MEMORIES of the vanished railway line serving Newent have been preserved thanks to the skills of an amateur cameraman and steam train enthusiast.

The Ledbury-Dymock-Newent-Gloucester route is one of three featured in a new video and DVD called Herefordshire Byways.

The video was produced by Pershore's Michael Clemens using footage taken by his late father Jim.

In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, Jim took miles of mainly 8mm-cine film of now long-closed railways and the locomotives that worked them.

"The collection is the largest of its type in the UK and covers a large part of England, Scotland and Wales, together with many thousands of both black and white prints plus colour slides and even tape recordings," said Mr Clemens.

The video is the 12th he has released and he intends to bring that to 25 over the next decade.

The Ledbury to Gloucester line was once a main route but was closed to passenger services as early as 1959. Freight continued until 1964.

Mr Clemens paints a different picture at Dymock. He said: "Just a few years earlier it was all so different, the station regularly won the GWR best kept station award and the goods yard was busy with traffic, including cider from Weston's cider factory."

The hour-long video costs £19.99. For further details, ring 01386 552069 during normal shop hours.