common way of working. Thank goodness this was shot! Every second is fascinating and whilst the no-narration approach works well if you know what you're watching, it https://twitter.com/325TKT/status/1342093407427174400

2/ did leave some questions. The little grey wagon is some kind of barrier vehicle for a rider/brakesman? Nice little shelter for him above the buffer! But why was this needed? Plenty of rafts were going up and down without such a barrier wagon? Also, why the extra steep bit at

3/ the top for the empties? To create a slope so that the empties could roll away from the incline for reloading by gravity? There are H&S horrors in every minute - but the sequence from 7 mins really had me squirming! The economy and smoothness of movement of those men was

4/ almost balletic. The split-second timing required to drag those ropes away before the wagons ran over them...wow.... Thanks for pointing this out - such a wonderful film. Are there any more? I could watch this stuff for ages. So unique. BUT... yet again, I'm left gobsmacked

5/ by the struggles of the Bowes Railway. Ever since I started in railway journalism in 1980, its fight for survival seems to have been constant. Why is this? I know politicians in the NE have been slow to catch on to their role as 'ground zero' for railways across the world, but

6/ are regional pelicans so blind as to the global importance of this incredible industrial monument? Or is it that severe post-industrial economic probs mean that far more urgent social and economic problems suck all the oxygen and money away? Is it because steam locomotives are

7/ not the 'prime movers' and are only secondarily involved? The Bowes Railway is as nationally important as, say, the Cutty Sark, Brunel's SS Great Britain, our last flying Lancaster bomber or the way of life re-created at Beamish...yet it doesn't have a quarter of the profile

8/ or even 5% of their investment or public support. IMHO, Bowes should b an integral part of the 2025 Bi-Centenary celebrations being planned in the NE by politicians a few miles away. How about about a 'Cradle of World Railways' group marketing campaign, with suitable graphics,

9/ posters, website and online resources? Think 'Great Little Trains of Wales' focused on Bowes but taking in other places like Beamish, Tanfield...sure you get the gist.This region invented railways and those railways didn't merely influence the world we live in today - they

10/ created it. It's about time they were properly honoured. It's shameful that Bowes has clung to life throughout my publishing career thanks to the descendants of the men you see in this film. There will never be a better time for the NE to assert, celebrate and develop its

11/ railway history credentials.

If not now - when?

@SirPeterHendy @TurnipRail @AntCoulls @BobGwynne @steve220459 @IanProsser7 @iainferguson77

I've just re-read this thread and laughed at my 'regional pelicans' autocorrect tripwire! 'Politicans' of course. This, which I liberated from Facebook, seems appropriate!!!