1 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,880 There are more steam engines to be seen now on British rail lines 2 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:55,800 than there have been for 20 years. 3 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,200 Of them all, I think the most romantic is the Duchess of Hamilton. 4 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,400 And of all the lines in England still open, 5 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,520 the toughest must be the Settle to Carlisle railway. 6 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:50,040 What is not so well known is that 30 years ago, 7 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,800 I was the proud owner of the Duchess of Hamilton. 8 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:56,640 She was nine inches long, weighed well over a pound 9 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,720 and kept falling off at the corners. 10 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:03,840 Now, at last, I've come face-to-face with the real duchess, 11 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,640 who weighs over 100 tons when it's not working 12 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,520 and weighs 500 tons with a full train. Worth waiting for! 13 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,960 The Duchess lives at your in the National Railway Museum 14 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:24,440 but she sallies forth regularly 15 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,520 to haul special trains over long distances. 16 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,680 For this, she has to be prepared and fired up the day before 17 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,520 by Pete, the fireman and Kim, the engineer - 18 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,640 prepared with extra care if you're climbing the Settle-Carlisle line. 19 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:46,240 I spent five years in my youth sitting beside a railway line 20 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,280 collecting train numbers, hardly ever going home. 21 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:51,800 It's what they call a misspent youth. 22 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,400 I shouldn't have been collecting numbers, 23 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,200 I should have been finding out how engines actually work. 24 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,240 Well, it's never too late to learn. 25 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:00,840 First thing we do is make sure 26 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:04,000 that the boiler has actually got water in it. 27 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:07,240 Because if it hasn't, it'll explode? 28 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:09,920 You'll do quite a lot of damage if it hadn't. 29 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:13,880 Well, I think it's about time we lit it now. The boiler is all right. 30 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:15,760 It's got plenty of water in. - All right? 31 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:17,600 - Delighted. - All right. 32 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:19,160 - Right. 33 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,040 They're quite fussy about the kind of coal they use. 34 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:31,480 Welsh coal's not bad, 35 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,600 but Yorkshire's good and Nottinghamshire is quite good too. 36 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,520 During the miners' strike, they found themselves using Polish coal. 37 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:40,880 They didn't like it much. 38 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:58,640 How long does the coal take to light? Does it take fire immediately? 39 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,960 Three or four minutes until the coal is actually burning. 40 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:03,880 That's better than my fire! 41 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:07,480 We've previously coaled the firebox, 42 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:09,760 filled the firebox full of coal first. 43 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,800 You've got all the coal you need? - Nearly all the coal. 44 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:15,120 You don't set off with a little bit then build up? 45 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:16,760 No, about six inch cover. 46 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:20,840 And what's the fullest it ever gets? Is that about it? 47 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:22,640 No, when the engine's working 48 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,200 you can have probably about three quarters of a ton in there. 49 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,320 It takes about six hours to get the boiler into steam from cold. 50 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:43,840 So really, Kim, we're sitting under a huge boiler 51 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:45,880 which is mounted on huge wheels. 52 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:49,160 What I want to know is, how does the steam get to the wheels? 53 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,680 Well, the boiler, which is all that red mass, is full of water 54 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:55,400 and at the top there's what we call the dome 55 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,840 and in there there's the regulator valve or throttle valve. 56 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:01,840 The steam them comes from that regulator valve, 57 00:05:01,840 --> 00:05:04,280 through into the smoke box, 58 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:06,560 which is this black mass at the front here, 59 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,680 and it's then what we call superheated, 60 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:14,560 which is the steam is then taken in tubes, back through the fire tubes, 61 00:05:14,560 --> 00:05:17,640 and heated even more to a higher temperature. 62 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:19,240 This engine, when it's working hard, 63 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,920 can get up to about 700 degrees Fahrenheit. 64 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:25,760 And then that comes from the super heater 65 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:28,400 and it comes down to the cylinders. 66 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:30,960 This particular locomotive's got four cylinders. 67 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:35,960 There's one on either side and two hidden between the frames. 68 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:40,200 This part here, that's the valve 69 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:46,680 that lets the steam be admitted to one or the other side of the pistons. 70 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,600 This is a double acting engine, not like a car engine. 71 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:54,840 It's double acting. The piston is actually pulled and pushed. 72 00:05:54,840 --> 00:05:56,640 And this valve up here 73 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,560 controls which side of the piston that that steam's going to hit. 74 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,080 So, all the power is in there? 75 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:05,160 The power is all in the cylinders, yes. 76 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:07,760 And just that little cylinder pushes this thing? 77 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,000 Well, this and three other cylinders, yeah. 78 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:12,280 It's then transmitted through this cross-head, 79 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:14,360 because that piston wouldn't be strong. 80 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:17,920 It would bend if it hadn't got support from these bars, 81 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:19,760 and then down to the connecting rod, 82 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:24,160 into rotary motion down onto the crank, 83 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:27,920 which is incorporated in the wheel. 84 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:31,120 This is one that's actually driven by the cylinders. 85 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:32,760 The other one is has the leading one. 86 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:34,840 And that's driven by the inside cylinder? 87 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:37,320 That's driven by the inside cylinders. 88 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:41,600 And that's connected along? - That's connected by a side rod 89 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:44,280 which connects all six driving wheels together 90 00:06:44,280 --> 00:06:46,360 so that you've got better adhesion. 91 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:51,120 And it really makes a difference? - That makes a lot of difference. 92 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:54,040 Before the war, the London Midland Scottish Railway 93 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,200 was lagging badly behind the other lines 94 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:59,040 with nothing nearly as powerful on their express routes 95 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:00,480 as the Great Western Kings. 96 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:02,120 So they tempted William Stanier, 97 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,160 the wizard designer of the Great Western, 98 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,440 to come over to them and create something fast and sleek. 99 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,880 By 1938, he'd come up with the goods - 100 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:14,680 the Princess and Duchess classes. 101 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,400 It was in that year that the Duchess of Hamilton was born at Crewe. 102 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,680 All manner of smaller parts are made in the smithy - 103 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,720 nuts and bolts in all sizes and varieties, 104 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,360 rivets by the tens of thousands. 105 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,320 This is where the mysteries go in. 106 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:38,480 A modern engine, such as 6207, has a big appetite for steam, 107 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,760 hence her much greater area of 45 square feet 108 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,240 and her high amount of tubing. 109 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:48,280 First to go in is the main steam pipe, 110 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:49,640 through the centre of which 111 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:53,160 will later go the rod connecting the regulator handle to the valve. 112 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,840 Meanwhile, things have been happening at the other end of the boiler 113 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:03,760 and some familiar objects have been 114 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:06,040 finding their way onto the firebox plate. 115 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,800 One of the most amazing sights is the way heavy loads, 116 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:18,560 and mostly awkward and cumbersome ones, are slung about in the work. 117 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:20,800 A screech from the overhead crane, 118 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,400 rattling hooks descending out of the air en route 119 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:25,560 and almost before you can say knife, 120 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,520 a load of some 50 tons up to a complete engine 121 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:30,840 is whisked away to a new position. 122 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,040 She's off! 123 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,000 1,000 men have served her in the making. 124 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,760 How many thousands will she serve during her life on the LMS mainline? 125 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,080 Is this what they call a Pacific class? 126 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:06,200 That's right, yeah. 127 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,640 And that's something to do with the wheels, isn't it? 128 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,160 Yeah, you've got four carrying wheels at the front, 129 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,040 then you've six driving wheels, 130 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:16,240 and then two little carrying wheels at the back. 131 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:19,400 So it's not the Duchess class, or it is a Duchess class as well? 132 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:23,000 Well, the proper term for them, the LMS call them Princess Coronations. 133 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,120 What do you call them? - Duchesses. 134 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:28,520 And did it look like this when it was first built? 135 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:31,520 Oh, no, no. It had a streamlined casing on it. 136 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:33,120 Why did they do that? 137 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,240 Helped to cut the wind resistance down, 138 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:38,080 so in theory you burnt less coal. 139 00:09:38,080 --> 00:09:40,800 They seem to have gone through a fashion for streamlining then 140 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,680 they stopped doing it, so it couldn't have been that effective? 141 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:46,640 Well, it's very difficult to keep the engine in good maintenance 142 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,440 when you've got to get behind the casing every time to do daily jobs. 143 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,600 Just before the war, there really was a mania for speed, 144 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,800 for being the fastest steam engine on earth 145 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:01,240 or for winning the transatlantic Blue Riband. 146 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:03,640 The things were made to look that way, as well, 147 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:07,240 with the streamlining stripes even going down the carriages. 148 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:10,760 Maybe it somehow helped to counteract the depression of the 1930s? 149 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,520 Oddly enough, the streamlined look is back with us again today 150 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:17,880 on British Rail's InterCity trains. 151 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:19,960 No sooner was the Duchess built 152 00:10:19,960 --> 00:10:23,040 than she was sent to America to appear at the New York World's Fair. 153 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:24,600 The Americans had heard all about 154 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:27,960 the crack express from London to Scotland, the Coronation Scot, 155 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,520 and the Coronation engine was what they wanted. 156 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:32,520 What they got was the Duchess. 157 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,200 They changed the nameplates and the number. 158 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:36,920 Isn't that what we call cheating? 159 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,800 Well, yes, but it was done quite a bit with the locos. 160 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:45,560 To meet American regulations, that had to be fitted with a headlight, 161 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:47,400 plus they put a bell on it. 162 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,680 Was that just for fun? You don't have to have that. 163 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:51,840 No, that was their regulation. - Really? 164 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,920 Shipping the Coronation Scot engine at Southampton is quite a job, 165 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:57,160 for it weighs 100 tons. 166 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:00,360 Driver Bishop and fireman Carswell are there to see it put aboard. 167 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,400 As the locomotive is lifted from the quayside by the ship's derrick, 168 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:04,520 the vessel takes a list, 169 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:07,160 but rights herself again as it's swung over the hull. 170 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,880 The ship that takes it across, by the way, is Norwegian. 171 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,200 The train is going to America to tour the country 172 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:19,400 and to be on show at the World's Fair. 173 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:53,120 A month before the fair ended, the Second World War broke out 174 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:55,000 and the Duchess was stuck in America. 175 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,880 There she stayed, being seen by an amazing 3 million visitors 176 00:11:58,880 --> 00:12:02,640 until 1942, when the LMS decided to risk bringing her back 177 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,560 on a midwinter trans-Atlantic convoy. 178 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:09,160 Luckily she arrived safe and sound in Cardiff that February. 179 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:15,720 They needed it for the war effort, you know. It was difficult. 180 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,640 They hadn't really got enough locos to keep the traffic moving. 181 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:19,720 The war traffic. 182 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:23,800 So everything that they could find was more or less put into traffic. 183 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:26,960 I always imagined that trains were sort of restricted during the war? 184 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,760 Oh, no, there was enormous movements of materials 185 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,040 and troops during the war. 186 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:35,400 From the ports, 187 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,680 trains took the battle weary men to the dispersal points. 188 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:40,560 At the shortest possible notice, 189 00:12:40,560 --> 00:12:42,760 special trains were hurriedly assembled 190 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:44,360 and in the space of eight days, 191 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:48,840 620 specials were run from seven ports in the south-east of England. 192 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:51,440 The war was good for the railways then? I didn't realise that. 193 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:53,320 Well, yeah. - Good business. 194 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:56,120 It nearly wore the railways out, actually. 195 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,520 What happened when steam started being phased out and diesel came in? 196 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,160 Well, they gradually got displaced. 197 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:05,640 They were put onto empty coaches of stock trains 198 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:11,040 and freight trains, just to finish up their useful life. 199 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:13,920 And then when they died, they died... - That's right. 200 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:17,120 ..in a scrapyard. How come Duchesses survived then? 201 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,760 Well, it was just luck more than anything. 202 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:26,040 Mr Butlin decided he would like some attractions at certain holiday camps 203 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:31,600 and this was one that was bought, along with the Duchess of Sutherland. 204 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:33,680 Where did this one go? - Minehead. 205 00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:37,320 MUSIC: "I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside" by John A Glover-Kind 206 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,120 After quite a bit of time, somebody asked, "Why are they in there 207 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:45,720 "and do Butlins still want them? 208 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,200 "Wouldn't it be nice to have them in a museum?" 209 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:53,120 And after a period of a few years, that was agreed, 210 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,200 that Butlins would then release them. 211 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:57,200 So it actually still belongs to Butlins, then? 212 00:13:57,200 --> 00:13:59,280 It still belongs to them. 213 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:01,080 They could get it back any time they wanted 214 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,160 they could take it back to the holiday camp? 215 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:04,840 In theory, yes. 216 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:07,960 How much did it cost to put this together again, 217 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,320 when all the operations had done on the abdomen and the guts? 218 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,320 Around about £40,000. - 40,000. 219 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:16,520 How much did it cost to build in the first place? 220 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:18,320 11,300. - To build? 221 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:20,560 That's inflation. 222 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:23,480 What I'd never realised was 223 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,200 just how full of steam a steam engine really is. 224 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:27,800 Smoke may come out of the chimney, 225 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,960 but everything else is steam, with no electricity to help at all. 226 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,720 If you want sand on the line to help the wheels grip, 227 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:35,040 you'd blow it out by steam. 228 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:38,760 If you want more water in the boiler, you blow it in by steam. 229 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:42,000 The Duchess has steam pipes the way we have blood vessels, 230 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,600 cut offs who breathe steam. 231 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:47,720 Well, I think I understand how it all works now, 232 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,280 except for one thing - how do you actually start it? 233 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:51,800 Right, well, we'll show you 234 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:55,440 because we're now going to move off the shed in any case. 235 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:01,120 You have to turn this handle on. That creates a brake. 236 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:07,160 So as you can get the brakes on. - Right. 237 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:09,000 So, first thing you have to make sure of, 238 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:10,680 you can stop before you move. 239 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:17,920 That's got to come round 21 inches of mercury. 240 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:23,200 There it is. 241 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:28,120 We test it. We then take the engine and the handbrake off. 242 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:42,000 Seems very complicated. - Not really. 243 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:46,560 Then we move this lever to whichever direction we want to go. 244 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:48,920 In this case, backwards. 245 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,360 ENGINE WHISTLES 246 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:59,560 And pull this lever... 247 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,840 and that will move. 248 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:04,840 Magic. 249 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,600 When you've gone far enough, this one stops it. 250 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,400 So have you got any more to do before the run tomorrow? 251 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,200 No, we're all ready for tomorrow now. 252 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,280 Well, I'm sorry to hear that, because it means I've got to get off. 253 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:41,760 Right, bye! 254 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,600 If anyone can be called a Duchess's best friend it's Kim, 255 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:48,600 who accompanies her everywhere with an oily rag, 256 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:50,240 like butter with a napkin. 257 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,480 On the great day itself, 258 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,960 Kim isn't actually allowed to drive an engine on the British Rail line. 259 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:21,240 Only full-time British Rail drivers can do that. 260 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,840 Not that there are many people left in British Rail who still know how! 261 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:29,520 Maybe one day we'll have lots of steam engines and no steam drivers. 262 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:34,440 One thing we'll ever run out of, though, is steam train enthusiasts, 263 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,680 and for today's heavyweight contest between the Duchess of Hamilton 264 00:17:37,680 --> 00:17:41,960 and the Settle to Carlisle railway, every seat has been booked in advance 265 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,640 by enthusiasts, nostalgics, connoisseurs and experts. 266 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,280 One of them is local historian and non-stop enthusiast, Colin Speakman. 267 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,000 This is Settle and the beginning of the line? 268 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,640 That's right. It was the known as the long drag, of course, 269 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:56,360 because the climb starts here 270 00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:59,680 and it's something like 20-odd miles of continuous climb, 271 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,080 a tremendous amount of work for locomotive men and their crews. 272 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:04,560 Especially with steam engines. 273 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:06,920 That's right, and the steam engines, yeah. 274 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,160 Little easier with diesel, obviously. 275 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:11,400 The reason the line is here is nothing to do with 276 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,560 the desire of people in Settle to have a day out in Carlisle 277 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:15,680 or even vice versa. 278 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:17,840 It's because the Midland Railway were desperate 279 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,280 to get their own express mainline to Scotland 280 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:23,880 and the only way they could drive it was over the mountains. 281 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,840 Progress was so hard that they even petitioned Parliament 282 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:28,800 to be allowed to give it up. 283 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:30,560 Parliament refused permission, 284 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,320 so the Midlands spent five long, horrible, dirty, cold years 285 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,960 completing the line and the worst bit for the builders then, 286 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:41,680 and the engine now, was the 15-mile long drag to the summit. 287 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,000 Nobody knows quite how powerful the Duchess is 288 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,400 because they've never been able to shovel coal in fast enough 289 00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:53,920 to get her up to full power. 290 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:57,680 It's not the train that reaches 100% output, it's the fireman. 291 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,160 Even two firemen wouldn't be enough. 292 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,360 The line was built by thousands of Irish navvies living in townships 293 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:25,040 rather like goldrush towns, 294 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,560 with their own shops, chapels, even tramways. 295 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,440 It's odd to think the Romans were here for hundreds of years 296 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,240 and left hardly anything behind except Hadrian's Wall. 297 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,640 The Irish were here for just five and left great monuments behind - 298 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:38,960 bridges, tunnels, viaducts. 299 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:44,000 The greatest of all is the Ribblehead Viaduct, now crumbling so much 300 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,920 that passage across it is restricted to one line in the middle. 301 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:50,120 The rise and fall of the Irish empire, indeed. 302 00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:52,680 People keep talking about the Ribblehead Viaduct 303 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,240 as if it was the big one. Is there something special about it? 304 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,160 Well, again, it's a long and very colourful history. 305 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:02,360 Initially, of course, they simply wanted to fill in Batty Moss bog 306 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,120 and run it across the top. 307 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:05,840 But they found it was quite impossible, 308 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:08,640 so they hit upon a really rather brilliant engineering solution - 309 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,720 to build this enormous viaduct out of local sandstone and limestone. 310 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,920 But inevitably, it's now suffering from wear and tear. 311 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:18,720 It lasted over a century but it'll be a major problem to maintain 312 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:21,040 and it could in fact be the great question mark 313 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:22,640 over the future of this railway. 314 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:24,200 You mean the whole line could exist 315 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:26,040 but there'd be a little gap in the middle? 316 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:27,120 That's right. 317 00:20:27,120 --> 00:20:29,680 There's talk of stopping trains at one end of the viaduct 318 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,880 and making people walk to the far end and continuing on the next train. 319 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:34,960 We hope it won't happen. 320 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:43,760 So, this is the dreaded Blea Moor Tunnel? 321 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:45,640 Yes, a dreadful, nasty hole, 322 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,160 something like 2,500 feet long, 500 feet underground 323 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:51,680 and a place that was very difficult to build. 324 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:53,600 A lot of lives lost, a lot of expense 325 00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,200 and railwaymen, I think, have always hated it, 326 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,120 particularly in the days of steam trains. 327 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:00,240 It was a very nasty place to go through. 328 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,720 I've never met anyone who liked it at all, no. 329 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:07,520 Is this weather typical on the line? 330 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:09,240 Do you ever get good days to go up here? 331 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:11,720 Well we sometimes talk about Settle-Carlisle weather. 332 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:14,720 That's the kind of days where the rain comes sideways. 333 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,040 But at the same time, it can change remarkably quickly 334 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:20,080 and be incredibly beautiful in a matter of moments. 335 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:22,920 We're very near the summit now, 336 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,800 something like 1,100 feet above sea level. 337 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:27,400 That's high. 338 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,720 We're at Dent Head, coming up to Dent station, 339 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,560 which in fact is the highest station on any railway line, 340 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:34,080 certainly in England and Wales. 341 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,040 And nowhere near Dent, as far as I can make out? 342 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,400 Four and a half miles away, so it was quite a long walk 343 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,440 when you arrived at Dent to walk between the station and the town. 344 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:44,320 People often ask the old story, you know, why was the station there? 345 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:46,280 Answer, because the railway line was there. 346 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,120 What are those strange pillar like things over there? 347 00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:52,120 Snow fences. One of the problems on this line, of course, 348 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:55,360 is that the weather can create tremendous difficulties. 349 00:21:55,360 --> 00:21:59,040 There are stories of trains disappearing under snowdrifts 350 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:00,800 for something like three or four days 351 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:02,680 before they could finally dig them out. 352 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,640 This stop is Garsdale, but it's the same thing every stop - 353 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,320 all the experts leave their seats and come rushing forth, 354 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,320 photographing the engine and peer at its workings. 355 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,280 They remind me rather of a squad of medical men 356 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,480 making sure the Duchess doesn't have the slightest cough or splutter, 357 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,680 seeing as she's smoking so much. 358 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:34,720 The surgeons themselves are dressed in orange operating jackets. 359 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,560 These are the super enthusiasts, who handle coal, and the water, 360 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:40,200 and of course, the crowds. 361 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,720 Can you cross behind the photographers, please, 362 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,280 ladies and gentlemen, then you won't be in the way. 363 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,240 ENGINE WHISTLES 364 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,080 You get the impression, 365 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,680 going through this beautiful but desolate countryside, 366 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,640 that the builders of the line had only one place in mind - 367 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,080 faraway Glasgow. 368 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,080 What I wonder is how much the people who lived here 369 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:52,840 got from the new railway. 370 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:57,280 Quite a lot. Local farming, for example, benefited. 371 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:02,960 The dairy industry, it became possible to get your milk collected 372 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:07,120 and taken to the nearest railway station, for example Appleby, 373 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:09,600 and taken even on overnight trains to London, 374 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,400 Express Dairies, Eden Vale dairies, 375 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,760 they all developed dairy farming in the region. 376 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:17,480 Is that where the yoghurt comes from? 377 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,840 Originally, it gave a great stimulus to the local economy. 378 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,480 Of course, we're not the only film crew out today. 379 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,640 Almost everyone on the train seems to be producing and directing, 380 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,000 shooting their own film, and at Appleby station 381 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,480 the Duchess responds by putting on a special show for the cameras, 382 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,320 as well as full sound effects for the microphones. 383 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,560 STEAM ROARS 384 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,320 Closing the Settle-Carlisle line 385 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,560 could do serious damage to the Japanese photographic industry, 386 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,240 not to mention wipe out the British anorak business! 387 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,280 ENGINE WHISTLES 388 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,240 The funny thing is that conservationists like you, 389 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:25,800 who fight to keep the line open, would probably 100 years ago 390 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,080 have fought to stop it being built in the first place. 391 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,000 Oh, I've absolutely no doubt about the fact, 392 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:32,600 but the fact that it was built and is there 393 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:34,720 and is a great piece of architecture 394 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,480 means, I think, we ought to make the best of it. We ought to use it. 395 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:39,320 So it's bigger than just a railway line, 396 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:40,960 it's part of historical heritage? 397 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,320 I think so. It's part of the evolution, certainly, 398 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,600 of the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales and the Eden Valley. 399 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:52,560 Somebody once said that the Settle to Carlisle line was "nowt but scenery," 400 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:54,720 and this is certainly true after Appleby, 401 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:57,240 when the hills retreat into a watchful distance 402 00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,440 and the line slides quietly through the Eden Valley - 403 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:02,880 a land flowing with milk and yogurt. 404 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:43,880 ENGINE WHISTLES 405 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:13,600 After that back breaking run up to the summit, 406 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,840 it's a gentle jog to Carlisle, the border town 407 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:20,680 where the Midland finally linked up with Scotland in a profitable union. 408 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:27,360 Today, the train turns right here, off to Newcastle, over to the North, 409 00:27:27,360 --> 00:27:30,280 but I get off to find a train back to London. 410 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:35,120 It'll be a good, fast electric train. 411 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:38,840 They won't have had to spend hours loading it up with coal and water. 412 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,160 You just switch it on and off it goes. 413 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:43,960 This is the way the world is going. I know all this. 414 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:52,840 Most of them won't be half so grand or aristocratic or breathtaking 415 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,640 as the train we've been on today. 416 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:57,360 They won't even smell half as good. 417 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,720 The next day, I'll have forgotten all about my electric ride home. 418 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,040 And once she's been over the triangle, 419 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,520 the Duchess of Hamilton makes for home.