December 2006

Tony Wilson
Archive Cine
Report - Gary Wilkinson

Another good audience of 23 were here for Tony’s annual Christmas Fare. First up was a film taken in the summer, of Milan’s Trams & Trolleybuses. First, we got a scene reminiscent of the 1930s with Peter Witt type trams in the centre of Milan with cobbled streets and old buildings setting the scene. There are still about 200 Peter Witt trams, which were built in the1930s, which run on the interior routes of the city. All the trams are one person operated and take no fares, it is all prepaid tickets. Milan is gradually upgrading one route at a time and when the route is finished, the trams are replaced by new rolling stock.

San Francisco recently purchased withdrawn Peter Witt trams for their new tourist route, to be opened soon. At the peak, Milan turned out 450 trams, running through very picturesque streets. The trolleybuses - rigid and artics - run circular routes around the city centre. There are also bus routes and in a single year, over 70 million passengers are carried on Trams, Trolleybuses and Buses.

Our second film was one of Bradford trolleybuses during the final weekend tours in March 72. All the trolleybuses were in splendid condition for this sad weekend. In addition, we see shots of the maintenance crews dismantling the wires and cutting the poles outside the Duckworth lane depot. At the end of the film, we see a short clip of 743 being towed by the Black Prince tow bus from Oak lane storage to Sandtoft, with our editor Mick Leak in the driving seat of 743. The towing bus gave up the ghost and had to be replaced by another towing vehicle from Sandtoft.

The third film was a Train film from the 1960s showing early diesels and steam trains running into Southport station, which was a very large station at that time. Then we saw some great night shots of Blackpool illuminated trams in the 1960s, Tramnik 1, Paddle steamer and Western train, all in new condition. We then held a break for tea, mince pies & sausage rolls, provided by committee member Brian Keating’s wife, Audrey (A big thank you from the Chairman and Committee). The last film was in and around Brighton station in the 1960’s with shots in the signal box, offices, shunting yard and track repairs.

A big thank you to Tony!