A rail enthusiast from Newcastle has made an intriguing find on ebay with rare colour footage of the Tyne and Wear Metro discovered during the early years of the network. The six minute video shows the Metro as it was in July 1981, and Nexus have now made the full footage online for everyone to enjoy.
The video was shot using a 8mm cine camera and includes a journey on the first ever section of Metro line between Haymarket and Tynemouth. It was taken from the front seat of a Metro train on Wednesday 29th July 1981, which was a bank holiday as it was also the date that Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer.
Ian Chapman, who found the footage on ebay, said: “The cine film provides us with a wonderful snapshot of the Metro during that first year of operations. It’s nice to be able to look back and see what it was like when the system was all brand new.
“I’m always on the lookout for Metro memorabilia for my collection. I saw that the film was for sale on eBay and I put a bid in for it straight away. The seller was all the way down in Herefordshire. I was able to get the reel for just £11.99.
“Whoever made the film must have had a decent 8mm cine camera as the quality is pretty good. We see that it was shot on Wednesday 29 July 1981, which was a rare midweek bank holiday so that the nation could watch the Royal wedding. That might explain why the Metro stations look so quiet.
“I was only eleven years old when this reel was made, so I do think it’s a nice historical record of when Metro was totally new, particularly the trains in that wonderful yellow and white PTE livery that they used to have.
“In that first year I can recall that Metro was a big deal. It was an innovation for our region. To have our own Metro system before other cities outside of London was huge.
“I was more than happy to share the footage with Nexus so that we can keep that film for posterity and get it published online. It shows a fair bit of what the system was like, just a few weeks shy its first anniversary. It feels like five minutes, but that’s now more than 45 years ago.”
Sarah McCourt, Head of Communications and Marketing at Nexus, added: “This is amazing colour footage of Metro in its first year of operations. The system was completely new and light rail helped to transform how people travelled around our region.
“Apart from television news coverage from the time, there isn’t a lot of home videos of Metro in those early days as not everyone had access to a cine camera.
“The footage provides a nostalgic snapshot of the system when the first line between Haymarket and Tynemouth had been open for less than a year. It’s especially poignant seeing the trains, all shiny and new in their yellow and white livery, given that they’re currently in the process of being phased out to make way for our new train fleet.”
- The full video can be viewed at https://youtu.be/tlFGm9LTUAc?si=sIVGUSJ5DvHPi1cS