A few years back we discovered two series of archive railway films of exceptional quality, all restored, re-mastered, and given sound by a Dutch genius, Ton Pruissen - now we can offer many more of his films, covering railway scenes from the past in France, Germany, Austria, Poland and Roumania, with some really mouth-watering further titles in the pipeline.
We are now working with Ton on producing his films with English commentary by Peter van Zeller - currently nine of these are available and are featured here, with two more expected during 2010. However, whatever language the commentary is in, it is not overwhelming and, on most of these DVDs, can be turned off, leaving you to enjoy the quality of Ton’s dubbed sounds to the full. These films really are exceptional in their quality - you will be amazed!
In the December 2009 Continental Modeller, in a review of "East German Narrow Gauge Memories", the reviewer said:
The picture quality is very good. The film is mostly black and white, with some colour, and all has been transferred very well.
The sound has been meticulously dubbed to create a convincing effect. There is some use of classical backing music......
........ Once again, Pruissen offers a fascinating film which allows us to share his remarkable rail travel experiences. Not only does the film takes us back in time, but his journeys must have seemed like time travel, to a country which had not changed in years. The contrast (where possible) with those lines that have survived is striking.
Stongly recommended.......
Part of the penultimate paragraph of this review doesn't really apply to the French railway films, very little of which he filmed, or to Wartime Rails, but the other comments do apply to all his films; Ton's aim is to make each film into a time capsule, and he really doe succeed, especially by his attention to the sound dubbing. The sheer quality of his films is incredible as, of course, is the enjoyment to be gained from them!
The following contains clips from all Ton's films with English commentary; these differ considerably in most cases from the individual trailers you will find for each film.
This English language film covers a number of 750mm narrow gauge systems in Northern Germany, including those on the Island of Rügen, and the Mügeln, Oschatz and Wilsdruff systems, all...
During the 1960s and 70s the Czech State Railways - CSD were operating the most advanced steam locomotives ever built for mainline service anywhere in the world, including two and three cylinder...
From 1969 onwards, Ton Pruissen made numerous trips to Poland to record Polish steam, and this film concentrates on the standard gauge PKP lines in northwest Poland, around Poznan, Bydgoszcz,...
Shot between 1969 and 1977, this film shows passenger and goods operations on the Bromberger and Wirsitzer Kreisbahn, a 200 km long, 60 cm gauge railway in the border country between Germany and...
Austria’s topography meant that it was ideal narrow gauge territory, and numerous narrow gauge systems, mainly 760mm gauge, were constructed down valleys to make connection with the...
ORIGINAL PRICE : £ 24.72, In this second selection of films by Carl Bellingrodt and his friends, the subject is the Bundesbahn during the 1960s. All colour film shows some steam with new E...
A fair bit of this interesting film revolves around trials and demonstrations of two of the Reichsbahn’s streamlined efforts - the Henschel-Wegmann-Zug, with its massive 4-6-4 tank, and the...
This DVD contains 2 films previously released separately on video - “Trümmer, Dampf und Wiederaubau” on railways and “Ruinen, Trams und Stadtverkehr” on trams, both...
Situated at the very eastern edge of Europe, Roumania has always been ‘different’, something very evident where its railway system, Caile Ferate Romane, or CFR, was concerned. An...
These three DVDs, with commentary in English, are edited versions of the first four DVDs in the L’Age de Fer series, the tram sections in particular have been removed.Vol. 1 has...
These three DVDs, with commentary in English, are edited versions of the first four DVDs in the L’Age de Fer series, the tram sections in particular have been removed.Vol. 1 has...
