London to Brighton in Four Minutes
London to Brighton in Four Minutes
Title card of 1953 film
GenreDocumentary
Directed byDon Smith
Narrated byDavid Lloyd James
ComposersDavid Hart, "Sabre Jet"
Production
Running time5:24 minutes
Original release
NetworkBBC Television
Release
  • 1953 (1953)

London to Brighton in Four Minutes is a short film produced by the BBC Film Unit in the early 1950s showing a train journey from London Victoria to Brighton in England. The camera was manually undercranked to produce a fast motion film so that the journey lasted only four minutes instead of the actual time of about one hour.

It was originally shown on BBC Television's Children's Newsreel and over the years its frequent repeat transmissions became very popular with British television viewers of all ages. Later versions were produced, particularly in 1983 and 2013, showing some of the cultural and operational changes that had taken place. The films show the train driver's view ahead during a journey aboard the Brighton Belle.

1953 BBC Film Unit film

The BBC Film Unit's London to Brighton in Four Minutes is a short film about a London to Brighton train journey, produced in 1953.[note 1] It was mostly filmed from the driver's point of view looking straight ahead[note 2] with the filming done so that the journey was spectacularly fast, lasting only four minutes instead of the real travel time of about one hour.[1][7] The ride was aboard the Brighton Belle, a Pullman train, along the Brighton Main Line from London Victoria to Brighton on the south coast of England.[4][7]

The film was made by Don Smith and the first version was narrated by David Lloyd James for an edition of BBC Television's Children's Newsreel regular weekend programme.[4][7]

Video of the film and subsequent history
video icon 1953: London to Brighton in Four Minutes London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953 – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.[1]
video icon 1983: London to Brighton in 3½ Minutes London to Brighton Train Journey: 1983 – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.[8]
video icon 2013:London to Brighton by Train in 3 minutes 18 seconds London to Brighton Train Journey: 2013. – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.[9]
video icon 1953–2013: London to Brighton Side by Side London to Brighton Train Journeys: 1953 - 2013 – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.[10][note 3]
video icon 2013 BBC report: London to Brighton Train Journeys: 1953 - 2013 – uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.[12][13]
video icon Active map and 2013 film Active map synchronised with embedded YouTube video – video content uploaded to YouTube by BBC South.[note 4][14]
video icon 2016: London Bridge to Brighton driver's eye view – recorded at normal speed and uploaded to YouTube by Ben Elias.[note 5][15]

For the most part the camera was manually undercranked at about two frames per second for fast motion display at 25 frames per second.[4] The film's commentator described this as "trick photography" and said the train was appearing to run the 51 miles (82 km) at an average speed of 765 miles per hour (1,231 km/h).[1] 35 mm film was used and each time a 100-foot (30 m) film magazine ran out and was replaced, normal-speed shots of the engine driver were slotted in for continuity. The soundtrack of music and background noises were recorded magnetically for over-dubbing – the sound of the train was actually that of a jet engine and clapping was used for the noises at station platforms and through bridges and tunnels.[4][7] The music is "Sabre Jet" composed by David Hart.[note 6][17]

Later, a version with a different commentary was made for the main Television Newsreel programme with a name change to Go Slow on the Brighton Line. Whereas the children's version only has narration at the beginning and end of the journey, in the revised version with a different narrator the names of some of the stations being passed are mentioned.[4]

Subsequent programmes

In the early years of BBC television the film was transmitted quite often as part of their normal schedule and became very well known to the television audience.[5][18][19] As such it was a dramatic variation on the BBC's rather frequent "interludes" (such as the "Potter's Wheel") which were merely gap-fillers between programmes and which had a generally tranquil atmosphere.[20][21] The BBC still shows the film on rare occasions.[5][22] To show the changing conditions over two periods of thirty years the journey was also filmed in 1983 and 2013, again using time-lapse photography to show the journeys at high speed.[13][23][note 7] In addition, a version was produced showing the three films synchronised side by side.[10]

Changes between 1953 and 2013

In 1953 Brighton Main Line was operated by the Southern Region of British Railways, then recently nationalised. The Brighton Belle operated using electrical multiple units running on the third-rail system previously introduced by Southern Railway.[6]

In 1958 the small station for Gatwick Racecourse was enlarged and renamed Gatwick Airport serving the rapidly expanding Gatwick Airport. The 1963 Beeching Report led to steam locomotives being withdrawn from the line and the closure of many branch lines and nearly all goods yards.[24] The Brighton Belle named-train service was ended in 1972.[25] In 1982 Southern Region became the London and South Eastern sector and the following year all signal boxes were replaced by three rail operating centres. The express service between Victoria and Gatwick Airport was taken over by the InterCity sector in 1984 and rebranded Gatwick Express. The privatisation of British Rail in the mid-1990s led to six different rail franchises all running on the Brighton Line; Connex South Central, Connex South Eastern, Gatwick Express, Thameslink, Thames Trains and Virgin CrossCountry.[26]

By 2013, while freight on the Brighton Line had almost disappeared and the complexity of branch lines had diminished, passenger traffic boomed with a new town at Crawley, expanded business at Brighton and Croydon, and increased traffic at Gatwick Airport. The 1988 Thameslink project opened the way for through trains to run between Brighton and Bedford, north of London – this route does not go to Victoria but branches off to cross the River Thames at Blackfriars Railway Bridge and reaches north of London via the reopened Snow Hill tunnel.[26]

BBC South Today produced news reports in 2013 describing the changes on the journey between 1953 and 2013.[12][13] Because of heavier traffic there were no longer any non-stop journeys between the two stations so the 2013 film had to be filmed on a special train running early on a Sunday morning. All the same, the fastest scheduled journey time had been reduced from 60 minutes to 47 minutes with the maximum train speed being increased from 75 miles per hour (121 km/h) to 90 miles per hour (140 km/h). Ticket inspectors had been replaced by automatic barriers and by 2013 the railway staff were no longer nearly all men.[note 8] In 1953 there were still steam trains running on the line although the Brighton Belle itself was electric. The number of railway branch lines had been reduced so there were fewer points and sidings but the number of trains had doubled and there were more than twice as many passengers. The railway line and train operators had both been privatised and the trains had become air-conditioned. In 1953 the return fare was 15/- (75 pence), that is to say £18.75 by 2013 allowing for inflation, while in 2013 the fare was actually £28.80 ($45.02 in 2013).[12][13]

Route taken

The Brighton Main Line runs from London Victoria and terminates at Brighton. An animated map of the route, synchronised with the 2013 film of the journey has been produced on an external website using innovative software. A map showing the position of the train as it travels is displayed along with the film of the 2013 journey.[14][note 4]

Selected locations on route
Video times in minutes and seconds at selected locations
Location Animated map
with 2013

time[14]

 1953, 1983, 2013
side-by-side
time[10]		 Distance[29]
Victoria station 0:17 0:29 0 miles 0 chains (0 km)[note 9]
Victoria Railway Bridge
(River Thames)		 0:20 0:34 0 miles 57 chains (1.1 km)
Battersea Park 0:23 0:36 1 mile 15 chains (1.9 km)
Clapham Junction 0:31 0:45 2 miles 49 chains (4.2 km)
Balham 0:39 0:52 4 miles 44 chains (7.3 km)
Norbury 0:49 1:02 7 miles 28 chains (11.8 km)
East Croydon 1:02 1:16 10 miles 30 chains (16.7 km)[note 10]
Quarry Tunnel
M23/M25		 1:33 1:46 18 miles 42 chains (29.8 km)
Redhill Tunnel 1:42 1:54 21 miles 74 chains (35.3 km)
Gatwick Airport 1:58 2:11 26 miles 55 chains (42.9 km)[note 11]
Three Bridges 2:06 2:19 29 miles 29 chains (47.3 km)
M23 2:12 2:25 31 miles 2 chains (49.9 km)
Balcombe tunnel 2:16 2:30 32 miles 62 chains (52.7 km)
Ouse Valley Viaduct 2:29 2:42 35 miles 67 chains (57.7 km)
Haywards Heath 2:38 2:52 37 miles 67 chains (60.9 km)
Haywards Heath Tunnel 2:40 2:53 38 miles 25 chains (61.7 km)
Burgess Hill 2:54 3:07 41 miles 47 chains (66.9 km)
Hassocks 3:02 3:16 43 miles 50 chains (70.2 km)
Clayton Tunnel/A23 3:07 3:22 45 miles 74 chains (73.9 km)
Patcham Tunnel/A27 3:22 3:36 47 miles 73 chains (77.1 km)
Brighton railway station 3:35 3:48 50 miles 57 chains (81.6 km)

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Sources differ – the BBC and the British Film Institute give 1953[1][2] whereas IMDb and some other sources give 1952.[3][4][5]
  2. ↑ The driver was at the front of the first carriage – the train was an electric multiple unit with no separate locomotive.[6]
  3. ↑ See also on BBC News.[11]
  4. 1 2 The active map is similar to the display on a GPS device.
  5. ↑ Driver's eye view from a Class 377 EMU between London Bridge to Brighton stations. The route joins the line from Victoria about 11:00 minutes into the video at Norwood Junction just before Norwood Junction station.
  6. ↑ David Hart is a pseudonym of William Granville Chapman.[16]
  7. ↑ The three films are 1953,[1] 1983[8] and 2013.[9]
  8. ↑ The 2013 reports variously say "In 1953 almost all rail workers were men. Today, the train dispatcher is a woman."[12] and "In 1953 every railway worker was male. Today, many of the platform staff are women."[13] Comment: in 2018 16% of the UK's Network Rail staff were women,[27] and in 2019 5% of train drivers were women.[28]
  9. ↑ 8 chains subtracted because the buffer stops at Victoria are not the zero point
  10. ↑ 10 chains added to account for the difference between Victoria and London Bridge mileages
  11. ↑ 6 chains added to account for the difference between Quarry and Redhill routes

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953". Film produced by BBC Film Unit. BBC South Today. 1953. Retrieved 14 August 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. ↑ "London to Brighton in Four Minutes (1953)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  3. ↑ "London to Brighton in Four Minutes". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 10 February 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dungate, Arthur. "BBC TV from AP – TV Newsreels". www.bbctv-ap.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 Emmerson, Andy. "405 Alive – Information – Interludes". www.bvws.org.uk. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  6. 1 2 Jeffs (2013), pp. 10–11.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "An experiment in slow speed camera work by director Don Smith". Huntley Film Archives. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  8. 1 2 Haunch, Nigel. "London to Brighton Train Journey: 1983". Film produced by BBC. BBC South Today. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  9. 1 2 "London to Brighton Train Journey: 2013". BBC South Today. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  10. 1 2 3 "London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953–2013 side by side". BBC Productions South. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  11. ↑ Clifton, Paul (28 August 2016). "How the London to Brighton train ride has changed in 60 years". BBC News. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Clifton, Paul (27 August 2013). "London to Brighton Train Journey: 1953 - 2013". BBC South Today. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Clifton, Paul (28 August 2013). "London to Brighton non-stop: Tracking the changes to a seaside rail journey". BBC South Today. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  14. 1 2 3 Clarke, Keir (2 October 2018). "Maps Mania: London to Brighton in Four Minutes". Maps Mania. Archived from the original on 7 December 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2019. fails to link to the synchronised map and video which is now at "WebVMT linked to an embedded YouTube video". webvmt.org. Video produced by BBC South. Away Team Software Limited. Retrieved 16 August 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  15. ↑ "London Bridge to Brighton driver's eye view". Ben Elias. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  16. ↑ "David Hart (3)". Discogs. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  17. ↑ Ades, David (27 May 2014). "Robert Farnon Society – Highdays and Holidays". www.robertfarnonsociety.org.uk. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  18. ↑ Craven, John (25 July 2019). Headlines and Hedgerows: A Memoir. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 113–114. ISBN 978-1-4059-3268-4. One of its films ... became part of television history
  19. ↑ Redmond, Phil (15 August 2013). Mid-Term Report: From Grange Hill to Hollyoaks, Via Brookside. Penguin Random House. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-09-956916-9.
  20. ↑ Dungate, Arthur. "BbC Television from Alexandra Palace – Interludes". www.bbctv-ap.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  21. ↑ Martin, Andrew (4 September 2014). Belles and Whistles: Journeys Through Time on Britain's Trains. Profile Books. pp. 89–90. ISBN 978-1-78283-025-2.
  22. ↑ "BBC Two – London to Brighton in Four Minutes". BBC. Archived from the original on 14 March 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  23. ↑ Cade, D.L. (29 August 2013). "Time-Lapse Captures the Train Ride from London to Brighton in 1953, '83 and 2013". petapixel.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  24. ↑ Jeffs (2013), p. 11.
  25. ↑ "Bringing Back the Brighton Belle". Brighton Belle: iconic 1930s all-electric Pullman Train. 5BEL Trust. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  26. 1 2 Jeffs (2013), pp. 12–13.
  27. ↑ "A woman's place". Network Rail. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  28. ↑ "Only five percent of UK train drivers are women". theHRDIRECTOR. 7 March 2019. Archived from the original on 17 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  29. ↑ Yonge, John (November 2008) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 5: Southern & TfL (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. maps 2, 4, 14C, 15, 16. ISBN 978-0-9549866-4-3.

Works cited

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