See How They Run! “A-Shunting We Will Go!“ (1931)

March, Cambridgeshire. “The latest on wheels and lines, at March, Cambridgeshire.“ Panning shot of criss crossing railway tracks. M/S of . locomotive passing the camera. Men are seen at work uncoupling the wagons. The carriages hold cargo rather than people. High angle shot of train moving along track. M/S of trucks seemingly moving on their own along the tracks. L/S of the control tower. C/U of message arriving by vacuum delivery system. (“Lanson tube?“) The message is deposited in in a wire container and operator sends back the metal canister inside which the message was placed. We then see a man at large control desk which moves the rails for the wagons. Various shots of the wagons rolling “with uncanny precision“ into their proper sidings. L/S of the control tower and the wagons moving around is intercut with shots of man operating controls. Novel kind of brake called a retarder is demonstrated. Point of view shot from front of the wagon. High angle shot of the wagons m