Great Railway Journeys of the World - Changing Trains - 1980

Great video Dean, brings back memories of travelling on some of these routes.

Thank you so much posting this complete version. The only versions I've been able to find previously have bits missing or is a poor quality cine film strip from the Internet Archive. This was my favourite episode too. I know Herbert Chappell's music isn't to everyone's taste, but I love it.

This episode was originally going to be presented by Bill Grundy, but according to Eric Robson's autobiography he "apparently [fell] down the neck of a whisky bottle, in Zurich" and the footage which had been shot was repurposed with Robson doing the narration and linking. I think what we got is much better than if Grundy had been involved.

I find it frustrating that all of Series 2 of 'Great Railway Journeys' from 1994 is on iPlayer, but not Series 1.

And forty years on, the only trains still running are the ones that were already museum pieces. Everything else has been reequipped or discontinued aside from the TGVs at the end. The Cisalpin whose future he pondered was effectively gone three years later.

Brilliant, thanks for uploading

Just thought of something: when these were made, steam on BR had only been gone for 12 years. Must have felt much different to see steam in the wild compared to me, who never did.

Thanks for posting this! This is my favourite episode too. I especially enjoy the part about Le Cisalpin. I used to love those Mistral 69 carriages. I consider myself privileged to have been able to use them on several occasions between Amsterdam and Antwerp on the Etoile du Nord. My dad and I would sometimes go on special train trips for the sole purpose of riding on the Mistral 69 carriages. Beautiful and timeless design.

Zurich to Vienna is brilliant :)

You might not have needed 'a dash around Paris'as some of the trains carriages use to be shunted around the Paris peripheral loop line linking the main stations.

Has anyone got the Ben Okri one where he goes from London to Arcadia in Greece. It's my favourite along with Michael palins.

The 1980 Transalpin seems modern even to todays standards.

I was born in 1983 and my dad had this taped off the tv, one of my earliest memories was watching this and I often wondered when he taped it, so 1986. I could vividly remember certain scenes in it such as the scrapyard at the end. It got taped over some time in the late 80s and I never seen it again for years but could always remember it. Along with other episodes in the series.

They still run the VRB steam train on weekends in September or October. Pioneer railway in Budapest still going strong. Everything else "modernised", I guess better than "discontinued".

Unique among Great Railway Journeys episodes in that the host traveller appears at the beginning, but not again for the rest of the episode, only giving narration.
Story is one Bill Grundy was meant to present this episode but had a mishap in Switzerland on a preliminary trip and had to return home. He was host of BBC's tea time Today show til it was canceled in early 1977.

This was also shown on 12th October 1983 at 18.30. 39 years ago from right now. lol 😀

Hard to believe it's nearly forty years since I watched the glamorous Transalpin and heard the perfectly matched 'powering on' accompanying music of the programme... which I've hummed every now and then ever since! Thank you for uploading - as others have said, only segments seemed to be available before.
Watching the waiters serving lunch - with panache, freshly cooked onboard, it seems to me things have gone backward when the 'best' available nowadays are microwaved snacks on disposable plates!
As for Swiss connections: Many years ago I remember asking at the ticket office in Interlaken if it may perhaps be possible to take a train to A, a boat to B, a cable car to C, a chairlift to D - and a Postbus back to A on a single ticket......"Of course" came the reply.......and naturally every journey connected within minutes to the next. Oh - how good it would be to have the Swiss organising public transport in the UK!

Funnily Chris Lohner actually ended up doing the announcements for 40 more years, and she will be the voice of ÖBB for years to come – albeit somewhat more artificial sounding – in digitally "rearrangable" form. Even the voice messages in the driver's cabs of the locomotives were done by her!

Great film I remember trying to watch this on a UHF channel on public television. Cinematography very good....poor taste in music though.

I remember travelling Switzerland and Austria by train in the 80s. It brought back memories. Thank you.

Oh, what have we lost? Civilised rail travel across Europe mean the provision of a quality Restaurant Car; not a trolley-dolly dispensing plastic sandwiches. Thank you for uploading this excellent BBC production.

50 years on there's a similar non tourist/non museum operation still going with steam trains in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Tuzla area.

This is probably my favourite episode from this superb series - which has never been bettered - each episode is perfectly crafted and made to very high standards. Eric Robsons intelligent and well informed commentary together with the photography and Herbert Chappell's jazzy score strike the perfect mix.

Does anyone know where in Hungary those steam trains were running?

I was in Hungary in 2022, they still use that little announcement tune at train stations to get people's attention. When I heard it I knew I had heard it before on this programme!

I had this episode and the South Africa on vhs tape growing up and it's not much of an exaggeration to say I watched them hundreds of times! Thank You for posting!

I watched this series with my mom. Later, when I started travelling, it was always by Eurolines from Victoria Coach Station. Destination for me often Munich. A thrilling journey, if not as glamorous.

Kay Dalrimpyl is dead now. But then, so are most of the other people in this episode. God bless them.