British Pathe

Documentary made by Pathe, presumably paid for by George Bennie himself about his marvellous new invention. See paper records for letters to and from George Bennie: "Inventor with a kink" .

Location: Scotland.

Main title reads: "The George Bennie Railplane System of Transport - Erected...

Documentary made by Pathe, presumably paid for by George Bennie himself about his marvellous new invention. See paper records for letters to and from George Bennie: "Inventor with a kink" .

Location: Scotland.

Main title reads: "The George Bennie Railplane System of Transport - Erected over the LNER lines at Milngavie, near Glasgow." Intertitle notes that the Railplane Line is being opened one hundred years after the George Stephenson Line in 1829. CU. of a poster commemorating the opening of the George Bennie Railplane Line. Intertitle describes how safe and rapid the new system of transport will be. The documentary commences with a look at the George Stephenson "Rocket". Shots of what purports to be Stephenson's Rocket in operation. LS. of a "modern" steam locomotive passing underneath the camera. "Fast, certainly; but today the call is for greater and greater speed - with safety. George Bennie has gone to the air for it, but with a rigid craft on a definite line."

Teesside Bridge and Iron Company is featured - this is where the elevated track is manufactured. LS. of the industrial landscape. MS. of the foundry where many men work to produce moulds for the track. Interior of the mills with men at work. Various shots of factory floor, men working vast presses, drilling metal beams etc. Exterior - track being assembled, pieces being moved by crane into place. Men at work on high girders. Assembling and riveting the girders. High angle travelling shot showing the track being assembled.

Milngavie - track being erected over section of the LNER tracks. Good shots of men at work winching section of the track into place etc. Sign propped up against the bottom of the construction reads: "British Steel Only".

Mirrlees Watson factory in Glasgow makes the overhead bogies. Good shot of the factory floor. Men at work. We see the nose pieces of the plane in CU. A man turns part of the mechanism for the camera. Various elements of the railplane are shown in CU. including braking mechanism and wheels. The overhead bogie (or bogey - spelt both ways in intertitles) is assembled.

The "car" is being built at Messrs. William Beardmore's in Dalmuir. Various shots of the construction of the Railplane. CU. of the "keel". George Bennie is there to inspect the work. He wears a macintosh / mackintosh and bowler hat. Various shots of men working on the framework of the craft.

Continued on 3181.07