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00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:11,200
'In 1840, one man
transformed travel in Britain.

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00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:17,800
'His name was George Bradshaw,
and his railway guides inspired the
Victorians to take to the tracks.

3
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:24,880
'Stop by stop,
he told them where to travel,
what to see and where to stay.

4
00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:31,000
'Now, 170 years later, I'm making a
series of journeys across the length

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00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,920
'and breadth of the country to see
what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

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00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,560
'Using my 19th-century Bradshaw's
guide,

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00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,040
'I'm now headed for the North East,
the cradle of the railways,

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00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:05,920
'where much of their
early technology was developed.

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'Some of the first lines were
built here by George Stephenson,

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00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,640
'and I'll be following them south,
to see how they spread throughout
the country, transforming Britain.

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'Each step of the way,
I'll be consulting my Bradshaw's
guide on what to look out for.

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'With its remarkable descriptions
of Victorian towns and cities,

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'it's helping me to grasp
the ideas and inventions
that shaped what we enjoy today.

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'On this journey, I'll be visiting
the birthplace of the railways...'

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Is this really the shrine
of British railway engineering?

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I suppose it is, really.
This is the first purpose-built
locomotive factory in the world.

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00:01:46,320 --> 00:01:49,360
'..finding out about
the first lifeboat...'

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This isn't just about technology,
this is really a way of
thinking about human life.

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00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:59,120
'..and witnessing some
traditional miners' sword dancing.'

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00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,080
Who's lost a hand?!

21
00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:05,000
HE LAUGHS

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00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,720
Starting in Newcastle, this route
takes me south along some

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00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,240
of the very first railway lines,
through Darlington and Whitby

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to York.

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Then I'll cross the Pennines
and pass through Sheffield and

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00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,400
rural Leicestershire, before ending
up at the town of Melton Mowbray.

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Today, I'll cover the first
37 miles as I follow the Tyne

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to South Shields, then travel
south as far as Chester-le-Street.

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Arriving into Newcastle, there are
reminders everywhere of the city's
pioneering role in railway history.

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00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,760
As we cross the River Tyne,

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Bradshaw refers to the high level
bridge over there, which was
built by the late R Stephenson.

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A 1,400 foot span,
112 feet above the river.

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When it opened in 1849, the high
level bridge was one of the earliest

34
00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:16,200
wrought iron railway bridges,
and the first to carry three tracks
along its length.

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Its engineer, Robert Stephenson,
worked with the architect

36
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,520
John Dobson to build
Newcastle Central Station in 1850.'

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00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:37,880
Newcastle Station is itself
a wonder of railway archaeology
and architecture.

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Stephenson used three beautiful
arched iron and glass canopies

39
00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:47,400
to create the station,
and they curve along the platform.

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And this became the model for places
all along the North East railway.

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This impressive station provided
a fitting gateway to a city

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which in Bradshaw's day had recently
been substantially improved.

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He writes "The new town is handsome
and well laid out.

44
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"The exchange and other buildings
are built of solid, durable granite
at a cost of nearly £2m."

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00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:20,160
Designed by architect Richard
Grainger and completed around 1841,

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these streets are at
the heart of one of England's
first conservation areas.

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We're on the corner of Grainger
Street and Grey Street.
What do you think of these streets?

48
00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:32,480
Grey Street's a really,
really lovely street.

49
00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,760
I mean, the buildings down there
are just wonderful.

50
00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,000
If you walk down and just look up -
a lot of people never ever look up

51
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when they walk around, they just look
straight ahead, but if you look up,
it's a wonderful place. It really is.

52
00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,320
You're awfully young, but do you
have any memories of Newcastle?

53
00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:49,960
Thank you, I'm actually a grandma!

54
00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,360
But that's really nice
of you to say so!

55
00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,480
Do you have any memories of
Newcastle Gateshead in the old days?

56
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Before the regeneration, it was
quite depressing, but now,
it's beautiful down here.

57
00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,400
It's really nice.

58
00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:08,840
These days, Newcastle's classical
buildings are offset by some
striking modern architecture,

59
00:05:08,840 --> 00:05:12,480
including the award-winning
Millennium Bridge.

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00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:17,600
George Bradshaw, as a tremendous
admirer of technology, would love

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00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:24,320
the Millennium Bridge, which tips
up, like a winking eye, to allow
shipping to pass underneath it.

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00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:31,880
It takes just four-and-a-half
minutes to open, and is the world's
first and only tilting bridge.

63
00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:36,280
The quays of the Tyne are now home

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00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:38,920
to a thriving
arts and culture scene.

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00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:45,360
But in Bradshaw's time,
one industry above all others
helped the city to grow.

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Bradshaw's says: "Newcastle's
situation on the banks of a
navigable river, and in the greatest

67
00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:58,000
"coal district in the world, are the
chief causes which have tended to
raise it to wealth and importance."

68
00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,320
In the 1860s, Tyneside dominated
Britain's coal mining industry,

69
00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,600
supplying almost a third
of London's fuel.

70
00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:13,280
The wealth generated
by the collieries financed
pioneering engineers working

71
00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:19,160
on what became the century's most
important technology - the railways.

72
00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,800
In 1824, Robert Stephenson
and his father George

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set up their locomotive works
in central Newcastle.

74
00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:32,680
'I'm meeting Dr Michael Bailey
to see what's left of their empire.'

75
00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:34,680
It's good to meet you.
Wonderful to see you.

76
00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,240
I can't believe this place.

77
00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:42,040
Is this really the shrine of British
railway engineering?

78
00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:43,680
Well, I suppose it is, really.

79
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:48,200
This is the first purpose-built
locomotive factory in the world.

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The railways were developed in
this country, and we then exported
our locomotives

81
00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:58,560
to Europe, to North America,
and the whole railway revolution
developed from that moment on.

82
00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:02,760
It must have become a very big works
indeed. Give me an idea of its size.

83
00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:05,600
When it was completely developed,

84
00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:11,120
later on in the 19th century,
it occupied something like six acres,

85
00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,400
two-and-a-half hectares
in modern speak.

86
00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:18,320
There were about 1,200 employees.

87
00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:19,960
So that was a very large site.

88
00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:23,720
Looking at this building,
there's very little trace
of what it must've been like.

89
00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:25,840
And yet, it's very moving, actually.

90
00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:27,600
For anyone interested in railways,

91
00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:30,640
this is the cradle of it all,
the place where it all begins.

92
00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:34,520
Yes, it is. And I think the people
of Newcastle are extremely proud

93
00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,160
of the fact that they have here,
right on their doorstep,

94
00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,320
the very beginnings
of the railway era.

95
00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:47,520
At this site, the Stephensons
designed some of the first
successful locomotives.

96
00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,760
They developed all the elements
of a modern railway,

97
00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:58,000
including setting the distance
between the parallel rails, which
became the world standard gauge.

98
00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:03,720
Why does this birth
of railway technology happen
in Newcastle of all places?

99
00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,000
It comes back to the coal, of course.

100
00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:11,680
The coal industry was so dominant in
the 18th and then early 19th century,

101
00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:16,120
that the competition between
the different coal owners

102
00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,000
demanded better and better ways
of moving the coal

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00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,080
from the colliery sites to the
shipping points for shipment

104
00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:26,880
to Southern England
or export to Europe.

105
00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,560
And therefore, to allow you
to be competitive,

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00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,920
you needed better railway technology
to move the coal.

107
00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:42,320
Father and son George and Robert
Stephenson both started out as
engineers in the coal industry,

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00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:47,040
and by Bradshaw's day,
they'd become household names.

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00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:52,080
One striking thing about George
Stephenson is he is a man of very
humble origins, little education.

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Was he a man with rough edges?

111
00:08:54,120 --> 00:08:56,080
Yes, he did have rough edges.

112
00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:00,600
He always had a bit of a chip
on his shoulder, or some would
say a forest on his shoulder,

113
00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:02,880
because he didn't have education.

114
00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:08,040
But he was self-taught. He taught
himself to read and write, and
that's obviously very commendable.

115
00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,200
But Robert did have an education.

116
00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:16,560
George Stephenson ensured
his son Robert would have all
the education that he did not have.

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00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:19,840
When he left school,
he could really have taken

118
00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:24,720
a position in any profession,
but he chose to perpetuate
his interest in engineering.

119
00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:32,600
By 1850, he had been responsible for
something like a third of all the
railways built in this country.

120
00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,760
These two men, hopping between
mechanical engineering
and civil engineering,

121
00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:41,800
building bridges,
planning railway lines, this is
the stuff of genius, isn't it?

122
00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:43,400
Well, I think it is, isn't it?

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00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:50,160
To be the engineers right at the
beginning of the railway revolution,
yes, it is, it's the stuff of genius.

124
00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:59,240
In 1859, when Robert Stephenson
died, the railway works were one of
the largest employers on Tyneside.

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00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:05,600
But they owed their development
to the region's mineral wealth,
its so-called black gold.

126
00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:14,960
Bradshaw's notes that "Coal,
the true riches of Newcastle, was
first worked here in the year 1260,

127
00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:21,040
"but the produce was scanty
till steam power was used in 1714."

128
00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:25,880
He notes "the vastness of the coal
fields and their enormous depth."

129
00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,800
And then he says, "All geologists
agree that it will take some

130
00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:33,680
hundreds, if not thousands
of years to exhaust the coal."

131
00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:37,560
Well, I'm going to see now how
that prediction stacks up today.

132
00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:45,720
I'm heading out to the old
coalfields around South Shields on
the Metro, Tyneside's underground.

133
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:50,480
It's one of four in Britain,
alongside those in London,
Glasgow and Liverpool.

134
00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,200
Of course, I'm used to
the London underground.

135
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,840
Coming down the escalators
it felt like London,

136
00:10:56,840 --> 00:11:00,320
except the escalators are shorter
than at most London stations.

137
00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:02,720
And I think the trains
are shorter, too.

138
00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:09,800
But still, this railway has 60
stations, so it may not be London,
but it's a very substantial size.

139
00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:24,640
The Metro was Britain's first
modern light rail system
when it opened in 1980.

140
00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:30,560
Designed to move people quickly
around the region, its vehicles
are lighter than mainline trains.

141
00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:37,280
Its 47-and-a-half miles of track
carry passengers far into the
suburbs, unless, that is,

142
00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:41,600
you happen to pick a day when
they're doing engineering works.

143
00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,800
Unfortunately, that's the end
of my journey by train, because

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00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,600
this being a Sunday, from here,
it's a replacement bus service.

145
00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:58,200
The rail replacement bus service
can be regarded as a modern curse,
and I don't suppose it would have

146
00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:04,600
happened much in Bradshaw's day,
but the origin is mid-19th century,
because by act of Parliament,

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00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,760
rail services were made statutory,
compulsory, and if there isn't

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00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,560
a train, the rail company still
has to provide a service.

149
00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:18,640
It demonstrates how quickly people
came to rely on the railways
as the main form of transport.

150
00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:23,320
I don't have anything against buses,
but let's face it, they're not
the same as trains.

151
00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,280
I'm on my way to one of the many
coal mines that were sunk into the

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00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:36,520
earth around Newcastle in Bradshaw's
day, linked by a growing network
of railway tracks.

153
00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:40,160
My guidebook writes,
"Within a circle of 8-10 miles,

154
00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:46,920
"more than 50 important
collieries are open,
employing 10 to 15,000 hands."

155
00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:54,640
One of these productive pits
was Whitburn Colliery,
which opened in 1879.

156
00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:58,200
Its workers had their own village,
built alongside the pit.

157
00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,520
But although my Bradshaw's guide
predicted a long future for

158
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:08,120
Northumbrian coal, arriving today,
there's no sign of life.

159
00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:13,800
It's difficult to believe that this
green expanse at the cliff's edge

160
00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:18,200
was once a village of 700 people,
Marsden.

161
00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,960
And now of its 9 streets,
its school,

162
00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:26,920
its miners' institute,
hardly a trace remains.

163
00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,960
It's all been swept away.

164
00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:35,400
To find out what became of this
once-thriving community, I'm meeting

165
00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:39,520
lifelong resident Larry Robertson,
who worked here in the 1960s.

166
00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:42,160
So these gates were once
the entrance to the colliery?

167
00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:45,240
Yes, it's hard to believe,
we had a full colliery here.

168
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:52,320
Full steam engines for the winders,
and the office block just behind us,
workshops, everything.

169
00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:56,080
Full industrial, huge complex.

170
00:13:56,080 --> 00:14:00,200
Even more surprising to me is it's
not just the colliery that's gone
but the whole village.

171
00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,280
Yeah, there was a full community.

172
00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:07,720
Most of the workers
for the colliery lived just
along the road, about 400 metres.

173
00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:09,360
All disappeared.

174
00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:14,840
Larry grew up in Marsden,
and remembers what once stood here.

175
00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:16,800
Describe the village
you knew as a kid.

176
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,520
Oh, a very, very friendly
little village.

177
00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:22,360
We had North Street here,
the dairy was just here.

178
00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:25,400
We used to get the school bus there.

179
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:27,800
We could walk it,
but we used to get the bus.

180
00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:33,600
About 150, 170 houses and families.

181
00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:36,240
Everybody worked at the colliery,
knew each other.

182
00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:41,000
In its heyday, Whitburn Colliery
produced 1,500 tons of coal a day,

183
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,280
which travelled
by train to Newcastle.

184
00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:45,560
That would be the railway line
running there.

185
00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:47,360
That's it, the embankment there.

186
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,520
It used to run all the way to
South Shields, parallel to the road.

187
00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:53,960
We used to nickname it
the Marsden rattler.

188
00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:59,760
It used to bring the miners in from
South Shields, because, obviously
then, transport wasn't that good.

189
00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,920
So each shift,
four times a day, would go

190
00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,840
backwards and forwards, well, eight
times, taking people home.

191
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:11,000
'The miners worked on seams that
extended for miles under the sea.

192
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,600
'But by Larry's day, it was becoming
too costly to extract the coal.

193
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:21,480
'In 1968,
the mine closed, and shortly after,
Marsden village was pulled down.'

194
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,920
I don't really understand
why the village was demolished.

195
00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,840
I think it was going to cost
too much to upgrade it.

196
00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:29,760
It was...

197
00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:34,080
Basically, we still had the
outside toilets, little backyards.

198
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:39,480
It was the same when they knocked
it down as it was when they built it.

199
00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:44,160
I suppose, at the end,
it was expense. Which was a shame.

200
00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:45,920
A shame.

201
00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:51,360
It was just incredible that this area
supported so much life.

202
00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,400
For me, as a kid,
it was a wonderful life.

203
00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,600
I really enjoyed it.
You paint a fantastic picture.

204
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:01,000
The second half of the 20th century
saw the closure

205
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:07,640
of the region's mines,
and by the 1990s,
all the collieries were gone.

206
00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:12,800
But now it could be time to revisit
Bradshaw's optimistic forecast
for the coal industry.

207
00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:19,040
I'm staying on the Whitburn
Colliery site to meet mining expert
Professor Paul Younger.

208
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:27,000
My Bradshaw's guide says that many
geologists have considered how long
the coal supply may last and they've

209
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:29,920
agreed that it's hundreds,
if not thousands of years.

210
00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:31,440
Were those geologists right?

211
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:33,120
Well, basically they were.

212
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:36,800
If you look at this part of the
world, we've been mining coal

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00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:40,880
at industrial scale longer here
than on any other part of the planet.

214
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:44,160
So more than 400 years
of large-scale coal mining,

215
00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:49,640
and yet still 75% of the coal is in
the sub-surface waiting for us.

216
00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,080
Three-quarters left underground?
Yeah, yeah.

217
00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,360
'With so much coal under the north
sea, Paul's hoping to employ a new

218
00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,680
'technique for extracting its energy
called gasification.'

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00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:04,040
Instead of sending human beings
underground to go through tunnels

220
00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:10,400
and so on, it's all done with modern
steered drilling technologies from
surface, so you have a drilling rig,

221
00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:15,640
you send the drilling bit down,
you steer it to move through the coal
seam, you inject steam and oxygen

222
00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:22,200
and then out of another borehole, out
pops gas, which has got 80% of the
energy of the original solid coal.

223
00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:24,680
'Miners wouldn't need
to go underground,

224
00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:27,880
'and it's hoped this could provide
a greener source of energy.'

225
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,720
We see the coal here
as our way of bridging our way
to a renewable energy future.

226
00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:36,480
Because, you know, everybody's
going to immediately say,
"Are you crazy,

227
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,800
"burning more coal when we've got
the problems with climate change?"

228
00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:43,720
But the beauty of the technology
we're talking about is that the

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00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,520
voids we're creating in the
deep sub-surface, if they're

230
00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:53,640
below depths of 650, 700 metres,
we can inject the carbon dioxide
straight back into them,

231
00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:57,080
and so we have a way of getting
the energy out of the coal without

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00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:00,240
further damaging the atmosphere
with carbon dioxide emissions.

233
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:06,880
'Although some fear the
environmental benefits are unproven,
Paul's upbeat about the future.'

234
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,320
And so far, promising?
Very promising, yeah.

235
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:15,400
All of the studies we've done show
that this can be done economically,
it can be done safely, and with the

236
00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:20,360
huge dividend, of course, we then
get the energy out of the coal
without further damaging the climate.

237
00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:25,800
'Who knows? Perhaps this coast
will support a new community
of energy workers.'

238
00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,560
One building survived the demolition
of Marsden village,

239
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,440
the spectacular Souter Lighthouse,
built in the 19th century.

240
00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:41,120
Before I continue my journey,
I want to take a look.

241
00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:44,600
76 steps...

242
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:46,600
to the top...

243
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,480
of the Souter Lighthouse, I'm told,

244
00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:54,040
but the view is magnificent.
This was built in 1871,

245
00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:58,440
and George Bradshaw would have been
thrilled by the technology.

246
00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:05,120
The first lighthouse
built for an electric light
with the power of 800,000 candles.

247
00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:08,640
And the reason was clear -
these were very treacherous rocks.

248
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:15,880
In 1860 alone, about the time
that my guide book was published,
20 ships were wrecked here.

249
00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,000
And this lighthouse

250
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,640
brought greater safety for seamen.

251
00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:25,440
The profusion of lighthouses
along this shore

252
00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:30,520
underlines just how treacherous
it's always been.

253
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:35,520
A tiny reference in my guidebook
hints at the perils of these waters.

254
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:40,440
And my next train's taking me
to South Shields to follow it up.

255
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:47,680
I'm taking the Metro because my
Bradshaw's tells me that "at South
Shields may be seen in the church

256
00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:53,680
"a model of Greathead's
first lifeboat, invented
and used in 1790."

257
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:56,880
Now, presumably, Victorians
understood that reference,

258
00:19:56,880 --> 00:20:02,800
but it means nothing to me, and I'm
intrigued to know what could have
been so special about that lifeboat.

259
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:20,080
'I'm heading straight
from the station to the church
mentioned in my Bradshaw's guide.

260
00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:27,240
'I'm hoping historian Ian Whitehead
can help me find the model
that it describes.'

261
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:29,920
Pleased to meet you, Michael.
Very nice to see you.

262
00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,080
I am looking for

263
00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:39,320
Greathead's lifeboat, cos it's
mentioned in my Bradshaw's guide.

264
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,000
Is it...is it readily visible?

265
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:42,600
It is readily visible.

266
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:44,600
Oh. Wow!

267
00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:48,480
I didn't expect it to be there.
That's absolutely fantastic.

268
00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:50,960
We can get the boat down if you like.
Tom?

269
00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:53,440
I thought you just pressed
a button or something!

270
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,040
No, unfortunately not!

271
00:20:56,040 --> 00:21:01,280
The model that hangs from the
ceiling represents what's claimed to
be the first ever lifeboat, designed

272
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:05,960
in response to the hazardous
conditions of the North Sea.

273
00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:08,840
The original boat was made
because of loss of life, really,

274
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:15,720
in a particular incident in 1789,
where a ship ran aground,

275
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,160
and over a period of 24 hours,

276
00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:23,840
everyone watched from the shore as
the boat failed to get off the

277
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:29,000
Herd Sand, and then finally broke up
and half the crew died.

278
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:32,320
The disaster was so shocking
that a group of locals launched

279
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,760
a competition to design
a rescue craft.

280
00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:40,120
So who was Greathead, the man that
Bradshaw attributes this boat to?

281
00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:45,240
Well, Greathead was the man
who claimed to be the inventor
of the lifeboat.

282
00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:49,320
In the competition, there were
two people who put in entries.

283
00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:51,320
One was from Greathead.

284
00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:57,560
The other entry was from
William Wouldhave, who was in fact
the parish clerk of this church.

285
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,000
The committee didn't actually like
either of the designs.

286
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,120
With no clear winner,
Greathead was asked to build

287
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:08,680
a lifeboat that combined
the best ideas from both men.

288
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:15,480
It was double ended so that it
could be rowed in either direction,
with a cork lining for buoyancy.

289
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:21,960
This isn't just about technology,
this is really also about a way of
thinking about human life, isn't it?

290
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,360
I mean, this is a commitment
to save life which was perhaps

291
00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:28,040
a little bit of a novelty
at the end of the 18th century.

292
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:32,000
It is. I think if you've got
no way of saving life,

293
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,560
then you have to be fatalistic
and you have to say, "Well,
we couldn't have saved them anyway."

294
00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,480
But the development of the
coal-mining industry meant that

295
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:45,920
people had money from the coal trade
to think about building a boat
like this,

296
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:53,280
and so it was a world first for the
North East of England
to have a lifeboat.

297
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:57,880
So the North East can claim firsts
in locomotives and in lifeboats.
Indeed.

298
00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:07,080
To reach my final destination
on this leg of the journey,

299
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,480
I need to pick up the mainline,
so I'm travelling back to Newcastle

300
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,520
on the Metro
along the banks of the Tyne.

301
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:20,040
Bradshaw's tells me that
this stretch is home to some
remarkable Roman ruins.

302
00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:25,240
Arbeia Fort,
built nearly 2,000 years ago

303
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:29,800
to guard the entrance to the Tyne,
is now a major tourist attraction.

304
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:34,240
But ancient sites like these
were often plundered.

305
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,800
Bradshaw's says, "It's probable that
much of the priory at Tynemouth was

306
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:43,200
"built with stone from the Roman
station at South Shields."

307
00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:48,920
Thankfully, parts of Hadrian's Wall
have survived, and its vestiges are

308
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,320
apparent amongst the housing estates
of Newcastle.

309
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,200
Now back on the main line,

310
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,240
I'm leaving Tyne and Wear
to head south into County Durham.

311
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:06,960
My next stop is the ex-mining town
of Chester-le-Street.

312
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,840
That's a nice tight one, isn't it?
Very tight.

313
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,120
I'm here because
it's an unusual station.

314
00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:22,600
Welcome to Chester-le-Street.
Thank you so much.

315
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,840
You're Alex, aren't you?
I am. Alex Nelson, yes.

316
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:28,320
I gather there's something special
about Chester-le-Street station.

317
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:32,960
This is one of the few independent
stations in the country and the only
one on a major main line.

318
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,040
This is the East Coast
main line to London, as you know.

319
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:39,960
I took over this station 11 years ago
as a private venture
to reinvigorate it.

320
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:43,160
So how on earth did it occur to you
to buy a railway station?

321
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,880
Well, I don't strictly buy it,
I rent it.

322
00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:51,920
But I was travelling on a train one
afternoon from Durham to Newcastle,
and the train pulled up here about

323
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:56,520
2:50 in the afternoon, boarded-up,
derelict, with a "to let" sign.

324
00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:00,240
Alex renovated the station
and turned it into a successful

325
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,600
private business, selling train
tickets to anywhere in the country.

326
00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,960
It was a completely unstaffed
station when I took it on, unloved.

327
00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:08,920
And we have five staff who work here.

328
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,360
We provide information on all trains
all over the country by phone.

329
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:23,000
That's about 100mph. You have about
six seconds to get off the track

330
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,600
if you're there, so it's just as
well we're behind the yellow line.

331
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:31,680
Today, Chester-le-Street
has just one main line passing
through Alex's station.

332
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,800
In Bradshaw's day, it was at the
centre of a spider's web of colliery

333
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:41,040
railways bringing coal to the town
for export along the River Wear.

334
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:45,840
Coal mining has always been
dangerous work, and 19th-century
miners had to trust

335
00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:47,560
each other with their lives.

336
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,760
Close-knit mining communities
developed their own traditions,

337
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:57,280
and one, the rapper sword dance,
is sustained by local resident
Ricky Forster and his family.

338
00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:01,320
Now, you're beautifully turned out
for what? For rapper?

339
00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:03,880
Rapper sword dance, yes.
A rapper sword dance?

340
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,400
North East tradition.
And it goes back how long?

341
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:08,040
1800s.

342
00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:12,320
Well, I've got family doing it in the
1800s, carrying the dance through
to the present day.

343
00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:17,360
Your family's been doing it all that
time? Yeah. And what is it you're
carrying here?

344
00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:19,000
A rapper sword.

345
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:20,800
A rapper sword. Is that sharp?

346
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:22,600
No. It's blunt.

347
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:24,040
It does cut like a scissor.

348
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:25,720
HE LAUGHS

349
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:27,920
So what was this used for?

350
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,120
For cleaning pit ponies' backs.

351
00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:32,800
So, will you give us
a dance, please?

352
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,400
I think we can manage that.

353
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:38,840
JAUNTY FOLK MUSIC PLAYS

354
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:45,040
During the 19th century,
groups of dancers travelled

355
00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:50,920
all over the North East by train,
performing at competitions in pubs,
clubs and miners' galas.

356
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:56,160
As well as dancers, comic characters
provided light relief.

357
00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,600
Tell him what to do here. Can I?
Tell him what to do.

358
00:26:58,600 --> 00:27:01,920
Can I tell him what to do?
Aye, you do what she says, you do it.

359
00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,680
Come on here. All right, round here.

360
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,680
You gan that...

361
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:08,600
You gan that way.

362
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,120
Oh, no! No...

363
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:15,240
Who's lost a hand?
I'll put it in the handbag!

364
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,960
All right, me bonny lads.
All right, me bonny lads.

365
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,120
That was absolutely fantastic.

366
00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:27,560
'As I say goodbye
to the rapper dancers,

367
00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:32,880
'it's been brought home to me how
this region of Britain was shaped
by two staple Victorian industries.

368
00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:35,800
'Coal and railways.

369
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,880
'History never ends.
Railways have revived, and coal,

370
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:44,640
'so recently written off,
may return, its energy harvested
in a new way.'

371
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,760
In Bradshaw's day,
the North East became rich

372
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:53,680
on the back of the railways,
and they, in turn, depended on
the superabundance of coal.

373
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:59,600
If we could master the technology
and turn coal that remains
underground into gas,

374
00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:04,800
then maybe coal could supply
our energy future as well.

375
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:11,000
'On the next leg of my journey,
I'll be experiencing how tough
the work was on a steam train...'

376
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,720
The heat from the boiler is intense!

377
00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:18,880
And the coal is heavy...

378
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,880
and the locomotive...

379
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:23,520
is very hungry!

380
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,600
'..meeting one of the first
locomotives...'

381
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:30,200
It's in the most beautiful
condition. Am I allowed to?
Absolutely.

382
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,680
It's quite thrilling, actually.

383
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:37,320
'..and sounding out the seaside
town that inspired the Victorian
horror story Dracula.'

384
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,440
MICHAEL SCREAMS VIOLENTLY

385
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:41,960
How was that?

386
00:28:55,780 --> 00:28:58,820
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

387
00:28:58,820 --> 00:29:01,860
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk