Collections: Transport and Travel

Aerial journeys

Grab a bird's eye view of Britain from above

Motorcars

The car in all its forms, from petrol guzzlers, diesel, hybrid and fully electric

Steam trains

Steaming with joy for the age of steam

Survivors of the Titanic

Hear from some of the men and women who lived through that 'night to remember'

1940s

Car air-ferry service to France, 1949

The inaugural car air-ferry service to France launches

BOAC flying boat lands on the Thames, 1949

London was treated to the rare sight of a new flying boat alighting near Tower Bridge

Manchester's 'last' tram, 1949

Mancunians said goodbye forever to those "rattling and ungainly monsters", the trams

Bonn - new capital of West Germany, 1949

Newsreel visited the city, to see how work was progressing ahead of the split between east and west post-WW2

HMS Implacable's Final Voyage, 1949

The 149 year-old ship, which survived the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, is sailed out to be scuttled

Britain's first double-decker train, 1949

"Something entirely new in railway rolling stock"

1950s

Fibreglass boats, 1951

The newest, trendiest material to make boats out of is glass. Sort of...

Cutty Sark - last of the tea clippers, 1951

"Now, with her racing days lost in the history of the sea, Cutty Sark was given a send-off"

Railway Track Laying Demonstration, 1951

British Railways were showing off some new equipment, including an automatic ballast cleaner, a track laying machine and what we're reliably informed is a whacker plate.

Hotel Ahoy! RMS Queen Mary, 1951

Newsreel reported on the vessel as she underwent her mammoth annual maintenance regime

Britain's Two-Wheeled Exports, 1952

A look at Britain's booming Bicycle industry

The Devon Belle, 1952

Travelling from Waterloo became that little bit less luxurious, as time was called on the Devon Belle

Queen opens terminal buildings, 1955

"London Airport has become the modern meeting place"

Hovercraft's first channel crossing, 1959

The maiden voyage of a revolutionary new form of transport

1960s

Arrested schoolgirl in East Germany returns, 1960

"I'd like to go again - with a visa"

Cuban atmosphere, 1961

Fyfe Robertson visits Cuba's capital Havana to see if it matches the city described in the press

Nelson's Pillar, 1961

Alan Whicker was in Dublin, to see the incongruous pillar originally built in 1809

Frank O'Connor on Cork, 1961

"You don't have to sell Cork to me, Huw. To me it's the most important city in the world"

Flying Carpet Post Office, 1962

"Lulu represents subscriber trunk dialling" Rowland Emett gave Kenneth Allsop a tour of his latest invention

Forth and Clyde canal, 1962

Before it closes to navigation, Fyfe Robertson takes one last journey to explain its history

Glasgow's last tram, 1962

"So many tons of whining, rattling, clanging, swaying pure nostalgia"

History of bicycles, 1963

"Nowadays, you'd never know that Coventry's modern fortune was founded on the bicycle"

Beeching report, 1963

Tonight pays tribute to some of the many railway stations earmarked for closure

Port of Whittier - Alaska, 1964

Yours for a bargain sum, this port included 177 luxury flats, 39 bachelor flats, playrooms, bowling alleys, two cinemas, a theatre, a tv studio, bank, post office and rifle range.

Switzerland-Italy tunnel, 1964

Raymond Baxter travelled through the newly-opened St Bernard tunnel

Spanish breakfast, 1964

Julian Pettifer isn't impressed by the Spanish's thoroughly un-British attitude towards breakfast

Whinging poms, 1965

"You do get called names - call them names back and they enjoy it"

Banger racing, 1965

Tonight's Julian Pettifer put himself on the line riding in a battered wreck around a quarry

Britain's backside, 1965

"Look at the backside of Britain, the Britain that most of us know"

Best value bank holiday resorts, 1966

Were English seaside resorts value for money during the August Bank Holiday? BBC reporters took 50 bob to Blackpool, Great Yarmouth and Torquay to find out

Putney to Manchester, 1966

Tomorrow's World attempts to make the journey north, and discovers it's a bit of a faff

Mil Mi-10 demonstration, 1967

"On the ground, the five huge rotors almost blew the cameraman off his feet"

Christmas shopping US style, 1967

Gerald Priestland reports on how Americans do their Christmas shopping

Ring of Kerry driving holiday, 1969

"On the open roads of the Irish Republic, there are no traffic jams, no parking meters, no breathalysers"

Venice, The Vanishing Lady, 1969

Journalist James Cameron made a documentary about Venice, while he still could

1970s

Rowland Emett's Lunar Bikes, 1970

Disappointingly these have yet to be deployed on the lunar surface

Aviemore skiing weekend, 1970

A holiday where the après ski cèilidh looks every bit as dangerous as slaloming down the slopes

Chicken poo car, 1971

Reclusive inventor Harold Bate explains how he powers his vehicle

Jon Pertwee collapsing a caravan, 1972

"How's that?! Eleven seconds!"

Holiday: Aviemore Centre, 1973

"It's all adding up to Blackpool in the wrong place" Fyfe Robertson lamented the Aviemore Centre's shift in focus

Brand new express train, 1975

British Rail unveils its new high-tech train, featuring such marvels as automatic doors and beer

The skateboarding craze, 1977

'Forty pounds? You could get a good bike for less than that'

Massive excavator, 1977

Big Geordie takes three weeks to walk 2.6 miles

New station approach, 1977

British Rail begins a 'politeness campaign', but nobody notices

The Last Concorde, 1979

After a decade, the supersonic dream is over for the workers at Filton

1980s

Barrel boat man world voyage, 1984

Fresh from a successful Atlantic crossing, Eric Peters sets off on a round the world voyage aboard the Tonicay Nou (a barrel)

Sinclair C5 launches, 1985

Sir Clive Sinclair's electric tricycle drives into a safety row on its first day

1990s and beyond

The Sinclair Zike, 1992

Sir Clive Sinclair reveals his latest invention - the Zike

Sunderland Flying Boat restored, 1993

'Fantasy of Flight' was one of only 777 aircraft of her type made or upgraded during WWII, seen here as she embarked for Kermit Weeks' museum in Florida