[1] Many of the unit's films celebrated the running of Britain's nationalised railway network; early titles such as Train Time,[2] Elizabethan Express and Snowdrift at Bleath Gill aimed to document and celebrate the achievements and hard work of railway staff and their machinery.
Somewhat paradoxically, many of the unit's films celebrated a quiet, unchanging image of rural Britain – with travelogues such as The Heart of England (1954), The Lake District (also 1954), Three Is Company (1959), Down to Sussex (1964) and Midland Country (as late as 1974) – while simultaneously invoking the "white heat of technology" in its other work, such as its Report on Modernisation series instigated in 1959 (renamed Rail Report in 1965).
BTF also gave John Schlesinger an early breakthrough with the 1961 film Terminus, chronicling a day in the life of Waterloo station in a style highly uncharacteristic of the unit.
The British Waterways Board has also released its own library of BTF films on video, and these have latterly appeared on DVD.
The latest in the series, London on the Move, focuses on the capital's transport systems, including buses.