Learning to Steam

Arfon spent a week on the Great Central Railway finding out everything a trainee footplate member needs to know. Starting at the bottom, just as a real trainee would have done on BR, Arfon first becomes a cleaner then gradually progresses up the ladder with ex-Fireman Ray Martin teaching him the art of firing. Ex-BR Driver Bill Gwilt then takes over to explain how to oil and prepare the loco followed by how to drive. Arfon then takes the controls of Clun Castle in charge of a seven coach “express” running from Loughborough Central to Rothley. If you have ever wondered how a steam engine works or how they are maintained or driven, this best selling video is for you.

Documentary

Learning to Steam

Recomendation Films

  • No Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad
  • Seduced and Abandoned
  • Making Squid Game: The Challenge
  • Being James Bond
  • Above Majestic
  • I Am Heath Ledger
  • John Candy: I Like Me
  • Gilbert
  • Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner
  • Indie Game: The Movie
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return
  • Harmontown
  • Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20
  • More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead
  • Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
  • Sidney
  • The Secret
  • Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
  • Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
  • Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show

Similar Films

  • Cavalcade of San Francisco
  • She's a Railroader
  • London's Railways in the 1960s
  • The Unreserved
  • The Complete History of America's Railroads
  • Under Night Streets
  • Vignettes of New England Steam
  • Tshiuetin
  • Haramain, el tren del desierto
  • Thrills for You
  • Panoramic View of Conway on the L. & N.W. Railway
  • The Outer Circle: Melbourne's Forgotten Railway
  • Le train d'Hitler - La bête d'acier
  • Quintinshill: Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster
  • Last of the Giants
  • The Power Behind the Nation
  • ICE - Der neue Zug

NextFilm 2026