All aboard the Caledonian Railway

Descriptor: As the film begins, we are introduced to the three students who made the film, Alex, Andrew and Mark, through a series of shots of them working on it.

Alex: Hi, I’m Alex, I’m the Producer and Director; that’s Andrew, he’s the Camera Operator; and that’s Mark, he’s our Sound Operator and Editor.

Descriptor: We now see a large white sign on the side of a grey building, which reads, “Adam Smith College, Inspiring Learning”, before we see further shots of Alex, Andrew and Mark making the film.

Alex: We’re all from Adam Smith College in Fife, Scotland. We made the following film about the Caledonian Railway, which is one of many Good Causes around Great Britain that have benefited thanks to you playing National Lottery games. We hope you enjoy our film.

Descriptor: We now see a blue map of the UK on a red graphic background, which zooms to Brechin on the map, where a white caption reads, “Caledonian Railway Lottery Funding - £47,000”.  We then see various shots of the Caledonian Railway, including people sitting on the platform, and some of the trains that run there.

Narrator: Brechin is a small town on the east coast of Scotland, north of Dundee. The town is home to the Caledonian Railway, a vintage train station that has been running steam engine trains since 1993 as a tourist attraction.

Descriptor: We are now introduced to Tommy Henderson, who is the Marketing Manager for Caledonian Railway. As he speaks, we see a carving in a piece of stone, which reads, “The age of steam”, and shows a steam train coming out of a tunnel.  We then see, from the perspective of a moving train, a large black and white station sign, which reads, “Bridge of Dun”, before we see a map, showing the old line between London and Aberdeen, which then fades to show a steam train running in the distance.

Tommy Henderson: Well the railway itself, erm, was originally built and brought to Brechin in 1848, so it was quite an early railway. And the Brechin branch runs from the other end of the line at Bridge of Dun, which was actually a mainline connection with the west coast main line between London and Aberdeen.

Descriptor: As Tommy speaks, we now see a woman in a brightly coloured shawl sorting mail.

Tommy Henderson: We got lottery funding back in 2002 to 2004 which was a great help because it actually allowed us to pay a member of staff, who was also there to answer the phone, so it was a contact point and you’ve got someone full time. You get a lot more bookings because people, there’s someone there to answer a phone to take a booking.

Descriptor: We now see a steam train with red carriages running along a track, with lots of trees and shrubbery at the side, with the shot being taken from the perspective of being a passenger on the train. As the narrator speaks, we see various shots of the volunteers who work on the trains carrying out their duties.

Descriptor: We now meet Steve Moir, who is one of the volunteers on the Caledonian Railway.  As he speaks, we see a conductor taking tickets inside one of the trains, then the view from the driver’s cabin of the train, before we see a close up of all the positive comments that visitors to the railway have left in the visitor’s book. We then see a shot taken from a bridge, which shows a blue steam train coming towards and then past us, together with a shot of a green train coming into the station.

Steve Moir: The lottery funding was important because it, ah, ah, enabled us to employ a marketing officer who really spent two years trying to get our profile higher and bringing in sort of extra revenue and, ah, we still have the knock on effect of that. The fact that, em, you know, we’ve now got the higher profile, people keep coming back and back and back, which, which helps us, because the more, em, the more income we can generate, the, the more work we can do. And really, since the lottery the railway’s kind of took off, we’ve had, you know, quite a few other major projects have come through to fruition, so the lottery’s been really quite crucial to us.

Descriptor: We now see various shots of the volunteers working on trains, before once again going back to Tommy Henderson.

Tommy Henderson: The volunteers are vital because without the volunteers we wouldn’t have any staff, so we wouldn’t be able to run the railway, so we just wouldn’t exist. We couldn’t afford to do this with paid staff, because we don’t have the turnover.

Descriptor: We are now introduced to Jim Wilkie, who is one of the volunteers. He is standing inside one of the trains, wearing a conductor’s outfit. As he speaks we see an old blue sign, which reads, “Waiting room”, and various shots of him performing his duties. Lastly, we see a steam train passing in the distance, partially obscured by trees, a close up shot of a train going past and a red sign on the side of one of the trains.

Jim Wilkie: I’ve always been interested in railways, since the time I was a wee boy. As well as the Caledonian Railway, until I retired, ah, until I became 60, I was a special constable for twenty six years so, you know, it’s a chance to help other folks and meet folk.

Descriptor: Finally we meet Tommy Henderson again, who is standing next to an old green and white train. As he speaks, we see trains at the station, before once again seeing the woman in a brightly coloured shawl watering plants on the platform, and a small blue steam engine slowly passing by. Lastly, we see the rear view of a train as it drives away from the camera.

Tommy Henderson: Plans for the future is to, well, continue to expand what we have at the moment. I mean, we’ve got a really nice station here at Brechin that we’re trying to bring back to its former glory. A visitor attraction, we’ve really got to try and improve it, that’s really our prime aim at the moment, just to make it a better visitor centre. Lottery funding is really good, in the sense that it lets you realise dreams that you probably couldn’t have realised without the lottery.

Descriptor: Finally we see a white background with a 'The National Lottery' logo and a Heritage Lottery Fund logo, with a blue caption underneath which reads “Lottery Funded”, before seeing a black background with the Creative Loop and Highlands and Islands Enterprise logos, and a white caption which reads, “Produced by Alex Harron, Mark Walker, Andrew McGregor”.