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A century ago, Britain's rail
network was the envy of the world.

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You could get a train from
almost anywhere...

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..to almost anywhere else.

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But many of these lines were
considered unprofitable,

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and in the 1960s,

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Dr Beeching was recruited by the
government to come up with a

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plan that would stop the railways
from haemorrhaging money.

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He famously brought the axe down
on over 4,000 miles of track

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and 2,000 stations.

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Almost overnight, 30% of the
network was closed down.

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50 years on, I'm going on a journey
to discover just a few of

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those lost lines.

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I'm in the southwest walking the
Somerset and Dorset line from

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Burnham-on-Sea to Bath.

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Oh, my goodness me!

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I did not expect to find
anything like this.

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It's a journey that'll introduce me
to the mystical secrets of Avalon.

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I'll learn how to change the
points in a real signal box.

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And finally, I'll get to experience
one of the finest settings

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for a railway viaduct
I've ever seen,

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and I've seen a few.

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I'm walking the lost Somerset and
Dorset line that runs from

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the coast at Burnham-on-Sea to
Bath Green Park station.

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I'm beginning my journey somewhere
I love to be - on the beach.

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Here begins a line that was built
with feverish enthusiasm by

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visionary investors hoping to
transform local fortunes.

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This is the story of a railway that
spiralled out of control and

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was almost crushed by the
weight of its own ambition.

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Believe it or not, this rather
strange-looking stilted

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structure is actually a lighthouse.

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It's not what you expect to
find near a railway, but this,

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the Bristol Channel, right out at
the moment because the tide is out,

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was the start of the dream to
use the railways to put a small

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seaside town on the north coast
of Somerset, firmly on the map.

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The nearest railway station was only
two miles away, but the people

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of Burnham-on-Sea recognised the
business potential of

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attracting tourists right
into the heart of town.

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This was part of the railway mania
that struck this country in

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the mid-19th century.

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It was the dot-com boom of its time.

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All they had to do was build a short
line connecting Burnham-on-Sea

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here to an existing railway
a couple of miles inland,

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then sit back and watch
the money roll in.

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In due course, that line would
go all the way to Bath,

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some 35 miles away,

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but by the time it got there,

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the railway company building
the line had gone bankrupt.

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To see why that happened for myself,
I'm retracing the route.

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I'm right at the start of the line,
hoping to pick up the trail

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from where the railway almost
dipped its toes into the sea.

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Local historian and railway
enthusiast John Strickland

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recalls how all of this used to look
and feel when the railway was here.

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I can certainly see why people
wanted to come down to

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Burnham-on-Sea here, John.
What a day. What a beach.

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It's glorious, isn't it?
It's lovely, lovely.

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We've got the right weather for
holiday-makers, haven't we?

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So, railways would have come where?
How close to the jetty?

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Cos I know it came to the jetty.
Well, I've got a photograph here
if you'd like to see.

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I knew it came to the jetty.

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This is the same jetty.
Wow. Look at that.

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And the lines went right the
way down through to the end.

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And they were coming from where?
Where was the steamers coming from?

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They were coming across from Cardiff
and the idea was that people

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would come across
and then, of course,

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they could either spend the day in
Burnham or they could then catch

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the train and go all the way down
to Poole and Bournemouth,

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and then if they so wished,

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they could go right the way across
to Cherbourg and... In France?

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In France. Yeah.

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And have a holiday in France.

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I mean, that was absolutely
unheard of in these days.

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And was that then part of the plan
to open up Burnham-on-Sea, but also

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make Burnham-on-Sea more connected
to more places around the country?

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That's right.

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Once the railway came, the town
grew then, both in residents and

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also for holiday-makers.

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The old station is just a
few metres inland.

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The platform was only ever a grass
verge and we can still stand

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on it almost as it would
have been 52 years ago.

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And this would've been raised would
it? This would've been raised.

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Obviously, there would've been an
edge along it for where the rails
came in. To step off, yeah.

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But people would actually step off
here from their coaches.

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I used to stand on this platform
and watch the trains come in and

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to see then, it was like a town
coming off of the coaches.

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And there were people, you couldn't
move, you couldn't walk.

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It was like a big crowd of
people going forward.

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I can remember that.

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I'm very fortunate that someone
took a photograph, yeah,

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and this is me here in the
short trousers. Get out!

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This 19... And you're having a
little chat with the driver?

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1954. Yes. That's quite right.

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Is that always going to
stay with you?

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Yes, and I think that sums up
my childhood in Burnham.

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From the grass platform,

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it's easy to trace the path
of this lost railway,

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and for John, it's one often
travelled and always treasured.

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And I can remember,
I must have been in my teens,

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watching the very
last train going out,

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and seeing the last coach disappear
with a little red light glimmering,

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and I have to say, I had a
tear in my eye because

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it was the end of an era.

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I would never ever see that again.

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The very last train?

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The very last train.

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This was when then?
This is 19... 1966.

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And just to see, it was almost like
the last coach was actually

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going into a frame of hedge as it
disappeared out towards Highbridge.

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And then it was gone. Gone.

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And that was it.
And that was it, finished.

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Gone completely.

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You know, chatting with John has
really left me thinking a bit

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more about the lost railways
that aren't here any more.

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The railways gathered a community
around it and you can see the

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excitement John still has in his
eyes when he talks about it.

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In a generation's time, that'll be
lost, but for now, I will walk

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along this pretty nondescript
pavement alongside a busy road,

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but because John can
tell me about that

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and remind me of the lost railway,

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it's not just a footpath -
this is the old railway line.

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It's only a couple of miles to
the point where the dream to

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connect Burnham-on-Sea to
the existing line,

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and thus the rest of Britain,
became a reality.

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All I need to do is figure out
exactly where that was.

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This must be... Oh, yeah.

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Here we go. Ha, ha, ha.

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That's what I was looking for.

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Now, having come a couple of
miles inland from Burnham,

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I've arrived here at Highbridge.

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And I know because this is where
I'm crossing this railway.

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Now, Highbridge was a really
important junction point for

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the line.

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So, let's have a look here.
I can almost line this up perfectly

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with the north-south Exeter and
Bristol line here with the track.

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Now, Somerset and Dorset line would
have come in from Burnham here,

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it would have crossed right about
where that red brick building is,

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and then under my feet, under the
bridge here and heading inland.

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But the construction of this line
would prove more challenging

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than anyone had anticipated.

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I'll be discovering why the Somerset
landscape caused engineers

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and investors such
enormous headaches.

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And you can see just what
it was like.

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It was this thick, boggy marshland,

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and it's quite hard to be in.

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I'm walking the old
Somerset and Dorset line from

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Burnham-on-Sea to Bath.

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I've made it almost
four miles inland so far,

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and I'm passing through the
lush Somerset levels.

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I've had to come slightly south
of where the line exactly ran

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here because it's now
just in open fields.

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But what I'm trying to find and
locate is where the station

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was at Edington Burtle, and I'm
pretty sure it must be here.

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So, there's the pub there, which...

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Here we go.

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Says it all here now.

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This house is called Station House.

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The line came in from there and then
ran right along the waterway.

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The station hotel was built in 1856,

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a couple of years after
the railway came.

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It was built right next to the
station to house the

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travellers and the workers that were
coming through on the railway.

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And I know that in 1966,
when the railway shut down,

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the pub here took over the
old station hotel buildings

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and it was renamed the Tom Mogg.

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Tom Mogg was a signalman who
worked at the station here

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for years and years.

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This is now called The Duck.

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But it is the same building.
Look at that.

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You see that profile there?
There's the chimney.

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I'm in the right place.

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I'm just having a little hunt around
to see if my suspicions are founded.

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This has to have once been
the Tom Mogg Inn.

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Here we go. Come look at this.

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There we are. Tom Mogg.

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There it is.

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In the bar, I get talking
to Percy Parsons,

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a 93-year-old veteran of the
Somerset and Dorset line.

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Oh, Percy, you worked on the
railways here for a long time

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and knew a lot of people who
also worked on the railway.

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So tell me, who was Tom Mogg?

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On the 24th May, 1937, when I
started on the railway, aged 14,

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I was a junior porter, I took
over and I worked with Tom.

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Tom Mogg was a signalman at the time
at Edington Junction signal box.

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Nice old chap he was.

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Yeah, he was.

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Now, you've got an interesting
item with you here, Percy.

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What would a signalman have
used his lamp for?

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We take it apart.

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Oh, here we go. Got green
and red in there.

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Green and red. OK.

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Natural enough, the green and
the red would be "OK" or "stop".

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OK. With this hand lamp,

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up and down, "go ahead".

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Up like this,

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signalman alter the points.

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These were the moves?

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Yeah. The moves.

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From what you remember,

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what were the railways like
going through here?

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It was a low damp country.

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Your fog would lift up at
night especially.

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In August 1949,

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very, very foggy morning it was,

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and a vehicle stalls right
on the railway.

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The train driver and fireman
couldn't see him, it was so foggy,

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and they hit this thing and
the engine has gone in the canal.

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Oh!

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This is a treacherously foggy
landscape and has its own set

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of unique problems.

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The line from here to Glastonbury
progresses through some of

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the flattest countryside in England.

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And at just six metres
above sea level,

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the threat of flooding is constant.

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The main reason the Somerset and
Dorset line cost so much to

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construct was because of where
it was being constructed -

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the Somerset Levels.

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A marshy wetland area covering
around 17,000 acres.

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So, when you're building a
railway line through here,

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you couldn't just lay the
tracks at ground level,

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you needed vast, sufficient
railway embankments.

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And I'm a good couple of metres
higher than the land on the

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other side of the drain here.

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But think about the technology
they had available

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to build these embankments.

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It was picks and shovels.

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Moving that amount of
earth at that time

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would've been unprecedented,

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and that's why it cost
so much to build this line.

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Three miles from Edington Burtle
along the south drain is

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Shapwick Heath Nature Reserve.

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When you start to consider just how
difficult it was to build the

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Somerset and Dorset railway line
through the Somerset Levels,

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you start to think a bit about how
people could have lived here

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thousands of years ago before any of
the efforts were made to drain

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the land of all this moisture, and
you can see just what it was like.

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It was this thick, boggy marshland,

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and it's quite hard to be in.

237
00:14:18,140 --> 00:14:20,420
You can see I'm stumbling
around here.

238
00:14:20,420 --> 00:14:25,300
A discovery from the 1970s a little
further into the bog land here

239
00:14:25,300 --> 00:14:29,820
gives us an idea of how they lived
and how they got around back then.

240
00:14:33,060 --> 00:14:37,300
Wading through this dense, reedy
swampland would be a nigh on

241
00:14:37,300 --> 00:14:42,820
impossible task if it wasn't
for this narrow walkway.

242
00:14:42,820 --> 00:14:46,500
This is a replica of something
called The Sweet Track,

243
00:14:46,500 --> 00:14:51,300
a raised wooden platform that
runs through the swamps here.

244
00:14:51,300 --> 00:14:54,940
Now, it's been dated back
to over 5,500 years ago

245
00:14:54,940 --> 00:14:56,740
to Neolithic times.

246
00:14:56,740 --> 00:14:58,700
It is a remarkable discovery.

247
00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:02,380
What I love about it so much is
that it draws such a strong

248
00:15:02,380 --> 00:15:08,180
parallel with construction millennia
later, where great big bundles

249
00:15:08,180 --> 00:15:12,420
of sticks were laid out on top of
the bog to give a more firm

250
00:15:12,420 --> 00:15:18,060
foundation on which to build the
Somerset and Dorset railway line.

251
00:15:18,060 --> 00:15:20,620
This is Neolithic civil engineering.

252
00:15:26,380 --> 00:15:29,860
I'm following the old line just
before it circumnavigates the

253
00:15:29,860 --> 00:15:31,700
town of Glastonbury.

254
00:15:31,700 --> 00:15:35,740
In fact, for the first time,
I can see Glastonbury Tor,

255
00:15:35,740 --> 00:15:37,500
with St Michael's Church
perched on top.

256
00:15:44,300 --> 00:15:48,540
Glastonbury is often heralded as
the ancient Isle of Avalon,

257
00:15:48,540 --> 00:15:53,580
once surrounded by water and central
to the legend of King Arthur.

258
00:15:53,580 --> 00:15:56,140
In the heart of the
historic medieval town,

259
00:15:56,140 --> 00:15:58,460
the Abbey stands in ruins.

260
00:15:58,460 --> 00:16:01,820
12th century monks claimed this
was the resting place of the

261
00:16:01,820 --> 00:16:04,420
mythical king and his wife,
Guinevere.

262
00:16:04,420 --> 00:16:08,660
But some say this was simply a
story told to attract pilgrims to

263
00:16:08,660 --> 00:16:12,900
fund rebuilding the Abbey after a
devastating fire in 1184.

264
00:16:12,900 --> 00:16:15,460
Without any tangible
evidence in hand,

265
00:16:15,460 --> 00:16:18,740
never mind a magical sword,
at the turn of the 20th century,

266
00:16:18,740 --> 00:16:22,220
it was once again claimed that
King Arthur's burial place had

267
00:16:22,220 --> 00:16:26,380
been found, this time using the
practice of psychic archaeology.

268
00:16:30,420 --> 00:16:34,260
Pilgrims and spiritual tourism
took hold once again as it

269
00:16:34,260 --> 00:16:37,740
had 700 years earlier, and with
the railway connecting the town

270
00:16:37,740 --> 00:16:41,220
like never before, business boomed.

271
00:16:41,220 --> 00:16:45,460
Whether King Arthur ever existed
at all remains a mystery,

272
00:16:45,460 --> 00:16:48,140
but some say his spirit
can certainly be felt.

273
00:16:49,300 --> 00:16:53,540
And who wouldn't want to be swept up
by fantastic tales of kings

274
00:16:53,540 --> 00:16:57,580
and wizards and the heroic
knights of the round table?

275
00:16:57,580 --> 00:17:01,020
I'm meeting up with the
aptly named Tor Webster.

276
00:17:01,020 --> 00:17:05,900
He's going to be taking me on a tour
of Glastonbury Tor with his dog,
Nettle.

277
00:17:08,460 --> 00:17:12,700
Well, what is it about Glastonbury
Tor that has held such an

278
00:17:12,700 --> 00:17:16,300
interest with so many people
for hundreds of years?

279
00:17:16,300 --> 00:17:20,540
Well, I personally call it the
little town with a big story

280
00:17:20,540 --> 00:17:24,980
because it's got stories of,
you know, saints and kings and

281
00:17:24,980 --> 00:17:29,380
queens and you've got stories of,
you know, Joseph of Arimathea,

282
00:17:29,380 --> 00:17:32,540
the Great Uncle of Christ coming
here with Mary Magdalene.

283
00:17:32,540 --> 00:17:36,220
You've got stories of King Arthur
and Guinevere buried here in

284
00:17:36,220 --> 00:17:37,580
Glastonbury Abbey.

285
00:17:37,580 --> 00:17:40,900
Now as I understand it, Tor,
it was around the time of the

286
00:17:40,900 --> 00:17:44,980
arrival of the railways coming to
Glastonbury, but after a bit

287
00:17:44,980 --> 00:17:49,020
of a hiatus, more and more visitors
started coming back again.

288
00:17:49,020 --> 00:17:50,780
Is that right? Yeah, that's right.

289
00:17:50,780 --> 00:17:56,820
After the dissolution of the abbeys
and the monasteries in England,

290
00:17:56,820 --> 00:18:00,300
Glastonbury was pretty much
deserted for 300 years

291
00:18:00,300 --> 00:18:04,940
and the railway brought a
new kind of, you know,

292
00:18:04,940 --> 00:18:10,060
a new possibility of visitors
and tourists to the land.

293
00:18:10,060 --> 00:18:13,380
You know, there was resurgence in
the interest, in the legends and

294
00:18:13,380 --> 00:18:16,540
the myths of Glastonbury
and with the trains,

295
00:18:16,540 --> 00:18:17,980
people could come here,

296
00:18:17,980 --> 00:18:22,180
and many, many mystics came here
and started a new tourism.

297
00:18:22,180 --> 00:18:24,140
You know, it's a great place,

298
00:18:24,140 --> 00:18:27,340
a melting pot of wonderful
colourful things.

299
00:18:27,340 --> 00:18:30,740
It is. And you mentioned colourful
and we're getting up higher and

300
00:18:30,740 --> 00:18:32,780
higher here towards the
top of the Tor.

301
00:18:32,780 --> 00:18:35,940
On the green and pleasant land
of New Jerusalem.

302
00:18:35,940 --> 00:18:36,940
LAUGHTER

303
00:18:43,020 --> 00:18:45,380
It's a little misty up here today,
but you can see where the

304
00:18:45,380 --> 00:18:47,300
railway line came in.

305
00:18:47,300 --> 00:18:53,580
It came through the trees, through
all the peat bog fields out there,

306
00:18:53,580 --> 00:18:58,140
and then it passed along this
side of Glastonbury and then east.

307
00:19:02,100 --> 00:19:03,100
Get your stick.

308
00:19:16,900 --> 00:19:18,780
Here we are then, Tor,
we've made it.

309
00:19:18,780 --> 00:19:19,820
We have, yeah.

310
00:19:19,820 --> 00:19:21,460
Well done.

311
00:19:21,460 --> 00:19:24,220
Now, some believe this is the
entrance into Avalon?

312
00:19:24,220 --> 00:19:26,180
Well, you can see it
like that. Yeah.

313
00:19:26,180 --> 00:19:29,340
A lot of people come in here and
do ceremony and connect and kind

314
00:19:29,340 --> 00:19:33,980
of pray, you know, it's the height
of the ancient Isle of Avalon.

315
00:19:33,980 --> 00:19:36,180
But look around you, what a
wonderful view, you know.

316
00:19:36,180 --> 00:19:39,300
You can happily sit here and
look at the world around.

317
00:19:39,300 --> 00:19:40,900
You can see Wales on a good day.

318
00:19:40,900 --> 00:19:42,700
You know, it's a great place
of reflection.

319
00:19:42,700 --> 00:19:45,140
When you put it to me like
that, Tor, you know,

320
00:19:45,140 --> 00:19:47,660
you can understand the
spiritualism at a place like this.

321
00:19:47,660 --> 00:19:49,820
On the top of the world, yeah.
You are, yeah.

322
00:19:49,820 --> 00:19:51,940
Well, let's go and have a look.

323
00:20:03,260 --> 00:20:09,060
So, this is where King Arthur
exists still today?

324
00:20:09,060 --> 00:20:10,140
In spirit, yeah.

325
00:20:10,140 --> 00:20:13,380
Maybe lying in the landscape
somewhere, you never know.

326
00:20:13,380 --> 00:20:17,140
Yeah, this was a church that
came out here and even before

327
00:20:17,140 --> 00:20:20,420
there was a church up here many
thousands of years ago, this would

328
00:20:20,420 --> 00:20:23,820
have been, because it's the height
of the island, if you can imagine

329
00:20:23,820 --> 00:20:27,260
the water around here, coming on a
barge through the mists of Avalon,

330
00:20:27,260 --> 00:20:30,860
you know, seeing the hill, you know,
similar coming on the train.

331
00:20:30,860 --> 00:20:33,540
The train could have been the
modern barge through the mists.

332
00:20:33,540 --> 00:20:35,020
The modern barge.

333
00:20:35,020 --> 00:20:37,860
Into the very common mists through
the Somerset Levels along there.

334
00:20:37,860 --> 00:20:40,180
Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
Listen, Tor, thank you very much.

335
00:20:40,180 --> 00:20:42,660
I will leave you. I'm going
to continue my journey.

336
00:20:46,740 --> 00:20:49,660
I come across something quite
extraordinary in the most

337
00:20:49,660 --> 00:20:51,500
unexpected of places.

338
00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:53,100
Oh, my goodness me.

339
00:20:53,100 --> 00:20:55,740
Talk about lost railways,
this is more like lost worlds.

340
00:20:55,740 --> 00:20:57,860
That is absolutely beautiful.

341
00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:10,580
I'm walking the old Somerset
and Dorset line from

342
00:21:10,580 --> 00:21:15,340
Burnham-on-Sea to Bath, a route that
almost bankrupted its investors.

343
00:21:16,740 --> 00:21:20,700
It's easy to see the direction of
the old line with a bird's-eye view,

344
00:21:20,700 --> 00:21:21,980
but from ground level,

345
00:21:21,980 --> 00:21:25,420
figuring out where I'm going
next isn't always easy.

346
00:21:25,420 --> 00:21:28,620
I've come a couple of stops down the
line from Glastonbury and you

347
00:21:28,620 --> 00:21:31,860
can see where the line would have
come in along this straight line

348
00:21:31,860 --> 00:21:34,220
of trees here.

349
00:21:34,220 --> 00:21:37,380
And where am I? Here we go.

350
00:21:37,380 --> 00:21:41,900
So, the point I'm looking for is
here, Evercreech Junction.

351
00:21:41,900 --> 00:21:45,580
Now initially, the Somerset and
Dorset line only continued on

352
00:21:45,580 --> 00:21:50,660
south down towards the coast
to Poole, but in the late 1860s,

353
00:21:50,660 --> 00:21:53,940
the company finances weren't
in the best of shape.

354
00:21:53,940 --> 00:21:58,180
They just simply hadn't returned
the money they'd expected it

355
00:21:58,180 --> 00:22:01,060
would have, especially given the
amount they had to invest

356
00:22:01,060 --> 00:22:02,860
getting through all the
Somerset Levels.

357
00:22:02,860 --> 00:22:06,620
So, to try and rectify that,
they decided to branch the line

358
00:22:06,620 --> 00:22:11,940
towards Bath to try and tap into the
busy railways of the Midlands.

359
00:22:11,940 --> 00:22:16,260
So, I'm trying to find this point
here now where that branch line

360
00:22:16,260 --> 00:22:20,060
comes off of the line that I've
been following from the coast

361
00:22:20,060 --> 00:22:22,700
inland and heads north to Bath.

362
00:22:23,820 --> 00:22:26,820
And there aren't that many clues
here at the moment to tell me

363
00:22:26,820 --> 00:22:27,900
where that is.

364
00:22:34,580 --> 00:22:38,780
So, I've taken a straight line from
the bunch of trees where I was.

365
00:22:39,820 --> 00:22:43,900
It's this hedgerow here
that's drawn my attention.

366
00:22:43,900 --> 00:22:47,020
You come round this past this
bit of old farming machinery.

367
00:22:47,020 --> 00:22:48,180
Yeah. Ha, ha, ha.

368
00:22:48,180 --> 00:22:49,700
That's what I was looking for.

369
00:22:49,700 --> 00:22:51,380
That's it exactly.

370
00:22:51,380 --> 00:22:52,820
That is the branch line.

371
00:22:52,820 --> 00:22:56,140
Look, you can see the curve
that's on the map there.

372
00:22:56,140 --> 00:23:00,380
The curve of the hedgerow and then
it disappears away into what

373
00:23:00,380 --> 00:23:03,580
looks like it might be a cutting
through where all those trees are.

374
00:23:05,860 --> 00:23:07,460
I reckon this is it.

375
00:23:07,460 --> 00:23:10,260
That is a very big personal
satisfaction for me.

376
00:23:10,260 --> 00:23:11,900
I don't care how geeky that is.

377
00:23:11,900 --> 00:23:15,060
I've found the line heading
north towards Bath.

378
00:23:20,540 --> 00:23:21,660
Ha, ha.

379
00:23:21,660 --> 00:23:23,020
Have a look. Check this out.

380
00:23:23,020 --> 00:23:27,220
As if the geography of this
curve wasn't enough...

381
00:23:28,980 --> 00:23:30,180
..this confirms it.

382
00:23:31,620 --> 00:23:35,340
Yeah. This looks to me like it would
be a railway cutting down to allow

383
00:23:35,340 --> 00:23:37,860
the line to pass through here.

384
00:23:37,860 --> 00:23:42,580
So, this branch line opened in
1874 with the railway hoping it

385
00:23:42,580 --> 00:23:44,780
would turn their fortunes around,

386
00:23:44,780 --> 00:23:49,420
but they were challenged once again
by the Somerset landscape,

387
00:23:49,420 --> 00:23:54,540
only this time it wasn't the boggy
flats of the Somerset Levels,

388
00:23:54,540 --> 00:23:57,740
it was the unforgiving rocky
hills of the Mendips.

389
00:24:10,260 --> 00:24:14,980
I'm about five miles along the line
now from Evercreech Junction,

390
00:24:14,980 --> 00:24:17,340
just outside the town
of Shepton Mallet.

391
00:24:17,340 --> 00:24:19,820
I'm walking along where the
line came through.

392
00:24:19,820 --> 00:24:23,820
Now today, it might look like that's
been turned into a bit of a

393
00:24:23,820 --> 00:24:28,060
walled roadway, that's not the case,
this is no ordinary roadway.

394
00:24:28,060 --> 00:24:31,820
Where I'm walking now is
Charlton Viaduct.

395
00:24:31,820 --> 00:24:36,500
This is a piece of infrastructure
built specifically for the railway.

396
00:24:37,940 --> 00:24:40,140
But the thing about viaducts is,

397
00:24:40,140 --> 00:24:43,620
you can only really appreciate
them from down below.

398
00:24:54,060 --> 00:24:57,340
I feel like an ant down here
underneath all of this.

399
00:24:57,340 --> 00:25:00,940
Now, this viaduct is about 290
metres long and it's got

400
00:25:00,940 --> 00:25:03,660
27 of these arches.

401
00:25:03,660 --> 00:25:07,860
It's actually built along a curve
and that has a structural and

402
00:25:07,860 --> 00:25:10,500
an architectural implication.

403
00:25:10,500 --> 00:25:15,420
Every third pier, so you have these
buttresses that stick out,

404
00:25:15,420 --> 00:25:18,500
those buttresses are there
to support the viaduct

405
00:25:18,500 --> 00:25:20,460
because of that curve.

406
00:25:20,460 --> 00:25:24,380
As the train comes round,
forces would be pushed out towards

407
00:25:24,380 --> 00:25:27,260
the outside of the curve,
which means that you'd need more

408
00:25:27,260 --> 00:25:28,900
structural support on this side.

409
00:25:28,900 --> 00:25:31,020
It's just a beautiful part
of this design.

410
00:25:33,660 --> 00:25:38,220
You can see the two very distinct
different materials in these piers.

411
00:25:38,220 --> 00:25:40,940
It's almost a viaduct of two halves.

412
00:25:40,940 --> 00:25:44,020
You've got this half here
made of stone,

413
00:25:44,020 --> 00:25:47,100
and you see this half is
made out of brick.

414
00:25:47,100 --> 00:25:51,100
Now, this is because about 20 years
or so after the branch line

415
00:25:51,100 --> 00:25:57,020
up to Bath opened, the line went
from single track to double track.

416
00:25:57,020 --> 00:26:01,260
The labour intensity involved
in constructing this,

417
00:26:01,260 --> 00:26:06,900
along with the cash it would cost,
would've been phenomenal and this

418
00:26:06,900 --> 00:26:11,100
is only the first of a number of
viaducts on the line up to Bath.

419
00:26:16,220 --> 00:26:18,820
The viaduct was built
around Kilver Court,

420
00:26:18,820 --> 00:26:22,020
which included a pub,
and then a small brewery.

421
00:26:22,020 --> 00:26:25,940
But when Shepton Mallet station
was built nearby in 1874,

422
00:26:25,940 --> 00:26:30,580
business flourished from the
increase in trade the
railways brought.

423
00:26:30,580 --> 00:26:33,180
Today, it's one of the world's
biggest producers of

424
00:26:33,180 --> 00:26:36,260
Somerset's most
famous tipple - cider.

425
00:26:36,260 --> 00:26:37,700
And production has now been

426
00:26:37,700 --> 00:26:41,140
moved into a massive facility on
the other side of the road.

427
00:26:41,140 --> 00:26:44,700
The business is worth millions and
it's thanks largely to the

428
00:26:44,700 --> 00:26:46,820
legacy of the railways.

429
00:26:49,300 --> 00:26:53,580
I'm at the 28-mile mark now on the
old Somerset and Dorset line,

430
00:26:53,580 --> 00:26:58,540
and the huge expense of the route is
becoming clearer by the minute.

431
00:26:58,540 --> 00:27:02,780
I'm passing under another disused
viaduct just up the road as I

432
00:27:02,780 --> 00:27:04,620
head into the Mendip Hills.

433
00:27:30,060 --> 00:27:35,260
Now occasionally, when you're trying
to walk Britain's lost railways,

434
00:27:35,260 --> 00:27:39,500
you can't always stick to the exact
route that the old lines took.

435
00:27:39,500 --> 00:27:43,500
Some stretches of where the line
went is now private property

436
00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:45,460
and you can't just go
traipsing through there,

437
00:27:45,460 --> 00:27:47,460
not without permission anyway.

438
00:27:47,460 --> 00:27:49,820
And I'm in a place called Ham Woods,

439
00:27:49,820 --> 00:27:52,020
just west of where the
old line went,

440
00:27:52,020 --> 00:27:55,500
so I've got faith I'm going
to continue through here

441
00:27:55,500 --> 00:28:00,460
and try find something to bring me
back to the line that way somewhere.

442
00:28:01,900 --> 00:28:03,620
It's like the jungle through here.

443
00:28:12,580 --> 00:28:15,900
Ha, ha. That's fooled me
slightly there.

444
00:28:15,900 --> 00:28:17,820
I thought that was a
massive tree trunk.

445
00:28:17,820 --> 00:28:19,780
I think that's more man-made.

446
00:28:24,980 --> 00:28:26,940
Yeah! Found it! I'm back!

447
00:28:38,180 --> 00:28:39,300
This is just stunning.

448
00:28:40,580 --> 00:28:43,420
I did not expect to find
anything like this.

449
00:28:43,420 --> 00:28:47,100
It's amazing to see what happens
when we neglect our creations

450
00:28:47,100 --> 00:28:51,140
and how little time it takes for
them to almost disappear from sight.

451
00:28:51,140 --> 00:28:52,300
Oh, my goodness me!

452
00:28:53,900 --> 00:28:56,940
Talk about lost railways,
this is more like lost worlds.

453
00:28:56,940 --> 00:28:58,980
That is absolutely beautiful.

454
00:28:58,980 --> 00:29:01,340
Look how it's all been
taken over by nature.

455
00:29:01,340 --> 00:29:04,260
You've got vines running up the
piers, all these trees up

456
00:29:04,260 --> 00:29:10,500
alongside and all this happened in
what, 50 years, 50-60 years.

457
00:29:13,020 --> 00:29:16,140
I feel like I'm in some Jurassic
Park type movie or something.

458
00:29:23,020 --> 00:29:26,340
Continuing on through what feels
like the fallen kingdom of

459
00:29:26,340 --> 00:29:30,380
the Somerset and Dorset line,
I've stumbled upon another victim

460
00:29:30,380 --> 00:29:33,060
of Beeching's brutal cuts
to the network.

461
00:29:33,060 --> 00:29:35,180
This is Masbury Halt station.

462
00:29:40,420 --> 00:29:43,340
And it looks like some work's
being done on this forgotten

463
00:29:43,340 --> 00:29:45,140
relic of the line.

464
00:29:45,140 --> 00:29:49,420
Luckily for me, Joe Bourne, the
owner, is on hand to show me around.

465
00:29:52,780 --> 00:29:54,820
You've mowed your platform?
I have, yeah.

466
00:29:54,820 --> 00:29:57,180
It was gravel and the grass
has come up through it so I...

467
00:29:57,180 --> 00:29:59,860
Oh, it's much nicer.
..just try and keep it tidyish.

468
00:29:59,860 --> 00:30:01,460
This is brilliant, Joe!

469
00:30:02,980 --> 00:30:05,940
This was the station building, was
it? The old stationmasters house.

470
00:30:05,940 --> 00:30:08,980
That end building was the ticket
office in one end, then you

471
00:30:08,980 --> 00:30:13,620
had the waiting rooms, separate
waiting rooms, male and female.

472
00:30:13,620 --> 00:30:16,940
I thought that was a bit
strange but... Male and female
waiting rooms? Yeah.

473
00:30:16,940 --> 00:30:19,540
Didn't like sitting together,
I don't know. OK. Fair enough.

474
00:30:19,540 --> 00:30:21,740
And this is building you
said it's...

475
00:30:21,740 --> 00:30:23,980
This building here, this is
the old signal box. OK.

476
00:30:23,980 --> 00:30:26,780
Which is half built. So, you're
doing it yourself? So... Yeah.

477
00:30:26,780 --> 00:30:29,620
You know, there was no use for
having it as a signal box,

478
00:30:29,620 --> 00:30:33,340
but I wanted to keep it looking
exactly how it used to.

479
00:30:33,340 --> 00:30:34,740
Oh, it's a lovely project, Joe.

480
00:30:34,740 --> 00:30:35,940
It's absolutely lovely.

481
00:30:35,940 --> 00:30:37,420
No, I think, you know,

482
00:30:37,420 --> 00:30:40,140
when I've finished it or if I
finish it, it'll be stunning.

483
00:30:40,140 --> 00:30:42,300
Good luck with the rest of
the project. Yeah. Cheerio.

484
00:30:42,300 --> 00:30:43,300
Thanks a lot. See ya.

485
00:30:46,820 --> 00:30:51,060
It's heartening to see that Joe
is dedicating time and money to

486
00:30:51,060 --> 00:30:54,020
restore these old buildings
to their former glory.

487
00:30:54,020 --> 00:30:56,420
This railway may seem
like it's lost,

488
00:30:56,420 --> 00:30:58,700
but it certainly isn't forgotten.

489
00:31:10,140 --> 00:31:13,580
The Somerset and Dorset line
extension to Bath was

490
00:31:13,580 --> 00:31:17,140
about 26 miles from
Evercreech Junction.

491
00:31:17,140 --> 00:31:20,900
And along the way, they had to
build four tunnels and

492
00:31:20,900 --> 00:31:24,900
seven viaducts and it was an
incredible workforce of

493
00:31:24,900 --> 00:31:30,340
around 3,000 navvies who took just
two years to complete that at

494
00:31:30,340 --> 00:31:37,860
a cost of around £400,000, which in
today's money is about £35 million.

495
00:31:37,860 --> 00:31:42,460
That's more than £one million
per mile of track.

496
00:31:43,660 --> 00:31:47,660
Now talking of track, for the last
three quarters of a mile or so,

497
00:31:47,660 --> 00:31:51,980
I've had the unique opportunity
to walk on actual track bed.

498
00:31:51,980 --> 00:31:54,900
I've got all the lines and
rails all around me here,

499
00:31:54,900 --> 00:31:58,060
and the reason I can do that is
because I'm just coming up to

500
00:31:58,060 --> 00:32:03,260
Midsomer Norton Station right here,
which today is run as the

501
00:32:03,260 --> 00:32:07,500
heart of the Somerset and
Dorset Heritage Railway.

502
00:32:07,500 --> 00:32:10,460
It's almost like a step back
in time to the 1950s.

503
00:32:10,460 --> 00:32:13,420
And what's special about this
particular heritage line is

504
00:32:13,420 --> 00:32:16,460
that along with the restoration of
the usual trains and buildings,

505
00:32:16,460 --> 00:32:19,740
the signalling and points are in
full working order too.

506
00:32:19,740 --> 00:32:23,180
I'm meeting a man who can show me
how this engineering wonder works.

507
00:32:24,980 --> 00:32:26,540
Please come in. Hello.

508
00:32:26,540 --> 00:32:28,060
Welcome to Norton South signal box.

509
00:32:28,060 --> 00:32:30,620
Thank you very much.
It's Will, is it? Absolutely.

510
00:32:30,620 --> 00:32:32,460
This has all been restored?

511
00:32:32,460 --> 00:32:34,980
Completely rebuilt from scratch,

512
00:32:34,980 --> 00:32:37,940
and it's very clever
Victorian engineering.

513
00:32:37,940 --> 00:32:40,980
Well, absolutely. It's a
mechanical Victorian computer.

514
00:32:40,980 --> 00:32:43,660
Can I have a go and see how hard it
is to move some points? Go on, then.

515
00:32:43,660 --> 00:32:46,180
Right. Always use a cloth.
Yes. Why's that?

516
00:32:46,180 --> 00:32:49,700
It stops sweaty hands making
the handles rusty.

517
00:32:49,700 --> 00:32:52,980
Take it off and it'll go
back to there. OK.

518
00:32:52,980 --> 00:32:55,100
Assume the position and shove.

519
00:32:58,580 --> 00:33:02,060
OK. Go on. Lovely. All yours.
The look you're giving me there.

520
00:33:02,060 --> 00:33:04,540
Now you've got the cloth, you're
in charge. Let's have a look.

521
00:33:04,540 --> 00:33:06,860
Take it off first. OK.
That's nice.

522
00:33:06,860 --> 00:33:08,660
Now push. Now do I go? Push.

523
00:33:08,660 --> 00:33:11,260
Go on! Go on! Go on! Go!
You can do it!

524
00:33:11,260 --> 00:33:14,500
Yay! You need a bit of welly at
that last bit, don't you?

525
00:33:14,500 --> 00:33:15,620
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

526
00:33:15,620 --> 00:33:19,660
But by doing that, I have just
shifted the points. Yeah.

527
00:33:19,660 --> 00:33:23,220
So actually, that force I'm feeling
is the resistance all the way

528
00:33:23,220 --> 00:33:25,420
along the line through
those bars... Yeah.

529
00:33:25,420 --> 00:33:27,700
..and the distance and the
weight of shifting,

530
00:33:27,700 --> 00:33:29,460
moving big heavy chunks of track.

531
00:33:29,460 --> 00:33:30,620
Yeah.

532
00:33:30,620 --> 00:33:31,820
Does the signal work?

533
00:33:33,100 --> 00:33:36,620
Yeah. And if the point wasn't in the
right direction, you couldn't work

534
00:33:36,620 --> 00:33:38,380
the signal cos it all interlocks.

535
00:33:38,380 --> 00:33:42,420
Would I be able to pop down onto the
track and see the point that

536
00:33:42,420 --> 00:33:43,700
you're moving from up close?

537
00:33:43,700 --> 00:33:45,580
Yeah. Give me a wave
when you're ready.

538
00:33:50,900 --> 00:33:51,940
All right, Will.

539
00:33:51,940 --> 00:33:52,940
Take it away.

540
00:33:57,980 --> 00:33:59,500
That's brilliant.

541
00:33:59,500 --> 00:34:01,460
So, there's cables moving,

542
00:34:01,460 --> 00:34:05,700
there's pulleys turning and
eventually, I get my points moved.

543
00:34:05,700 --> 00:34:07,860
Oh, Will, can you take
it back again?

544
00:34:09,140 --> 00:34:10,140
Yes! Look at that.

545
00:34:18,780 --> 00:34:19,780
That's lovely.

546
00:34:21,580 --> 00:34:24,660
Thank you. Cheers. I'll see you
again. Safe journey. Cheerio.

547
00:34:26,380 --> 00:34:29,260
I'm going to learn that when it
comes to building tunnels,

548
00:34:29,260 --> 00:34:31,260
cost-cutting costs lives.

549
00:34:31,260 --> 00:34:32,820
What, it killed people?

550
00:34:44,140 --> 00:34:47,100
I'm three-quarters of the way
through my journey along the

551
00:34:47,100 --> 00:34:49,020
lost Somerset and Dorset
railway line.

552
00:34:51,540 --> 00:34:54,900
Walking this route makes me
realise how much opportunity the

553
00:34:54,900 --> 00:34:57,780
railways gave the people
that lived alongside them.

554
00:34:57,780 --> 00:35:00,860
So I wonder how those communities
felt when the railways were

555
00:35:00,860 --> 00:35:03,100
taken away in Beeching's
sweeping cuts.

556
00:35:06,420 --> 00:35:09,060
SINGING

557
00:35:12,260 --> 00:35:15,780
Here in Midsomer Norton, the local
church choir are rehearsing a song

558
00:35:15,780 --> 00:35:19,820
by writing duo Flanders and Swann,
written at the time of the closures.

559
00:35:19,820 --> 00:35:22,380
I'm hoping it might give
me a bit of insight.

560
00:35:22,380 --> 00:35:29,900
# No more will I go to
Blandford Forum and Mortehoe

561
00:35:31,980 --> 00:35:39,660
# On the slow train from
Midsomer Norton and Mumby Road

562
00:35:41,340 --> 00:35:46,500
# No churns, no porter,
no cat on a seat

563
00:35:46,500 --> 00:35:51,180
# At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or
Chester-le-Street

564
00:35:51,180 --> 00:35:55,380
# We won't be meeting again

565
00:35:55,380 --> 00:35:58,180
# On the Slow Train

566
00:36:00,100 --> 00:36:02,980
# On the Slow Train

567
00:36:05,820 --> 00:36:08,180
# Shhhhhhhhh. #

568
00:36:09,740 --> 00:36:11,260
I love the rhythm of that.

569
00:36:11,260 --> 00:36:14,340
It is the chuff-chuff, chuff-chuff,
chuff of the train, isn't it?

570
00:36:14,340 --> 00:36:17,300
I think it's one of our favourites,
wouldn't you say? Yeah.

571
00:36:17,300 --> 00:36:20,220
Does the song and lyrics capture the
public feeling about this then?

572
00:36:20,220 --> 00:36:23,780
Well, all these are stations that
shut, and I think it's one of the

573
00:36:23,780 --> 00:36:26,580
more genuinely sad songs,
in a way. It is, yeah.

574
00:36:26,580 --> 00:36:29,780
If you tried driving into
Bath in the morning,

575
00:36:29,780 --> 00:36:33,740
you'd really wish that there
were trains cos it's not good.

576
00:36:33,740 --> 00:36:36,660
Well, that's the soundtrack for
the rest of my walk sorted.

577
00:36:38,580 --> 00:36:41,460
Thank you very much.
Bye-bye. Bye.

578
00:36:41,460 --> 00:36:43,100
That was in harmony, that bye.

579
00:36:43,100 --> 00:36:44,100
LAUGHTER

580
00:36:47,500 --> 00:36:50,700
That was a lovely little side track
for me and I'm very grateful

581
00:36:50,700 --> 00:36:53,220
to have been invited along
to hear that.

582
00:36:53,220 --> 00:36:56,580
I guess the point is with that song,
The Slow Train,

583
00:36:56,580 --> 00:37:01,940
it was written by a comedy duo
and it went out very shortly

584
00:37:01,940 --> 00:37:05,540
after Beeching published his report
announcing that all these

585
00:37:05,540 --> 00:37:10,180
lines were to be closed, and when
popular culture picks up on

586
00:37:10,180 --> 00:37:14,740
an issue like that, I think it just
really goes to show what the

587
00:37:14,740 --> 00:37:17,700
public feeling was about the
railways being closed down.

588
00:37:18,940 --> 00:37:19,980
It's quite sad.

589
00:37:21,700 --> 00:37:25,140
I've covered just over 30 miles of
the line and I'm approaching

590
00:37:25,140 --> 00:37:28,020
the final stretch which
takes me into Bath.

591
00:37:28,020 --> 00:37:31,140
Back in the 1870s, having already
laid track over the boggy

592
00:37:31,140 --> 00:37:32,940
Somerset Levels,

593
00:37:32,940 --> 00:37:35,500
and built the seven viaducts
needed to cross the

594
00:37:35,500 --> 00:37:38,140
unforgiving Mendip Hills,

595
00:37:38,140 --> 00:37:41,300
money was fast running out for
the investors of the line,

596
00:37:41,300 --> 00:37:43,860
and at the worst possible time too,

597
00:37:43,860 --> 00:37:46,740
because up ahead, it would
get even tougher.

598
00:37:49,380 --> 00:37:52,620
I'm picking up the pace somewhat
for the last five and a half

599
00:37:52,620 --> 00:37:57,540
miles of my journey into Bath on
this dedicated cycle route.

600
00:37:57,540 --> 00:38:01,220
It's operated by an organisation
called Sustrans.

601
00:38:01,220 --> 00:38:05,780
It was established in 1977 to
encourage more people to take

602
00:38:05,780 --> 00:38:09,340
up sustainable forms of transport,
like the bike.

603
00:38:12,700 --> 00:38:15,860
They have a network of paths like
this running right across the

604
00:38:15,860 --> 00:38:19,260
country and many of those run
on disused railway lines,

605
00:38:19,260 --> 00:38:20,980
including this one.

606
00:38:20,980 --> 00:38:25,740
Until 1966, this was the
Somerset and Dorset railway.

607
00:38:25,740 --> 00:38:29,940
So 150 years ago, it wasn't peddle
power moving people along here.

608
00:38:29,940 --> 00:38:30,900
It was steam.

609
00:38:34,220 --> 00:38:37,460
I've been joined by Mark Annand
for this leg of my journey.

610
00:38:37,460 --> 00:38:41,300
He led a team who lovingly
restored the most expensive and

611
00:38:41,300 --> 00:38:44,500
challenging part of this lost line,
the Combe Down tunnel.

612
00:38:44,500 --> 00:38:48,540
Oh, this was quite an engineering
feat when it was first built,
was it, this tunnel? Yeah.

613
00:38:48,540 --> 00:38:52,620
It's a mile 69 yards long and
it's only straight in the middle,

614
00:38:52,620 --> 00:38:57,180
it's got a curve at each end and
it also rises at a gradient,

615
00:38:57,180 --> 00:39:00,500
so there's a lot of math to do.

616
00:39:00,500 --> 00:39:02,300
So, they tunnelled in from each end?

617
00:39:02,300 --> 00:39:04,260
They just dug it in
from each end, yes.

618
00:39:04,260 --> 00:39:08,300
It was a time of financial panic to
get it to Bath basically by the

619
00:39:08,300 --> 00:39:09,500
cheapest route.

620
00:39:09,500 --> 00:39:13,100
No ventilation shafts in days of
steam locomotives, that was a

621
00:39:13,100 --> 00:39:16,020
problem because the tunnel would
get very, very full of smoke.

622
00:39:16,020 --> 00:39:20,860
This was intensively used by heavy
trains and things got smoky.

623
00:39:20,860 --> 00:39:22,700
That's the guys in the
cab, drivers...

624
00:39:22,700 --> 00:39:24,860
That would've been horrendous
if it was all smoky?

625
00:39:24,860 --> 00:39:26,020
Yes. Yes.

626
00:39:26,020 --> 00:39:29,020
It actually killed people on
a couple of occasions.

627
00:39:29,020 --> 00:39:31,380
What, it killed people?
What drivers? Yes.

628
00:39:31,380 --> 00:39:32,980
Literally.

629
00:39:32,980 --> 00:39:36,100
The loco crew of one particular
train in the 1920s lost

630
00:39:36,100 --> 00:39:41,900
consciousness in the tunnel and the
loco and train just then ran away

631
00:39:41,900 --> 00:39:46,300
down the hill into Bath and came
to grief in Bath Station Yard,

632
00:39:46,300 --> 00:39:48,460
and, sadly, people died and
were injured as a result

633
00:39:48,460 --> 00:39:49,820
of that accident.

634
00:39:49,820 --> 00:39:50,820
Oh, my word.

635
00:39:52,300 --> 00:39:55,700
It's a terrible tragedy after
the many obstacles that had

636
00:39:55,700 --> 00:39:59,580
already been overcome, that cutting
corners because of budgetary

637
00:39:59,580 --> 00:40:02,140
concerns ended up costing lives.

638
00:40:11,660 --> 00:40:15,260
After the great expense of
completing the Combe Down tunnel,

639
00:40:15,260 --> 00:40:18,020
the Somerset and Dorset railway
finally rolled into

640
00:40:18,020 --> 00:40:20,180
the ancient city of Bath.

641
00:40:20,180 --> 00:40:22,020
Far from following a direct route,

642
00:40:22,020 --> 00:40:25,380
the railway was forced to snake
north-west through the city

643
00:40:25,380 --> 00:40:28,340
in order to join the existing
line into the station.

644
00:40:28,340 --> 00:40:33,060
On the 20th July, 1874,
the Somerset and Dorset railway,

645
00:40:33,060 --> 00:40:37,300
described 90 years later as
"an act of financial suicide",

646
00:40:37,300 --> 00:40:39,580
was finally opened.

647
00:40:39,580 --> 00:40:42,220
Here we are then, I've arrived
at the end of my journey.

648
00:40:43,380 --> 00:40:45,740
I'm in Bath at Green Park Station.

649
00:40:52,780 --> 00:40:55,980
Now, the station buildings and the
huge canopy out the back were

650
00:40:55,980 --> 00:40:58,420
actually built by the
London Midland railway.

651
00:40:58,420 --> 00:41:03,260
It was a great opportunity to
tap into the already busy

652
00:41:03,260 --> 00:41:04,540
railway network.

653
00:41:04,540 --> 00:41:09,140
Today, this is still a vibrant venue
with loads of activities going on.

654
00:41:12,020 --> 00:41:14,900
Here in this grand
old station building,

655
00:41:14,900 --> 00:41:18,660
the legacy of the railway era
is crystal clear.

656
00:41:18,660 --> 00:41:22,020
It may have bankrupted the
investors who built it,

657
00:41:22,020 --> 00:41:26,020
but the lost railway has provided
this amazing public space,

658
00:41:26,020 --> 00:41:29,660
which hosted the very first
modern farmer's market.

659
00:41:29,660 --> 00:41:31,420
Fantastic.

660
00:41:31,420 --> 00:41:34,460
It's all happening in here today.

661
00:41:34,460 --> 00:41:37,340
Look at this, all under the
massive canopy out here.

662
00:41:40,820 --> 00:41:43,460
And I couldn't leave Somerset
without picking up some of the

663
00:41:43,460 --> 00:41:45,780
locally-produced cider.

664
00:41:45,780 --> 00:41:47,500
I'll have two please. Lovely.

665
00:41:47,500 --> 00:41:49,740
Thank you very much indeed.

666
00:41:49,740 --> 00:41:51,540
Nice to meet you. Thank you.
Cheerio.

667
00:41:55,260 --> 00:41:58,540
The fact that a huge amount of
infrastructure still remains here

668
00:41:58,540 --> 00:42:04,060
at Green Park Station, for me, is a
worthy testament to the ambitions

669
00:42:04,060 --> 00:42:08,300
and aspirations of those behind the
Somerset and Dorset railway.

670
00:42:08,300 --> 00:42:11,820
Ultimately, though, as a
company it failed,

671
00:42:11,820 --> 00:42:16,380
perhaps falling victim to the
almost blind faith in the

672
00:42:16,380 --> 00:42:20,020
money-making capability of the
railways at that time.

673
00:42:20,020 --> 00:42:22,620
But despite its financial failures,

674
00:42:22,620 --> 00:42:25,500
it ran trains for a good
100 years or more,

675
00:42:25,500 --> 00:42:28,260
taking holiday-makers to the coast

676
00:42:28,260 --> 00:42:30,660
and connecting not just
local communities,

677
00:42:30,660 --> 00:42:34,460
but huge areas of the southwest
with the rest of the country.

678
00:42:34,460 --> 00:42:35,940
And let's not forget,

679
00:42:35,940 --> 00:42:39,700
its vital role in moving
gallons of delicious cider.

680
00:42:48,020 --> 00:42:51,660
Next time, I'll see how horizons
were broadened for ordinary

681
00:42:51,660 --> 00:42:53,020
Victorian families...

682
00:42:53,020 --> 00:42:57,260
Suddenly, travel became available
to the working classes.

683
00:42:57,260 --> 00:43:00,940
I'll retrace their journeys through
the new frontier of Wales...

684
00:43:00,940 --> 00:43:02,540
That's 126 feet down.

685
00:43:02,540 --> 00:43:04,500
It's nicknamed,
"The stream in the sky".

686
00:43:04,500 --> 00:43:07,940
And I'll see the beauty of the
country they could now explore.

687
00:43:07,940 --> 00:43:13,220
It was the railways coming here that
opened up all of this to all people.

688
00:43:39,340 --> 00:43:41,100
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