Underground School (1955)

Two versions exist on digibeta. 205.09 is version transferred after the neg was cleaned.



London Underground Training Centre, Lambeth, London.



C/U of a signalman's electric chart. M/S of an instructor operating signals. This is the training school for London Transport Underground staff. L/S of a group of students looking at a miniature railway track. C/U of one of the students being taught by instructor David Havill how to operate signals. Various shots of him as he teaches how to prevent two trains getting onto the same track. C/Us of the indicator screen and of the model railway. Low angle shot of the trainees. Train is taken off the track as Mr Havill explains a point. The trainees are shown the device which will automatically lock the brakes should the train pass a signal at danger - see note. C/U of the device.



Various shots of the trainees climbing onto a mock up of a tube train. In the cabin the "master controller" is demonstrated - looks like a spanner is used to adjust the machinery. The chief instructor Alex Gorton demonstrates the "dead man's handle". Despite its grim name, the dead man's handle is apparently a potential life saver. Because it has to be pressed down, if a driver falls ill and relaxes his grip the train stops. Various shots of this device. L/S of three students at the training school in the specially constructed guards department learning about door control. Various shots. C/U of light which only shines when all doors are closed (narrator letting us into a trade secret here!)



Ends with a great link to the next story: "From the workings of the Underground, to the workings of a woman's mind..."



Note: in retrospect this is very interesting at a time when rail safety is called into question by recent the Paddington Rail crash (1999). Various documentation on file. One of the instructors appearing is Harry Farquhar (sp?)
FILM ID:29.05

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