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In 1840, one man transformed
travel in Britain.

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His name was George Bradshaw

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and his railway guides inspired
the Victorians to take to the tracks.

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Stop by stop,
he told them where to travel,

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what to see and where to stay.

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Now, 170 years later,
I'm making a series of journeys

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across the length
and breadth of the country

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to see what remains
of Bradshaw's Britain.

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In recent days, I've been
travelling along a railway line

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that was built to speed the link
between London and Dublin.

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It was a vital route
of communication,

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carrying the Irish mail

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and it boosted trade and tourism
along its length.

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I'm journeying across North Wales,

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using my 19th century
Bradshaw's guide,

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towards the Irish
ferry port of Holyhead.

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But today, I'm taking time out
to make a diversion

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along the line
that was built in the 1860s,

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following the course
of the Conwy river

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through some of Wales'
most beautiful scenery,

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to discover more about what
these Welsh hills are made of

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and the sorts of people that
they attracted in Bradshaw's day.

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In the 19th century,

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the railways sprouted
mile after mile of branch lines.

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My Bradshaw's guide
has set me to explore
one of the prettiest in Wales,

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to appreciate how
even a secondary line,

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could transform
the fortunes of a locality.

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Along the way, I'll be discovering

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how trains helped
an early mail order business.

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What is it they contain?

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Iron.

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What does it give you? Energy?

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Of course it does.

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Staying in Britain's
first artist's colony.

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One of the descriptions
in the 1840s and 1850s,

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is it looks like
the encampment of an invading army.

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Because every blooming rock
has got an artist sitting on it.

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'And exploring the Victorian
slate capital of the world.'

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We've popped out into
a different universe.

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Where are the trees now?
Where is the green?

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Just piles and piles and piles
of grey slate.

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So far, I've travelled almost
150 miles from Ledbury to Llandudno.

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Now I'm heading deep into
North Wales and exploring Snowdonia,

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before crossing the Menai Straits
to Anglesey and Holyhead.

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My first stop today is Llanrwst,

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then on to Betws-y-Coed,

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Blaenau Ffestiniog
and finally, Porthmadog.

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This stretch of the journey
takes me on a detour

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away from the mainline to Holyhead,
along the Conwy valley,

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on a branch
that was built in the 1860s.

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I've never been down this line before
and already I am surprised.

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The Conwy river is much wider
than I had expected.

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It is very lush and green.

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And actually Bradshaw should have
prepared me for this, he says,

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"This valley is remarkable
for its beauty and fertility,

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"its luxuriant pastures,
cornfields and groves,

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"and these are finely contrasted

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"with the bleak appearance
of the Snowdon Mountain

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"which towers
in frowning majesty above."

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Just about right.

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In Bradshaw's era,

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towns across the country cried out
to be linked to the railway network,

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hungry for economic benefit.

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New lines like this
spread like wildfire.

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Good morning. Morning, Michael.
Welcome to the Conwy valley.
Thank you very much.

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It's a fantastic railway line.
Was it built for tourism?

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No, the original reason
for this line

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was to convey the products
of the slate quarry in the town of
Blaenau Ffestiniog to the coast.

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So that was the real reason
for the line.

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But of course as the years have
emerged and industry has changed

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then tourism is now
very much our main feature.

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'North Llanrwst station
opened in 1863.'

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Bye!

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'The line carried slate and
the mountains became accessible to
rail passengers for the first time.'

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North Llanrwst station
is beautifully situated

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and it was obviously
built on a scale,

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a gateway to welcome
tourists and visitors.

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Now looking a little bit like...

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faded splendour.

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I've come to see what
attracted all the visitors.

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Bradshaw writes,

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"In the vicinity is Trefriw,

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"in a hollow of
the Caernarvonshire hills,

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"where there are
some salubrious mineral waters."

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The Trefriw springs were a local
secret until the 19th century.

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When the railway arrived, the town
blossomed into a fully-fledged spa,

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with a bathhouse and pump room.

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The bathhouse is no more,

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but of course,
the famous waters flow still.

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Hello, Hilary. Hello, Michael.

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'Hilary Rogers-Jones
is a guide at the spa.'

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So these are the spa waters
of Trefriw, is that right?

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Yes, they certainly are.

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And Bradshaw,
my 19th century guide,

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says they are
very salubrious waters.

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And efficacious.

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And why is that?
What is it that they contain?

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Iron. Iron.

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And it's in solution.

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It was called Trefriw chalybeate.

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I think he may have mentioned
chalybeate waters,

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which is iron in solution.

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Does it give you energy?

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Of course it does.

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And how do you best take it, then?

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Do you ingest it or
do you bathe in it?

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No, you take it.

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They used to bathe in it.

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In Bradshaw's time
they bathed in it.

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It was said
that these iron-rich waters

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provided a natural cure for anaemia.

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Demand rocketed.

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And taking advantage
of the new branch line,

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the spa created one of the earliest
mail order businesses

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that made use of rail.

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They could get it
in the post as well.
Here's one of the very old boxes

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Oh, that's fantastic.
With the bottles.

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And it has "Trefriw Wells" on it.

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And I presume,
sent off on the train.

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Yes, they'd be collected from here.

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That's when the Post Office
came into Trefriw

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and then of course so much
went by rail in those days.

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I had no idea that at that stage
you could send away

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and get a bottle of water. A little
bottle of water, very expensive.

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This would be 42 shillings
for an eight-week supply of water,

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which was a tremendous amount of
money in those days. Just imagine.

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That is. That is staggering.
It's a lot of money. It is.

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They must really have believed
in it. Oh, they did.

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'Back then, 42 shillings was over
a week's wages for most workers.

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'So the mail order service
was an expensive luxury for the rich.

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'Those who took the train to the spa,

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'Could also take a dip
in the special waters.'

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This is the bathhouse
that people used to bathe in,

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from 1833 when it was built.

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That's a huge bath. It is, isn't it?
And what's this made of?

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Slate.

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Good Welsh slate. Yes.

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And the water... Just used to come...

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Tumbling off the mountains...
Tumbling off the mountains
into here.

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I can understand
that if you drink iron

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that might do you some good.

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But bathing in it -
would that do any good?

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They believed it would and faith
is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

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Faith is everything.

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Yes, it is, isn't it?

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'I think I'll skip the bath,

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'but I wouldn't mind
a taste of these famous waters.'

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Mind your head.
Oh, dark and damp.

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Look at those iron stalactites.
I know, look at them.

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Fascinating.

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Down the hatch!

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Very metallic.

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Oh, it's not so bad.

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I don't mind it, you see.
But some people...

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It is metallic but not unpleasant.

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No, it isn't, is it? No.

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Just like...

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drinking steel.

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Today, the water still
compensates for iron deficiency

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and is sold all over the world.

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As for me,
I'm heading to the station,

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where I need to be on the ball
to catch my next train.

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At rural stations,
the trains stop only by request.

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Now, I've never had to
do this with a train before,

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only with a bus or taxi,
but I guess the technique is similar.

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That seems to have done it.

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I'm now travelling
another three miles
along the beautiful Conwy valley

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to one of North Wales's
prettiest villages, Betws-y-Coed.

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I can't resist stopping here

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because I've heard it's
a train enthusiast's paradise.

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A whole world of railways opens up
in front of the station here.

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Little North American steam engine,

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an electric tram.

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Ancient rolling stock with,
apparently, a restaurant in it.

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Fantastic.

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Bradshaw would have loved it.

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The spectacular model railway shop
at Betws-Y-Coed

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is owned by Colin Cartwright.

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This is the most amazing emporium!

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It makes me feel like a kid.

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That's lovely.
Lovely to see you, Michael.

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This place is famous.
It must be one of the best
model railway shops in the world.

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Yes, I think you could be right.
You've got everything here.

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It's not just a shop -
it's a playground.

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This is every boy's dream.

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All you have to do
is press the button

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and you will control a train.

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It will come to life.

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There you are.

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Look what we've got here. We've got
a huge station with about six roads.

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We've got over bridges,
we've got the scenery.

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I love this, Colin, because
I only had a clockwork model railway

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and some of my friends had electrics,
and I always wanted an electric.

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Are you now realising
your ambitions then,

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in actually controlling
a train yourself?

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At last, I've realised my ambitions!

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It had to come sometime.

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You actually stopped it
in the station. I tried to do that.

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'The first model trains in the 1890s
were known as carpet railways

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'because they didn't run on tracks.

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'They were powered
by miniature steam engines.

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'Today's models are usually powered
by, rather duller, electricity.'

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They're such fun aren't they?

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They certainly are.
And when you think, we were
the pioneers of all railways.

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I think it's lovely
that we can continue -

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especially with
the youngsters of today -

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continue what's gone on before.

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But it's not just youngsters,
I've seen some of your prices -
thousands of pounds.

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These are people with money
who are investing in model
railways. Of course.

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We think it is not only
a passion for railways,

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but it's also a relaxation. Yeah.

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I think it keeps
families together.

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But Bradshaw didn't come
here for the model railways.

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He writes, "In a green,
sheltered nook of the Conwy

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"is a resort, well known
to anglers and artists."

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In the 19th century,

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Betws-y-Coed became
popular with painters

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who came to capture nature
in this beautiful location.

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Peter, hello! Hello, nice to see you.

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'I'm hoping art historian,
Peter Lord, can explain why.'

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Bradshaw talks about Betws-y-Coed
as a resort that attracts artists

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and that's been
your great speciality.

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How did that all begin
- the artists?

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It begins a long time
before Bradshaw, actually.

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Because you're standing in
one of the very early
English tourist sites in Wales,

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or in Britain, to tell the truth.

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In fact, Betws-y-Coed was the first
artists' colony in the country.

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It started with David Cox,

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who became one of
the most distinguished
landscape painters of his time.

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Cox starts to come here
for the summer

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and stays over all
the summers between 1844 and 1856
and he brings his friends with him.

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Cox is THE man.

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He's the big English painter.

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So, anybody
who wants to be anybody

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in the art world in London,
follows Cox here.

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Cox's landscapes helped to
publicise the glories of the area

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like the dramatic Swallow Falls.

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This is very lovely.

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Well, obviously, there's a lot
more water here in the winter

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and you get the foam.

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00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,760
So this was the sort of place that
attracted David Cox? Absolutely, yes.

242
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:26,880
One of the descriptions of the place
in the 1840s and 1850s

243
00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,880
is that it looks like
the encampment of an invading army.

244
00:13:29,880 --> 00:13:32,760
Because there are easels
and white tents

245
00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:33,960
and every blooming rock

246
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:35,600
has got an artist sitting on it.

247
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:37,000
It was getting a bit crowded.

248
00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,480
So, he would wander off, he would
teach a bit, talk to other artists.

249
00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,320
He was a very sociable man
and everybody liked him.

250
00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,760
It's a fantastic scene
that you paint.

251
00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,280
It's almost unimaginable to us now,

252
00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:50,640
that the hills
would be alive with artists.

253
00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,080
The hills were alive with artists -
that's a good way of putting it.

254
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:58,960
Eventually, that becomes a tourist
attraction. You don't just come
to Betws to see the scenery -

255
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:00,760
you come to see the artists.

256
00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,680
From the 1860s,
when the railway line opened,

257
00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:10,600
artists and tourists descended on
Betws-y-Coed in ever greater numbers,

258
00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:14,200
bringing wealth
and fame to the village.

259
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:18,240
So you've brought me in now
to the back of the railway station.

260
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,080
But you need to be
looking that way.

261
00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:21,920
Ah. Beautiful, beautiful.

262
00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,160
We've got the lovely medieval
church, which is rather ironic,

263
00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:27,400
because a little further on
from this place,

264
00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,600
David Cox painted
his very famous picture,

265
00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:32,080
The Welsh Funeral,
painted in 1848.

266
00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:36,480
And that's one of the key events
in drawing people to Betws.

267
00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:41,080
The view that he shows
in the picture,

268
00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,200
was more or less the middle
of the railway line - over there.

269
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:48,320
So the railway is driven through the
scene in the painting? Absolutely.

270
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,680
It is ironic. Because
it's partly the fame of Cox's

271
00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:52,280
picture which drew people
to Betws.

272
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:54,400
They came on the train after 1868 -

273
00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:56,520
middle-class tourists
started to come.

274
00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,040
It's an extraordinary thing,

275
00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,320
but I think it's
a reflection of the times.

276
00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:03,560
I mean, the railway
comes for good economic reasons.

277
00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:05,400
It's high-Victorian capitalism.

278
00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:10,040
The moans and groans of the few
artists and spoiling the view,
won't make much difference.

279
00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:17,800
'The first hotel to accommodate
the artists opened in 1768

280
00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:19,800
'and luckily for me,
it's open still.'

281
00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:21,840
We're on our way to the Royal Oak

282
00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,440
because this is where David Cox

283
00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,880
and all the early tourists
would have stayed.

284
00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,000
It's a lot more grand now
than it was then,

285
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:30,400
but I think you'll find it
very comfortable.

286
00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:31,960
It's a lovely place to stay.

287
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:33,600
'Cox came here often

288
00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:37,480
'and painted a sign for the hotel
which now hangs in the foyer.

289
00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,080
'It seems that in staying here,

290
00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:42,320
'I follow a very
distinguished guest list.'

291
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:44,960
I have arranged for
the old visitor's book to be here

292
00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:46,440
so you can see that as well.

293
00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:50,280
Hello. Hello!
Here we are. Magnificent volume.

294
00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:53,320
Here you are. That's contemporary
with your Bradshaw.

295
00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:54,280
It's the 1860s.

296
00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,760
Back here, with a bit of luck,
I've marked it.

297
00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:00,000
There we can see...

298
00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,960
The Loyal Incorporation Of Artists
at Betws-y-Coed.

299
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:09,560
And here's a list of the artists
in residence on October 3rd 1867.

300
00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,000
Down at the bottom
you can see why they came.

301
00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:15,640
They came for the booze...
They came for the booze.

302
00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:17,480
..To have a smoke,

303
00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:18,520
and to fish.

304
00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:20,960
Fishing was a very
good thing in Betws.

305
00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,360
Bradshaw mentions angling here. Yeah.

306
00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:26,320
So it was an all-round experience.

307
00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:27,280
Fabulous.

308
00:16:27,280 --> 00:16:28,520
And they're all here.

309
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:29,680
Fabulous.

310
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:44,400
The next morning I set out for the
train station to continue my journey.

311
00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,040
I'm leaving the lush valley
of Betws-y-Coed

312
00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,400
for the mining town
of Blaenau Ffestiniog.

313
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:52,400
TRAIN HORN

314
00:16:55,360 --> 00:17:01,760
You cannot imagine anything more
rural or more green than this.

315
00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:02,960
But I've been told

316
00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,640
that I will shortly pass through
a tunnel, two miles long -

317
00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,480
the longest single track
tunnel in Britain.

318
00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:11,920
And at the other end,

319
00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,360
I will pop out into another world.

320
00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:27,480
This tunnel was built in 1879.

321
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,000
It takes me straight
through the mountain

322
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:31,840
to what was,
in Bradshaw's day,

323
00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,520
the slate capital of Wales.

324
00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:39,120
We've popped out
into a different universe.

325
00:17:39,120 --> 00:17:42,320
Where are the trees now,
where is the green?

326
00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,080
Where are the sheep,
where are the farms?

327
00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:50,360
Just piles and piles and piles
of grey slate.

328
00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:56,400
A great grey mountain
reaching down to the tracks.

329
00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:02,080
These huge heaps of slate
are the waste from the quarries

330
00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:04,920
that have dominated
the area for hundreds of years.

331
00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:07,360
The slate industry is all around

332
00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:10,640
and Bradshaw wrote of what he saw,

333
00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,080
"An inclined plane leads up
to the edge of the vast mountain,

334
00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:17,680
"on the sides of which,
above 2,000 hands

335
00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:20,280
"are employed
in hacking and splitting."

336
00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:25,040
In its heyday,
there were about ten slate quarries

337
00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,440
in Blaenau Ffestiniog alone.

338
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,000
I'm meeting managing director,
Andrew Roberts,

339
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,680
who runs one
of just two that are left.

340
00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:34,360
Good morning, Andrew. I'm Michael.

341
00:18:34,360 --> 00:18:36,760
ANDREW SPEAKS WELSH

342
00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:39,760
Thank you very much for your welcome
to your amazing town,

343
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:41,840
which I see down here in the valley.

344
00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:45,040
Of course, I came down
on the railway this morning. Yeah.

345
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,200
Presumably that railway
was built for this very purpose,

346
00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:49,640
for carrying the slate.

347
00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,640
The railway theme has been very
important to the slate industry,

348
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:55,720
you know, since the 1830s.

349
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,600
The Ffestiniog railway,
for example...

350
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,840
was built because of the need
to take the slate from Ffestiniog

351
00:19:02,840 --> 00:19:06,280
down to the port, Porthmadog,
and then shipped all over world.

352
00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:10,960
So, historically, it just wouldn't
have happened without the railway.

353
00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:15,120
By the late 19th century
the industry was at its peak.

354
00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:19,720
Two trains a day carried 400 tonnes
of slate down to the port.

355
00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,120
The quarries were
criss-crossed with tracks

356
00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:24,600
that conveyed the slate
to the trains.

357
00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:28,640
Nowadays, slate is quarried
at the surface,

358
00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:34,360
but in Bradshaw's time, vast caverns
were dug down into the hillside.

359
00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:35,760
You've just thrown a stone

360
00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,600
to make me realize that
that is very, very deep indeed.

361
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,680
Almost every man in the village
worked at the mine,

362
00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,200
many labouring by candlelight,

363
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,960
blasting out the slate
with explosives.

364
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:52,600
It's quite moving, isn't it?

365
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,320
It must have been VERY hard

366
00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,320
and it must have been
quite dangerous.

367
00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:58,600
Very, very dangerous.

368
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:02,960
Of course, you relied heavily on
the skills of your fellow workers.

369
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,600
You trusted them.
You had to put your trust in them,

370
00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:09,960
working and drilling in very tight,
confined spaces, with explosives.

371
00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,080
It's very hazardous.

372
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:16,720
Welsh blue grey slate was considered
one of the best in the world

373
00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:18,400
because it kept its colour well

374
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:23,880
and could be split cleanly by hand
into a variety of sizes.

375
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,720
In the 20th century,
imports began to displace it.

376
00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,880
Now it's mainly used
in restoration projects

377
00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:32,320
and it all travels by road.

378
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,200
My Bradshaw's guide refers to

379
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,920
the workers piling up
the slates in their thousands

380
00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,520
and categorizing them
according to size and name.

381
00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:43,680
And he talks about
duchesses and countesses and ladies.

382
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:45,360
Does that mean anything to you?

383
00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:46,840
It means a lot to me, Michael.

384
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,200
It's the day-to-day
language of this mill.

385
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:53,120
So the duchess would be larger
and the lady would be smaller?
That's correct.

386
00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:57,200
So you use the same terminology
as was used in the 19th century?

387
00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,600
We do. It's unique
to the Welsh slate industry

388
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:01,440
and something that will continue

389
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:03,800
while we still produce
slates from this mill.

390
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,080
Many of the workers,
like Glyn Daniels,

391
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,240
have fathers and grandfathers
who worked in the slate mines,

392
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:12,200
passing on their skills.

393
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:17,400
Glyn can produce
around 700 tiles a day

394
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,160
and is going to teach me
what he does.

395
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,560
I love the chair, because
it's all part of the tradition.

396
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:25,760
I sit myself down like this.

397
00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:27,520
And quite a light tap to begin with?

398
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:28,560
Yes.

399
00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:34,200
Oh, it's splitting already.

400
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,400
And now leave her a little bit?
Put your hand there. Put my hand
there.

401
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,760
Oh, fantastic feeling!

402
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:42,560
Look at that!

403
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:43,520
Did I do that?

404
00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:44,520
Yeah.

405
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,600
'Once the slate is split,
it's trimmed and shaped by machine

406
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,440
'so that it will fit snugly
against other tiles.'

407
00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,880
Beautiful. So that now
has a lovely chamfered edge

408
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:57,920
and that is the dressing. Yeah.

409
00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:01,320
So, this is a fully-dressed lady.

410
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,040
Lovely piece of work.

411
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:10,920
In the future,
the slate industry may change again.

412
00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:17,080
Andrew's big hope is to use the waste
from the quarries for road building.

413
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:21,160
His dream is to transport slate
on the railways once more,

414
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,720
back down the line to Conwy.

415
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,960
As for me, I'm looking forward

416
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,800
to riding on
the Blaenau Ffestiniog railway.

417
00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,240
Founded in 1832,

418
00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,880
it's the oldest independent
railway company in the world.

419
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:38,960
Now it's a heritage line,

420
00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:43,400
carrying tourists down
to Porthmadog on the coast.

421
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,080
Hello, Driver. I'm Michael.
Hello, Michael. I'm Paul.

422
00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:50,520
So how does this lovely
engine drive? Beautifully.

423
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,000
It's unique to the railway. The
wheels are articulated underneath.

424
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:58,640
So you can go around...
Very sharp corners. You've got very
sharp corners on this line? Yes.

425
00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,800
When it was built,
engineers experimented with the track

426
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,720
to negotiate the winding hillside.

427
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,040
It was certainly one of the most
important railways of its time.

428
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:11,640
It was a real leader in the field.

429
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,240
They realised very quickly

430
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,640
they couldn't build standard gauge
in the sort of terrain we're at.

431
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:20,600
The railway also pioneered
a kind of double engine

432
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:23,840
that enabled it to power
long, heavy slate trains

433
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:26,000
through the steep mountains.

434
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:29,000
As the slate industry declined,
so too did the railway

435
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,160
and the last slate train
left Blaenau Ffestiniog in 1946.

436
00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,200
But less than ten years later,

437
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,240
it reopened as a tourist line.

438
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:41,160
And even today, its enthusiasts
are growing in number.

439
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:42,840
Do you work on the line a lot?

440
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,560
I come up several times a year
just to volunteer.

441
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:46,760
You're a volunteer?

442
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:48,000
Yes, I am.

443
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:49,880
And why do you volunteer to do this?

444
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:53,160
I just fell in love with it
and then decided to become a guard,

445
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,400
so I'm doing my training
at the moment.

446
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:58,440
Oh, lovely, so this is
just for the love of it?

447
00:23:58,440 --> 00:23:59,880
Just for the love of it, yes.

448
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:01,440
Knowing the line so well,

449
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:03,880
what would you pick out
as a kind of highlight

450
00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:05,920
that I should
keep my eye open for?

451
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,520
One thing that the railway's
famous for is its Cob

452
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:09,920
and it splits the estuary.

453
00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,160
So it's got
some fantastic wildlife

454
00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,320
and you can see a wonderful
view of Snowdon from it as well.

455
00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,320
The long embankment called the Cob,
near Porthmadog,

456
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,600
was originally built in 1811

457
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,880
to reclaim land
from the estuary for farming.

458
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,320
It later proved to be the perfect
structure to carry the railway.

459
00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,880
So now, at last,
I discover what the Cob is.

460
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,560
It's this immense sea defence.

461
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:41,440
This huge wall.

462
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:44,080
And the railway runs along
the top level of it

463
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,920
and two lanes of cars
run along the bottom level.

464
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:49,920
Then that's holding
the sea behind me at bay

465
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:55,040
and creating this
vast inland piece of reclaimed land.

466
00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,280
And giving us
the most fantastic views

467
00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:01,160
towards that looming peak of Snowdon.

468
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:09,400
Riding the cob takes me
almost to the harbour at Porthmadog,
where the slate was unloaded.

469
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,200
And last stop for me, too.

470
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:22,480
Porthmadog Harbour
began to export small tonnages of
slate in the early 19th century.

471
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:27,520
When the railway gave it a
high capacity link
to the slate quarries, it flourished.

472
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:32,000
By the 1870s,
over 120,000 tons of slate

473
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,680
were loaded at
Porthmadog every year.

474
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,960
John. I'm Michael. Hello, Michael.
Great to see you.

475
00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:46,280
I'm hoping that maritime history
enthusiast, Dr John Jones Morris,
can tell me more.

476
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:51,760
The railway arrived at the harbour
in 1836 and allowed the
easy transport of slate

477
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:57,440
from the quarries down to the
quaysides here at Porthmadog for
subsequent export by sea.

478
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:01,680
The standard trade was for the
slate to be loaded on ships.

479
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,720
Usually they would
leave in about April.

480
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:09,400
Demand for slate would either be
sort of in Southern England
or on the continent.

481
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,880
Quite a lot of the slate went to the
continent, particularly to Germany.

482
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:19,000
In the early part of the
19th century there was quite
a huge fire in Hamburg,

483
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,840
and the quarry owners at
Blaenau Ffestiniog seeing
a good opportunity,

484
00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:28,600
went over there and persuaded
the city fathers to re-roof the city
with Ffestiniog slate,

485
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,480
or Porthmadog slate
as we like to call it.

486
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:40,680
The ships, having delivered their
cargo in Europe, were filled up with
heavy ballast to give them stability

487
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,200
on the return voyage to Porthmadog.

488
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:47,480
They used anything to hand
from rubbish to rocks.

489
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:54,880
Having arrived at Porthmadog they
had to dispose of the ballast
and they found a sand bank there

490
00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,760
and started unloading the
ballast onto the island.

491
00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,520
And, as you can see,
has built a considerable
island over the years.

492
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:07,120
That lovely stretch of green?
That sits on top of rocks from
many parts of the Mediterranean.

493
00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:12,080
If you were to dig,
there would be all sorts of
different types rock and rubble.

494
00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:16,840
There is a corner of a Welsh
port that is forever Europe.
Indeed. Yes, there is.

495
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:24,040
As I've journeyed along the
narrow tracks and valleys
of the Welsh mountains,

496
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:28,640
I've once more admired the skills
of the Victorian railway builders.

497
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:34,680
Their ingenuity opened this corner of
Wales to opportunities and visitors.

498
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:39,840
Victorian artists and tourists
were attracted to the Conwy valley

499
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,080
because of its glorious landscape.

500
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:49,000
Victorian mining companies
were drawn to these parts because of
what lay beneath that landscape.

501
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:55,320
Now I'm looking forward to tackling
that most famous piece of
Welsh geology, Mount Snowdon.

502
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:04,400
On the next leg of my journey,
I'll be travelling to lofty
mountain heights.

503
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:09,240
It's magnificent.
It's really imposing.

504
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:13,160
I'll be turning my tongue
to the Welsh language.

505
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:16,400
So, it's fairly easy, really.

506
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:23,880
Llan-vire-pooll-guin-gill-go-ger-u-
queern-drob-ooll-llandus-illio-gogo-
goch.

507
00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,920
And tasting one of
Wales's finest new products, salt.

508
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:30,280
It hits you from
the side of the tongue.

509
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,920
It's got a wonderful texture.
It's really crunchy, isn't it?

510
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,560
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

511
00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,200
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk