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Britain's railways were once
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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They were the network that supported
an industrial superpower.

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Here we go!

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Whoa!

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I've never seen anything like that!

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But today...

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..4,000 stations and 8,000 miles of
track lie silent.

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This station feels truly lost!

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So I'm setting off to discover more
of Britain's lost railways.

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Wow!

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This is something else!

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'They tell a story

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'of how we once lived...'

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Oh, I love that!

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'..and how we once worked.'

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This is one heck of a piece of
engineering!

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'And they help reveal how our world
has changed today.'

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This is fantastic fun!

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This time, I've come to
the North East

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in search of a very important
railway story.

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In fact, it's the story of the very
first railways.

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I'm going back to a time when there
were no main lines.

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No branch lines.

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And certainly no undergrounds!

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In the early 1800s,

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modern railways were born here

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in the industrial heartlands of the
North East.

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And there's nowhere better to see
them from

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than up here!

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This is the extremely grand
Penshaw Monument.

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It has this commanding position

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looking out over what was once
serious coal country.

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And it was coal that kick-started
the railway age.

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I'm going to be plotting a path
across what was once all of County
Durham.

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From Sunderland's industrial
origins,

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I'll follow the world's first
railway

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designed for steam locomotives.

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It led to some of the richest
collieries in the region.

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Where I'll pick up another lost coal
line,

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heading downhill to Hartlepool,

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the medieval fishing port that
reinvented itself for the new age.

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But little more than 50 years ago,

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from the Tyne Valley, way over
there in the north,

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round to these hills over here,

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all of this was the Durham
coalfields.

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There would have been collieries
everywhere.

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These collieries relied on their
railways.

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But at first, railways were very
simple affairs.

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Horse-drawn wagons on wooden rails.

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Coal would be pulled to the banks of
the River Wear,

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loaded onto small keelboats

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and sailed downstream.

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But if larger amounts of coal could
be taken straight to the river
mouth,

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the industry would take off.

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And the sheer size of modern
Sunderland

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is proof that this goal was
achieved.

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'In the heart of the industrial
city...'

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Stuart, hello! Hello!

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'I'm meeting Dr Stuart Howard from
Sunderland University.'

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Quite a great spot up here, isn't
it, looking out? Yes.

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And a historic view.

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Paint me a picture of what this
scene here would have looked like,

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I don't know, a hundred-odd years
ago.

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So this would have been a bustling
scene,

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a clanking, banging, smoky,
dangerous place

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with industries cheek by jowl.

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'As recently as the early 1700s,

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'Sunderland had been just a small
Wear-side parish.

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'A century later,

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'it became a humming centre of
ship-building, glass-making

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'and salt production.

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'And underpinning it all was the
shipping of coal

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'to all parts of the country.'

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I've got a photograph here. This
will give us an impression

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of what the area would have looked
like...

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Is this here? That's there.

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Ho-ho-ho-ho!

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So all of this industrial...

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All of these railway lines coming
right up to the river mouth here,

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all these ships waiting to be loaded
up,

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that's... That's incredible!

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That's an incredible amount of
industrialisation going on there.

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It gives you a sense of scale.

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If you take this pit over here, it
was employing in 1850...

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Hang on. There was a pit over here?

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Where the Stadium of Light is...

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Yeah? ..is Wearmouth Pit.

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Right here? Yeah! Right here, almost
in Sunderland itself. Yes.

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'Sunderland's famous football ground

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'marks where deep shafts once
accessed seams of coal

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'that were followed for over three
miles underground.'

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It was working until 1993. It was
closed in 1993.

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It was by that time open to the
North Sea

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which is just over here.

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'But most of the colliery sites were
several miles from the river mouth.

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'They only worked because of the
railways.'

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Railways shrank the coalfield. So
you could go further and further
away from the rivers

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and still get your coal to port

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relatively easily.

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That's what we see in this photo
here, isn't it? Yeah.

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You've got it all there.

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So the railways we enjoy today, that
all stems not from passenger
railways,

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but from industrial railways that
were there to move goods, to move
coal, was it?

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That's right. They stem from mineral
lines which were where you're making
the coal industry efficient.

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'The breakthrough came in 1820

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'when one coal company set its
sights on a patch of land

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'six miles south of here in Hetton.'

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The Hetton Coal Company, being a
modern company,

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developed the most modern railway
that it possibly could

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to take the line from Hetton inland
to the river.

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It did so by employing locomotives,

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that is, steam engines mounted on
wagons that would drive themselves.

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So this was new at the time.

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Was this the very first railway
built specifically for steam
locomotives? Yeah.

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This is the cutting edge. This is
the new form of economic activity

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which is going to raise up a
stupendous form of modern industry.

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'And the new line that ended right
beneath us here

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'was designed by the father of the
railways,

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'George Stephenson.'

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It's Stephenson's first project.
It's the major project that gets him
known.

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And from there, he never looks back.

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I bet. Cos how successful was the
Hetton railway?

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The Hetton railway was very
successful.

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It was a step forward, it was a step
up.

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It brought railways to a new level.

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And, of course, it hands them two
very, very important and developing
industries

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which were going to fuel the
Industrial Revolution.

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But this is incredibly exciting for
me, then, Stuart.

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This is the realisation that
railways,

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as we know them today, as we've
known them over the last 150-odd
years,

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all started right here!

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Yes. It's massively important.

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Not just in the North East

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but in the UK and eventually in the
world.

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'The line that Stephenson started

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'served the region's coalmines for
137 years.

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'But here, where the railway came to
an end,

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'you'd struggle to spot that.'

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It's quite hard to imagine that this
quiet riverside park

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was ever a scene of such heavy
industry.

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I've got this photo here

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and it was taken from somewhere
around here.

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Look, you've got this loco here.

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Another one shunting these coal
wagons around.

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Look at the number of lines there
are, the number of sidings.

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Look at these tunnels in the back
here.

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These would have allowed the Hetton
line and other lines

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to bring the coal through the
surrounding high ground

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as close to the river as possible.

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And I'm told that the tunnels
themselves still survive.

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If you're prepared to look!

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Yeah, there's little things that
stick out.

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First of all, do you see a little
bit of brickwork back there?

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Yes! Look at this. Here we go!

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That's what I was looking for.
Entrance to these tunnels.

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Unsurprisingly, they're shut off
here, now.

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Look at the cuttings down here, how
steep this is!

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Ha, ha, ha!

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So, I believe that this tunnel mouth
here on the right

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is the opening for the Hetton
railway.

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And you can see

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these weren't the kind of tunnels
that would have allowed

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what you might think of big,
passenger steam locomotives coming
through.

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These were quite a bit smaller.

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These were industrial lines,
remember,

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entirely for the transportation of
coal.

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That's so lovely to see them all
still intact.

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So beautifully, as well, with all
the brick and stonework.

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There's absolutely no chance of me
getting any further

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along the Hetton line this way,
though. That is firmly locked and
bolted.

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That's all right. I'll turn back.

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I'll find another way!

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'Coming up...

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WHISTLE BLOWS

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'..I go back in time to the 1820s.'

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All the mechanics of this are right
on show.

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And I hear about the end of the
great coal industry.

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Heartbreaking, really, when a
colliery closes.

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For almost 150 years,

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the Durham coalfields dominated life
in a large part of the North East.

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But importantly for me today,

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it was these coalfields that gave us
our very first railways.

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I'm following one old line that
rattled through the back streets of
Sunderland

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until 1959.

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Not just any railway, mind. This was
the Hetton railway,

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designed by the great George
Stephenson.

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Here, in his native North East,

190
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Stephenson laid out a revolutionary
eight-mile transport system.

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A railway for steam locomotives.

192
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The Hetton railway opened in 1822,

193
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three years before his more famous
Stockton and Darlington line.

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That line carried the odd passenger.

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This line moved nothing but coal

196
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and today is largely forgotten.

197
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But two and a half miles from the
River Wear,

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there's a surprising legacy.

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I'm told this open green space all
around me here

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covers almost 150 acres.

201
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Now, bizarrely, the only reason this
area was saved

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from the growth of Sunderland and
its urban sprawl

203
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was because of heavy industry.

204
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This entire site was once Silksworth
Colliery.

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00:11:49,260 --> 00:11:52,340
Silksworth employed 2,000 people

206
00:11:52,340 --> 00:11:56,180
and produced 2,500 tonnes of coal a
day.

207
00:11:56,180 --> 00:12:00,660
It opened almost 50 years after
Stephenson's great railway,

208
00:12:00,660 --> 00:12:06,180
but quickly made use of the line,
adding a mass of new sidings.

209
00:12:06,180 --> 00:12:09,620
Silksworth Colliery pit head used to
be right here,

210
00:12:09,620 --> 00:12:12,500
with all its machinery and
infrastructure.

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00:12:12,500 --> 00:12:16,820
I'm not sure whether I feel sad
about the fact that that's clearly
gone now

212
00:12:16,820 --> 00:12:20,340
or to celebrate this regeneration of
the area.

213
00:12:20,340 --> 00:12:26,140
Either way, there's something
altogether very different here now!

214
00:12:28,060 --> 00:12:31,180
There's a beautiful urban park.

215
00:12:33,020 --> 00:12:34,700
There's an athletics track

216
00:12:34,700 --> 00:12:36,740
and football pitches.

217
00:12:36,740 --> 00:12:40,900
And something far more unexpected.

218
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Worrying me today, it's a dry ski
slope!

219
00:12:45,940 --> 00:12:49,660
The colliery that closed in 1971

220
00:12:49,660 --> 00:12:53,580
now boasts the North East's only ski
centre.

221
00:12:53,580 --> 00:12:56,620
And at the top, I've arranged to
meet its manager,

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00:12:56,620 --> 00:12:57,980
John Greenwood.

223
00:12:57,980 --> 00:12:59,940
Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
You, too.

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This is not necessarily what you
expect... It's not. ..to find around
here!

225
00:13:04,420 --> 00:13:07,100
A dry ski slope! Exactly.

226
00:13:07,100 --> 00:13:09,100
Here on the outskirts of Sunderland.

227
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There's all these little hills
everywhere. Yeah.

228
00:13:11,820 --> 00:13:13,780
And that's not natural, is it?

229
00:13:13,780 --> 00:13:16,340
It's not natural, no. This would
have been a spoil heap.

230
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And over the years, it was developed
into a sports complex.

231
00:13:20,820 --> 00:13:26,180
Do you think people realise they're
skiing on top of an old pit spoil
heap?

232
00:13:26,180 --> 00:13:30,860
Very few. Very few. I think they
just assume it's always been some
sort of ski slope.

233
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I don't think they understand what
the history was.

234
00:13:33,420 --> 00:13:35,980
Yeah, cos it's all beautifully
green, now. Fantastic.

235
00:13:35,980 --> 00:13:38,660
But going back, a completely
different site.

236
00:13:38,660 --> 00:13:43,220
Oh, yeah. I mean it probably would
have been a quite desolate, barren
sort of area.

237
00:13:43,220 --> 00:13:46,060
Probably a bit smelly. Not a
particularly great place to hang
around.

238
00:13:46,060 --> 00:13:49,980
We have photographs of it actually
under construction,

239
00:13:49,980 --> 00:13:53,460
where they're putting in the
groundworks and the foundations of
the actual slope itself.

240
00:13:53,460 --> 00:13:55,500
Yeah, OK. You can see the lift is in
place.

241
00:13:55,500 --> 00:13:59,780
So there's some ground being moved
here. There is a bit of earthworks,
but...

242
00:13:59,780 --> 00:14:04,620
That's right. Not massively. More
kind of contouring the slope to make
it sort of usable.

243
00:14:04,620 --> 00:14:07,780
Because the earth was here. It was
piled up. Exactly, yeah.

244
00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:13,740
And then we have some photographs of
the last part that you can kind of
see from the colliery,

245
00:14:13,740 --> 00:14:15,340
which is the old water tower.

246
00:14:16,500 --> 00:14:18,540
The grey, round building at the
bottom of the slope.

247
00:14:18,540 --> 00:14:20,740
So originally, that was the water
tower for the pit

248
00:14:20,740 --> 00:14:22,900
and about ten years ago, we chopped
the top off.

249
00:14:22,900 --> 00:14:25,060
Basically it was getting a bit old

250
00:14:25,060 --> 00:14:26,740
and bits were starting to fall down

251
00:14:26,740 --> 00:14:29,820
so to make it safe, we took the top
off. But originally,

252
00:14:29,820 --> 00:14:33,460
that was used for issuing the skis
and the equipment to the skiers.

253
00:14:33,460 --> 00:14:36,340
Was it? Before we had an actual
building to kind of serve from.

254
00:14:36,340 --> 00:14:37,660
Yes.

255
00:14:37,660 --> 00:14:39,860
It's funny that basically up here

256
00:14:39,860 --> 00:14:42,980
the whole history's almost just
been... Almost. ..wiped out. Almost.

257
00:14:42,980 --> 00:14:44,700
I'll tell you what, though.

258
00:14:44,700 --> 00:14:47,540
It's left us with something quite
exciting behind us here!

259
00:14:47,540 --> 00:14:49,420
Yes, very exciting, yeah. Any tips?

260
00:14:50,620 --> 00:14:53,380
I think we'll just try and go as
quick as we can! OK. That sounds
good to me!

261
00:14:53,380 --> 00:14:55,700
OK. Let's go.

262
00:14:55,700 --> 00:14:56,900
Ooh!

263
00:14:57,580 --> 00:14:59,860
Let's do it. Are you ready? Yeah.
Let's go. I'll follow you.

264
00:15:01,860 --> 00:15:04,380
Come on! Yeah!

265
00:15:04,380 --> 00:15:06,300
Oh, this is awesome, John!

266
00:15:07,180 --> 00:15:08,820
Ha-ha-ha-ha!

267
00:15:11,340 --> 00:15:13,460
Wo-ho-ho! That almost got me!

268
00:15:14,900 --> 00:15:17,180
Oh, ha-ha-ha!

269
00:15:17,180 --> 00:15:18,780
Yeah, lovely!

270
00:15:18,780 --> 00:15:20,620
That's really fun!

271
00:15:20,620 --> 00:15:22,500
That was really fun!

272
00:15:24,540 --> 00:15:28,700
That's the first time I've ever
skied on a spoil heap from a
coal pit!

273
00:15:29,660 --> 00:15:31,340
Sounds quite odd to say!

274
00:15:35,060 --> 00:15:36,940
From Silksworth,

275
00:15:36,940 --> 00:15:41,460
the Hetton railway continued through
what's now the outskirts of
Sunderland.

276
00:15:41,460 --> 00:15:45,420
But this was the point where it ran
into much hillier ground.

277
00:15:46,220 --> 00:15:48,780
The problem was the Hetton colliery,

278
00:15:48,780 --> 00:15:51,660
that Stephenson's railway was
intended to serve

279
00:15:51,660 --> 00:15:55,180
wasn't conveniently close to the
river like Silksworth.

280
00:15:55,180 --> 00:15:57,180
It was much further south

281
00:15:57,180 --> 00:16:01,180
and on the far side of some rather
challenging terrain.

282
00:16:02,820 --> 00:16:05,700
In places, the gradient that had to
be tackled

283
00:16:05,700 --> 00:16:07,860
averaged 1 in 22.

284
00:16:07,860 --> 00:16:10,740
Far too steep for a modern train,

285
00:16:10,740 --> 00:16:13,180
let alone one built in 1822.

286
00:16:15,940 --> 00:16:18,540
Stephenson had a solution, though.

287
00:16:18,540 --> 00:16:22,740
And he needed it most to get his
railway over Warden Law,

288
00:16:22,740 --> 00:16:25,100
a peak of 600 feet.

289
00:16:28,940 --> 00:16:30,580
Well, that's a decent climb.

290
00:16:30,580 --> 00:16:32,820
Up the top here, now.

291
00:16:32,820 --> 00:16:36,140
There's a fantastic view out over
where I've just come from.

292
00:16:36,140 --> 00:16:38,980
Look, that's Sunderland, off over
there.

293
00:16:38,980 --> 00:16:42,820
Quite easily make out the Stadium of
Light, there.

294
00:16:44,660 --> 00:16:47,380
Oh, yeah. Over this way, as well,
look.

295
00:16:47,380 --> 00:16:49,140
That's Penshaw Monument over there.

296
00:16:50,140 --> 00:16:53,540
But I'm even higher up here than
that.

297
00:16:56,260 --> 00:17:00,020
In no normal world would you bring a
railway up here.

298
00:17:00,020 --> 00:17:04,420
But in 1820, rich new seams of coal
were being found

299
00:17:04,420 --> 00:17:06,420
underneath these very hills.

300
00:17:06,420 --> 00:17:10,940
So Stephenson's trick was to swap
moving steam engines

301
00:17:10,940 --> 00:17:13,380
for static steam engines.

302
00:17:16,740 --> 00:17:19,700
This was how he could pull heavy
trains of coal

303
00:17:19,700 --> 00:17:21,260
to the top of Warden Law.

304
00:17:23,660 --> 00:17:26,500
Well, somewhere...here...

305
00:17:26,500 --> 00:17:32,460
is where this, the Warden Law
winding engine was positioned.

306
00:17:34,140 --> 00:17:36,140
I've had a good mooch around.

307
00:17:36,140 --> 00:17:40,460
I'll be damned if I can find any
trace of it whatsoever!

308
00:17:41,260 --> 00:17:45,220
But we do know how the Warden Law
system worked.

309
00:17:46,300 --> 00:17:47,980
That's more like it!

310
00:17:47,980 --> 00:17:51,700
Got a much better view of the
surrounding landscape from here.

311
00:17:52,820 --> 00:17:55,620
Now, Stephenson's plan to conquer
these local hills

312
00:17:55,620 --> 00:17:59,060
was to let gravity do as much of the
work as possible.

313
00:17:59,060 --> 00:18:01,700
The coal was coming from the
collieries around Hetton,

314
00:18:01,700 --> 00:18:03,420
which is just over there.

315
00:18:03,420 --> 00:18:05,820
So the winding engine, that was
back there,

316
00:18:05,820 --> 00:18:09,860
would pull that heavy coal up to
this point.

317
00:18:09,860 --> 00:18:12,740
But then from here over to
Sunderland,

318
00:18:12,740 --> 00:18:15,100
was pretty much downhill,

319
00:18:15,100 --> 00:18:19,060
so those heavy wagons could be left
to roll down those hills.

320
00:18:19,060 --> 00:18:22,060
With a bit of braking to control
them, of course.

321
00:18:22,060 --> 00:18:25,700
But Stephenson's line was cleverer
than that.

322
00:18:25,700 --> 00:18:30,580
As the weight of those heavy wagons
rolled down,

323
00:18:30,580 --> 00:18:37,180
that was used to pull the lighter,
empty wagons returning from
Sunderland back up to the top.

324
00:18:37,180 --> 00:18:40,180
Very simple, but very effective.

325
00:18:42,980 --> 00:18:45,940
The line was a master class in
engineering.

326
00:18:46,620 --> 00:18:48,820
But also patience.

327
00:18:48,820 --> 00:18:50,420
In less than eight miles,

328
00:18:50,420 --> 00:18:54,980
a train of coal would be handled by
three locomotives,

329
00:18:54,980 --> 00:18:56,980
two static winding engines

330
00:18:56,980 --> 00:18:59,740
and five gravity inclines.

331
00:19:01,380 --> 00:19:04,380
And when the Hetton railway opened
in 1822,

332
00:19:04,380 --> 00:19:07,140
the news travelled across the world.

333
00:19:08,300 --> 00:19:12,180
Engineers from Germany and America
came to see it in action.

334
00:19:17,700 --> 00:19:21,020
But whilst the railway and mining
have gone,

335
00:19:21,020 --> 00:19:24,020
the community they created certainly
hasn't.

336
00:19:24,020 --> 00:19:27,780
Hetton is a town built on the coal
industry.

337
00:19:29,460 --> 00:19:30,940
Here you go, look.

338
00:19:30,940 --> 00:19:33,700
Bob Paisley was a Hetton lad.

339
00:19:33,700 --> 00:19:37,180
And for those of you not too fussed
about football,

340
00:19:37,180 --> 00:19:41,460
Bob Paisley was one of the all-time
great managers of the game.

341
00:19:41,460 --> 00:19:45,740
He led Liverpool to three European
Cups

342
00:19:45,740 --> 00:19:47,460
as the plaque here shows.

343
00:19:47,460 --> 00:19:52,420
Not even Sir Alex Ferguson enjoyed
that kind of success in Europe.

344
00:19:53,940 --> 00:19:57,420
Paisley worked in the local mine
from the age of 14

345
00:19:57,420 --> 00:20:01,300
before he was signed by Liverpool in
1939.

346
00:20:01,300 --> 00:20:04,420
'Someone who didn't leave Hetton,
though,

347
00:20:04,420 --> 00:20:06,980
'is former mine manager, Harold
Watson.'

348
00:20:06,980 --> 00:20:10,220
Nice to meet you. You used to live
round here, did you?

349
00:20:10,220 --> 00:20:13,140
In the first house, just below the
bungalow.

350
00:20:13,140 --> 00:20:15,140
Number 73, there? 73.

351
00:20:15,140 --> 00:20:19,940
'Living here, Harold was just
50 yards from the Hetton railway

352
00:20:19,940 --> 00:20:21,820
'as it made its way through town

353
00:20:21,820 --> 00:20:24,020
'to the colliery where he worked.'

354
00:20:24,020 --> 00:20:27,380
This was the location of the
crossing.

355
00:20:27,380 --> 00:20:29,820
The gates for the crossing here.

356
00:20:29,820 --> 00:20:35,420
This is a photograph taken in the
early 1900s. OK!

357
00:20:35,420 --> 00:20:37,900
So that's the railway coming through
there, is it?

358
00:20:37,900 --> 00:20:40,300
Yes. We're actually on the line now.
Yeah!

359
00:20:40,300 --> 00:20:43,140
'By the time trains reached here,

360
00:20:43,140 --> 00:20:45,780
'they were less than a mile from the
southernmost point

361
00:20:45,780 --> 00:20:47,380
'of the Hetton railway.

362
00:20:47,380 --> 00:20:52,140
'Elemore Colliery was Harold's
place of work for six years.'

363
00:20:53,620 --> 00:20:55,140
Wow!

364
00:20:55,140 --> 00:20:58,900
Your old place of work is now a golf
course! Yes.

365
00:20:58,900 --> 00:21:00,980
There's this glaring little relic
here.

366
00:21:00,980 --> 00:21:05,300
This is only really the last remains
of... The link of evidence, isn't
it? That's right.

367
00:21:05,300 --> 00:21:07,660
This is one of the original wooden
trucks.

368
00:21:07,660 --> 00:21:10,020
That could be 200 years old.

369
00:21:10,020 --> 00:21:13,100
This is a photo of Elemore Colliery?
Elemore Colliery, yes.

370
00:21:13,100 --> 00:21:15,740
So where was this pit head?

371
00:21:15,740 --> 00:21:18,300
The trees have been built on the
site of the colliery now

372
00:21:18,300 --> 00:21:20,580
across behind us here. Yeah.

373
00:21:20,580 --> 00:21:24,340
The trees have all been planted
since then, since the colliery
closed.

374
00:21:24,340 --> 00:21:26,060
There's none of this there then, is
there?

375
00:21:26,060 --> 00:21:27,900
No, that was all demolished.

376
00:21:27,900 --> 00:21:30,500
So this is a very different picture,
then...

377
00:21:30,500 --> 00:21:33,100
Yes. ..to how you remember it when
you worked here. That's right.

378
00:21:33,100 --> 00:21:35,060
How do you look back on those days,

379
00:21:35,060 --> 00:21:39,580
being down underground, working down
there? It was hard work, yes.

380
00:21:39,580 --> 00:21:42,500
And difficult, arduous conditions.

381
00:21:42,500 --> 00:21:49,020
Particularly at Elemore, because
some of the seams at Elemore were
only 18 inches.

382
00:21:49,020 --> 00:21:50,620
Half a metre.

383
00:21:50,620 --> 00:21:52,260
18 inches wide? No.

384
00:21:52,260 --> 00:21:53,820
High. High?

385
00:21:55,540 --> 00:21:56,980
Goodness me.

386
00:21:56,980 --> 00:21:58,540
What was the camaraderie like?

387
00:21:58,540 --> 00:22:00,460
Oh, really good.

388
00:22:00,460 --> 00:22:03,420
You were always responsible, you
know, as a workman,

389
00:22:03,420 --> 00:22:06,540
for the man that was working with
you, for his life, as well.

390
00:22:06,540 --> 00:22:11,100
Yes. The men you were working with,
you looked after each other.

391
00:22:11,100 --> 00:22:16,460
'Demand for coal across the country
dropped dramatically during the
'60s.

392
00:22:16,460 --> 00:22:19,540
'Ironically because its biggest
customer, the railways,

393
00:22:19,540 --> 00:22:23,940
'moved from steam to diesel and
electric power.'

394
00:22:23,940 --> 00:22:26,100
When did Elemore Colliery close?

395
00:22:26,100 --> 00:22:29,060
On the 1st of February, 1974.

396
00:22:29,060 --> 00:22:33,700
I have a photograph here of the last
shift coming out of the mine.

397
00:22:33,700 --> 00:22:36,660
To a man here, they all seem to be
smiling

398
00:22:36,660 --> 00:22:38,380
as they're coming out of the pit
there.

399
00:22:38,380 --> 00:22:41,060
Well, I think they're probably
smiling for the camera.

400
00:22:41,060 --> 00:22:43,660
Cos they were getting their
photograph taken!

401
00:22:43,660 --> 00:22:47,060
But it made a hole in the village,
the employment in the village,
really.

402
00:22:47,060 --> 00:22:49,700
It's always difficult, you know?

403
00:22:49,700 --> 00:22:53,460
Yes. Heart-rending, really, when the
colliery closes.

404
00:22:58,060 --> 00:23:01,900
'Coming up, I visit a colliery
pit head.'

405
00:23:01,900 --> 00:23:04,100
All these wagons here.

406
00:23:04,100 --> 00:23:06,260
'See the steam power that drove it.'

407
00:23:06,260 --> 00:23:08,100
This is big machinery, isn't it?

408
00:23:08,100 --> 00:23:13,060
'And I find out what happened when
locomotives and horses met head on!'

409
00:23:13,060 --> 00:23:15,580
They literally fought each other as
to which one should go back!

410
00:23:19,730 --> 00:23:24,370
Here in the North East, I've been
investigating a very early rail
network.

411
00:23:24,370 --> 00:23:26,690
One built not for passengers,

412
00:23:26,690 --> 00:23:28,610
but for coal.

413
00:23:28,610 --> 00:23:32,210
Trouble is, it's proving difficult
to find much evidence

414
00:23:32,210 --> 00:23:34,650
of the coal or the railways.

415
00:23:34,650 --> 00:23:36,170
But not here!

416
00:23:37,250 --> 00:23:40,970
I've travelled ten miles west
from the Hetton colliery railway

417
00:23:40,970 --> 00:23:45,210
to a place where you can still feel
what the North East coal industry
was like.

418
00:23:46,810 --> 00:23:48,650
Two whistles, is it, Ian? Two
whistles.

419
00:23:48,650 --> 00:23:50,250
WHISTLES

420
00:23:50,250 --> 00:23:52,450
Beamish is a unique museum

421
00:23:52,450 --> 00:23:56,770
where this region's industrial
history lives on.

422
00:23:58,090 --> 00:24:02,290
This is their recreation of an 1820s
railway.

423
00:24:02,290 --> 00:24:03,730
Away we go!

424
00:24:07,610 --> 00:24:09,130
This is about as close as you can
get

425
00:24:09,130 --> 00:24:13,850
to the early steam locos working on
those coal railways.

426
00:24:13,850 --> 00:24:15,690
It definitely is, yes.

427
00:24:15,690 --> 00:24:20,010
These locomotives were designed to
pull coal. They never actually
pulled passengers.

428
00:24:20,010 --> 00:24:22,970
Passenger railways didn't start
until 1825.

429
00:24:26,010 --> 00:24:30,610
But this locomotive is a replica of
one built in 1813

430
00:24:30,610 --> 00:24:32,850
for a colliery near Newcastle.

431
00:24:34,130 --> 00:24:36,050
It's very simple, very
straightforward.

432
00:24:36,050 --> 00:24:39,170
You can see exactly what you're
doing, what you get.

433
00:24:39,170 --> 00:24:41,490
You can see the pump working down
there.

434
00:24:41,490 --> 00:24:44,450
You can see the crank turning round.

435
00:24:44,450 --> 00:24:46,690
You can see the pistons going up and
down.

436
00:24:46,690 --> 00:24:51,290
I love everything here. It's just...
All the mechanics of this are right
on show, aren't they?

437
00:24:51,290 --> 00:24:56,170
'This engine was first used on rails
designed for horse-drawn wagons.

438
00:24:56,170 --> 00:24:59,010
'Those rails promptly broke.'

439
00:24:59,810 --> 00:25:02,410
Obviously very, very early days.

440
00:25:02,410 --> 00:25:05,410
First steam engines, first wagon
wheel engines,

441
00:25:05,410 --> 00:25:08,290
were all of this pattern with
upright cylinders,

442
00:25:08,290 --> 00:25:11,410
blacksmith engineering with low
tolerances,

443
00:25:11,410 --> 00:25:14,530
which meant that the pressure that
you had couldn't be high.

444
00:25:14,530 --> 00:25:18,210
OK. Hence the speed wasn't high,
either. OK.

445
00:25:18,210 --> 00:25:22,090
Those later locos were being put
together by dedicated railway
engineers who had the knowledge.

446
00:25:22,090 --> 00:25:23,890
But these are some of the first.
Right.

447
00:25:23,890 --> 00:25:27,810
'35 years after this loco's
introduction,

448
00:25:27,810 --> 00:25:32,210
'Britain boasted over 4,000 miles of
railway track.

449
00:25:32,210 --> 00:25:35,650
'But at this point, it was all about
shifting that coal.'

450
00:25:35,650 --> 00:25:38,890
How many wagons could a locomotive
like this

451
00:25:38,890 --> 00:25:40,930
typically pull full of coal?

452
00:25:40,930 --> 00:25:44,570
It depends very much on the actual
spec of the wagon,

453
00:25:44,570 --> 00:25:46,130
the gradient it's going up.

454
00:25:46,130 --> 00:25:49,290
But 15, 20, would be typical, would
be average.

455
00:25:49,290 --> 00:25:52,490
Whereas a horse could typically pull
one laden wagon.

456
00:25:52,490 --> 00:25:54,450
So what kind of speeds might we be
going here?

457
00:25:54,450 --> 00:25:57,410
Three, four, five mile an hour.

458
00:25:57,410 --> 00:26:01,890
Marginally faster than the
horse-drawn traffic that they were
replacing.

459
00:26:01,890 --> 00:26:05,450
The difference, of course, was that
these could run all day.

460
00:26:05,450 --> 00:26:09,170
And the coal industry never looked
back.

461
00:26:09,170 --> 00:26:12,370
From seven million tonnes in 1825,

462
00:26:12,370 --> 00:26:14,530
County Durham boomed,

463
00:26:14,530 --> 00:26:16,170
and 90 years later

464
00:26:16,170 --> 00:26:20,370
was turning out 56 million tonnes of
coal a year

465
00:26:20,370 --> 00:26:22,930
from over 300 different mines.

466
00:26:29,610 --> 00:26:32,250
This is Beamish's replica pit
village.

467
00:26:32,250 --> 00:26:36,450
So here, along with the accompanying
pit workings nearby,

468
00:26:36,450 --> 00:26:39,530
is all set up to represent 1913.

469
00:26:39,530 --> 00:26:42,130
So we're at the advent of the First
World War.

470
00:26:42,130 --> 00:26:46,690
But more specifically, 1913 was the
year that the Durham coalfields

471
00:26:46,690 --> 00:26:48,530
reached their peak output.

472
00:26:48,530 --> 00:26:50,370
And brilliantly...

473
00:26:51,770 --> 00:26:57,370
..this actual row of cottages
along here

474
00:26:57,370 --> 00:27:00,530
once stood, exactly as they are now,

475
00:27:00,530 --> 00:27:03,210
but in Hetton, where I've just been.

476
00:27:06,570 --> 00:27:09,050
They were painstakingly dismantled,

477
00:27:09,050 --> 00:27:11,330
brought here and then rebuilt.

478
00:27:12,450 --> 00:27:14,370
They're actually very quaint!

479
00:27:18,010 --> 00:27:19,650
Cottages like this

480
00:27:19,650 --> 00:27:21,810
were built by the coal companies

481
00:27:21,810 --> 00:27:24,090
to house workers and their families.

482
00:27:24,090 --> 00:27:27,730
And by 1913, those companies had
also built

483
00:27:27,730 --> 00:27:30,330
ever more elaborate railways.

484
00:27:31,250 --> 00:27:33,930
This is Beamish's colliery railway.

485
00:27:35,090 --> 00:27:39,970
And it's typical to what many of the
collieries would have had around
these parts.

486
00:27:39,970 --> 00:27:42,930
All these wagons here either full of
coal

487
00:27:42,930 --> 00:27:45,130
or waiting to be filled up with
coal,

488
00:27:45,130 --> 00:27:49,290
shunted around the yard by giant
steam locos.

489
00:27:50,330 --> 00:27:52,930
But to see how the whole process
worked,

490
00:27:52,930 --> 00:27:56,770
it's best to start at the beginning
with the pit head itself.

491
00:27:56,770 --> 00:27:58,330
Rob. How you doing? Hi. Nice to see
you.

492
00:27:58,330 --> 00:28:01,290
'North East rail historian
Rob Langham is going to show me

493
00:28:01,290 --> 00:28:04,330
'how the coal ever made it to the
wagons outside.'

494
00:28:04,330 --> 00:28:05,850
Yes!

495
00:28:05,850 --> 00:28:07,370
Ha-ha-ha! Yes!

496
00:28:07,370 --> 00:28:08,930
Oh, look at all this!

497
00:28:08,930 --> 00:28:11,370
Rob, this is amazing! It is, isn't
it?

498
00:28:11,370 --> 00:28:13,210
Big machinery. Yeah, absolutely.

499
00:28:15,930 --> 00:28:19,050
This is a pit head winding engine.
Yes.

500
00:28:19,050 --> 00:28:21,970
So this particular engine itself
dates back to 1855.

501
00:28:21,970 --> 00:28:26,250
It's typical of those used around
the Durham coalfield and the wider
great northern coalfieldas a whole

502
00:28:26,250 --> 00:28:27,930
for powering the collieries.

503
00:28:29,410 --> 00:28:33,610
Static steam engines like this were
the heartbeat of each colliery.

504
00:28:33,610 --> 00:28:35,690
In the late 1800s,

505
00:28:35,690 --> 00:28:40,650
this particular engine was pulling
700 tonnes of coal a day

506
00:28:40,650 --> 00:28:42,770
up to the surface.

507
00:28:44,290 --> 00:28:47,330
The cages themselves were going up
and down, two of them together,

508
00:28:47,330 --> 00:28:48,890
up and down the shaft vertically.

509
00:28:48,890 --> 00:28:51,490
So similar to a lift system today in
a modern office building,

510
00:28:51,490 --> 00:28:52,930
but powered by steam instead.

511
00:28:54,290 --> 00:28:58,490
Once on the surface, the coal was
dropped onto conveyors

512
00:28:58,490 --> 00:29:00,730
also powered by the winding engine.

513
00:29:00,730 --> 00:29:03,210
And there's men filtering the coal
out,

514
00:29:03,210 --> 00:29:05,050
making sure there's no stones in it,

515
00:29:05,050 --> 00:29:07,650
anything that's rubbish, basically
very small bits of coal

516
00:29:07,650 --> 00:29:09,290
that aren't worth anything to be
sold.

517
00:29:09,290 --> 00:29:12,930
All being filtered out and then it's
being dropped directly into the coal
wagons beneath

518
00:29:12,930 --> 00:29:15,250
and then taken off to wherever it
needs to be.

519
00:29:15,250 --> 00:29:20,610
So this is about moving the coal
from down in the ground where we've
got it to where we wantit to be

520
00:29:20,610 --> 00:29:25,010
but also it's used to get men down
into the pit and bring them back up
after the shift. Yes.

521
00:29:25,010 --> 00:29:29,050
Take them down for shifts. Anything
that's gonna be needed below or
needs to come up from below

522
00:29:29,050 --> 00:29:31,330
is all coming up thanks to this
engine.

523
00:29:32,770 --> 00:29:35,490
Pit head engines worked round the
clock,

524
00:29:35,490 --> 00:29:40,010
transporting men down shafts over
1,000 feet deep.

525
00:29:40,010 --> 00:29:42,730
Do you know how many winding engines
like this

526
00:29:42,730 --> 00:29:45,130
there would have been across the
Durham coalfields?

527
00:29:45,130 --> 00:29:48,730
Hundreds of them. Certainly at least
around 300 to 400 or so, depending.

528
00:29:48,730 --> 00:29:51,930
Some pits had more than one winding
engine, as well, so there'd be
duplicates.

529
00:29:51,930 --> 00:29:55,490
But these would be in the
hundredfold all across the county.

530
00:29:55,490 --> 00:29:57,090
Wow.

531
00:29:58,730 --> 00:30:01,250
It's beautiful, Rob. It's beautiful!

532
00:30:07,850 --> 00:30:10,890
'And once the winding engine had
played its part,

533
00:30:10,890 --> 00:30:13,290
'it was over to the railways.'

534
00:30:13,290 --> 00:30:16,090
You have these coal wagons down
here. They'd be shunted by a small
engine.

535
00:30:16,090 --> 00:30:18,330
You can see one outside the shed and
one in the shed, as well.

536
00:30:18,330 --> 00:30:21,770
These wagons would be shunted one at
a time under the screens.

537
00:30:21,770 --> 00:30:24,770
Four tonnes of coal directly into
the coal wagons.

538
00:30:25,610 --> 00:30:27,330
The steam engines are shunting it
around.

539
00:30:27,330 --> 00:30:30,010
So locomotives in a colliery railway
like this

540
00:30:30,010 --> 00:30:33,330
are only gonna be shunting these
wagons back and forth, really, are
they?

541
00:30:33,330 --> 00:30:36,050
Not really any great distance. No,
not a huge distance,

542
00:30:36,050 --> 00:30:38,290
but all these wagons would be
individually positioned

543
00:30:38,290 --> 00:30:40,050
underneath the screens to get fully
loaded

544
00:30:40,050 --> 00:30:43,130
and these small engines would
marshal a few at a time, get them
loaded,

545
00:30:43,130 --> 00:30:46,250
take them round, a few hundred yards
round the back of the pit cottages
there.

546
00:30:46,250 --> 00:30:49,490
Marshal together a much longer
train. Maybe 20, 30, even more
coal wagons

547
00:30:49,490 --> 00:30:52,850
and then a much bigger, much more
powerful engine belonging to a
mainline company,

548
00:30:52,850 --> 00:30:55,050
which would have a junction with the
colliery itself,

549
00:30:55,050 --> 00:30:58,490
would then take them off, normally
down to the coast or to the river

550
00:30:58,490 --> 00:31:01,810
where the coal then would be loaded
onto a ship and sent off down to
London.

551
00:31:01,810 --> 00:31:03,570
So what we've got here, then,

552
00:31:03,570 --> 00:31:07,010
would have been replicated right
across the landscape, would it?

553
00:31:07,010 --> 00:31:08,610
Absolutely all over the North East.

554
00:31:08,610 --> 00:31:11,570
The railway was absolutely vital for
getting the coal to where it needed
to be.

555
00:31:12,450 --> 00:31:15,450
And how those railways spread!

556
00:31:15,450 --> 00:31:17,970
Stephenson's Hetton railway

557
00:31:17,970 --> 00:31:19,850
opened in 1822.

558
00:31:19,850 --> 00:31:22,010
But within decades,

559
00:31:22,010 --> 00:31:24,010
the County Durham rail network

560
00:31:24,010 --> 00:31:25,810
was staggering.

561
00:31:25,810 --> 00:31:28,690
A confusing mass of short routes

562
00:31:28,690 --> 00:31:31,050
built to serve the needs of the
collieries.

563
00:31:32,490 --> 00:31:35,090
And I'm picking up one of
Stephenson's later projects,

564
00:31:35,250 --> 00:31:38,370
a line starting very close to the
Hetton collieries,

565
00:31:38,370 --> 00:31:41,570
but this time, heading south.

566
00:31:43,330 --> 00:31:45,890
This old line's nice and easy to
follow.

567
00:31:46,810 --> 00:31:49,330
It's part of the national cycle
network, these days.

568
00:31:49,330 --> 00:31:53,770
But it opened as a railway in 1835,

569
00:31:53,770 --> 00:31:58,010
that's 13 years after the
breakthrough Hetton line.

570
00:31:58,010 --> 00:32:00,850
And it ran for 12 miles,
down to Hartlepool,

571
00:32:00,850 --> 00:32:02,850
to the mouth of the river Tees.

572
00:32:03,810 --> 00:32:05,770
The plan with this new line

573
00:32:05,770 --> 00:32:10,050
was to give Hartlepool a slice of
the very lucrative coal business.

574
00:32:10,930 --> 00:32:15,650
But it appears this railway managed
to carry more than just coal.

575
00:32:15,650 --> 00:32:17,090
Hello!

576
00:32:17,090 --> 00:32:19,730
Nice to meet you. Yes, and you.

577
00:32:19,730 --> 00:32:24,450
'To find out more, I'm meeting Tees
archaeologist Robin Daniels.'

578
00:32:24,450 --> 00:32:28,690
I understand you've got some
archives, some relics of the railway
to show me.

579
00:32:28,690 --> 00:32:31,930
We have, yes. We've got some printed
ephemera here.

580
00:32:31,930 --> 00:32:35,170
'Robin's brought along a stash of
material

581
00:32:35,170 --> 00:32:41,450
'made by a Victorian printer in
Hartlepool working for the railway
line I'm following.'

582
00:32:41,450 --> 00:32:43,490
This is a proof for the tickets for
the railway

583
00:32:43,490 --> 00:32:45,890
and they look very different to the
tickets we have today.

584
00:32:45,890 --> 00:32:48,330
You can see it's just printed on
paper

585
00:32:48,330 --> 00:32:51,730
and then the ticket agent would just
write out the date of the ticket

586
00:32:51,730 --> 00:32:54,250
and he would put the price of it on.

587
00:32:54,250 --> 00:32:56,890
It shows the railway, Haswell to
Hartlepool,

588
00:32:56,890 --> 00:32:59,730
but the other interesting thing is
that is says "outside".

589
00:32:59,730 --> 00:33:02,170
And we have another sheet here

590
00:33:02,170 --> 00:33:04,890
which says, "inside". OK.

591
00:33:04,890 --> 00:33:09,210
And again this takes us back to the
really early days of the railway

592
00:33:09,210 --> 00:33:12,530
when people were actually sitting
inside carriages and outside
carriages.

593
00:33:12,530 --> 00:33:15,330
So this has come from a printing
house, you say? That's right.

594
00:33:15,330 --> 00:33:18,210
In the 1960s, when the company
closed,

595
00:33:18,210 --> 00:33:21,450
a local historian went through all
their collections

596
00:33:21,450 --> 00:33:24,610
and collected together a lot of
material that would have been lost,
otherwise.

597
00:33:24,610 --> 00:33:27,170
And so how far back does this go,
then? What's this...

598
00:33:27,170 --> 00:33:30,290
I think the earliest piece in here
is about 1839

599
00:33:30,290 --> 00:33:32,530
and then it goes right the way
through to about 1859.

600
00:33:32,530 --> 00:33:35,810
This is really early. This is
probably the earliest railway stuff
we've got

601
00:33:35,810 --> 00:33:38,090
in the whole of the country, if not
the world.

602
00:33:38,090 --> 00:33:41,090
It's a huge insight into those early
days in railways. Goodness me.

603
00:33:41,090 --> 00:33:45,650
That must have been a real treasure
trove, then, to discover something
like that! Absolutely, yes.

604
00:33:45,650 --> 00:33:49,690
So if we're talking about
1840-something... Yep. ..here,

605
00:33:49,690 --> 00:33:52,810
this line, Haswell to Hartlepool was
being used by passengers,

606
00:33:52,810 --> 00:33:54,450
not purely coal.

607
00:33:54,450 --> 00:33:58,490
Yeah, absolutely. It was built as a
coal line, as most were in this
area,

608
00:33:58,490 --> 00:34:01,370
but very early on, people started to
use it.

609
00:34:01,370 --> 00:34:04,010
But the company wasn't really
interested in people.

610
00:34:04,010 --> 00:34:05,730
It was interested in coal.

611
00:34:05,730 --> 00:34:08,530
So what it did is it licensed the
carriage of passengers

612
00:34:08,530 --> 00:34:10,770
to basically local carriers.

613
00:34:10,770 --> 00:34:15,090
And they got a horse, they got
basically a stagecoach,

614
00:34:15,090 --> 00:34:18,410
put it on the track and started
going up and down the track

615
00:34:18,410 --> 00:34:20,610
operating whatever schedule they
wanted to use.

616
00:34:20,610 --> 00:34:23,010
It's a single track line with
passing places

617
00:34:23,010 --> 00:34:25,970
and therefore if you come face to
face between those passing places,

618
00:34:25,970 --> 00:34:27,690
somebody has got to go back.

619
00:34:27,690 --> 00:34:32,770
And they literally just stood up and
fought each other which one should
go back!

620
00:34:32,770 --> 00:34:35,610
It's a different world, isn't it? It
is, a very different world!

621
00:34:35,610 --> 00:34:39,890
'But as the potential of human
passengers became clear,

622
00:34:39,890 --> 00:34:42,530
'the railway company took control
themselves

623
00:34:42,530 --> 00:34:46,250
'and their posters begin to look
quite familiar!'

624
00:34:46,250 --> 00:34:50,490
There it is. "An alteration of coach
fares." Basically, they were putting
the prices up. Absolutely.

625
00:34:50,490 --> 00:34:52,290
That's what we get every year! Every
January!

626
00:34:52,290 --> 00:34:54,730
But it's a lovely item.

627
00:34:54,730 --> 00:34:56,690
Nicely printed in different-coloured
inks.

628
00:34:56,690 --> 00:34:59,410
And it's got this beautiful block
along the top,

629
00:34:59,410 --> 00:35:03,650
showing a train more or less of the
period.

630
00:35:03,650 --> 00:35:08,290
'And from there, the next stop was
to offer punters fun days out.'

631
00:35:09,290 --> 00:35:12,850
This shows cheap trips to Castle
Eden Horticultural Show.

632
00:35:12,850 --> 00:35:17,970
So it does give us a great insight
into what the railway was being used
for by passengers.

633
00:35:17,970 --> 00:35:20,770
It's almost even the development of
the tourist industry in the area

634
00:35:20,770 --> 00:35:25,250
when they're realising that people
will pay money to go to these
special events. Yes.

635
00:35:25,250 --> 00:35:28,330
What a wonderful collection, Robin.
Absolutely.

636
00:35:28,330 --> 00:35:32,610
As we know today, most of our
railways are used mainly for
passengers

637
00:35:32,610 --> 00:35:37,330
whereas at the beginning it was very
much an afterthought which develops
and develops.

638
00:35:39,090 --> 00:35:42,970
Coming up... Life was now all about
coal.

639
00:35:42,970 --> 00:35:46,050
I reach the ancient fishing port of
Hartlepool.

640
00:35:46,050 --> 00:35:50,130
And meet the man who turned the
place on its head.

641
00:35:50,130 --> 00:35:54,050
He wants everything. He's the super
entrepreneur of the Victorian
period.

642
00:35:58,940 --> 00:36:01,140
I'm reaching the end of my journey

643
00:36:01,140 --> 00:36:04,620
through the revolutionary mining
railways of the North East.

644
00:36:05,980 --> 00:36:08,700
The Durham coalfields and their
railways

645
00:36:08,700 --> 00:36:12,060
turned Sunderland into an industrial
giant.

646
00:36:12,060 --> 00:36:14,700
But at the other end of my route,

647
00:36:14,700 --> 00:36:16,380
what impact would they make

648
00:36:16,380 --> 00:36:19,100
to the ancient port of Hartlepool?

649
00:36:20,140 --> 00:36:23,460
The answer was a whole new
Hartlepool.

650
00:36:24,980 --> 00:36:29,180
For centuries, Hartlepool had
enjoyed life as a fishing town

651
00:36:29,180 --> 00:36:31,780
and as the official port

652
00:36:31,780 --> 00:36:34,780
for the ancient cathedral city of
Durham.

653
00:36:34,780 --> 00:36:37,220
But that didn't count for much

654
00:36:37,220 --> 00:36:40,100
when life was now all about coal

655
00:36:40,100 --> 00:36:42,220
and how to transport it.

656
00:36:43,780 --> 00:36:48,020
As the success of my lost railway
into Hartlepool became clear,

657
00:36:48,020 --> 00:36:51,740
the town set out on an outrageous
journey of its own.

658
00:36:53,980 --> 00:36:57,980
'I'm meeting curator Mark Simmons
of the Hartlepool museum.'

659
00:36:57,980 --> 00:37:00,060
It's a perfect day for it, Mark.

660
00:37:00,060 --> 00:37:02,980
So what are we actually looking out
over here, then?

661
00:37:02,980 --> 00:37:04,700
So we're looking at Jackson Dock

662
00:37:04,700 --> 00:37:07,220
which was opened in 1852.

663
00:37:07,220 --> 00:37:09,060
This is its opening day.

664
00:37:09,060 --> 00:37:10,420
So quite a big event, then.

665
00:37:10,420 --> 00:37:12,700
All these people out, these are
spectators, are they?

666
00:37:12,700 --> 00:37:16,060
Yeah, thousands and thousands of
spectators all around the dock,

667
00:37:16,060 --> 00:37:19,300
lined up watching a parade of ships.

668
00:37:19,300 --> 00:37:22,860
Why was this such a big event, then?

669
00:37:22,860 --> 00:37:26,860
If we were to go back, say, to the
1830s, before the railway was built,

670
00:37:26,860 --> 00:37:30,860
we'd be looking at fields, we'd be
looking at a marshy salt lake.

671
00:37:30,860 --> 00:37:34,140
There'd be nothing here apart from
sand dunes and rabbits.

672
00:37:34,900 --> 00:37:36,700
West Hartlepool, as it was called,

673
00:37:36,700 --> 00:37:40,420
didn't even exist until 1854.

674
00:37:40,420 --> 00:37:44,780
But for a century, its development
was phenomenal.

675
00:37:44,780 --> 00:37:46,620
We can look at it at its height.

676
00:37:46,620 --> 00:37:48,740
This is a map of 1951.

677
00:37:49,780 --> 00:37:51,180
Oh, wow! It's incredible, isn't it?

678
00:37:51,900 --> 00:37:54,660
This is... Well, Mark, tell you
what. When you opened this up,

679
00:37:54,660 --> 00:37:56,580
I'll tell you what strikes me
straightaway.

680
00:37:56,580 --> 00:37:59,620
The amount of lines on here, showing
all the railway sidings,

681
00:37:59,620 --> 00:38:02,780
it's an explosion of rail activity!

682
00:38:03,940 --> 00:38:05,780
'In the early 1950s,

683
00:38:05,780 --> 00:38:09,220
'West Hartlepool and its docks
looked like this.'

684
00:38:10,300 --> 00:38:14,060
Steel coming up from the steelworks
at Seaton Carew

685
00:38:14,060 --> 00:38:16,780
and coming up from Middlesbrough,

686
00:38:16,780 --> 00:38:18,460
things coming from County Durham,

687
00:38:18,460 --> 00:38:22,940
bringing in goods from all over
northern Europe.

688
00:38:22,940 --> 00:38:25,340
It's incredible. This is amazing.

689
00:38:25,340 --> 00:38:28,140
Look at the junction. The number of
lines. Look at all this around here!

690
00:38:28,140 --> 00:38:30,380
Who built this? Who was responsible
for all this?

691
00:38:30,380 --> 00:38:34,980
There's one man, really, responsible
for the harbours and for building
West Hartlepool,

692
00:38:34,980 --> 00:38:36,660
and that's Ralph Ward Jackson.

693
00:38:38,660 --> 00:38:43,140
It's not somebody, I think anybody,
outside of the North East has really
heard of.

694
00:38:43,140 --> 00:38:48,020
But at one point, he's the most
powerful man in the north of
England.

695
00:38:48,020 --> 00:38:50,980
Right, now you've got my intrigue!
So who is this chap?

696
00:38:50,980 --> 00:38:55,340
He's born in North Yorkshire, he's
an aristocratic, land-owning
background.

697
00:38:55,340 --> 00:38:59,340
But he sees the opportunity to make
money from the railways.

698
00:38:59,340 --> 00:39:03,300
But in the early part of the 1840s,

699
00:39:03,300 --> 00:39:06,420
he falls out with the railway
company

700
00:39:06,420 --> 00:39:09,380
and decides that he can do it, more
or less on his own.

701
00:39:09,380 --> 00:39:12,380
'Jackson set up his own company,

702
00:39:12,380 --> 00:39:17,820
'bought plenty of land, and set
about creating a modern dock system

703
00:39:17,820 --> 00:39:19,740
'for the railway age.'

704
00:39:19,740 --> 00:39:24,180
So this is a hugely ambitious and
quite risky move, isn't it? Yes.

705
00:39:24,180 --> 00:39:26,860
That dock there took two years to
build.

706
00:39:26,860 --> 00:39:28,740
8,000 workers.

707
00:39:28,740 --> 00:39:32,060
And they shift two and a half
million tonnes of stone.

708
00:39:32,060 --> 00:39:35,820
That's the same amount of stone
that's in the Great Pyramid at Giza.

709
00:39:35,820 --> 00:39:39,540
Goodness me! And they did all of
that in just two years? Just two
years, yes.

710
00:39:39,540 --> 00:39:42,980
'This particular dock was named
after the man himself.

711
00:39:42,980 --> 00:39:44,860
'Jackson Dock.

712
00:39:44,860 --> 00:39:46,980
'But there were several others,
too.'

713
00:39:47,740 --> 00:39:51,140
You're talking, ooh, five to six
million tonnes of coal

714
00:39:51,140 --> 00:39:53,740
coming just through the West Dock.

715
00:39:53,740 --> 00:39:56,980
In about 15 years, they go from
absolutely nothing

716
00:39:56,980 --> 00:40:00,260
to being the fourth biggest port in
the country.

717
00:40:00,260 --> 00:40:03,900
'And to ensure the port was always
busy,

718
00:40:03,900 --> 00:40:07,380
'Jackson was involved in the
railways that fed the port

719
00:40:07,380 --> 00:40:10,580
'and the collieries that fed the
railways.'

720
00:40:10,580 --> 00:40:16,180
He realises that it's not just
enough to own a dock or to own a
railway

721
00:40:16,180 --> 00:40:17,580
or to own the engines.

722
00:40:17,580 --> 00:40:19,660
He wants everything.

723
00:40:19,660 --> 00:40:22,700
He owns the banks, the solicitors,
the church.

724
00:40:22,700 --> 00:40:26,620
He owns most of the houses that
people are living in.

725
00:40:26,620 --> 00:40:30,020
He's a super-entrepreneur... Yeah!
..I think, of the Victorian period.

726
00:40:31,380 --> 00:40:34,460
Things didn't always run smoothly
for Jackson, mind.

727
00:40:34,460 --> 00:40:37,180
He lost control of his company,

728
00:40:37,180 --> 00:40:39,860
went to court for financial
irregularities

729
00:40:39,860 --> 00:40:43,020
and was even accused of assaulting
a vicar!

730
00:40:44,100 --> 00:40:48,420
But when his statue was unveiled the
decade after his death in 1880,

731
00:40:48,420 --> 00:40:51,380
this photo speaks for itself.

732
00:40:53,420 --> 00:40:57,620
But he's seen as the father of
Hartlepool, of West Hartlepool.

733
00:40:57,620 --> 00:40:59,540
The founder, the father figure.

734
00:40:59,540 --> 00:41:02,860
The benign Victorian entrepreneur

735
00:41:02,860 --> 00:41:05,380
who builds and creates.

736
00:41:05,380 --> 00:41:08,820
I think he'd be quite pleased to see
that here we are, still,

737
00:41:08,820 --> 00:41:13,540
170 years later, talking about him.
I'm sure he would!

738
00:41:13,540 --> 00:41:16,860
And looking at what he was
responsible for doing.
I'm sure he would enjoythat.

739
00:41:18,500 --> 00:41:21,820
As Jackson's Hartlepool exploded
into life,

740
00:41:21,820 --> 00:41:25,300
Britain as a whole was being
transformed

741
00:41:25,300 --> 00:41:28,300
by a rush of railway building.

742
00:41:29,580 --> 00:41:33,060
But it all began here in the
North East

743
00:41:33,060 --> 00:41:36,620
during a great era of engineers and
entrepreneurs.

744
00:41:40,140 --> 00:41:43,180
And today the great docks of
Hartlepool

745
00:41:43,180 --> 00:41:47,380
are some of the best evidence that
any of it ever happened.

746
00:41:48,340 --> 00:41:51,380
But look across the docks behind me
there.

747
00:41:51,380 --> 00:41:54,740
You can see right back to those wind
turbines,

748
00:41:54,740 --> 00:41:59,340
stood on the hills where so much
coal was once mined.

749
00:41:59,340 --> 00:42:02,460
And it is a fascinating story.

750
00:42:02,460 --> 00:42:04,700
In 150 years,

751
00:42:04,700 --> 00:42:08,180
that industry exploded into life,

752
00:42:08,180 --> 00:42:10,860
turned this whole region on its
head

753
00:42:10,860 --> 00:42:13,940
and then slowly ebbed away.

754
00:42:13,940 --> 00:42:16,660
And it was the invention of the
railways

755
00:42:16,660 --> 00:42:19,100
that made it possible.

756
00:42:19,900 --> 00:42:21,180
Next time...

757
00:42:21,180 --> 00:42:22,740
Climb when ready, Rob!

758
00:42:22,740 --> 00:42:24,620
..I'm in North Wales

759
00:42:24,620 --> 00:42:27,020
where tiny railways have shaped...

760
00:42:27,020 --> 00:42:28,380
Just look at that!

761
00:42:28,380 --> 00:42:30,860
..and conquered a famous landscape.

762
00:42:31,780 --> 00:42:34,220
These lines built fortunes

763
00:42:34,220 --> 00:42:36,980
and even crowned princes.

764
00:42:36,980 --> 00:42:38,780
This is something, isn't it?

765
00:42:38,780 --> 00:42:40,740
The most impressive castle you'll
ever see!

766
00:43:05,300 --> 00:43:08,300
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