To celebrate the upgraded Chiltern Railways Mainline service between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone, Orchestra of the Swan (OOTS) has partnered with Chiltern Railways to remake the famous 1962 British Railways promotional film ‘Let’s go to Birmingham’.

The Stratford-based chamber orchestra filmed the new version of the original soundtrack, ‘Perpetuum Mobile’ Polka, by Johann Strauss, during a train journey from Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone.

Called ‘Let’s Go to London’, the new film, which has been sped up to show the 90 minute journey in just five minutes, shows the musicians playing their instruments in a carriage, while conductor David Curtis directs from the aisle.

The film was re-created by Goodmedia, a Birmingham-based film and media company. Project partner Naxos, the world’s leading classical record company (www.naxos.com), is releasing the audio recording as a single on its own digital platforms (Classics Online / www.classicsonline.com, Naxos Music Library / www.naxosmusiclibrary.com) and associated third party digital platforms including iTunes.
David Curtis, OOTS’ artistic director and conductor, said: “This was a wonderful and unique collaboration between us, Chiltern Railways and Goodmedia. It was a lot of fun to make and passengers certainly enjoyed listening to classical music on their journey to London.”

Ian Baxter, Customer Service Director at Chiltern Railways, added: “This video showcases not only fantastic classical music but also the Chiltern Mainline journey between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone.  Whilst we do not always have an Orchestra to entertain you, our trains will get you to your destination in comfort, speed and style.” 

Chiltern Railways completed a £150m investment to upgrade their line between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone in September 2011, which has reduced journey times between our first and second cities and created the Chiltern Mainline.