Film Number

11286

Title

[THE LAST DAYS OF STEAM; RAINHILL TRIALS 150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS]

Producer

Derek Houghton

Date

1968/79/80

Gauge

16mm

Colour

colour

Sound

silent

Running Time

76 mins 33 secs

Description

The film opens with scenes from 1968 at Rainhill Railway Station. Crowds await the arrival of the last steam train that will depart the station. We then see a series of events from the Rainhill Trials 150th Anniversary Celebrations, running from 1979 to 1980, including Ken Dodd opening an event, the St. Anne's Church Flower Festival, and a model railway exhibition. There are scenes from the Grand Celebration Dance featuring the final of the Miss Rainhill Rocket Competition and Rainhill Open Scout Group presents a Railway Film Night showing archive film of steam trains.
Events continue in reel 2, with more scenes from the Rainhill Trials 150th Anniversary Celebrations, including an opening event for the Rainhill Trials Exhibition at Rainhill Station and a procession of steam trains and steam engines steaming past crowds of spectators - one of the trains is the Flying Scotsman. More scenes of people looking around stalls at the event, and then we see the steam trains and engines again, this time going through Rainhill Station.