1
00:00:03,287 --> 00:00:07,075
Well, I suppose it all began
when I was a kid, really.

2
00:00:08,087 --> 00:00:13,878
I can remember my dad coming home
and telling us stories of things he'd seen...

3
00:00:14,047 --> 00:00:18,802
and then he'd take me to places
where I could see these things as well.

4
00:00:18,967 --> 00:00:23,279
Embankments, cuttings, entrances to tunnels.

5
00:00:24,327 --> 00:00:28,923
And there'd be the usual books and photos
passed around at school.

6
00:00:29,087 --> 00:00:31,237
Like kids do.

7
00:00:32,647 --> 00:00:37,357
Then a couple of friends said
would I like to try the real thing?

8
00:00:38,367 --> 00:00:41,359
I said, "Yes." From then on...

9
00:00:42,527 --> 00:00:46,236
Well, I admit it. I was hooked.

10
00:00:46,407 --> 00:00:48,363
(TICKING)

11
00:01:03,647 --> 00:01:06,115
(TRAIN WHISTLE)

12
00:01:20,967 --> 00:01:23,959
(BIG BEN CHIMES)

13
00:01:37,367 --> 00:01:39,835
(HORN HONKS)

14
00:01:41,927 --> 00:01:47,445
I must say, I do like railways - perhaps
not quite as much as I did 25 years ago.

15
00:01:47,607 --> 00:01:51,646
Then my idea of happiness was
to stand on Sheffield Midland station

16
00:01:51,807 --> 00:01:53,798
on a rain-soaked platform

17
00:01:53,967 --> 00:01:58,199
with a notebook, a pencil,
a soggy pork pie and a bottle of Tizer.

18
00:01:58,367 --> 00:02:03,077
Will the journey I'm setting out on mean
as much now as it would have done then?

19
00:02:03,247 --> 00:02:07,684
When to travel the length of Britain by rail
was an inaccessible dream.

20
00:02:07,847 --> 00:02:09,917
Well, we'll see.

21
00:02:10,087 --> 00:02:13,477
- Bye! Goodbye.
- Bye!

22
00:02:13,647 --> 00:02:15,319
Bye!

23
00:02:17,887 --> 00:02:21,277
I'm going to Kyle of Lochalsh
in north-west Scotland

24
00:02:21,447 --> 00:02:26,760
and I've decided to go all the way by train -
just because it's still possible -

25
00:02:26,927 --> 00:02:30,886
and to find out if there is
anything of the trainspotter left in me.

26
00:02:31,047 --> 00:02:35,563
I've got my old spotters' book.
"lan Allan, ABC" of 1955.

27
00:02:35,727 --> 00:02:38,924
Every engine I saw was neatly underlined.

28
00:02:39,087 --> 00:02:45,242
Lady Godiva, Seychelles, Howard of
Effingham. Still, mustn't get sentimental.

29
00:02:45,407 --> 00:02:49,082
Railways nowadays have to be practical
and cost effective.

30
00:02:49,247 --> 00:02:52,876
Which is why St Pancras Station
of the 1860s looks like this

31
00:02:53,047 --> 00:02:56,278
and Euston Station of the 1960s looks like this.

32
00:03:01,047 --> 00:03:04,164
Euston always reminds me of a giant bath.

33
00:03:04,327 --> 00:03:07,285
Lots of slippery marble and glass surfaces

34
00:03:07,447 --> 00:03:11,360
so that people can be sloshed
quickly and efficiently around.

35
00:03:13,647 --> 00:03:17,606
All 65,000 of them daily to 200 destinations -

36
00:03:17,767 --> 00:03:20,361
from London to the north of Scotland.

37
00:03:20,527 --> 00:03:25,840
(ANN0UNCER)... for the 12.55
calling at Stafford, Crewe, Wilmslow,

38
00:03:26,007 --> 00:03:29,204
Stockport and Manchester, Piccadilly.

39
00:03:29,367 --> 00:03:32,325
The buffet car is in the centre of the train...

40
00:03:32,487 --> 00:03:38,198
(PALIN) You're not encouraged to linger
in Euston - that's why there aren't any seats.

41
00:03:38,367 --> 00:03:41,040
They don't want people sticking to the bath.

42
00:03:41,207 --> 00:03:44,722
You just check your ticket
and off down the plughole.

43
00:03:50,727 --> 00:03:53,195
There's not much to see down here.

44
00:03:53,367 --> 00:03:57,485
They've taken the tea rooms and the bars
away from the trains.

45
00:03:57,647 --> 00:04:02,402
What are engines nowadays anyway?
Just machines to get you from A to B.

46
00:04:02,567 --> 00:04:05,365
I wonder why they still give them names.

47
00:04:15,047 --> 00:04:21,043
0ne reminder of the old-style railways
that's still left is the Manchester Pullman.

48
00:04:22,327 --> 00:04:25,603
Last survivor of luxury travel.

49
00:04:25,767 --> 00:04:32,240
For first-class fare, plus a bit more,
you can still get pampered with waiter service.

50
00:04:36,607 --> 00:04:41,522
It's the way to travel or, if the BBC
are paying, you can just watch it,

51
00:04:41,687 --> 00:04:46,158
secure in the knowledge that Pullmans
won't be with us for much longer.

52
00:04:47,607 --> 00:04:51,964
In the age of the train,
it's going to be Inter-City for everyone.

53
00:04:59,207 --> 00:05:03,405
The start of a train journey -
one of the great sensations of life.

54
00:05:03,567 --> 00:05:08,880
It's hard to believe I'll be on railway lines
from here to the Isle of Skye.

55
00:05:16,007 --> 00:05:21,525
It's a pity they don't call trains like this
"expresses" any more.

56
00:05:21,687 --> 00:05:24,963
But they have tried to keep the human touch.

57
00:05:25,127 --> 00:05:30,042
(ANN0UNCER) British Rail welcomes you
to the Euston to Manchester service.

58
00:05:30,207 --> 00:05:34,325
The reason for the late start
from Euston this morning...

59
00:05:34,487 --> 00:05:36,682
they had not got a guard for the train.

60
00:05:36,847 --> 00:05:43,082
Personally, I'm not on duty till half past ten,
but I happened to be at Euston a bit early.

61
00:05:44,807 --> 00:05:48,436
- Coffee?
- Yes, please. I think so.

62
00:05:48,607 --> 00:05:51,599
I need something. It's going so slowly today.

63
00:05:52,687 --> 00:05:56,396
- Would you like a sandwich?
- No. I'll just have the coffee.

64
00:05:56,567 --> 00:05:58,603
That's 21, please.

65
00:05:58,767 --> 00:06:02,806
How many more trips
have you got to do today on this train?

66
00:06:02,967 --> 00:06:04,286
Two.

67
00:06:04,447 --> 00:06:09,077
So you go up to Manchester
and then back down to Euston again, do you?

68
00:06:09,247 --> 00:06:13,798
From Manchester, we go back to London,
then back to Liverpool.

69
00:06:13,967 --> 00:06:16,606
What time do they start you in the morning?

70
00:06:16,767 --> 00:06:21,636
- Quarter to six.
- That's when you have to get to the train?

71
00:06:21,807 --> 00:06:25,641
The station, yeah. Half past four to get up.

72
00:06:25,807 --> 00:06:28,765
Well, I hope the coffee's good.
There's nothing in it.

73
00:06:32,087 --> 00:06:36,877
Along this stretch was set
one of British Railways' many world records -

74
00:06:37,047 --> 00:06:40,801
the record for lifting large sums of money
out of trains.

75
00:06:40,967 --> 00:06:45,483
In 1963, the night mail was relieved here
of £2.25 million -

76
00:06:45,647 --> 00:06:49,003
enough for 600,000 Awaydays to Brighton.

77
00:06:55,607 --> 00:07:01,239
This was the first refreshment stop
outside London before they put food on trains,

78
00:07:01,407 --> 00:07:05,525
when they had to serve entire expresses
in ten minutes flat.

79
00:07:05,687 --> 00:07:08,997
- (TILLS RING)
- A large brown Windsor!

80
00:07:09,167 --> 00:07:13,319
- Kedgeree for two, please!
- Devilled kidneys, please.

81
00:07:13,487 --> 00:07:15,955
- Got any muffins?
- 18 teas, quickly.

82
00:07:16,127 --> 00:07:19,005
A crate of stout and 24 glasses, please.

83
00:07:26,887 --> 00:07:30,721
You'd have to move fast
to get a sausage roll nowadays.

84
00:07:39,167 --> 00:07:42,921
100 miles an hour now
as we pass the Grand Junction Canal,

85
00:07:43,087 --> 00:07:46,284
built 33 years before they opened this railway.

86
00:07:49,767 --> 00:07:54,602
No wonder the canal owners hated the railways -
they had spent a lot of money

87
00:07:54,767 --> 00:07:59,477
on what was becoming Britain's
shortest-lived transport revolution.

88
00:08:00,967 --> 00:08:06,166
130 years later, the railways themselves
had to fight an even bigger threat.

89
00:08:10,167 --> 00:08:12,727
Who needed crowded, unpunctual trains

90
00:08:12,887 --> 00:08:16,516
when you could drive from London
to Birmingham in a couple of hours?

91
00:08:16,687 --> 00:08:19,360
But now the M1 is overcrowded

92
00:08:19,527 --> 00:08:23,566
and with canals undergoing a revival
and railways electrified,

93
00:08:23,727 --> 00:08:28,960
the talk's all of an "integrated
transport system", so nobody won.

94
00:08:32,287 --> 00:08:36,644
Someone told me that engine drivers
were instructed to go to full speed

95
00:08:36,807 --> 00:08:41,119
whenever they're alongside a road.
It's a nice story.

96
00:08:42,287 --> 00:08:45,324
Crewel A trainspotter's dream.

97
00:08:45,487 --> 00:08:47,796
In 1841 it was one farmhouse.

98
00:08:47,967 --> 00:08:51,721
Since then Crewe
has built thousands of locomotives

99
00:08:51,887 --> 00:08:55,880
and, in common with other railway towns
like Darlington and Doncaster,

100
00:08:56,047 --> 00:09:01,201
runs a football team that's permanently
at the bottom of the Fourth Division.

101
00:09:02,087 --> 00:09:05,716
Despite the horrors painted
by the early opposition to railways -

102
00:09:05,887 --> 00:09:08,959
hens ceasing to lay,
pregnant women miscarrying,

103
00:09:09,127 --> 00:09:11,561
pheasants dying before they could be shot -

104
00:09:11,727 --> 00:09:16,243
technological progress in the early
19th century was unstoppable.

105
00:09:21,247 --> 00:09:23,238
30 miles from Jodrell Bank,

106
00:09:23,407 --> 00:09:29,642
the world's first regular passenger railway
service began on September 15th 1830.

107
00:09:33,127 --> 00:09:35,846
It ran between Liverpool and Manchester.

108
00:09:36,007 --> 00:09:41,798
This is a replica of the engine that made it
possible - George Stephenson's Rocket.

109
00:09:41,967 --> 00:09:46,518
Built in 1829, it started a love affair
that's lasted ever since.

110
00:09:46,687 --> 00:09:51,522
(MUSIC: COVER VERSION OF
"AND I LOVE HER" BY THE BEATLES)

111
00:09:56,967 --> 00:10:01,438
# I give her all my love

112
00:10:01,607 --> 00:10:04,997
# That's all I do

113
00:10:06,487 --> 00:10:10,446
# And if you saw my love

114
00:10:10,607 --> 00:10:14,043
# You'd love her too

115
00:10:14,207 --> 00:10:17,836
# I love her

116
00:10:19,847 --> 00:10:24,238
# She gives me everything

117
00:10:24,407 --> 00:10:28,241
# And tenderly

118
00:10:29,287 --> 00:10:33,405
# The kiss my lover brings

119
00:10:33,567 --> 00:10:36,877
# She brings to me

120
00:10:37,047 --> 00:10:40,835
# And I love her

121
00:10:43,247 --> 00:10:47,206
# A love like ours

122
00:10:47,367 --> 00:10:51,838
# Could never die

123
00:10:52,007 --> 00:10:55,317
# As long as I

124
00:10:55,487 --> 00:10:59,116
# Have you near me

125
00:11:01,207 --> 00:11:05,758
# Bright are the stars that shine

126
00:11:05,927 --> 00:11:10,318
# Dark is the sky

127
00:11:10,487 --> 00:11:14,878
# I know this love of mine

128
00:11:15,047 --> 00:11:18,517
# Will never die

129
00:11:18,687 --> 00:11:22,680
# And I love her... #

130
00:11:32,607 --> 00:11:35,599
(FAINT BAGPIPE MUSIC)

131
00:11:45,647 --> 00:11:48,844
I suppose true railway buffs
love all engines -

132
00:11:49,007 --> 00:11:55,082
short, fat, squat, long, rumbling, smelly diesels
or swiftly silent electrics -

133
00:11:55,247 --> 00:11:57,886
but, most of all, they love steam.

134
00:11:58,047 --> 00:12:02,040
And the most famous steam engine
of them all is Flying Scotsman.

135
00:12:03,567 --> 00:12:08,687
Built in 1923, retired in 1963,
and still going strong.

136
00:12:08,847 --> 00:12:11,202
The first locomotive to 100 miles an hour.

137
00:12:11,367 --> 00:12:15,201
I couldn't miss this trip -
and I'm not the only one either.

138
00:12:19,087 --> 00:12:24,036
She's like an old film star now.
Everything she says is faithfully recorded.

139
00:12:24,207 --> 00:12:27,677
Every inch of her body explored
by a thousand lenses.

140
00:12:27,847 --> 00:12:31,078
Is it just us who are like this - the British?

141
00:12:31,247 --> 00:12:33,636
Are there any trainspotters in Sicily?

142
00:12:33,807 --> 00:12:38,801
Do Belgians go misty-eyed at the thought
of seeing the 12. 16 to Antwerp?

143
00:12:38,967 --> 00:12:42,084
Do Swedes save up all year for a Hasselblad

144
00:12:42,247 --> 00:12:47,765
to photograph a Stockholm to Gothenburg
coal train breasting a one-in-57 gradient?

145
00:12:53,407 --> 00:12:56,877
I think the root of the love affair lies in the cab.

146
00:12:57,967 --> 00:13:01,323
This is where the important people travel.

147
00:13:01,487 --> 00:13:05,162
Bill McAlpine, whose money
keeps Flying Scotsman going,

148
00:13:05,327 --> 00:13:08,763
and the driver and the fireman
recreating the days

149
00:13:08,927 --> 00:13:12,397
when physical human effort drove railway trains.

150
00:13:12,567 --> 00:13:15,035
And these are their fans.

151
00:13:17,567 --> 00:13:20,525
I'll try and identify those two stations.

152
00:13:20,687 --> 00:13:22,996
It's a very simple tape recorder.

153
00:13:23,167 --> 00:13:27,683
- I'm recording the sound of the locomotive.
- Throughout the journey?

154
00:13:27,847 --> 00:13:30,566
Throughout most of the journey, yes.

155
00:13:30,727 --> 00:13:33,844
On the downhill stretches you don't hear much.

156
00:13:34,007 --> 00:13:36,999
You get the best recordings when she's pulling.

157
00:13:37,167 --> 00:13:40,239
When do you play these? At home?

158
00:13:40,407 --> 00:13:45,720
We have stereophonic locomotives
steaming through the house at all times.

159
00:13:53,007 --> 00:13:58,843
I think it's great to be able to travel
on a train like this - The Flying Scotsman.

160
00:13:59,847 --> 00:14:04,238
I'm 71 years of age
and this is my only way of travelling...

161
00:14:04,407 --> 00:14:07,922
in my younger days,
was travelling on steam trains.

162
00:14:08,087 --> 00:14:11,284
I think it's one of the nicest days I've had out.

163
00:14:11,447 --> 00:14:16,123
It's brought back memories. Great memories too.

164
00:14:26,487 --> 00:14:30,116
It's travelling behind steam -
The Flying Scotsman.

165
00:14:30,287 --> 00:14:36,681
Reliving the age of steam of yesteryear.
Reminding me of many journeys of my youth.

166
00:14:36,847 --> 00:14:41,045
It's a living machine
that has a tremendous attraction for me.

167
00:14:41,207 --> 00:14:45,280
I just like seeing it work,
particularly travelling with them.

168
00:14:45,447 --> 00:14:48,564
I go as much as the money will allow.

169
00:14:51,287 --> 00:14:55,519
It's sight, sound and emotion.

170
00:14:56,327 --> 00:15:02,323
You like the look of the wheels going round -
the motion of the driving wheels -

171
00:15:02,487 --> 00:15:06,321
and you also enjoy the sound of it and the sight.

172
00:15:06,487 --> 00:15:10,196
It's magnificent.
People have love affairs with steam engines.

173
00:15:10,367 --> 00:15:13,996
Have you always been interested in railways?

174
00:15:14,167 --> 00:15:20,766
Very nearly. There was a short period
when I became interested in girls -

175
00:15:20,927 --> 00:15:24,203
at the usual age - and eventually I got married.

176
00:15:24,367 --> 00:15:26,835
Then I went back to railways again

177
00:15:27,007 --> 00:15:30,477
and combined the married life with playing trains.

178
00:15:30,647 --> 00:15:35,118
Thousands of people have turned out
to watch us all playing trains

179
00:15:35,287 --> 00:15:41,123
and to stare enviously at the lucky hundreds
inside watching themselves being stared at.

180
00:15:43,327 --> 00:15:44,760
Wensleydale?

181
00:15:44,927 --> 00:15:48,715
And the even luckier few
who've spurned packed lunches

182
00:15:48,887 --> 00:15:53,438
in order to eat a four-course meal
behind Flying Scotsman.

183
00:15:58,567 --> 00:16:02,242
What could be nicer
than sipping large gin and tonics

184
00:16:02,407 --> 00:16:05,240
through the Yorkshire coalfields?

185
00:16:05,407 --> 00:16:10,959
I'm being Queen for a day.
Now I know what our Queen feels like.

186
00:16:11,967 --> 00:16:18,839
All these beautiful people and the joy
on their faces when they saw us coming.

187
00:16:19,887 --> 00:16:23,596
It's tremendous. What has happened?

188
00:16:23,767 --> 00:16:28,397
We've forgotten all about the steam train,
haven't we?

189
00:17:08,167 --> 00:17:14,003
Manchester to York in 1980, but the image
could be any time in the last 60 years.

190
00:17:14,167 --> 00:17:16,681
It's an enduring image of England -

191
00:17:16,847 --> 00:17:19,645
that made the Englishman abroad go misty-eyed

192
00:17:19,807 --> 00:17:21,923
and reach sadly for the whisky bottle.

193
00:17:22,087 --> 00:17:25,875
The England of "Thomas The Tank Engine"
and "The Railway Children"

194
00:17:26,047 --> 00:17:28,686
when the trains were always friendly.

195
00:18:14,287 --> 00:18:19,759
The Scotsman, having satisfied her audience
with another 0scar-winning performance,

196
00:18:19,927 --> 00:18:24,239
strolls in rather leisurely fashion
to a curtain call at York.

197
00:18:35,567 --> 00:18:39,924
With its superb curving roof,
800 feet long and over 100 years old,

198
00:18:40,087 --> 00:18:44,205
York Station holds its own
with the great buildings outside -

199
00:18:44,367 --> 00:18:47,404
the Norman cathedral, the city wall...

200
00:18:47,567 --> 00:18:52,516
and the National Railway Museum -
definitely worth missing a train for.

201
00:18:52,687 --> 00:18:56,236
Not just preserved locos,
but seats, signs, posters,

202
00:18:56,407 --> 00:19:00,605
toys, teacups, buttons
and other bits of the railway age.

203
00:19:04,367 --> 00:19:09,122
(AMERICAN ACCENT) Is that a replica
of the crown, do you suppose?

204
00:19:09,287 --> 00:19:14,600
- Indeed. With the lions and unicorns.
- I wonder who Stephenson was.

205
00:19:17,447 --> 00:19:20,086
I hope the Americans haven't missed this.

206
00:19:20,247 --> 00:19:22,238
It's called Agenoria,

207
00:19:22,407 --> 00:19:27,242
and its sister engine, Stourbridge Lion,
was exported to the USA in 1829

208
00:19:27,407 --> 00:19:31,685
to be the first steam locomotive
to run on the American continent.

209
00:19:32,687 --> 00:19:38,159
Which type can go further without refuelling?
The tank or the tender?

210
00:19:38,327 --> 00:19:42,286
The tender. That's correct. Circle it.

211
00:19:42,447 --> 00:19:46,042
Which type is better for short-distance work?

212
00:19:46,207 --> 00:19:48,846
The tank. That's correct.

213
00:19:49,887 --> 00:19:53,675
Mallard - still the world's fastest
steam locomotive.

214
00:19:53,847 --> 00:20:00,480
With Sir Nigel Gresley's streamlining,
it reached 126 miles an hour in July 1938.

215
00:20:01,727 --> 00:20:04,560
(CHILDREN ALL TALK AT ONCE)

216
00:20:04,727 --> 00:20:06,524
It looks like a fire engine.

217
00:20:06,687 --> 00:20:09,918
- It's the Mallard.
- Hey, look.

218
00:20:12,487 --> 00:20:15,559
The golden age of steam is preserved here -

219
00:20:15,727 --> 00:20:20,118
in aspic, perhaps,
but with care and love and respect.

220
00:20:20,287 --> 00:20:24,246
Not all steam engines
were retired quite so gracefully.

221
00:20:57,287 --> 00:21:02,486
There are engines here I would have waited
all day to see when I was a trainspotter.

222
00:21:38,087 --> 00:21:43,480
Deltic - one of the big diesels
built to replace steam in 1962.

223
00:21:43,647 --> 00:21:46,684
I could have caught one to Scotland,

224
00:21:46,847 --> 00:21:51,284
but I wanted to see what railways are like
away from the main lines.

225
00:21:51,447 --> 00:21:54,245
Well, some of them have been dug up -

226
00:21:54,407 --> 00:21:58,719
like the one I wanted to travel on
between York and Pickering.

227
00:21:58,887 --> 00:22:02,243
The end of steam also meant
the end for 5,000 miles of track,

228
00:22:02,407 --> 00:22:06,719
sacrificed by Dr Beeching
in order to save the rest of the system.

229
00:22:07,967 --> 00:22:11,243
But not everyone let their trains go that easily.

230
00:22:15,887 --> 00:22:20,836
It was just a big heap of rust
with no copper pipes, no fittings.

231
00:22:21,007 --> 00:22:25,364
Absolutely nothing. It was just rust.
No paint or anything.

232
00:22:25,527 --> 00:22:29,998
These are the workshops
of the North York Moors Railway.

233
00:22:30,167 --> 00:22:34,957
It's hard to believe what's going on here.
It's like being in a time warp.

234
00:22:36,407 --> 00:22:39,797
What goes on in here? Are they put together?

235
00:22:39,967 --> 00:22:41,639
That's right.

236
00:22:41,807 --> 00:22:47,359
You're obviously taking the wheels off
this locomotive. Why are these being removed?

237
00:22:47,527 --> 00:22:52,840
They're getting slightly worn now.
Metal on metal wears eventually.

238
00:22:53,007 --> 00:22:55,760
They've been taken out to be turned.

239
00:22:55,927 --> 00:23:02,400
What happens with restoring, say,
a cab like that? Where do you get the parts?

240
00:23:02,567 --> 00:23:08,802
Some we make ourselves, others we buy
as rough castings or as complete units.

241
00:23:08,967 --> 00:23:14,803
How much would a locomotive like this cost
when it comes here, in its present state?

242
00:23:14,967 --> 00:23:21,645
This particular one, I believe, cost
about £3,000-4,000 off British Railways.

243
00:23:21,807 --> 00:23:26,961
And how much once you've got to work on it?
What would it be worth then?

244
00:23:28,167 --> 00:23:30,283
Once it's in first-class condition

245
00:23:30,447 --> 00:23:35,441
it could be worth anything up to £90,000,
depending on who wants to buy it.

246
00:23:35,607 --> 00:23:38,679
- And people are buying locomotives?
- Yes.

247
00:23:38,847 --> 00:23:43,637
There's one up for sale now for 90,000,
if anybody's interested.

248
00:23:43,807 --> 00:23:47,516
You do this work and it's fairly grimy.

249
00:23:47,687 --> 00:23:52,477
Why do you do it? Why do you spend
so much time with locomotives?

250
00:23:53,607 --> 00:23:59,716
The enjoyment of it. I don't really know
why I do it. I'm mad about steam engines.

251
00:24:03,687 --> 00:24:06,247
Thank you very much, sir.

252
00:24:07,287 --> 00:24:10,006
To the end of the line, please. Where's that?

253
00:24:10,167 --> 00:24:13,443
- Grosmont Junction. A single?
- Yes, please.

254
00:24:13,607 --> 00:24:15,882
- How far is it?
- 18 miles.

255
00:24:16,047 --> 00:24:19,756
- You don't go near Edinburgh?
- I'm afraid not.

256
00:24:20,567 --> 00:24:23,684
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

257
00:24:45,487 --> 00:24:49,082
The North York Moors Railway
was opened by the Duchess of Kent

258
00:24:49,247 --> 00:24:52,125
four years after Dr Beeching closed it.

259
00:24:52,287 --> 00:24:55,962
There are 67 other
privately owned lines in Britain.

260
00:24:56,127 --> 00:25:01,599
Between them they've saved 300 miles of track
and nearly 500 steam locomotives.

261
00:25:01,767 --> 00:25:04,406
This is one of the oldest lines in the country,

262
00:25:04,567 --> 00:25:09,038
engineered by the same man
who built Rocket - George Stephenson.

263
00:25:32,687 --> 00:25:36,885
It's quite a difficult route
and Stephenson had to improvise.

264
00:25:37,047 --> 00:25:42,679
To carry the line over marshy ground,
his solution was to stitch animal skins together,

265
00:25:42,847 --> 00:25:46,362
fill them with ballast and float the line on top.

266
00:25:46,527 --> 00:25:50,076
It still works and still carries passengers.

267
00:25:50,247 --> 00:25:54,684
We come up twice a year -
at the beginning of the season, May/June,

268
00:25:54,847 --> 00:25:56,838
and then August/September.

269
00:25:57,007 --> 00:26:00,556
- The season? The railway spotting season?
- Yes.

270
00:26:00,727 --> 00:26:06,359
And the holiday season.
We don't get so many holidaymakers.

271
00:26:06,527 --> 00:26:09,439
- Regularly?
- Yes. Twice a year, every year.

272
00:26:09,607 --> 00:26:14,078
- How many years have you been doing that?
- About 16.

273
00:26:14,247 --> 00:26:18,923
Why? Is it just this railway
that draws you or all railways?

274
00:26:19,087 --> 00:26:22,762
Well, we combine a holiday
in Whitby, Robin Hood's Bay,

275
00:26:22,927 --> 00:26:24,918
with the railway as well.

276
00:26:25,087 --> 00:26:30,320
But we go trainspotting all round the country
during the year as well.

277
00:26:32,327 --> 00:26:36,240
0ne bonus for me is the sight
of my favourite steam engine -

278
00:26:36,407 --> 00:26:38,841
the Stanier Black Fives.

279
00:26:39,007 --> 00:26:42,079
(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

280
00:26:44,647 --> 00:26:47,525
They were the stock-in-trade in Sheffield.

281
00:26:47,687 --> 00:26:51,202
Unpretentious, straightforward and hard-working.

282
00:28:18,527 --> 00:28:20,836
This really is a marvellous line.

283
00:28:21,007 --> 00:28:25,239
It was very reluctantly that I left it
to go back to British Rail reality.

284
00:28:28,887 --> 00:28:31,879
(BIRDS TWITTER, SHEEP BLEAT)

285
00:28:36,367 --> 00:28:38,358
(TRAIN HORN)

286
00:28:38,527 --> 00:28:42,361
Ah, the familiar cry of the lesser-spotted DMU.

287
00:28:51,087 --> 00:28:54,796
DMU is short for Diesel Multiple Units.

288
00:28:54,967 --> 00:28:58,926
Although many of these are operating
beyond their planned life span,

289
00:28:59,087 --> 00:29:04,719
they're the mainstay of British Rail's
running headache - the "rural" services.

290
00:29:09,007 --> 00:29:11,805
If we're going to have a national rail network,

291
00:29:11,967 --> 00:29:14,959
then lines like these have to be kept alive.

292
00:29:21,487 --> 00:29:25,958
This is the Esk Valley line,
running from Whitby to Middlesbrough -

293
00:29:26,127 --> 00:29:31,155
from a seaside town to an important city
in the centre of a large industrial area.

294
00:29:31,327 --> 00:29:35,320
Its closure was recommended by Beeching,
but it survived.

295
00:29:37,207 --> 00:29:39,562
There have been closure scares since.

296
00:29:39,727 --> 00:29:45,757
These country lines have never been
allowed the luxury of feeling secure.

297
00:29:58,727 --> 00:30:01,116
Approaching Battersby Junction.

298
00:30:01,287 --> 00:30:04,882
Here, the driver has to hand in his token.

299
00:30:05,047 --> 00:30:08,835
It's a safety precaution.
No one can enter a stretch of single line

300
00:30:09,007 --> 00:30:14,877
unless they've been given the token by the
token man or, in this case, the token woman.

301
00:30:15,047 --> 00:30:19,438
Yeah. Are there many other signal... ladies?

302
00:30:19,607 --> 00:30:24,727
- Yes. There's two others on this branch.
- Do you all get together?

303
00:30:26,287 --> 00:30:29,279
- Is it hard working one of these?
- Physically, yes.

304
00:30:29,447 --> 00:30:34,999
Is there a knack? I mean, I've never
operated a signal. Could I have a go?

305
00:30:35,167 --> 00:30:37,761
- Sure.
- I've got to catch a train in a minute.

306
00:30:37,927 --> 00:30:41,715
- Which one shall I do?
- Just a moment.

307
00:30:44,207 --> 00:30:48,200
"Whitby Branch Passenger lock."
They all look impressive.

308
00:30:48,367 --> 00:30:50,961
I don't want to start a derailment.

309
00:30:51,127 --> 00:30:54,597
- If you pull on number one.
- Right.

310
00:30:54,767 --> 00:30:59,238
So what do I do? Just let this off here and...
I see what you mean.

311
00:31:01,447 --> 00:31:05,201
Not very elegant, was I? Whoo!

312
00:31:20,567 --> 00:31:24,401
It was only 20 miles from here
that railways were born.

313
00:31:24,567 --> 00:31:29,004
In 1824, a Quaker businessman
believed enough in George Stephenson

314
00:31:29,167 --> 00:31:34,321
to put up the money for a line to carry coal
between Darlington and Stockton.

315
00:31:36,287 --> 00:31:38,960
It opened on 27th September 1825.

316
00:31:42,047 --> 00:31:45,357
It was the first railway journey ever.

317
00:31:45,527 --> 00:31:49,520
Some of the achievements
of that great day still exist.

318
00:31:52,007 --> 00:31:54,202
Like Skerne Bridge.

319
00:31:56,247 --> 00:32:02,277
Which is still carrying trains, using
the same gauge that Stephenson chose.

320
00:32:03,287 --> 00:32:07,326
Believe it or not,
even the engine itself can still be seen.

321
00:32:09,607 --> 00:32:13,600
Locomotion dazzled the world
at a speed of eight miles an hour.

322
00:32:13,767 --> 00:32:18,283
Now, after 155 years of evolution,
the engine looks like this.

323
00:32:21,767 --> 00:32:28,286
The world's fastest diesel express -
the Inter-City 125, the high-speed train.

324
00:32:28,447 --> 00:32:31,837
Flying Scotsman took eight hours
from London to Edinburgh,

325
00:32:32,007 --> 00:32:34,282
the Deltic cut this to six,

326
00:32:34,447 --> 00:32:40,397
and now the high-speed train can take you
in four hours and 37 minutes.

327
00:32:41,407 --> 00:32:43,637
And it's air-conditioned.

328
00:32:43,807 --> 00:32:47,083
I used to... It was in Sheffield.

329
00:32:47,247 --> 00:32:53,083
The main lines seemed to miss Sheffield,
so about eight engines used to come through

330
00:32:53,247 --> 00:32:55,681
in various permutations.

331
00:32:55,847 --> 00:33:00,204
- But it was...
- You travel a long way trainspotting.

332
00:33:00,367 --> 00:33:04,440
You didn't, really,
because you didn't have the money to go far.

333
00:33:11,927 --> 00:33:17,320
The sort of places I'm going to and staying
in hotels which look out over stations,

334
00:33:17,487 --> 00:33:20,160
it would be an absolute dream.

335
00:33:20,327 --> 00:33:23,524
I'd be over the moon if I was a trainspotter.

336
00:33:34,207 --> 00:33:36,323
When you pass a place like Durham,

337
00:33:36,487 --> 00:33:40,162
you realise how much Victorian engineers
changed everything.

338
00:33:40,327 --> 00:33:44,115
This famous view of the city wasn't possible
before 1869,

339
00:33:44,287 --> 00:33:48,041
when the railway viaduct was built high above it.

340
00:33:49,127 --> 00:33:53,757
Tyneside, where Stephenson
experimented with his first locomotives.

341
00:33:53,927 --> 00:33:55,963
(BEEPING)

342
00:33:56,127 --> 00:34:00,598
170 years later, Tyneside
could be giving railways a lead again.

343
00:34:07,647 --> 00:34:11,879
This is the Metro -
Newcastle's new local railway system,

344
00:34:12,047 --> 00:34:16,006
equipped with the latest computers,
electronic surveillance,

345
00:34:16,167 --> 00:34:18,362
vandal-proof stations.

346
00:34:19,247 --> 00:34:22,398
Control to 102. Confirm your position. Over.

347
00:34:26,447 --> 00:34:32,044
If it works, it could do for local railways
what high-speed trains are doing nationally.

348
00:34:37,087 --> 00:34:42,115
Someone told me there was once talk
of naming the high-speed train sets.

349
00:34:42,287 --> 00:34:46,917
As they have a locomotive at either end,
some wag suggested famous couples,

350
00:34:47,087 --> 00:34:51,842
like David and Goliath or Laurel and Hardy,
Castor and Pollux.

351
00:34:52,007 --> 00:34:55,317
Which is fine if they never broke down,

352
00:34:55,487 --> 00:35:00,197
but you might see Laurel and Pollux
on the ten o'clock or Spencer and Castor.

353
00:35:00,367 --> 00:35:03,518
Mind you, Goliath and Hardy
sounds an interesting act.

354
00:35:11,847 --> 00:35:14,884
Do you still call it the footplate?

355
00:35:15,047 --> 00:35:19,165
Well, the younger end prefer to call it the cab,

356
00:35:19,327 --> 00:35:22,399
but for the older end it's still a footplate.

357
00:35:22,567 --> 00:35:25,639
We still refer to the footplate. Sometimes the cab.

358
00:35:25,807 --> 00:35:32,997
Is there a very different sort of spirit
to driving these HSTs now amongst the men?

359
00:35:33,167 --> 00:35:36,557
I would imagine
with firing and driving a steam engine,

360
00:35:36,727 --> 00:35:41,357
there's a feeling of teamwork
and getting it through by your own sweat.

361
00:35:41,527 --> 00:35:43,995
There's a big thing to say for that.

362
00:35:44,167 --> 00:35:49,002
You could get an engine
which wasn't steaming very well...

363
00:35:49,167 --> 00:35:53,922
These things you just open the throttle
and that's it.

364
00:35:54,087 --> 00:35:58,444
But different steam engines
had different characteristics.

365
00:35:58,607 --> 00:36:03,681
Some we had to fire with a big heavy fire.
Others had a very light fire.

366
00:36:07,647 --> 00:36:10,559
You'll notice, as we approach a green light -

367
00:36:10,727 --> 00:36:14,003
about 200 yards this side of it -
you'll hear a bell.

368
00:36:14,167 --> 00:36:17,284
Modern signalling is more difficult
than the old signalling.

369
00:36:17,447 --> 00:36:23,477
All you can see are green lights -
a green light is a green light.

370
00:36:23,647 --> 00:36:27,276
Semaphore signals
had their own characteristics.

371
00:36:27,447 --> 00:36:31,440
This gantry meant you were passing so and so.

372
00:36:31,607 --> 00:36:37,125
(PALIN) I see. The gantry meant you could
relate that to the place you were passing.

373
00:36:37,287 --> 00:36:43,123
With landmarks, it was what we could see,
what we could hear, what we could smell.

374
00:36:43,287 --> 00:36:46,279
Now we're cut off from the outside world.

375
00:36:46,447 --> 00:36:52,317
That all sounds as though it's a rather
dull job now being an engine driver.

376
00:36:52,487 --> 00:36:56,526
Everyone wanted to be an engine driver.
Is it boring now?

377
00:36:56,687 --> 00:37:00,760
No, it's not boring.
You've got something to do all the time.

378
00:37:00,927 --> 00:37:05,045
If I miss that and press my foot there,
the brakes go on, you see.

379
00:37:05,207 --> 00:37:08,802
You've only got a second and a half.
Same with this one.

380
00:37:08,967 --> 00:37:12,164
You've only got a second and a half
to press that.

381
00:37:12,327 --> 00:37:17,242
If I don't, the brakes go on,
you can't get them off. It takes two minutes.

382
00:37:17,407 --> 00:37:20,126
Really? So that's the fail-safe system.

383
00:37:20,287 --> 00:37:26,999
The brakes will go off. If you don't correct
these devices, the train will stop for two minutes.

384
00:37:27,847 --> 00:37:32,841
- We're speeding up a bit now, are we?
- We're getting up to 100 miles an hour.

385
00:37:33,007 --> 00:37:35,441
A good stretch, this.

386
00:37:47,607 --> 00:37:51,202
The East Coast main line -
one of the classic routes.

387
00:37:51,367 --> 00:37:57,397
Along the Northumbrian cliffs, up towards
Berwick and across the border into Scotland.

388
00:38:56,047 --> 00:38:58,515
And so at last to Edinburgh.

389
00:38:58,687 --> 00:39:00,757
Let's look in the guide book...

390
00:39:00,927 --> 00:39:06,206
"Edinburgh. Athens of the North, home of
Burns, Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson

391
00:39:06,367 --> 00:39:08,642
"and the Royal Palace of Holyrood.

392
00:39:08,807 --> 00:39:13,597
"Nestling beneath the extinct volcano
they call Arthur's Seat.

393
00:39:13,767 --> 00:39:19,319
"Inspired by the castle above them,
Edinburgh's buildings strive for grandeur."

394
00:39:19,487 --> 00:39:23,799
Ah, this sounds good.
"The railway hotels are amongst the finest.

395
00:39:23,967 --> 00:39:28,279
"The Caledonian at one end of Princes Street
and at the other the North British,

396
00:39:28,447 --> 00:39:33,646
"where the weary traveller can get his first taste
of the graciousness of this fine city."

397
00:39:33,807 --> 00:39:38,323
392 miles from London. 262 still to go.

398
00:39:38,487 --> 00:39:41,877
It won't be a high-speed train
through the Highlands.

399
00:39:42,047 --> 00:39:44,800
Probably a couple of Class 47s.

400
00:39:44,967 --> 00:39:47,845
(BAND PLAYS "WHEN I'M 64")

401
00:39:53,487 --> 00:39:55,796
I was lucky to get a bath.

402
00:39:55,967 --> 00:39:59,960
It's Festival time here in Edinburgh
and the place is packed.

403
00:40:16,727 --> 00:40:18,718
I love these railway hotels.

404
00:40:18,887 --> 00:40:21,720
They reflect confidence on an epic scale.

405
00:40:21,887 --> 00:40:25,197
We're used to people apologising
for the railways,

406
00:40:25,367 --> 00:40:29,997
but when this was built in 1903,
the railway companies spent money like water,

407
00:40:30,167 --> 00:40:34,604
secure in the knowledge
that they had transport absolutely sewn up.

408
00:40:34,767 --> 00:40:37,361
The result is corridors big enough for cricket,

409
00:40:37,527 --> 00:40:40,485
stairs wide enough for Busby Berkeley musicals

410
00:40:40,647 --> 00:40:44,276
and a lobby big enough
for the Battle of Culloden.

411
00:40:46,807 --> 00:40:52,279
At this time of year
there are 335 people at the North British

412
00:40:52,447 --> 00:40:55,245
and the trouser-pressing service
is going berserk.

413
00:40:55,407 --> 00:40:58,479
Everybody wants to be out seeing things.

414
00:40:59,647 --> 00:41:03,799
# I've got a clock that wakes me
every morning for my train... #

415
00:41:04,847 --> 00:41:07,919
A show full of sparkle and drive. Thank you.

416
00:41:08,087 --> 00:41:12,638
I have removed the worker's worker card,
which leaves her employed.

417
00:41:12,807 --> 00:41:15,605
# Faustus, you're the leading man

418
00:41:15,767 --> 00:41:21,080
# You've got money,
you've got fame, you've got power

419
00:41:21,247 --> 00:41:23,761
# Faustus, you're the leading man

420
00:41:23,927 --> 00:41:27,397
# Surely this must be your finest hour... #

421
00:41:27,567 --> 00:41:32,561
The choice of where to go is almost impossible
- unless you're a trainspotter.

422
00:41:36,607 --> 00:41:39,804
- Yes, sir?
- I want a train for the Kyle of Lochalsh.

423
00:41:39,967 --> 00:41:43,721
- You'll have to change at Inverness.
- I can't go straight through?

424
00:41:43,887 --> 00:41:47,004
- No.
- When's the train to Inverness?

425
00:41:47,167 --> 00:41:50,955
The train for Inverness is 0945
in the morning. Number 17.

426
00:41:51,127 --> 00:41:54,483
OK. Thanks very much. Cheerio.

427
00:41:55,767 --> 00:41:58,759
(STIRRING MILITARY MARCH)

428
00:42:09,727 --> 00:42:14,084
The biggest show is at the castle -
the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

429
00:42:14,247 --> 00:42:18,479
It's a noisy, glittering,
stirring Scottish spectacular.

430
00:42:18,647 --> 00:42:22,560
And this year it's not only the men
who are in skirts.

431
00:42:22,727 --> 00:42:26,242
(BAND PLAYS JAZZ VERSION OF "DIXIE")

432
00:43:07,727 --> 00:43:12,403
Mind you, I didn't hear a thing.
I was having this wonderful dream.

433
00:43:21,407 --> 00:43:25,719
Even in the age of Concorde,
moon buggies and microprocessors,

434
00:43:25,887 --> 00:43:29,516
I defy anyone to be unmoved
by the Forth Railway Bridge.

435
00:43:29,687 --> 00:43:31,917
It was built at the end of the last century.

436
00:43:32,087 --> 00:43:37,605
If you want to make one yourself,
the recipe is 54,160 tons of steel,

437
00:43:37,767 --> 00:43:43,399
740,000 tons of granite,
48,400 cubic yards of stone,

438
00:43:43,567 --> 00:43:48,880
64,300 cubic yards of concrete,
21,000 tons of cement

439
00:43:49,047 --> 00:43:51,515
and 6.5 million rivets.

440
00:43:51,687 --> 00:43:56,636
And this was built in an age when the only
alternative to rail was a horse and trap.

441
00:44:20,407 --> 00:44:25,527
It's only when you're over the Forth Bridge
that Scotland really seems to begin.

442
00:44:25,687 --> 00:44:29,316
We're on the Highland line
which goes up through Perth.

443
00:44:29,487 --> 00:44:33,560
Though it goes over
the highest summits on British Rail,

444
00:44:33,727 --> 00:44:37,037
100 miles of it were built in less than two years.

445
00:44:37,207 --> 00:44:39,926
Victorian energy and railway navvies.

446
00:45:13,447 --> 00:45:17,122
Inverness. I'm 180 miles
north of Edinburgh now -

447
00:45:17,287 --> 00:45:20,438
700 miles by rail and taxi since I left London -

448
00:45:20,607 --> 00:45:27,046
and I still haven't seen the words "Kyle of"
or "Lochalsh" on a railway timetable.

449
00:45:27,207 --> 00:45:30,597
But Inverness is the last change,
so I might be in luck.

450
00:45:36,407 --> 00:45:38,967
Ah, there we are. Hm.

451
00:45:42,487 --> 00:45:45,320
0h. Four hours to kill.

452
00:45:56,007 --> 00:46:01,035
I get twitchy about leaving stations when
I know there's a connection in the offing,

453
00:46:01,207 --> 00:46:04,040
but four hours is four hours

454
00:46:04,207 --> 00:46:10,123
and it's good for a railway-philiac like myself
to tear himself away from trains.

455
00:46:10,287 --> 00:46:14,121
Do a bit of sightseeing,
buy a souvenir of old Inverness

456
00:46:14,287 --> 00:46:17,802
and see what normal people do around here.

457
00:46:27,567 --> 00:46:30,877
(PLAYS LIVELY TUNE)

458
00:46:37,087 --> 00:46:39,965
Which brought me to my first Highland Games.

459
00:46:40,127 --> 00:46:44,405
I thought they were huge affairs,
but this one's quite cosy.

460
00:46:44,567 --> 00:46:47,286
It's a local occasion, very friendly.

461
00:46:47,447 --> 00:46:52,726
They have 20 or 30 events going on
simultaneously, which looks a bit dangerous.

462
00:46:55,007 --> 00:46:59,046
I don't know how many Highland dancers
get killed by hammers,

463
00:46:59,207 --> 00:47:02,040
or tug-of-war teams decimated by shot putters,

464
00:47:02,207 --> 00:47:06,405
or spectators squashed
by freshly tossed cabers.

465
00:47:15,607 --> 00:47:21,364
0ne of these contestants was interesting -
a railwayman from the Kyle of Lochalsh line.

466
00:47:21,527 --> 00:47:25,600
- What do you do at the station?
- I work in the booking office.

467
00:47:25,767 --> 00:47:30,966
Mainly deal with parcels and signal duties
and various things.

468
00:47:31,127 --> 00:47:36,121
I'm going to see the line.
What do you think of the line itself?

469
00:47:36,287 --> 00:47:40,200
It's a beautiful line. Very scenic.
Very busy at this time of year.

470
00:47:48,767 --> 00:47:51,235
The railway to the Kyle of Lochalsh.

471
00:47:54,287 --> 00:47:58,963
In summer, a 1897 restaurant car
serves as an observation coach.

472
00:48:00,127 --> 00:48:04,962
(GUIDE) You see some interesting
shore birds here, particularly the grey heron.

473
00:48:05,127 --> 00:48:08,517
On the right side, we have the Black Isle.

474
00:48:08,687 --> 00:48:12,919
The Black Isle got its name
from when the Norsemen came over here.

475
00:48:13,087 --> 00:48:17,683
They stole and plundered
and burnt everything behind them.

476
00:48:17,847 --> 00:48:23,717
Here, devotees of fine landscape can see
and, courtesy of a British Rail guide,

477
00:48:23,887 --> 00:48:26,242
hear about the passing delights.

478
00:48:27,727 --> 00:48:31,879
Beauly got its name
when Mary, Queen of Scots stayed here

479
00:48:32,047 --> 00:48:36,040
and when she awoke,
she remarked, "What a beautiful place."

480
00:48:36,207 --> 00:48:41,918
Coming from the French "beau lieu"
meaning "beautiful place", hence Beauly.

481
00:48:45,847 --> 00:48:52,116
- (AMERICAN ACCENT) It's a grand car.
- Do they have cars like this in the States?

482
00:48:52,287 --> 00:48:56,678
- I've never ridden on a train in the States.
- Never been on a train?

483
00:48:56,847 --> 00:49:02,638
Jean MacKenzie has been travelling
this line since the year it opened - 1897.

484
00:49:02,807 --> 00:49:06,686
I went out in a ferry boat to a beach.

485
00:49:06,847 --> 00:49:10,044
I went on this big boat
and it took me to Strome.

486
00:49:10,207 --> 00:49:13,916
Then I went on to Inverness and Glasgow.

487
00:49:14,087 --> 00:49:18,285
And when was that? How many years ago?

488
00:49:18,447 --> 00:49:21,598
Oh, that was when I was 14.

489
00:49:22,767 --> 00:49:25,440
- How old are you now?
- How old I am?

490
00:49:25,607 --> 00:49:27,802
- Yes.
- I'm only 99.

491
00:49:27,967 --> 00:49:31,403
Only 99? Oh, a slip of a girl!

492
00:49:54,607 --> 00:50:00,876
They call this the Skye Line
and it runs through gloomily beautiful country.

493
00:50:01,047 --> 00:50:04,039
Country which looks as if it's out of Tolkien,

494
00:50:04,207 --> 00:50:09,201
with names like the Valley of Drizzel,
Raven Rock and the Blackwater.

495
00:50:19,847 --> 00:50:23,362
The lochs, lonely crags and moors
it passes through

496
00:50:23,527 --> 00:50:26,519
are thick with legends of giants and beasts,

497
00:50:26,687 --> 00:50:30,600
and one particular witch known as Hairy Agnes.

498
00:50:30,767 --> 00:50:33,839
Honestly. It says so in my British Rail brochure.

499
00:50:43,967 --> 00:50:48,438
The last ten miles to the Kyle,
which looks so deceptively idyllic,

500
00:50:48,607 --> 00:50:51,724
took four years to blast out of solid rock.

501
00:50:51,887 --> 00:50:55,880
There are few lines in Britain
which were as hard won as these.

502
00:51:23,047 --> 00:51:27,006
Suddenly we're at the end of the line,
the end of the journey.

503
00:51:27,167 --> 00:51:31,877
In three hours, ten minutes we've crossed
Scotland from the North Sea to the Atlantic.

504
00:51:32,047 --> 00:51:37,280
Along the station, dozens of backpacks
rise into the air like a medieval army.

505
00:51:37,447 --> 00:51:40,917
This is, believe it or not, Kyle of Lochalsh.

506
00:51:41,087 --> 00:51:47,526
And there, 785.5 railway miles from Euston,
is the Isle of Skye.

507
00:51:57,367 --> 00:52:00,837
Now I think I deserve to buy myself a drink.

508
00:52:16,887 --> 00:52:21,039
- Good morning, sir.
- Lovely. Thank you very much.

509
00:52:23,847 --> 00:52:26,520
What a beautiful place for a hangover.

510
00:52:27,527 --> 00:52:29,518
It's just so...

511
00:52:29,687 --> 00:52:33,362
so terribly, terribly...

512
00:52:33,527 --> 00:52:35,165
Scottish.

513
00:52:35,327 --> 00:52:38,319
(BAGPIPES PLAY)

514
00:52:46,087 --> 00:52:49,397
Still, I didn't come here
just to look at the scenery.

515
00:52:53,287 --> 00:52:57,121
"Kyle of Lochalsh. Here at last.

516
00:52:57,287 --> 00:53:00,120
"Am going to collect it after breakfast."

517
00:53:00,287 --> 00:53:04,360
I don't want to go,
but I've got an appointment at ten o'clock.

518
00:53:06,887 --> 00:53:10,926
If they ever do a series on
"great breakfast table views of the world",

519
00:53:11,087 --> 00:53:13,078
how about this one?

520
00:53:27,647 --> 00:53:32,641
There can't be that many people who
come to such a remote corner of Scotland

521
00:53:32,807 --> 00:53:37,597
just to keep a business appointment,
especially on a four-day train journey.

522
00:53:37,767 --> 00:53:42,557
But there are objects in the Kyle
which you can't get anywhere else.

523
00:53:45,007 --> 00:53:51,321
Where was it? Post office, telephone box
on the right... and there we are.

524
00:53:52,487 --> 00:53:58,164
- Michael Palin from London.
- Pleased to meet you. It all arrived OK.

525
00:53:58,327 --> 00:54:03,560
- Have you got it ready?
- Yes. Do you realise how big it is?

526
00:54:03,727 --> 00:54:07,402
Doesn't matter how big it is so long as it's there.

527
00:54:07,567 --> 00:54:10,877
- There we are.
- Oh, that's fantastic.

528
00:54:11,047 --> 00:54:15,563
- Yeah. That's beautiful. It is big.
- It is, isn't it?

529
00:54:15,727 --> 00:54:20,676
I was going to put it on my wall,
but we'll have to get another three houses.

530
00:54:20,847 --> 00:54:23,486
Great. How am I going to get this back?

531
00:54:23,647 --> 00:54:27,959
We can send it down on the train.
There's one leaving in an hour.

532
00:54:28,127 --> 00:54:33,076
I wanted to go on the West Highland Line
because I've done this one.

533
00:54:33,247 --> 00:54:35,442
How do I get to the West Highland Line?

534
00:54:35,607 --> 00:54:39,725
Go over on the ferry to Kyleakin,
then you get a bus to Armadale,

535
00:54:39,887 --> 00:54:45,564
then you can get the ferry to Mallaig
and pick the train up there down to Glasgow.

536
00:54:45,727 --> 00:54:51,677
- Great. So... ferry from Kyle to Skye.
- That's it.

537
00:54:51,847 --> 00:54:55,965
Bus across Skye to Armadale.
Ferry Armadale to Mallaig.

538
00:54:56,127 --> 00:54:59,483
- Pick up the train at Mallaig for Glasgow.
- That's it.

539
00:54:59,647 --> 00:55:03,765
- Great. Thanks very much indeed.
- That's fine. Bye-bye.

540
00:55:05,727 --> 00:55:09,037
Kyle of Lochalsh. My very own station sign.

541
00:55:09,207 --> 00:55:12,483
Now there's only 4,728 left to get.

542
00:55:13,807 --> 00:55:16,401
Trainspotting is all about collecting,

543
00:55:16,567 --> 00:55:21,322
whether it's numbers
or the sounds of Flying Scotsmen.

544
00:55:21,487 --> 00:55:25,765
It's wanting to have a part of something
which is in your blood.

545
00:55:31,047 --> 00:55:36,440
I've discovered on this journey that
my love affair with railways never really did end

546
00:55:36,607 --> 00:55:39,075
and I don't suppose it ever will.

547
00:55:40,327 --> 00:55:44,764
Now, where are we going?
560 miles back to Euston.

548
00:55:44,927 --> 00:55:48,761
Through Fort William, go past Ben Nevis,

549
00:55:48,927 --> 00:55:52,715
over Glenfinnan Viaduct, across Rannoch Moor,

550
00:55:52,887 --> 00:55:55,526
past the highest station in Britain...