Rose-tinted glasses often lead us to have false views about the past. We think of the rural railways of East Anglia as barely changed from their Great Eastern days. But, as early as 1955 there was evidence of change coming. Here we see the old order in the form of a typical Great Eastern type of local train as class N7 0-6-2 tank no. 69698 departs from Mundesley-on-Sea with a two coach local. Even this isn't quite what it seems, as the engine was never a GER machine, having been built by the LNER in 1927. It's followed by scenes of BR DMU at Dereham, these having displaced many of the old GER classes by this time. However, there's some comfort in our last two scenes, at North Walsham, where we see two of the classic B12 inside-cylindered 4-6-0s on long trains of Blood-and-Custard coaches. Nevertheless, these are Gresley rebuilds, but at least no. 61540 was built by the Great Eastern, in 1917. Visit www.unseensteam.co.uk to see our full archive of rare, vintage footage.