1
00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,480
LOCOMOTIVE WHISTLE BLOWS

2
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,120
Steam power brought about
a revolution in transport.

3
00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:31,680
It was among Britain's greatest
contributions to industry.

4
00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:37,000
In the age of steam, the railways
moved everything and everybody.

5
00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,160
They changed society for ever.

6
00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:45,920
My interest in railways
started at a very early age.

7
00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,680
I was born in a street
of terraced houses,

8
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,800
similar to Coronation Street.
All clustered together.

9
00:00:53,800 --> 00:01:00,920
As a lad, from the back window,
I could see the signal box
of the main line to Manchester.

10
00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:07,600
On moonlit nights,
you could hear the whistle blowing
as it approached Bolton.

11
00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,720
It'd bash across the end
of this ginnel,

12
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:15,560
fire hole door open, and you could
see characters on the footplate.

13
00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:20,880
That's what inspired me and
got me interested in steam engines.

14
00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:23,520
Then, I got really lucky.

15
00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:28,840
I sat on the end of the platform
with a platform ticket in the rain,

16
00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:35,000
and the guy'd bring the train in,
and stop it dead level with me
at the end.

17
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,160
Have a quick look to see
if there was anyone about,

18
00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:43,520
and then give me a wave
to jump on the engine.

19
00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:47,520
We went 20 miles.
It were quite exciting.

20
00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:53,600
That was 1950, when locomotive
engineering was at its peak.

21
00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,480
At the Bluebell Line
in East Sussex,

22
00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:03,000
they have the largest
collection of ex-southern region
locomotives in the country.

23
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:08,760
The last steam locos were withdrawn
from British Rail in 1968.

24
00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:12,440
But here you can still see them
steaming away.

25
00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:17,800
This one's a Bulleid Light Pacific
Blackmoor Vale, built in 1946.

26
00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:23,640
The reason for the name Bullied is,
it's named after its creator,

27
00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:26,960
Oliver Vaughn Snell Bullied.

28
00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:33,440
He introduced new things like
electric welding on his locomotive
building to reduce weight.

29
00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:40,120
And he put this beautiful
characteristic streamlining on
to reduce air resistance.

30
00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:46,080
Blackmoor Vale was one of the last
Pacifics to run on British Rail.

31
00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:51,680
Steve, it's like the ultimate,
isn't it? The refinements.

32
00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:56,800
I know that Mr Bullied did a lot
of welding, but what else is there?

33
00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:04,280
I've noticed other fancy bits.
They made things easier for the
crew, like the steam operated doors.

34
00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:08,560
On the main line, when you're doing
80-90 mile an hour,

35
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,160
they're great,
cos there's a big draw on the fire.

36
00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:16,840
Operating the doors quickly,
helps keep the... Keep the heat in.

37
00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:20,920
Another thing's electric lighting.
To light up the gauges.

38
00:03:20,920 --> 00:03:26,480
You can see the boiler water level,
see the reverser in the dark.

39
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:31,400
These would've done 80 to 90
miles an hour on the main line.

40
00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:34,720
On this preserved railway
we're allowed 25.

41
00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,600
At 25 miles an hour,
it feels like it'll take off,

42
00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,920
and you've got to hold it back.
Very frustrating. Yes.

43
00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:49,360
Anybody who's never had
a ride on a locomotive
going fast has never lived.

44
00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:56,480
The Pacifics were the supreme end
of the steam engine.

45
00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:01,680
They remind you of when steam
engines were king of the rails,

46
00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,000
and British Rail
were the envy of the world.

47
00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,760
ENGINE WHISTLE BLOWS

48
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:20,040
Under the fancy paint and lagging
is this, a locomotive boiler.

49
00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:24,960
You look at it, there's the cab
with two windows in each corner.

50
00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:32,240
Near to them is this big square
bit, sticking out, and then the
boiler barrel, the round bit,

51
00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:37,320
goes along to the funnel end and
this bit is called the firebox.

52
00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:43,240
All these are screwed stays
that go through this outer plate,

53
00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:49,600
through two inches of water,
and through the firebox
which is on the inside.

54
00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:55,600
If these stays weren't here,
when the pressure's up
to 150 lbs per square inch,

55
00:04:55,600 --> 00:05:01,440
it would end up like a beer barrel.
All these stays are very important.

56
00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:06,960
Round the back, this is if we were
steaming along the railway.

57
00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:10,440
Now, the footplate would be
about here.

58
00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,480
Of course, much wider,
maybe six, seven feet wide

59
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,600
against this two foot wide.

60
00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:23,480
Then you open the door and fling in
the wood and right at the far end,

61
00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:30,760
you can see the tubes which
Stephenson's Rocket were the first
locomotive to have it like this.

62
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:36,040
Them tubes go from the firebox
to the smoke box at the other end.

63
00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:40,600
The products of combustion,
the heat goes through the tubes,

64
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:45,720
boiling the water a lot faster
than great single-flued boilers -

65
00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,400
like the early locomotives
that they made.

66
00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:54,720
It's time we put more wood on to
get the water boiling. Here we go.

67
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:06,280
Locomotive engineering reached
its peak between the 1930s
and the 1950s.

68
00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:11,880
It was the time when the great
passenger express locos were built.

69
00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:19,560
The early railways were very
primitive affairs. Basically,
just horse-drawn waggonways.

70
00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:24,120
Their early history was quite
chequered and confusing.

71
00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:31,000
The first railways got coal
from the collieries down to rivers
and the sea.

72
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,960
This here is the Tanfield
Waggonway or light railway,

73
00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:40,400
which shows us a lot of how
early railways were developed.

74
00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:45,480
Opened in 1725, it's reputed to be
one of the oldest in the world.

75
00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,280
When it first started,
it was actually horse drawn.

76
00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:56,360
In the 18th century, it were the
biggest thing that moved coal in
England, possibly all the world.

77
00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,520
This wagon isn't an original one.

78
00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:04,600
It's a replica of the type of wagon
used on here with wooden rails.

79
00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:11,080
You can see even wooden wheels.
It's all wood apart
from a few iron spikes.

80
00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:17,360
Wooden rails and wheels
had lots of disadvantages.

81
00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:22,040
It only lasted 12 months
before the rails were worn away.

82
00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:26,320
They had trouble with the track
setting on fire.

83
00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:30,600
They came up with
some ingenious gimmicks.

84
00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:34,400
They did an
actual double row of wooden track,

85
00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:41,360
so as the top length of it wore
away, they could move sections
without disturbing the sleepers.

86
00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:48,240
This lasted until the 1830s, when
the track were replaced by metal.

87
00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:57,200
By this time, the first
steam-powered locos designed
to run on metal tracks appeared.

88
00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:02,080
The pioneer, as with many things
associated with steam,

89
00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:06,520
was the great Cornish engineer,
Richard Trevithick.

90
00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,880
Trevithick's first steam locos
ran on the roads.

91
00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:18,080
But the roads were so bad,
he decided to have a go
at one to run on the rails.

92
00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,640
In 1804, he was asked to build
a small locomotive

93
00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:28,480
for a South Wales mining and iron
company, called the Pen y Darren.

94
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:30,720
This is it. This is a replica of it.

95
00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:35,400
It was the first steam locomotive
that worked for a living.

96
00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:38,720
It's a rather ponderous thing
as you can see.

97
00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:45,120
The Pen y Darren pulled a load of
ten tonnes of iron ore and 70 men,

98
00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:49,400
for a distance of some ten miles
at five miles an hour.

99
00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:53,480
It won Richard Trevithick
a prize of £500 for being

100
00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:57,880
the first man in the world
to build a successful locomotive.

101
00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:03,440
Pen y Darren was the first steam
engine to work on a railroad.

102
00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,040
But there were problems with it,

103
00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:11,600
like getting enough grip for smooth
wheels to run on a smooth track.

104
00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:17,840
Trevithick abandoned his
experiments, but other engineers
worked away at the idea.

105
00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:22,360
In the early 1800s,
one place led the world.

106
00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:28,720
It's Northumbria
you've got to come to, to find
the early days of the railways.

107
00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:33,480
On the Pockerley Waggonway,
in the Beamish Open Air Museum,

108
00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:39,680
they've recreated what the railways
of the period actually looked like.

109
00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:44,000
Inside this shed,
there's a collection of locomotives

110
00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,680
from the very earliest days
of the railways.

111
00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:53,720
This magnificent locomotive
is a full size working replica.

112
00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:58,240
It's got a wooden chassis,
and it's called the Steam Elephant.

113
00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:03,480
Study it and look at the funnel.
It's where it got its name from.

114
00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,200
It's just like an elephant's trunk.

115
00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:12,880
Originally built in 1815
by Chapman and Buddel,
for the Wallsend Colliery,

116
00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:19,160
It worked from 1815 to 1840,
and then mysteriously disappeared.

117
00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:25,560
These early locos were built
for the coalmines in the northeast.

118
00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:31,040
It was here that the most famous
man in railway history worked.

119
00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:35,800
George Stephenson was an
engine wright at Killingworth pit.

120
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:40,240
He'd be familiar with locos
like the Steam Elephant.

121
00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:45,200
He didn't invent the locomotive,
but he played the leading part

122
00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:52,880
in turning them onto a means
of hauling coal and transporting
passengers over long distances.

123
00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,960
It was the beginning
of the railways as we know them.

124
00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:03,960
Many think railway history started
in September 1825,

125
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:10,560
when George Stephenson's
Locomotion No. 1 pulled 38 wagons

126
00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:14,960
from Shildon to Darlington,
then on to Stockton.

127
00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:22,560
The train weighed 90 tonnes
and went at the unbelievable speed
of 12 miles an hour.

128
00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:26,800
It had two cylinders
which drove crossbeams and rods.

129
00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,880
The driver's position
is stood on the side on a plank,

130
00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:35,560
which is rather precarious.
He works the valve levers,

131
00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:39,040
and lets the steam
into the cylinders.

132
00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:46,120
On the first run, George
Stephenson drove the locomotive
and his brothers acted as firemen.

133
00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:52,640
It must've been exciting. Like
being an airline pilot in 1825.

134
00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:54,880
Incredible.

135
00:11:54,880 --> 00:12:00,120
It had no brakes to stop the thing.
The fireman had to jump off,

136
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:05,400
and pin down the brakes on the coal
wagon. Quite a hairy occupation.

137
00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:10,200
At the unbelievable
speed of 12 miles an hour!

138
00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:16,600
After the success of the Stockton
and Darlington line,

139
00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:23,720
Stephenson became principal
construction engineer for a line
between Liverpool and Manchester.

140
00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:30,800
As it neared completion, they had
to decide what sort of motive power
was to be used for the line.

141
00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:36,160
Some wanted horses and some thought
stationary engines would be best.

142
00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:43,480
Stephenson backed the loco,
and he managed to persuade the
directors to hold a competition,

143
00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:48,720
known as the Rainhill Trials,
to decide on the best design.

144
00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:56,640
Rocket, entered by George
Stephenson and his son Robert was
the most successful machine there.

145
00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:02,720
It outperformed the other
competitors with a top speed
of 24 miles an hour.

146
00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:09,160
At the National Railway Museum
they've got a cutaway replica
of Rocket

147
00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:13,240
that shows the innovations
that made it so successful.

148
00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:18,560
Stephenson went off track and came
up with a revolutionary design,

149
00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:22,240
which incorporated
the fire tube boiler

150
00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:28,480
and which really is the prototype
for all modern locomotive boilers
of today.

151
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,920
In relation to its weight and power,

152
00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:36,400
it went faster than any
other locomotive built before.

153
00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:40,880
It did away with all the beams
and levers of earlier locos.

154
00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:45,720
This was a revolutionary boiler,
never done before.

155
00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,840
The fact that the shell
had 25 copper tubes

156
00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:53,480
going from either end,
and the way to transfer the heat

157
00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:57,800
from the fire into these
tubes were this creation here.

158
00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:00,560
The beginnings of the true firebox.

159
00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:07,160
It worked better than
a single fire tube into the boiler
of the earlier models.

160
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:10,320
The other thing
were the blast pipe,

161
00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:14,000
which, when the piston
turned the wheels round

162
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,920
the escaping steam for the valve
chest went along that copper pipe

163
00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:24,160
and into the base of the funnel
and created a vacuum in the bottom

164
00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,000
which drew the fire
with a degree of violence.

165
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:33,080
Another thing were the connecting
rod which connected the piston

166
00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,560
to the crank pin
on the front wheel hub.

167
00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,000
It led to nice smooth running.

168
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:45,040
Wooden front wheels on springs.
Early engines didn't have springs.

169
00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:50,160
A clever way so the front axle
can oscillate and rock about.

170
00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:55,040
The crank pins are as big
as a tennis ball inside there.

171
00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:59,640
It's a round, steel ball
on the end of the crank pin,

172
00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:04,240
and the brasses are hollow
like an internal sphere.

173
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:11,680
So wherever in relation to the
piston rod were the connecting rod,
the thing would never bind up.

174
00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,960
The brilliant idea
of using many tubes

175
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:21,400
in the boiler instead of
one or two big ones was a good one.

176
00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,080
Stephenson didn't invent it.

177
00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:28,240
A man called Booth
drew on the back of a fag packet,

178
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,280
or some piece of paper!

179
00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:36,040
Stephenson was good at weighing up
what was the best on the market

180
00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,880
and, if it hadn't been
patented, using it himself.

181
00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:42,760
It turned out really successful!

182
00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:47,240
The Rocket ran for a few years
after its trials at Rainhill.

183
00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:51,880
The cylinders were too high up
and the whole thing was top-heavy.

184
00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,360
When you opened it up
it used to rock about,

185
00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,440
but the Rocket is
really without a shadow of a doubt

186
00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:05,240
the forerunner of the modern steam
locomotive as we know it today.

187
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,200
Alongside Rocket
they've another of the competitors

188
00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:15,840
built by Timothy Hackworth
who was Superintendent on the
Stockton and Darlington Railway.

189
00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:18,400
Timothy built the Sans Pareil

190
00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:23,360
to enter the Rainhill trials and it
were really Stephenson's only rival.

191
00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:28,560
The Sans Pareil were quite
old technology for the time.

192
00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:32,120
It had the usual shell
with the huge flue in it.

193
00:16:32,120 --> 00:16:34,760
It had one or two other oddities.

194
00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:40,240
The driver were at one end
and the fireman were at the other!

195
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,880
After a promising start,
disaster struck.

196
00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,640
A cylinder split from top to bottom.

197
00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:53,440
The water pump failed and they
nearly ran out of water, which
might have caused an explosion.

198
00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:58,120
It must have been difficult for
Hackworth to build a locomotive.

199
00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,000
He didn't even have a workshop.

200
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,960
He had to buy all the parts in.

201
00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:10,520
The main parts -
the cylinders - were done
by his rival, George Stephenson.

202
00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:16,760
He was bitter because the word
"sabotage" came into it at the end

203
00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,840
and ruined his chances
of winning the Rainhill trials.

204
00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:23,920
I don't think it COULD have won.

205
00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:28,000
The Rocket was
the engine that were far superior.

206
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:33,120
With its fire tube boiler it was
a much better steamer altogether.

207
00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:44,840
The success of Rocket finally
established what motive power

208
00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:49,720
were going to be used on the
Liverpool to Manchester railway,

209
00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,760
and it was immediately
equipped with locomotives.

210
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,000
Stephenson got
the contract to build it.

211
00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:02,720
The work was done by his son Robert
at his Forth Street locomotive works

212
00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:07,400
in Newcastle which became the
leading manufacturer in the world.

213
00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,480
By 1830, around a 100 locomotives
had been built in Britain.

214
00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:17,360
Stephenson introduced
the Planet class for work
on the Liverpool and Manchester.

215
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,800
Other railways had different ideas.

216
00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:25,120
A steam locomotive
didn't take over overnight.

217
00:18:25,120 --> 00:18:31,960
Even after the success of the
Stockton and Darlington and
Liverpool to Manchester railway,

218
00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,000
other railways were being built.

219
00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:39,880
It was a combination of old
horsepower and new horsepower.

220
00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:44,800
It seems a convoluted and
hotch-potch method to do things

221
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:52,000
but it worked because that's what
they had here at the Cromford and
High Peak railway in Derbyshire.

222
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:58,200
When the entrepreneurs wanted to
build a canal from the Cromford
Canal to the High Peak Canal

223
00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:03,040
it proved too expensive to cut
and build locks over these hills.

224
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:08,080
They settled for a system
of inclined planes and flat parts.

225
00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:12,960
On the flat, horses were the motive
power but on the inclined planes

226
00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:16,280
they had double-acting
winding drums and engine houses.

227
00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:23,360
The wire hawser went round this
wheel, down to the bottom of the
hill and round another wheel.

228
00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:26,880
It would have been
an endless rope haulage system.

229
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:32,080
The full ones came up the hill
carrying ten tonnes of limestone

230
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:36,960
The empty ones came down
as a sort of counterbalance.

231
00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,440
Originally there were
nine of these winding engine houses.

232
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,440
This is the only one left
and it still works.

233
00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:54,640
This is it. This is the winding
engine at the top of the incline.

234
00:19:54,640 --> 00:20:00,480
It was built in 1829 by the Butterly
Iron Company down the road.

235
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:07,360
Basically, it's two single-cylinder
steam engines joined together
by a common crank shaft.

236
00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:14,080
And as you can see behind me, the
flywheel is in the middle and the
rope drums disappear with the rope

237
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,600
out through the wall.

238
00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:21,240
In the days of low pressures
they needed more pressure.

239
00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:27,120
It were quite common to build two
engines and place them side by side.

240
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,000
Rope haulage railways like this

241
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:38,320
were quite common and continued to
be built well into the 19th century,

242
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,160
mainly to pull coal.

243
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:45,240
This is the Bowes railway
that operated until 1974.

244
00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:50,920
This sort of thing never really
took off for passenger railways.

245
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,440
As the railway network
spread across the country

246
00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,840
it was the locomotive
that won the day.

247
00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:05,160
Between 1830 and the end of the
century, massive progress was made
in locomotive design.

248
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:10,000
This one at the National Railway
Museum was based on a design

249
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,240
Robert Stephenson
came up with in the 1830s.

250
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,760
It's amazing what progress
was made in such a short time.

251
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:23,600
Here on the Bluebell Line, they've
got a couple of engines in steam
that go back to those early days.

252
00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:32,600
By the 1870s, London was growing
and they needed little locomotives

253
00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:36,160
for what we now know
as commuting services.

254
00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,120
Fenchurch was one
of the locos designed for the job.

255
00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:42,200
STEAM HISSES

256
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,400
Lovely!

257
00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:48,360
That was all right, wasn't it? Yes!

258
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:55,400
This locomotive - Fenchurch - is
what's known as a Terrier.

259
00:21:55,400 --> 00:22:01,480
It's a small locomotive and very
popular in the southern counties

260
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,840
and on the rural lines.

261
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:11,680
It was designed by Mr Stroudley
in the 1870s and they made a lot.
There's a lot of nice bits on it.

262
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:16,240
The exhaust could be converted
from going up the funnel

263
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:22,520
or diverted to the water tank
which pre-heats the water
and saves a bit of water

264
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,960
that would
normally condense in the atmosphere.

265
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:30,120
Considering it were
made in 1872 and is still here...

266
00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:32,760
it's quite a credit to Mr Stroudley!

267
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:40,080
The development of the railways
wasn't straightforward.

268
00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:43,000
Especially when the great engineer

269
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,640
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
was involved.

270
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:51,000
Britain's railway network had
developed a 4ft 8.5 inch gauge.

271
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:57,760
Brunel's Great Western Railway
was built with a seven foot
and quarter inch gauge.

272
00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:01,920
When Brunel
got the idea for his railway

273
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,080
he already thought
that George Stephenson and his son

274
00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:10,560
and their 4ft 8.5 inch railway
was far too narrow.

275
00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:14,320
That's why he settled for 7ft wide,
like this, you see.

276
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:17,920
Of course, already half of England

277
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,640
was covered in 4ft 8.5 inch
railways.

278
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:25,840
It didn't seem to dawn on him
that it would be a bit awkward.

279
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:32,000
He thought that it wouldn't be much
trouble getting off a narrow train

280
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,600
and getting
on one that was 7ft wide.

281
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:39,800
For a time they had both systems.

282
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:44,360
The 4ft 8.5 and the 7ft gauge
running together.

283
00:23:44,360 --> 00:23:49,160
But it must have got complicated
when they come to a junction

284
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,680
or a crossover.

285
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:57,400
If you're outside a railway station
what's just got 4ft 8.5...

286
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:03,040
Outside Paddington with both sets it
must have been a complicated affair.

287
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:09,320
It's the reason they did away with
Brunel's extra line on the outside.

288
00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,000
Bit of a shame really.

289
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:16,160
If they'd kept them 7ft wide
it might be a lot smoother

290
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,920
and a lot faster and everything.

291
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:23,760
But Mr Stephenson
won with his 4ft 8.5!

292
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:30,560
The sad thing is that in the 1890s
they did away with the broad gauge.

293
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:36,360
All the locomotives that couldn't
be converted were given the chop.

294
00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:39,200
ENGINE WHISTLES

295
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:46,120
There are no original Great Western
broad gauge trains around today.

296
00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:49,960
To see what they were like
they've built replicas.

297
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:55,880
This is Iron Duke which I rode
at the National Railway Museum.

298
00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:05,880
Here at the Didcot Railway Centre
they are constructing a replica

299
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,760
of a broad gauge
Firefly class locomotive.

300
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:14,480
They've got the frames, cylinders,
cranks, the wheels and everything.

301
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:21,080
The boiler's been tested
and all they have to do is get it
into the frames and connect it.

302
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:27,800
Then they can ride on a section
of 7ft gauge track they've built.

303
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:35,320
In spite of losing the battle of the
gauges, the Great Western Railway
went from strength to strength.

304
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:41,800
In 1902 they appointed
George Jackson Churchward
as the locomotive superintendent.

305
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:47,880
He produced designs which were far
ahead of the time and successful.

306
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,600
The work
that was begun by Churchward

307
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:57,480
was continued by CB Collet
who took over in 1922.

308
00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:04,200
His kings and castles had become
a benchmark in the designs
of passenger locomotives.

309
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,680
By the 1930s,
the Great Western Railways engines

310
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,280
were amongst
the most famous in the land.

311
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,800
Here at the Didcot Railway Centre

312
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:27,880
you get the feeling of
what steam locomotion was like
on the Great Western Railway.

313
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:29,440
TRAIN WHISTLES

314
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:38,600
Mmm!

315
00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,440
Fair turn of speed this time.

316
00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,480
The maximum we can do is 25mph

317
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:57,480
but it's quite
straightforward and comfortable.

318
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:02,200
What were the big improvements
on these particular things?

319
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,960
A larger boiler
and a four cylinder arrangement.

320
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:09,680
Two sets of lotions
which drive each pair of cylinders.

321
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:16,720
I read somewhere...when they'd got
to get from London to Bristol at a
mile a minute...

322
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:22,000
That was one of the requirements
and they certainly achieved that.

323
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:27,400
They could go faster
but 100mph was pushing them. Yes.

324
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:31,040
How many of this particular class
have survived?

325
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,920
Eight, I believe.
There were originally 171.

326
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,840
What lines did they run on?

327
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:44,880
The Great Western radiated from
Paddington so they used them
for going west to Bristol,

328
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:49,760
on the lines through Exeter and
Plymouth and to Wales and Birmingham.

329
00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,800
By the 1930s when this was built,

330
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:04,640
steam locomotive had come
a long way from the first efforts
they'd made a hundred years earlier.

331
00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:14,560
Between 1804 and 1971, Britain
had built 110,000 steam locomotives.

332
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,480
The development of the railways

333
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:22,840
was one of the greatest technical
developments in British history.