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In 1840, one man transformed
travel in the British Isles.

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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 across the length

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and breadth of these isles to see
what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

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I'm now completing my journey
from London to Newton Abbot

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and I've arrived alongside the
coastal beauty of what Bradshaw's

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would call South Devonshire.

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This was the scene of some
of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's

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greatest railway engineering
successes and worst failures.

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And both his triumphs
and his disasters proved his genius.

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Today I'll take to the sea with
the heroes of the RNLI.

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Couple of big waves coming now...

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Here we go! Woo!

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At the moment it feels a little
bit like, I imagine, a jockey

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in the Grand National, we're going
up and down and over the fences.

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'I'll visit a stormy coastal
railway...'

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When the waves hit this section,
the plumes of water go right over

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the top of the footbridge at the
station.

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'..and have a close, personal
encounter with a boyhood hero.'

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This is exciting, is this genuinely
a section of Brunel's pipe?

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It is indeed, yes.

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Using my Bradshaw's Guide,
I'm following the tracks

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of Isambard Kingdom Brunel,

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master engineer
of the Great Western Railway.

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I started at Paddington station,
a monumental success,

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and I'll finish in Newton Abbot in
Devon, the scene of one of his

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biggest disappointments.

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The last leg of my journey begins
in Exmouth, detours to Sidmouth,

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then crosses the Exe estuary to
Starcross, on to Dawlish

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and finally, Newton Abbot.

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My Bradshaw's says, "We have
all have the romantic allurements

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"of the watering places of the West,
where we may find a fund of
illimitable

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"enjoyment in the rich bouquet that
nature has spread before us

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"on the freshening shores of Devon."

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The Victorians could be
pompous and verbose

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but their appreciation of
the beauties of Devon was sincere.

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I'm on a line known locally
as The Avocet, where a locomotive

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first steamed the ten miles
from Exeter to my first destination,

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Exmouth, in 1861.

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Once a small fishing village,
Exmouth grew into an important port,

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from which Sir Walter Raleigh
launched many of his voyages.

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The town became a very
popular tourist destination

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during the Georgian period and its
two-mile long

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promenade shows that it has remained
so ever since.

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# Oh, I do love to
be beside the seaside... #

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Already intoxicated by sea air!

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Bradshaw's tells me
that Exmouth has, "in its immediate

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"neighbourhood a valley, sheltered
on all sides from the winds,

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"and capable of affording a genial
retreat. Exmouth is

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"a decidedly healthy place,"

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but the sea also brings its dangers

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and Exmouth has had a lifeboat
station for more than 200 years.

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Over the course of two centuries,
lifeboats have saved

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the lives of over 139,000 people
off the coasts of Britain.

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They first patrolled the waters
around South Shields in 1790.

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Exmouth has had one
since 1803 and half a century later,

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the station joined The Royal
National Lifeboat Institution.

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Tim Mock is a full time mechanic
and coxswain.

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Tim, you've had a lifeboat at
Exmouth

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going all the way back to 1803.

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Yes, that's correct, yes. A privately
run life boat in those days.

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And those lifeboats in those days -
how would they have been powered?

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Well, that was pulling and sailing
boats, that's rowing and sails only.

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What do you think of that?

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Very hard work, I had
a go at it in one of the old boats

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and just found it impossible.

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How they ever managed to

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row for hours and hours on end,
I really admire them for that.

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Standing on the former slipway here
is a reminder that, actually,

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you could be called out at any time
today.

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That's a possibility, yes,

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south-easterly winds here means the
sea is quite rough - although

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it's a nice sunny day, small boats
can get in trouble at any time.

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Do the people of Exmouth feel a
strong connection with their
lifeboat?

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Oh, definitely, yes. Are they
supportive?

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Very much so, the lifeboat's always
been a big part of the community

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and for our side of things
we need the community to operate

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the service and, of course, going
back to Victorian times, the bigger

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boats were launched by hand only,
so you'd need 40 or 50 men and

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women to pull the boat down here
out into the water.

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I see your present station is 1903,
so you're just post-Victorian.

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A connection
between lifeboats and railways?

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Most definitely,
boats would have been

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delivered by the railways, spare
parts...

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and in latter years, tractors

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and heavier bits of equipment would
have all come by rail.

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Sir William Hillary founded
the National Institution

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for the Preservation of Life
from Shipwreck, in 1824.

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Today almost 5,000 volunteers
crew lifeboats,

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and I've been invited aboard
the Exmouth all-weather lifeboat

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for a scheduled training exercise.

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Luckily, the Royal National
Lifeboat Institution

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shares my
taste in bright-coloured clothes.

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Well, I have once before been
out with the RNLI,

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but that was in a small inflatable,
this is a completely different

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kettle of fish, this is a very
substantial boat.

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At the helm today is former Royal
Marine, deputy coxswain Scott Ranft.

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Well, it's quite surprising
that on a warm

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and sunny day there's quite
a swell out here.

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We've got a force five wind
heading from an easterly direction

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so it does pick up, especially
in this channel as we come out

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through, it specifically picks
up because it's quite shallow.

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There's a couple of big waves coming
now...

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There we go...whoa...

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At the moment it feels a little bit
like, I imagine, a jockey

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in the Grand National, we're going
up and down and over the fences.

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That's right.

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Roger Jackson, a crew member for the
last 14 years, has taken the helm.

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I've heard he was recently
honoured for leading a particularly

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hazardous rescue, manoeuvring
the station's in-shore lifeboat

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to retrieve four young
men from very rough seas.

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We had to get them one by one,
climb and climb and climb,

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dumping surf over the top, go back
round and go in again,

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and go in again four times.

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What state were they in?

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Absolutely hypothermic, really cold,
really, really shocked,

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and extremely pleased to see
us. They were very lucky lads.

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And you were given the Bronze
Medal for Gallantry?

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That's right, yes.
Last week I actually went to London

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and the Duke of Gloucester
awarded it to me.

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It was a very proud
moment for myself, of course,

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but also for Exmouth lifeboat
station, as well.

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I'd love to see it.

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That is the actual medal there.

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As you can see, that's Sir William
Hillary, the founder of the RNLI.

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How wonderful.

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Would you like to have a drive?

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I'd love to have a drive, thank
you very much indeed.

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If you want to come through...

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OK. I've quite often been asked to
take control of a steam engine.

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I think I feel more control of this
than I do when it's a locomotive.

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How's that, Michael?

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Well, it's just a great honour to be
steering this vessel

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standing next to a hero.

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I don't know about that.

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I'm travelling by road
to my next destination.

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Sidmouth didn't have a railway
when my guide was written and the

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line that opened in the 1870s fell
to the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.

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I'm intrigued to know why
railway-less Sidmouth,

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which my Bradshaw's describes as,
"Nestled at the bottom

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"of a valley between
lofty hills, 500 feet high,"

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was deemed important enough for an
entry covering almost a whole page.

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This range of cliffs,
according to my guidebook has been

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"the theatre of convulsions or
landslips.

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"One commencing on Christmas Day,
1839, whereby 45 acres of arable

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"land were lost."

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The beach is now fenced to
the public,

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so landslips are not
a thing of the past, and this

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so-called Jurassic Coast
is of interest to geologists today.

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Sidmouth's cliffs are particularly

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important because they occasionally
yield fossils of rare

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pre-historic amphibians and
reptiles.

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Earth Science manager,
Richard Edmonds, is

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responsible for protecting this
world heritage site.

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Richard, hello. Hello, Michael, nice
to meet you.

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Apparently, for centuries, these
cliffs have been tumbling down?

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Well, that's right ,they're
actually 230 million years old,

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but the natural recession rate
is about five metres a century.

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But my Bradshaw's tells me that on
one occasion there was a landslip

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where 45 acres of farming
land were lost,

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so that has been going on a long
time.

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Yes, but landslides
are a different process.

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Landslides tend to be an enormous
great, sort of, rending of the
earth.

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What we're seeing here is more cliff
fall caused by the sea

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undercutting the base of the cliffs.

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In the 19th century did they take
steps to slow down the erosion?

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Well, to start with, Sidmouth was

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built on the back of a vast shingle
spit,

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so it was a very healthy beach,

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the waves could hit the beach
and be soaked up, the energy,

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but in the 1830s, after big storms,
they started to construct

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sea defences and those have just
become bigger and bigger and bigger.

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In the 1920s, a great gale
breached the sea wall

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and wrought havoc along much
of Sidmouth's esplanade,

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so the town built a new, higher wall
at the then hefty cost of £100,000.

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But in Bradshaw's day,

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railway builders weren't put
off by high seas and eroding cliffs.

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I believe the Victorians tried to
put a railway in here?

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Yes, that's right, the plan was to
build a harbour on the western

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side of Sidmouth at Ship Rocks
and use Salcombe stone which

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comes from a village just
a couple of miles this way.

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The plan was apparently to
quarry the stone and then transport

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it in a railway in a tunnel running
parallel to the back of the cliff.

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And what happened to that plan?

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The railway engine they bought
didn't fit in the tunnel

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and the company went bust.

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That can't be true, can it? It is.

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So, they at least got as far as
making the tunnel?

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That's right, you can still see the
tunnel sticking out of the cliff,

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but what's happened since
then is the erosion has come through

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and actually eaten away and
destroyed the tunnel.

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The entrance was literally just
here at Pennington Point and in

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the last 20 years the cliffs
have receded and it's been lost.

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So the tunnel added to the
difficulties of the cliff?

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Well, it's done its damage, yes,
the cliff has got to the point

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where it reached the tunnel,

200
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and suddenly there's this increase
in erosion.

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That's likely to be one of the
reasons why we've had this very

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marked increase in erosion
over the last years.

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Hopefully now the tunnel's gone

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and the sea is coming back into
the solid geology,

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we should see it slow down.

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Richard, thank you very much, I must
slip away. Bye-bye.

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Back to Exmouth now to take not
a train, but a short boat ride,

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that will deliver me
to the exact spot I'm aiming for.

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PA ANNOUNCEMENT: "...on the ferry to
Starcross.

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I'm on the ferry crossing the
mouth of the River Exe to Starcross,

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00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:56,440
a small place with a big
chunk of railway history.

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And I think I can see a relic of it
coming into view now.

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00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,960
The final three destinations
of my journey all played a pivotal

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role in Isambard Kingdom Brunel's
greatest railway failure -

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his atmospheric railway,

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where trains were not hauled
by steam locomotive but forced

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forward by atmospheric pressure,
running through a pipe on the track.

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Starcross is first.

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This is a pumping station that was
used on Brunel's atmospheric

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railway, there's a pub dedicated to
the history of that line

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and after a long day I've earned
myself a drink there.

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Good evening. Good evening.

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Could I have a half a lager,
please? You sure can.

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I see you're called
The Atmospheric Railway,

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are you quite
an admirer of Brunel, are you?

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I sure am, I think he's one of the
greatest engineers we've ever had.

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Why are you such an admirer?

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Well, he just wasn't one particular
item, was it, I mean

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he built bridges, tunnels, boats, he
was just an all-round great engineer.

230
00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:12,800
Well, then, the toast is -
Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

231
00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:14,880
Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

232
00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:16,480
Cheers. Cheers.

233
00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,520
After a day's travelling, it's
a night cap and early to bed for me.

234
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,680
As a boy, I marvelled
at the life of Brunel.

235
00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,800
Even though the atmospheric railway
was ultimately a failure,

236
00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:34,720
I'm keen to find out more about it.

237
00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,800
At my next destination, Dawlish,
the line had a station.

238
00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:47,560
I'm on the Exeter to Paignton
branch line this morning.

239
00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,400
Before trains reached the south
Devon coast, Brunel's

240
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:55,680
challenge was to lay track over very
hilly and sharply curving terrain.

241
00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:57,920
The trains are now powered by
diesel,

242
00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:01,920
but the route is almost
the same as in Bradshaw's day.

243
00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:04,000
The result is one of the most
thrilling

244
00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,000
stretches of track in England.

245
00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,600
My Bradshaw's is understandably
excited about this

246
00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:12,120
part of the journey.

247
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:16,600
"The magnificent scenery which
opens on each side as we proceed.

248
00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,080
"There is scarcely a mile traversed
which does not unfold some

249
00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,920
"peculiar picturesque charm, or new
feature of its own to make

250
00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,760
"the eye dazzled
and drunk with beauty,"

251
00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:30,840
and for me there's the additional
interest that we're travelling

252
00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:34,640
on tracks that were once part of
Brunel's doomed atmospheric railway.

253
00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:52,120
In 1044, King Edward the Confessor,

254
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,600
granted the parish of Dawlish to

255
00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:58,320
his chancellor and chaplain,
Leofric.

256
00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:03,440
Salt-making, fishing and agriculture
were the town's mainstay,

257
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,440
until the 18th century
penchant for taking the sea air

258
00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,160
and bathing, attracted
the aristocratic set.

259
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,080
But when the South Devon Railway
arrived in the 1840s, the town

260
00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:19,560
was opened to everyone.

261
00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:27,080
Here at Dawlish, the station is
built between the beach and the

262
00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:30,920
town, making this one of the most
dramatic stretches of railway in

263
00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:34,520
England, and that's not just because
of the views from the trains.

264
00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:42,520
In 1844, Brunel started building
a sea wall to protect the line

265
00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,200
standing just a few
yards from the foaming brine,

266
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,800
but the elements were unkind
to his coastal railway.

267
00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:53,320
Heavy rain would cause rock falls,
breaching its defences,

268
00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,560
and even now the salty sea spray
that billows up

269
00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:01,200
and over on rough days can affect
the operation of the railway.

270
00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,640
John Wilkinson has lived here
all his life.

271
00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:05,280
John...

272
00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:07,520
hello. Morning, Michael.

273
00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,320
There's a bit of spray coming over
the wall this morning, but I've

274
00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:13,680
been on trains and seen it far worse
than this, how bad does it get?

275
00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,680
It gets very bad, on a bad day you
wouldn't possibly be able to

276
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:20,720
walk along this wall, when the waves
hit this section the plumes of water

277
00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:24,720
go high in the air and actually get
blown over onto Marine Parade,

278
00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,840
and just to give you some idea
of the height, the actual plumes

279
00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:31,080
of water go right over the top
of the footbridge at the station.

280
00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,280
And what effect does that have
on the functioning of the railway?

281
00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:37,160
It does have effect on some
of the train services,

282
00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:41,200
because when the plumes of water go
high in the air it actually

283
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,480
lands on the top of the trains
and gets into the exhaust

284
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,840
and into the electronic
systems on the top.

285
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,960
And historically it's interrupted
services from time to time.

286
00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:54,280
It has... indeed, but when you
consider the length of time

287
00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:58,280
it's been here I think the
interruptions are not too serious,

288
00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,600
and any form of transport is subject
to adverse weather.

289
00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:03,960
It's one of the great
rides in England, isn't it?

290
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,040
I think so, yes. It's got to be in
the top ten, if not...

291
00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:14,360
A green tea, please.

292
00:18:14,360 --> 00:18:17,200
So where would you rank this amongst
English train journeys?

293
00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:18,400
Number one!

294
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:20,440
It's a beautiful
piece of coastline, isn't it?

295
00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:22,480
It's a gorgeous piece of coastline,
yes.

296
00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:25,720
Certainly the most picturesque, most
exciting railway line in the country.

297
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:27,920
You've got one of the best
views of a railway

298
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:29,560
anywhere in Britain, I should think.

299
00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:31,040
Do you like watching trains go by?

300
00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:32,600
We do, yeah.

301
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:39,480
Hello. Hello.

302
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:41,120
Have you been here before?

303
00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:44,000
Yes, I used
to come down here when I was a baby.

304
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,600
Did you come on the train?

305
00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:46,800
No, not on the train...

306
00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:48,440
Ha-ha, that's a pity.

307
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:50,280
We used to wave at the trains!

308
00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:51,920
So, you've brought your kids here
now?

309
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:53,000
My kids are here now.

310
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,360
Are they waving at the trains?

311
00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:56,440
Yes, they love seeing the trains go
past.

312
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:58,960
Do you know who built this
railway line?

313
00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,640
I don't know who built this railway
line, actually, no.

314
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:02,640
Isambard...

315
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:04,320
Kingdom Brunel...

316
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:10,720
and my son is named
Noah Isambard after Brunel.

317
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:14,200
Wow, you are admirers of Brunel.

318
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,520
Yes, I'm an engineer,
I think his work is fantastic.

319
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,080
Such a pleasure to talk to you,
thank you very much. Thank you.

320
00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:22,920
Bye-bye, enjoy your day.

321
00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:33,960
With its track skirting the shore
and with the sea pounding its

322
00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:36,200
platforms and its footbridge,

323
00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,840
there's no doubt that Dawlish is
Brunellish.

324
00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:48,800
The last nine miles of my current
journey is an exciting

325
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,040
quarter-of-an-hour ride
along the coastal line that Brunel

326
00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:56,240
built for his hapless atmospheric
railway, because even though

327
00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:01,560
the technology failed, the route has
remained in use for over 150 years.

328
00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:08,280
In the past, my Bradshaw's guide has
directed me to places described as

329
00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:13,520
the Switzerland or the Athens or
the Paris of the British Isles.

330
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,000
Now I'm headed for Newton Abbot,

331
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,640
dubbed The Swindon
of the South West.

332
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:30,280
In Bradshaw's day, the station was
called Newton Junction.

333
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,720
What became the South-West's
Victorian rail hub was,

334
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,880
in the 17th century, the small
market town of Newton Abbots,

335
00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,440
an unlikely spot to shape
the history of Britain.

336
00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:44,240
Felicity Cole is the town
museum's curator.

337
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:47,240
I think we've come across something
else mentioned in my Bradshaw's,

338
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,320
regarding the declaration
that was made

339
00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,760
when William of Orange
landed in Britain in 1688.

340
00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:54,200
Tell me about that.

341
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:59,240
Well, William of Orange made
his declaration, or his intent to

342
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,680
become king of England in 1688,

343
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:05,480
so a very politically-charged
moment.

344
00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:07,800
There were 30,000 troops that

345
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,640
came through the town that day,

346
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:14,640
and an extraordinary scene
of things like Finlanders dressed

347
00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:18,800
in bearskins, Spanish mercenaries
with damseamed armour, but hundreds

348
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:23,040
of them processing through the town,
so presumably anybody who had

349
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,280
said, "Well, we don't want that,"
would have got fairly well squashed

350
00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:27,720
by the army.

351
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:30,320
Fundamentally, this was
a Protestant rebellion

352
00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:34,000
against a Catholic King which is why
it says here, William III,

353
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,000
Prince of Orange, the glorious
defender of the Protestant religion.

354
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:38,280
Indeed.

355
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,880
I've really come in pursuit
of the town's railway history,

356
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:42,520
may we have a look at that,
please?

357
00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:43,920
Absolutely.

358
00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:50,800
In 1892, The Great Western Railway
built a new engine shed, workshops,

359
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:56,160
locomotive bays and a factory
fashioned on their Swindon works.

360
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,800
The expansion in Newton Abbot meant
that workers needed to be

361
00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:03,280
housed, and whole streets were
built for the purpose.

362
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:07,520
Here we are in a street that is
really full of railway houses,

363
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,360
and where the railwaymen
would have lived, and here is

364
00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:13,120
David Grills who is one of those
railwaymen that lived in the area.

365
00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:15,040
Hello, David. Pleased to meet you.

366
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,640
Were these all
occupied by railwaymen in your day?

367
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,160
More or less, yes.

368
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,960
There were at one time 49
railwaymen in this one street,

369
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:29,080
and that ranged from wheel tappers
to guards, goods guards,

370
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,520
passenger guards, enginemen,
boilermen

371
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,760
and people who worked in the factory,
so there was quite an extensive

372
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,600
mix right the way throughout
all these terraces.

373
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,080
Did Newton Abbot deserve the title
of the Swindon of the South West?

374
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,320
It indeed did, it was little
Swindon, without a doubt.

375
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:52,720
At times, I can remember when I
started as a young lad,

376
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:56,680
there were at least somewhere in the
region of a thousand plus men

377
00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,360
employed at Newton Abbot.
We boasted at one time nine

378
00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:04,840
working platforms,
and the main platform was at least

379
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:11,120
a quarter of a mile long, and during
the busy season we would entertain

380
00:23:11,120 --> 00:23:14,640
something in the region of 350
trains in one weekend.

381
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:16,400
What was your job with the railways?

382
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,440
I was a passenger coach shunter,
rather a dirty job, wet,

383
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:24,440
miserable and if you notice on most
coaching stock, all the drain pipes

384
00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,160
run down onto the back of the poor
shunter who

385
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,640
is in the middle, coupling coaches
up, so I used to get very wet,

386
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:34,040
but very dirty,
but the money was good

387
00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:35,680
They sound like good old days.

388
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,200
They were indeed good old days.
I confess to going to

389
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:42,600
work as a small lad where
I wore a peaked hat,

390
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:45,840
I polished the peak
and I also polished the buttons

391
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:51,120
on the front of my jacket, I was
so proud to be a railman.

392
00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:53,960
GWR - God's Wonderful Railway.

393
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,400
I'm very proud to have met you,
David... And you, too.

394
00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,200
Thank you, sir, very much indeed.

395
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,800
All the best, bye-bye.

396
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:07,040
It was Brunel's atmospheric railway
that first ran to Newton Abbot.

397
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:11,400
Patented in 1839 by Samuel Clegg
and the Samuda Brothers,

398
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,040
the system that ran on atmospheric
pressure was

399
00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:19,760
first employed on a Dublin line in
1844, where Brunel investigated it

400
00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:23,840
and became convinced it was viable,
and even preferable to steam power.

401
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,840
I'm hoping to find out
more at Felicity's museum.

402
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:35,000
So, Felicity, can you explain to me
how the atmospheric railway worked?

403
00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:37,440
Well, the first question I
could ask you is -

404
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,480
what do you notice about
looking at this model?

405
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,640
No locomotive, and obviously a large

406
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:45,560
pipe running down the centre of the
railway track.

407
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,400
And we've also got a pumping house
or engine house here,

408
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,840
so what the pumping station is
actually doing is evacuating

409
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,320
the air in front
of the carriage in the pipe,

410
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,520
and then pressure is building up in
the pipe behind the carriage

411
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,600
which pushes the whole thing along.

412
00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:06,240
So you have a train that doesn't
produce any smoke or any steam,

413
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,600
not very much noise, I imagine.
It's extraordinary...

414
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:11,960
In fact, the passengers that
travelled on it loved it,

415
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:16,680
and used to comment that it was
swift, silent and smokeless,

416
00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:21,200
and so despite all the things
that did go wrong with it...

417
00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,080
erm, people
were very sad when it went.

418
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,880
The atmospheric railway caused
great controversy.

419
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:32,040
Brunel's rival, Robert Stevenson,

420
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,920
claimed the atmospheric
system would be expensive and less

421
00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:40,080
reliable, compared to the steam
locomotive he'd helped to invent.

422
00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,480
Brunel refused to heed
Stevenson's prophetic warning.

423
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,560
This is exciting. Is this genuinely
a section of Brunel's pipe?

424
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:50,560
It is indeed, yes.

425
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,040
The piston would be
travelling along inside this pipe,

426
00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:59,440
which had been evacuated of air by
the pumping house and as a

427
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,840
leather flap attached here
was raised,

428
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:06,800
the air would come in behind the
piston,

429
00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:08,640
and creating the atmospheric
pressure

430
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,880
to push the carriage forward,
but then the problem would be the

431
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:15,960
flap had to return to its place and
make a seal,

432
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,800
ready for the next train.

433
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,640
Although the technology had
advantages,

434
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:23,680
it faced two major problems.

435
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,720
Its air pipes
corroded in the salty sea air

436
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:32,120
and animal fat had to be manually
applied to stop the leather seals
from cracking.

437
00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:35,840
Local legend has it that rats ate
through the seals

438
00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:39,920
and caused the line's closure,
but it was the cost of upkeep which,

439
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,560
after eight months, finally did for
it.

440
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:49,240
Undaunted, Brunel went on to
engineer the ship, SS Great Eastern,

441
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:50,480
Paddington Station and the

442
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,120
magnificent Royal Albert Bridge in
Cornwall

443
00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:55,720
before he died at the age of just
53.

444
00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,800
Well, his qualities certainly
made him my boyhood hero,

445
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:05,120
and he's the hero of many people
still living today who remember

446
00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:07,600
the fantastic achievements
of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

447
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:09,560
Indeed.

448
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,120
My railway journey from London
Paddington to Newton Abbot

449
00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:22,520
has taken me past some of southern
England's most beautiful buildings

450
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:24,040
and finest views.

451
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,480
My guidebook has
opened my eyes to key events

452
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:30,000
and sights in our island history.

453
00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,520
Where George Bradshaw has guided my
tracks,

454
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,000
Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the
tracks.

455
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,840
Standing here above his Great
Western Railway,

456
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,640
I seriously doubt whether a finer
civil engineer ever existed.

457
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,800
On my next journey,
my Bradshaw's will lead me

458
00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,360
across the Irish Sea, tracing 19th
century tracks from Kerry

459
00:28:00,360 --> 00:28:05,440
to Galway, landscapes shot to
fame by Queen Victoria.

460
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,280
If it was good enough for the Royal
Family, it was good enough for
everyone? Correct.

461
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,720
'I'll visit the Irish National Stud,

462
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:13,280
and find myself bucked....'

463
00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,120
Oh, the horse is going
very fast now.

464
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:17,720
Absolutely exhausting!

465
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,720
'..and hear Irish history,
preserved in song.'

466
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:22,920
# Oh, there is a land...

467
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:27,240
# far away. #

468
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:28,960
Well done, Michael.

469
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:30,480
Ooooooh!

470
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,320
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