FORMER employees of a railway locomotive and carriage building company, which closed 50 years ago, are being invited to a screening of a new film on its history.

The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, (BRC&W), established in 1854, made not only carriages and wagons, but also various vehicles including planes, buses and tanks.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the closure of the Smethwick works this year, Arthur Fletcher and Colin Wheeler - who worked at the company -have made a new film covering its entire history.

The two-hour film features a tour of the works using Colin’s rare photography collection, a section on the carriages built, and a piece on the other vehicles built by the company.

Arthur explained that after the company’s closure, due to financial difficulties, its former employees moved on. Having lost touch he is trying to track them down, and he believes there may be people connected with the company now living in Worcestershire.

He added some employees may have been involved in the production of locomotives built to climb the Lickey Incline - the steepest incline in Britain.

“We want to show the film to as many of the Carriage Works people as possible,” Arthur said.

“Rail enthusiasts are also more than welcome.”

The plan is to show the film at the end of this month, but organisers are yet to set a definite date or venue as they want to see how big the audience interested in attending, will be.

Anyone interested is asked to call Arthur on 0121 445 6873.

He will then get in touch when a date and venue has been set for the film’s showing.