New Horizons(1948)

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City(de)

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

Zugkraft mit Strom – Die Hightech-E-Lok(de)

A Train Arrives at the Station(en)

“This film was a gift to me. I make no claims for it, nor do I offer any apologies. It comes from work on The Thoughts That Once We Had. There was one shot we had to cut whose loss I particularly regretted. It was a shot of a train pulling into Tokyo Station from Ozu’s The Only Son (1936). So I decided to make a film around this shot, an anthology of train arrivals. It comprises 26 scenes or shots from movies, 1904-2015. It has a simple serial structure: each black & white sequence in the first half rhymes with a color sequence in the second half. Thus the first shot and the final shot show trains arriving at stations in Japan from a low camera height. In the first shot (The Only Son), the train moves toward the right; in the last shot, it moves toward the left. A bullet train has replaced a steam locomotive. So after all these years, I’ve made another structural film, although that was not my original intention.”

Le Dragon de Fer(fr)

Railman(en)

Railman is a film concerned as much with the distribution of roles within the film collective as with getting “as close as possible to the life and routines” of an NUR station master. Filmed at Grove Park Station, Lewisham, in south east London, and set against the backdrop of state divestment in transport infrastructure, Railman might be regarded as a modest and experimental corrective to officially sanctioned British Transport Films.

A&C to S(en)

As the modernisation of London Underground continues, long serving A-Stock and C-Stock trains have been withdrawn from service, and their differing characters will slowly become a memory. London Transport Museum commissioned Geoff Marshall to record the transition between old and new trains.

Model Citizens(en)

Somewhere in the world right now--much closer than you think--people are playing with trains. You might not see them at first, but they're there. In basements. In garages. In converted Army barracks. They're among the world's most compelling underground communities.

The Station(it)

A day in the life of a train station.

Wir fahren mit der Bahn(de)

Two boys aged 9 and 10, Jan and Christoph, want to visit their grandma, who lives in another town. They travel by train, on their own. They buy their tickets, find the right platform and get on the right train. And they know how to behave on the train. So, as expected, the train trip to Grandma's is a safe affair and great fun for the boys.

3rd Ave. El(en)

Impressionistic picture of the Third Avenue Elevated Railway in Manhattan, New York City, before it was demolished. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

Christmas with the Desert Children(en)

A short documentary about Father Christmas' annual six-day trek through the Australian desert aboard the Tea and Sugar Train.

Im Herzen Schottlands(de)

Wish Us Luck(th)

A one-month-journey of twin sisters from London back to their home, Bangkok, by train. They traveled via the famous trans-Siberian route through many countries such as Germany, Russia, Mongolia and China, with many stories to tell.

Trains of Thoughts(en)

An audio-visual essay, which reflects upon & compares metro systems around the world. It is an exploration of a world inside the world as well as feelings, fascination, obsession, fear and themes - of survival, control & silence.

Faces Places(fr)

Director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.

Banlie.ue(fr)

How They Dug the Victoria Line(en)

First transmitted in 1969, this documentary follows the construction of the world’s most advanced underground system. Macdonald Hastings narrates the story of one of the most complex tunnel engineering feats of its time. He reveals the isolation felt by the miners who spent six years burrowing deep beneath the streets of London, shows what they did beneath one of London's most famous department stores and explains why the ground at Tottenham Court Road had to be frozen during the hottest weeks of 1966. The result is a brave new world of transport with automated trains, two way mirrors, automatic fare collection and closed-circuit television, all choreographed by a computer programme played out by an updated version of a pianola located in a control room somewhere near Euston station.

TGV Paris-Bordeaux, la ligne de tous les records(fr)

Cavalcade of San Francisco(en)

This Traveltalk series short celebrates San Francisco, past and present.