Episode 1 Full Steam Ahead


Episode 1

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The age of steam shaped how we live today.

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The Victorians laid over 20,000 miles of lines

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in the biggest engineering project the country has ever seen,

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connecting our towns with high-speed links, revolutionising trade

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and transportation, communication and recreation.

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TRAIN WHISTLES It was the greatest transformation

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in our history.

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But how did it happen?

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-To find out, historians Ruth Goodman...

-Flat out!

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Alex Langlands...

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Shovelling coal is something I'm going to get

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very, very familiar with.

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..and Peter Ginn...

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It is tough work.

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..are bringing the railways back to life as they would have been during

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the golden age of steam.

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I feel like I'm in a Western.

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This is very definitely the best steam engine I've ever been on.

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Oh, no! He's gaining on us!

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It's a crazy world.

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They will be helped by armies of enthusiasts

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who keep the age of steam alive...

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SHE GROANS

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..on Britain's 500 miles of preserved railway.

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-This is the way to experience train travel, isn't it?

-It is.

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They'll follow in the footsteps of the world's finest engineers.

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These are the men that built Britain's railways.

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Those who ran it...

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This is brutal! This is savage industrialism.

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..and those for whom life would never be the same again.

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Internet? Pah!

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It had nothing like the impact of the railways.

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This is the story of how the railways created modern Britain.

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TRAIN RUMBLES

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STEAM HISSES

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Of all the changes the railways made to our lives,

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the one that affects us

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most directly was in our homes. BELL CHIMES

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I'd really like to explore the domestic revolution -

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how it was that the railways changed the way we live,

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from the houses we live in to the food we eat.

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The British way of life underwent a cataclysmic change

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because of the railways, and I'd really like to know why.

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Behind this domestic revolution was a new era of mass production

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and distribution, borne by the workers of Victorian Britain.

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Blood, sweat and tears went into building this new version of

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industrialised Britain, of which the railways were at the heart,

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and I'm interested in experiencing just what exactly it took

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to do that.

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Ouch! That is painful.

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For many people in Britain, life had been the same for centuries.

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They'd been doing the same crafts and the same industries,

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but the railways come along and change all of that,

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and I think one of the things I'm really looking forward to is

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almost going back to those times and seeing those changes -

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seeing the impacts that the railways had.

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In 1800, before the railways were built,

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Britain was a very different place.

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80% of people lived and worked in the countryside,

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and life at home had changed little for centuries.

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If you walked into any town or village in the 18th century,

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almost everything you clapped eyes upon would have been produced

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within a 10- or 20-mile radius,

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even at its most basic level.

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Look, I'm getting wood for a fire, here,

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and in the 18th century,

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most people outside of London still cooked on wood.

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From the clothes people wore to the food they ate to the houses

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they lived in, to the plates that they ate and drank off,

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local produce made by local craftsmen was the norm.

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Go on, you're getting the hang of this. Superb. Beautiful.

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The main form of transport was the horse and cart,

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with wheels made by the village wheelwright...

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..but as more and more villages came in range of a railway station,

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its days were numbered.

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All of those individual crafts that had sustained life

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within the village came under threat because materials, products,

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and manufactured goods could be brought into that village

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from all over the country.

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The railways meant villages no longer had to be self-sufficient,

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and handmade items were superseded by cheaper factory-made products,

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distributed across the country.

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It's fantastic to see one of these ancient crafts -

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a craft that would have been fast disappearing in the 19th century.

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Before the railways, even the way we built our homes was different.

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Houses would have been constructed from local materials,

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roofed with whatever could be sourced nearby.

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Sometimes, this was slabs of stone,

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but in many villages, they were thatched with wheat stems - straw.

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Keith Payne is one of the few still working as a thatcher today.

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Where would a thatcher have got his material from, then, Keith?

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-Well, this would all have been grown locally.

-Right, OK.

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-You know, just for the grain.

-Yeah.

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For making bread and biscuits, really,

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it's the most beautiful part of it.

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So it was effectively a by-product of the wheat harvest?

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Yeah, yeah, exactly.

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They're growing it for a multi-purpose,

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but because the straw's so long,

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-they're using it on the houses.

-Yeah.

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-All right in there, like that?

-Yeah, yeah.

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But thatch had its problems -

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for one, straw was only available once a year, at harvest time,

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and the thatched roofs need constant maintenance.

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-That's one of the main issues with thatch, isn't it?

-Yeah.

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I mean, locally sourced materials, lovely and thick and insulating...

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-Yeah.

-..but every year there's a job to do on the roof.

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Yes, absolutely - because it's basically a plant,

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-it's wearing out from the moment you put it on.

-Yeah.

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What was needed was a readily available, cheap,

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durable alternative.

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The ideal roofing material was slate,

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hewn from the ground in just a few remote areas of Britain.

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But the problem was how to move this heavy, bulky material from

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the isolated quarries into our towns and villages.

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For the slate mines, high in the mountains of Snowdonia,

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the answer was a purpose-built railway.

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The Ffestiniog line ran from the quarries,

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14 miles down through the mountains to Porthmadog,

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from where the slate could be distributed.

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Ruth, Alex and Peter are meeting the railway's heritage director,

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Iain Wilkinson.

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-Welcome to the Ffestiniog Railway.

-Thank you very much.

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-This is a particularly early railway, isn't it?

-It is indeed.

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The railway was built in the 1830s,

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-and it started off just using horsepower...

-Right.

-Right.

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..and it was only later on that they went on to use steam locomotives

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like the ones we've got there.

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So why build a railway if you've not got any engines involved?

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-Uncanny, isn't it, that?

-Yeah.

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It is, but the railway predated the technology,

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so steam locomotives simply didn't exist.

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So there's a whole bunch of railways that were up and running

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before steam engines?

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Yeah. Centuries before, if anything,

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and it was simply a good,

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reasonably friction-free way to move lots of goods around.

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Heavy bulk goods in particular?

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Exactly. Yes, slate.

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In 1830, there were just a handful of railways in Britain,

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virtually all of them carrying minerals from mines and quarries.

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Back then, steam locomotives were in their infancy,

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and were both expensive and unreliable,

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so horses were used instead.

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Ffestiniog is an amazing example of those early railways.

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You have the mine uphill and the port downhill.

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The horses take the carts uphill,

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and gravity takes the train back downhill.

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But there are few records of how it actually operated.

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We've got a couple of wagons here.

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We've got a pony with us

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and we're just experimenting to see how it would have worked.

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-Who you got here for us today?

-We've got Tickle here.

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-Tickle?

-She's a Welsh pony.

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Right, so she was bred in these mountains?

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She was, yes.

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And how old's Tickle?

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-Tickle is 12 years old.

-Right, OK.

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So she's good for this kind of work?

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-She's very steady, yeah. A bit keen, but...

-Right.

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How do you think she's going to cope with moving these

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great big lumbering wagons?

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-I think she'll be pretty determined to get it moving.

-Right, OK.

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And then she'll keep it moving.

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-Stand still.

-She's already ready to go.

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Peter and Alex are manning the brakes.

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If the horse stops suddenly, and the wagons keep on moving,

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it could break Tickle's legs.

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-It's all very well me stopping this one...

-Yeah.

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-..but your one will still be running.

-Yeah.

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And if you've got seven of these,

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then the distance that they'll span out is actually quite a lot.

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-Yeah.

-So if that horse just stops, we've got to be on it.

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Walk on...

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Oi, steady. Come on.

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Walk on, girl. Walk on. OK.

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I'm just going to put a little bit on here...

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Steady on.

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Ideally we need to get the horse walking in the rails,

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but it's a bit much to ask that of her the first time,

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but of course when you get up into the mountain passes,

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you just don't have that width,

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so you've got to train up your pony to get between the rails,

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so it's a very, very tricky operation for a horse.

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Tickle's finding the sleepers difficult to walk on,

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but back in the 1830s,

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ash or sand was often laid between the rails to make it easier.

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-And whoa.

-HORSE SNORTS

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-There we go.

-Good girl. We've got the brake down to a fine art.

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Yeah. It is asking quite a bit of her, but she'll do it.

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-She's certainly got the power, hasn't she?

-She has, hasn't she?

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-Yes.

-She likes to work at speed.

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-Yeah.

-Yes.

-Unlike Peter.

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-Key question here...

-Yes?

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-Has she earnt the apple yet?

-THEY LAUGH

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Maybe a few more goes. How do you feel about that?

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-A few more goes.

-Let's give her a couple more goes, yeah.

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I think it's time for my apple.

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No, you're not having an apple

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-before the horse is having an apple, OK?

-OK.

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Great.

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You could learn a thing or two off of that horse, Peter,

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the speed it works at!

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OK.

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Here we go.

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Well, she does get a shift on, doesn't she?

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Blimey.

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This is a section of the 14-mile track laid in the 1830s

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to carry the horse-drawn slate wagons from the mountainous quarries

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down to Porthmadog.

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Yeah, keep going, lads.

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Alan Tomlinson and his permanent way team are responsible for

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maintaining it today.

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-You know, the permanent way, it's just not the track...

-Yeah.

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..it's everything within this area.

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If you look around, we've got fencing.

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We've got dry-stone walls,

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which are a constant problem having to rebuild.

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One day the lads could be fencing, chasing sheep...

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It could be anything.

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Because the Ffestiniog line was built in a mountainous area,

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it had far more tunnels, cuttings, and tight bends

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than a regular railway,

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and in the 1830s, all this had to be dug out by hand.

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But it was made possible by a simple solution.

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The modern passenger railways, though,

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the standard gauge is, what, four foot eight inches and a half?

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-Yeah.

-Which is, sort of, out here,

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-so from that rail to about here?

-Yeah.

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-What's the gauge here?

-It's a two-foot gauge.

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-Just a little two-foot?

-Yeah.

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These sort of narrow-gauge rails are very good at

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getting through a landscape like this, and...

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Well, yeah, that's why it's been designed like this -

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because of the geography of the land,

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-you know, narrow gauge was the only option.

-Yeah.

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So, I mean, if you've got to make a track bed for something

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that's got a two-foot gauge,

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then, you know, there's that amount of stone has got to be organised.

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But if you were going for the four foot eight, we'd have to...

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We'd have to cut a lot of mountain away to make that extra width,

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-wouldn't we?

-Yeah, yeah.

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You know, the expense of cutting more mountain, you know,

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wasn't viable, was it?

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The Ffestiniog Railway opened up new markets for slate.

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By the 1860s, demand was outstripping supply.

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The horse-drawn trains simply weren't powerful enough,

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so in 1863, they invested...

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in Prince, their first steam locomotive.

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Tickle can pull up to ten slate wagons -

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Prince, over 100.

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What this must have been like in the 1860s...

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When these turned up, it would have been like the space age, you know?

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And speed as well, cos of course

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it would have gone a lot faster than a horse could have gone.

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Totally revolutionary at the time.

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With nothing to compare it against, it must have been...

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-quite extraordinary.

-Mind-blowing.

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The introduction of steam-hauled slate trains on the Ffestiniog line

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meant production could be boosted tenfold.

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Most of these slates were used to build terraced housing,

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as the Industrial Revolution drew workers from their rural cottages.

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At Beamish in County Durham,

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they've reconstructed a pit village as it would have been in 1900.

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Before the railways, straight streets, squares, crescents

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were the preserve of the wealthy elite,

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found in places like Bath, London, Bristol.

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The railways, however, brought that sort of town planning

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to the rest of us.

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I mean, look at this - this could be almost anywhere

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in any industrial town in Britain.

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You've got standardised slates, you've got standardised bricks.

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There is no sense of individual place, no regionality.

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People had to get used to a whole new, regulated, regimented way

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of railway life.

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Unlike the 1800 house, which was furnished by local craftsmen,

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this house from 1900 is full of products brought in by rail.

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Look at the furniture,

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it's not made of beech or ash or oak.

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There's all sorts of exotic, imported woods being used -

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teak and mahogany, brought halfway across the world

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and then distributed by rail across the country.

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Almost everywhere you look there are standardised, nationwide products.

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I mean, look at the pottery, for example.

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I mean, that's no longer local pots made in one region

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for the people of that region -

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this is nationally available,

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you could buy the same teacup and saucer anywhere in Britain.

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The rail network boosted the new consumer age.

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Mass-produced goods were suddenly available.

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The railways allowed firms to expand their markets to sell

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all over the nation, and that system favoured those who could

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compete most effectively on price and those who could make

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the biggest splash and grab people's attention,

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and those that did it best of all where the soap manufacturers.

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I mean, many of these names are still with us today.

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Look, we've got Lux and Reckitt's and Colman's

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and Lifebuoy and Sunlight.

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We see, for the first time, great, national brands.

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In 1800, just 20% of people lived in cities.

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By 1900, it was 70%.

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And they all needed a roof over their heads.

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More houses were built in this period than at any other time,

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with slate being the number one roofing material.

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The Victorian entrepreneur John Whitehead Greaves

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saw there was an ever-growing demand for slate,

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so began digging in the Welsh mountains.

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Eventually, he struck a rich seam

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and established the Llechwedd Quarry,

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one of the largest in the Blaenau Ffestiniog area.

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At its peak, over 17,000 worked in the Welsh slate industry.

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-Hi, Phil.

-Hello.

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Including Phil Jones's ancestors.

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-What are we looking at here?

-We're looking now at...

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These are veins, and it goes in veins of slate, granite,

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slate, granite, throughout the mountain.

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The tale goes, it took 'em three years

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to actually find the slate here.

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-Really?

-Yeah.

-But when they got upon it, they must have...

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-When they got it, he was laughing all the way to the bank.

-Hit gold.

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Yeah, he had hit blue-grey gold, there.

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Now, Phil, am I right in thinking you come from

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a long line of slate miners?

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Yes, I can go back about six generations of my family

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working in these places. A great-great-great-great-grandfather

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of mine, he started when he was eight years old,

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worked until he was 69.

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So that was good going, really,

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cos between 35 and 45 was the average age of Victorian miners.

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-So a short life, hard work.

-Yes.

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The glory days of the Welsh slate industry ended after the

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Second World War, when cheaper imported slate and clay tiles

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took away business.

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But underground, the Llechwedd slate caverns

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are frozen in time, as they would have been

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when the Ffestiniog Railway made it the slate capital of the world.

0:18:490:18:53

-This is amazing, Phil.

-Yeah. All dug out by hand.

0:18:550:18:59

This is like a sort of lost world here, isn't it?

0:19:000:19:03

This is an original candle from the 1800s.

0:19:030:19:06

-This is an original candle?

-Yeah.

0:19:060:19:08

-Oh, my goodness. It's been burning a long time.

-Yeah.

0:19:080:19:11

Got 250 chambers altogether in this mine,

0:19:110:19:15

and 25 miles of tunnel connecting all the chambers.

0:19:150:19:18

THEY CHUCKLE

0:19:180:19:19

It's quite big. But then, it's not the biggest in the world.

0:19:190:19:23

That is incomprehensible.

0:19:230:19:24

Biggest in the world is across the road.

0:19:240:19:26

-Really?

-THEY LAUGH

0:19:260:19:28

In the gloom, quarrymen extracted slabs of slate from the cavern.

0:19:280:19:33

To do this, holes were drilled, into which explosives were packed.

0:19:330:19:38

I don't feel like I'm doing anything.

0:19:390:19:42

You ARE kicking out a bit of dust there.

0:19:430:19:45

I'm seeing the dust coming out there.

0:19:450:19:47

So, erm, we'll leave you down here, then, Peter, shall we, and, er...?

0:19:470:19:50

To drill, the quarrymen often had to scale the cavern walls.

0:19:520:19:57

-So, here he goes. So this all looks fairly ominous, Shane.

-Yeah.

0:19:570:20:01

You know, when they were working at this angle

0:20:010:20:04

they would have to have some sort of support.

0:20:040:20:06

Slate has razor-like edges that could sever rope,

0:20:080:20:11

so chains were used instead.

0:20:110:20:13

So you're wrapping that right up there on your leg?

0:20:130:20:17

And now I'm using my own weight, keep myself in position.

0:20:170:20:19

-So now you can drill?

-Now I can drill, yeah. Can you pass me the...?

0:20:190:20:23

HE CHUCKLES

0:20:250:20:26

HE SIGHS

0:20:330:20:34

-THEY LAUGH

-How's your leg? How's your leg?

0:20:340:20:37

My leg is, er, going to sleep.

0:20:370:20:40

Are you going to give it a go?

0:20:400:20:41

I'm holding the lantern this time, aren't I?

0:20:430:20:45

THEY LAUGH

0:20:450:20:46

OK.

0:20:460:20:47

So, I get up, up to here...

0:20:500:20:52

..and then I'm going to get this...

0:20:530:20:55

Oh, goodness me.

0:21:010:21:02

Ouch!

0:21:040:21:06

That is painful.

0:21:060:21:08

-It is, isn't it?

-That is extremely painful.

0:21:080:21:11

Oh, I think I'm pinching something, Peter.

0:21:110:21:14

THEY LAUGH

0:21:140:21:15

-Did you dress to the left this morning, or...?

-Oh, God!

0:21:150:21:17

-So then I've got to drill...

-That's it, drill there.

0:21:190:21:22

..with that? That is incredibly painful.

0:21:220:21:26

-I don't think I should.

-OK.

-It's obviously in your blood, Phil.

0:21:260:21:30

That's what my grandfather did.

0:21:300:21:33

And my father.

0:21:330:21:34

HE GROANS

0:21:360:21:37

-It is painful, isn't it? Very painful.

-That is painful.

0:21:380:21:42

Well, you think it's more painful when you get 12p a day?

0:21:420:21:45

-Yeah, that's between the team of four, though.

-Yeah.

0:21:450:21:48

3p for you, 3p for me and a lot of pain for the both of us.

0:21:480:21:51

I think my groin is worth more than 3p.

0:21:510:21:54

Sure you don't want a go, Peter?

0:21:540:21:56

I am never going to look at a roofing slate in the same way again.

0:21:560:21:59

Hmm.

0:21:590:22:00

At its peak, over half a million tonnes of slate were being

0:22:020:22:06

produced each year, all transported down the mountain by the

0:22:060:22:10

steam-powered Ffestiniog Railway...

0:22:100:22:13

..fuelled by coal.

0:22:160:22:17

Coal was vital to the Industrial Revolution,

0:22:220:22:25

enabling factories to mass-produce goods

0:22:250:22:28

and railways to distribute them.

0:22:280:22:31

But in the 1840s, many of Britain's railways had a different widths

0:22:310:22:35

of track, so wagons from one line wouldn't fit on another...

0:22:350:22:39

Look, for example, at the size of the coal wagons here

0:22:400:22:44

in the comparison to the wagons,

0:22:440:22:46

those little slate wagons that we saw at the Ffestiniog.

0:22:460:22:49

..so in 1846, the Government ruled that all future lines

0:22:530:22:57

should adopt the same width.

0:22:570:22:58

The Gauge Act decreed that they must be built

0:23:050:23:07

with rails a standard four foot eight-and-a-half inches apart.

0:23:070:23:11

And this standard meant that they could join up together at last.

0:23:140:23:19

It also meant that wagons became standardised, too,

0:23:190:23:23

so that the same wagon could run from one end of the country

0:23:230:23:26

to the other, joining up one business with another.

0:23:260:23:29

Feeding into this ever-growing national network,

0:23:320:23:35

thousands of branch lines from mines and quarries.

0:23:350:23:39

Now materials that were building the new, industrialised Britain,

0:23:390:23:42

such as coal, slate and iron, could be transported in bulk

0:23:420:23:48

right into towns and factories across the nation.

0:23:480:23:51

There were over 1,500 lines from collieries alone,

0:23:560:24:00

one of which was the Foxfield Railway near Stoke.

0:24:000:24:04

It ran from the Foxfield Colliery to a mainline junction,

0:24:050:24:09

where it connected to the national network.

0:24:090:24:11

When the pit closed in 1965, the mine was preserved by

0:24:130:24:17

a team of volunteers, including Ron Whalley.

0:24:170:24:20

So it wasn't a passenger line, it wasn't for anything else,

0:24:200:24:23

it was just for a single purpose - shifting coal?

0:24:230:24:25

Yeah. The mine owners wanted a means of getting the coal

0:24:250:24:28

to outside industry as cheaply as possible, and they wanted a railway,

0:24:280:24:33

so they built one,

0:24:330:24:34

-and you can see it's a most peculiar shape.

-That is a very odd route!

0:24:340:24:39

The reason for that is there was a stately home there, and the lord

0:24:390:24:42

of the manor didn't want the railway running through his front garden,

0:24:420:24:45

so it had to avoid that, but there was a hill here,

0:24:450:24:47

so it went round the hill and then dropped at this alarming gradient,

0:24:470:24:51

and the steepest bit is about one in 19.

0:24:510:24:54

-One in 19?

-Yeah.

-That's really steep for a railway.

0:24:540:24:58

It is really steep for a railway, yes.

0:24:580:25:00

This is Britain's steepest line, but whereas at Ffestiniog

0:25:000:25:04

full wagons run downhill, here it's the other way round.

0:25:040:25:08

So, the wagons going, full, up...

0:25:080:25:11

The full wagons are going up the gradient.

0:25:110:25:14

It's the most uneconomical thing you can possibly imagine!

0:25:140:25:17

Such was the demand for coal to fuel the Industrial Revolution,

0:25:170:25:21

that even expensive-to-run lines like this were considered viable.

0:25:210:25:26

-All right, Ruth!

-Can I come on board?

-Come on board!

0:25:260:25:29

Pulling coal up the gradient today

0:25:290:25:31

is a powerful Bagnall tank engine owned by Andrew Civil.

0:25:310:25:35

He's giving Ruth a driving lesson.

0:25:350:25:37

Do you know what's what?

0:25:370:25:39

-Not really.

-Right.

-A bit, but not much, so take me through it.

0:25:390:25:43

-What have we got?

-Right, this is the regulator.

0:25:430:25:45

This will supply the steam to the cylinder. So that's the accelerator.

0:25:450:25:50

Okey doke. OK. Next one, steam brake.

0:25:500:25:54

Most important is sending steam down to a cylinder under your feet,

0:25:540:25:58

and applying the brakes.

0:25:580:26:00

-Right, so it's just like the foot brake in a car?

-Foot brake.

0:26:000:26:03

Exactly. A steam loco, everyone will tell you, is very easy to move,

0:26:030:26:08

but to stop it where you want it to stop is the trick!

0:26:080:26:11

The first job for the Victorian rail crew

0:26:120:26:14

is to hook up the empty coal wagons.

0:26:140:26:16

Right, now look where you're going.

0:26:170:26:20

Definitely forward.

0:26:200:26:22

And...

0:26:240:26:26

Right, shut the regulator.

0:26:260:26:28

Driving a steam engine is a two-person job.

0:26:320:26:35

Matt Healey is the fireman who works alongside the driver.

0:26:350:26:38

He's assembling the coal train.

0:26:380:26:40

That is the connection between the loco and the wagons.

0:26:400:26:44

That basically takes all the pull of the loco and transmits it,

0:26:440:26:47

via a drawbar, back to each wagon.

0:26:470:26:50

Matt's taken the handbrake off.

0:26:530:26:55

Ruth takes the controls to drive the empty wagons down to the colliery.

0:26:550:27:00

Touch more regulator. That's it.

0:27:000:27:02

Oh, not quite as much as that.

0:27:020:27:04

That's a mixture of me and the wagon.

0:27:050:27:08

Just like stalling!

0:27:080:27:10

TRAIN CHUGS

0:27:120:27:13

That sounds good! Oh, that sounds good!

0:27:130:27:16

Little bit more regulating.

0:27:210:27:23

Bit more.

0:27:230:27:24

Oh, there it comes!

0:27:240:27:25

Listen to that chuff!

0:27:250:27:28

Wow, the power!

0:27:280:27:30

You can really feel it!

0:27:300:27:32

Wow.

0:27:330:27:34

-Right, put the regulator in.

-Is that the regulator?

0:27:410:27:43

They've now reached the top of the steep incline down to the mine.

0:27:450:27:48

So, we're not just, like, going to let the train roll down the hill

0:27:480:27:52

-and then put brakes on when we want to stop?

-No, no, no.

0:27:520:27:54

We've got them dragging right now.

0:27:540:27:56

Each wagon has its own separate brake, which Ron is putting half on.

0:27:560:28:00

Without it, the weight of the wagons could push the loco down the hill...

0:28:020:28:06

with disastrous consequences.

0:28:060:28:08

-No runaway trains over the hill?

-No.

0:28:090:28:12

Cos at the bottom of the hill is Ron's garden!

0:28:120:28:14

-Really?

-Yeah!

0:28:140:28:16

Andy!

0:28:160:28:17

Brakes applied, the train is ready to descend the hill.

0:28:190:28:22

-I will do this bit.

-Yeah.

0:28:220:28:25

I'm quite glad you don't trust me with this bit.

0:28:250:28:28

Even an empty coal train weighs over 50 tonnes.

0:28:330:28:36

So this really is the steepest bit of rail in Britain.

0:28:360:28:40

-We're coming to the steepest bit now.

-I can feel it, actually.

0:28:400:28:44

That must be the colliery.

0:28:460:28:47

At its peak, this colliery produced 200,000 tonnes of coal each year.

0:28:510:28:56

The next thing, you have to load up with coal,

0:28:570:29:00

and then we've got to haul it up that hill.

0:29:000:29:03

With the coal-fuelled railways revolutionising the supply chain,

0:29:130:29:17

the slate miners of Wales were working harder than ever.

0:29:170:29:21

To keep up with demand, the men endured 12-hour shifts underground,

0:29:210:29:26

broken by just one half-hour rest.

0:29:260:29:28

-The tea would be made in the morning, like ours is.

-Yeah?

0:29:290:29:32

And, I mean, you could creosote a fence with that, to be honest.

0:29:320:29:35

But you'd warm it up, actually, at the point of your lunch.

0:29:350:29:39

-Warm it up over a candle.

-Warm it up over a candle.

0:29:390:29:42

-Iechyd da.

-Iechyd da. Good health.

0:29:420:29:45

Slate quarries were dangerous places.

0:29:450:29:48

Drilling kicked up deadly slate dust

0:29:480:29:51

which, when inhaled, settled in the lungs and set like concrete.

0:29:510:29:55

The result - a slow, lingering death.

0:29:550:29:58

The owners of the quarry sought to divert the blame.

0:30:000:30:04

They paid the doctors to say they were drinking too much stewed tea.

0:30:050:30:09

-And they believed it.

-Why wouldn't you?

0:30:090:30:12

You've got a qualified medical professional telling you the reason

0:30:120:30:15

why you're dying is because you're drinking stewed teas.

0:30:150:30:18

They actually said in the reports

0:30:180:30:19

that the dust was actually good for you.

0:30:190:30:22

Right. Wow.

0:30:220:30:23

If the dust from drilling didn't kill you, the blasting might.

0:30:240:30:28

Every year, three miners in every 1,000 died in accidents -

0:30:300:30:33

more than in coal mining.

0:30:330:30:37

Modern-day fuse wire will burn at around a foot a minute

0:30:370:30:40

so you can time yourself to get away from the blast.

0:30:400:30:42

In those days, they only had a piece of rope or a piece of twine dipped

0:30:420:30:46

into tar, then into the gunpowder and then you'd put it into the hole.

0:30:460:30:50

Good Lord.

0:30:500:30:53

Then you'd pour the gunpowder into the hole,

0:30:530:30:55

slate dust on top of the gunpowder,

0:30:550:30:57

paper on top of the slate dust.

0:30:570:31:00

And then, with this tool here, you'd stamp it all down.

0:31:000:31:05

You have to remember that the fuse is very unpredictable.

0:31:090:31:11

My grandfather, he did go back to the blast.

0:31:110:31:15

The blast went off early and he lost the use of his hand.

0:31:150:31:18

I remember blue freckles all the way up his arm where the slate

0:31:180:31:21

had embedded into his arm.

0:31:210:31:23

So, I can appreciate the danger.

0:31:230:31:26

-That was his career as a slate miner over, really.

-Yeah, basically.

0:31:260:31:30

-His livelihood.

-Yes.

0:31:300:31:32

Once blasted, the slabs of slate were loaded onto carts.

0:31:340:31:38

Carts were then taken from the chamber to the surface.

0:31:390:31:42

Here, the slabs were sawn using steam-powered machines,

0:31:440:31:48

ready to be split by hand.

0:31:480:31:51

-There we go.

-Look at that!

-500 million years.

0:31:510:31:55

That's the last time that saw the light of day.

0:31:550:31:57

-Do you want a go of this?

-Yeah, go on, then!

0:31:570:32:00

Slate is formed when clay is compressed and heated in the ground.

0:32:010:32:05

Its crystals become arranged in layers,

0:32:060:32:08

and it's along these layers that it can be split.

0:32:080:32:11

It's this unique property that makes it ideal for roofing.

0:32:130:32:18

And that needs to be split one more time

0:32:180:32:19

-to get the thickness of a roof tile.

-Yes.

0:32:190:32:22

You going to try and split that in half, then?

0:32:220:32:24

Going to try. Yeah, yeah.

0:32:240:32:25

This is what we've come for.

0:32:250:32:28

I can feel your nervousness, Peter!

0:32:280:32:31

THEY LAUGH

0:32:310:32:32

Just go gentle with that, now.

0:32:350:32:37

With the hand?

0:32:370:32:39

And then prise it open.

0:32:390:32:41

-Oh, look at that!

-Yeah.

-That's like taking candy from a baby.

0:32:410:32:46

Yeah, look at that! Unbelievable.

0:32:460:32:50

What a fantastic material!

0:32:500:32:52

-It just sheds water.

-It's impenetrable.

-Yeah.

0:32:520:32:55

Next, the split layers are cut to size.

0:32:550:32:59

I want those fingers of yours, Peter.

0:32:590:33:01

All in the wrist.

0:33:010:33:02

The finished slates were given regal names according to their sizes.

0:33:050:33:09

The largest were called Empress,

0:33:090:33:12

then Duchess, Countess, and Lady for the smallest.

0:33:120:33:16

-With my slating skills, we've invented a new roof tile.

-Yes.

0:33:160:33:19

The Parlourmaid.

0:33:190:33:21

Cutting slate into tiles was a wasteful process.

0:33:230:33:27

Just 10% of the quarried rock was taken by train down the mountain.

0:33:270:33:30

The rest was dumped on spoil heaps,

0:33:330:33:35

which still litter the Blaenau Ffestiniog landscape today.

0:33:350:33:39

Coal production created even more waste.

0:33:400:33:43

At its peak, over 500 million tonnes were mined

0:33:430:33:46

and transported by rail each year.

0:33:460:33:49

At Foxfield, even this small coal train weighs over 200 tonnes.

0:33:500:33:55

To help it grip the track up the steep hill to the mainline,

0:33:560:33:59

Matt's giving the loco a little help.

0:33:590:34:02

Filling the sandboxes up with sand, so that if we slip,

0:34:020:34:05

we've got some sand to put on the rails.

0:34:050:34:07

There's a steam jet in there

0:34:070:34:09

which grabs hold of the sand and blows it out through that pipe.

0:34:090:34:12

So is this what they should do

0:34:150:34:16

-when they've got leaves on the line, then?

-Yeah.

0:34:160:34:19

-It is. And modern trains do have them.

-Do they really?

0:34:190:34:22

About ten, 15 years ago, they reintroduced sanding gear

0:34:220:34:25

onto modern trains to counteract slippage.

0:34:250:34:28

Whereas rubber car tyres grip the road firmly,

0:34:290:34:32

a steel train wheel against a steel rail gives very little traction,

0:34:320:34:37

so forcing sand between the wheels and the track helps it grip.

0:34:370:34:40

That's all the grip you've got, that little patch on each wheel.

0:34:410:34:46

So if that goes...

0:34:460:34:48

we ain't going anywhere!

0:34:480:34:51

Are we ready?

0:34:510:34:53

-Green flag.

-Green flag.

0:34:530:34:56

WHISTLE BLOWS

0:34:560:34:57

So, fully loaded,

0:34:570:35:00

up the steepest incline in Britain.

0:35:000:35:03

Oh, see her struggle!

0:35:060:35:09

The fully loaded coal train is going nowhere.

0:35:130:35:15

Despite sand being used, the wheels are slipping.

0:35:210:35:24

Then Matt spots the problem.

0:35:290:35:32

The brakes are pinned!

0:35:320:35:33

The wagon's brakes were left on after descending the hill.

0:35:350:35:39

With the brakes on, no wonder we ain't moving!

0:35:390:35:42

-Try that again.

-OK!

0:35:420:35:44

The brakes released,

0:35:460:35:48

they make a second attempt at claiming the gradient.

0:35:480:35:52

At the first sign of slippage,

0:35:520:35:53

Andy applies sand to the track to increase traction.

0:35:530:35:57

Look, lever's in position and we're moving.

0:35:590:36:02

We're really getting going now!

0:36:020:36:04

She's really working now to get us up here, isn't she?

0:36:090:36:13

Climbing steep hills is where a fireman really earns his money.

0:36:130:36:17

He must continually shovel coal,

0:36:170:36:19

keeping the fire raging to maintain steam.

0:36:190:36:23

If the steam runs short,

0:36:230:36:25

the load will pull the loco back down the hill.

0:36:250:36:27

That is flat-out. there is absolutely nothing left!

0:36:310:36:35

-RUTH LAUGHS

-Flat-out!

0:36:350:36:39

You can feel that immediate change as we hit the top...

0:36:560:37:00

and easing back.

0:37:000:37:02

Oh! You didn't think she was going to go for a minute.

0:37:040:37:07

I could see it in your face.

0:37:070:37:09

You thought, "She's not going to move. She's not going to move."

0:37:090:37:12

It was getting called all the names under the sun under my breath!

0:37:120:37:15

The joy at hitting the top of the hill is short lived.

0:37:170:37:20

-I can see flames.

-Yeah, I can see flames!

0:37:200:37:24

Working the steam locomotive flat-out has drawn burning coals

0:37:240:37:27

up and out of the chimney,

0:37:270:37:28

setting fire to the embankment.

0:37:280:37:30

All the early railways, the steam days,

0:37:330:37:35

had to keep their banks really tidy because of exactly this problem.

0:37:350:37:40

They had to manage the whole landscape,

0:37:400:37:42

keep it as flat and as green as possible.

0:37:420:37:45

There we go.

0:37:450:37:47

When steam trains were withdrawn in 1968,

0:37:470:37:50

British Rail stopped tidying up embankments.

0:37:500:37:53

As the trees grew back, a new problem arose -

0:37:530:37:57

leaves on the line.

0:37:570:37:59

But burning coals thrown from the loco wasn't just

0:38:000:38:03

a problem in the countryside.

0:38:030:38:05

I mean, can you imagine in the middle of a town,

0:38:050:38:09

if you live there and you had your washing out?

0:38:090:38:12

I mean, first of all, it'd get totally ruined

0:38:120:38:14

by the train going past,

0:38:140:38:16

and then you can always get it set on fire as well.

0:38:160:38:19

For centuries, wood had been burned to cook food and heat homes...

0:38:240:38:27

..but the arrival of the railway in a town

0:38:290:38:32

meant coal prices fell by a third.

0:38:320:38:35

It quickly became the fuel of choice,

0:38:370:38:39

burning hotter and for longer than wood.

0:38:390:38:41

But there was a downside.

0:38:430:38:45

Look at that! Filthy, isn't it?

0:38:470:38:50

And that is the problem with coal fires -

0:38:500:38:52

they leave this awful muck over everything.

0:38:520:38:56

It's not just like dust falling out of the fire,

0:38:560:38:58

it's also the smoke creates sort of like smuts in the air.

0:38:580:39:02

Almost like little black snowflakes.

0:39:020:39:04

They're filthy and they're sticky

0:39:040:39:08

and they make everything...

0:39:080:39:10

Eurgh.

0:39:100:39:11

It creates this vast burden of housework.

0:39:110:39:15

Coal trapped women within the home.

0:39:150:39:19

Before the railways, washday might be just once a month.

0:39:200:39:24

Now, it was weekly,

0:39:240:39:26

and shifting coal smuts required carbolic soap.

0:39:260:39:29

Unfortunately, it doesn't activate it in cold water.

0:39:300:39:34

So, in order to make the soap work,

0:39:350:39:38

I have to have

0:39:380:39:40

not only it grated down, like that,

0:39:400:39:43

but I have to have hot water, therefore burning more coal.

0:39:430:39:47

Likewise, my washing water also has to be warm or hot.

0:39:490:39:53

I mean, quite hot, actually,

0:39:530:39:55

or the soap will not activate, will not do its job.

0:39:550:39:58

So, because I have a coal fire, I have to use the soap.

0:40:010:40:04

Because I'm using soap, I have to use more coal fire.

0:40:040:40:08

And then you start doing what a washing machine does.

0:40:150:40:18

Bashing, twisting - in hot soapy water.

0:40:180:40:21

Laundry day.

0:40:230:40:25

Dreaded throughout the nation.

0:40:250:40:27

Laundry had always been hard work,

0:40:290:40:32

but the coming of coal brought into the towns and cities by the

0:40:320:40:36

railways changed it almost beyond recognition.

0:40:360:40:40

Made it almost into a way of life.

0:40:400:40:42

I'm going to spend the whole of Monday from before dawn

0:40:450:40:47

till after dusk, just doing the basic washing process.

0:40:470:40:50

And then Tuesdays and Wednesdays were often taken up

0:40:500:40:54

with ironing, drying and sorting -

0:40:540:40:56

about half your week could be consumed just by laundry.

0:40:560:40:59

-Fantastic landscape, Peter, it really is.

-Beautiful.

0:41:120:41:15

-Oops!

-Peter, one in ten, mate. One in ten.

0:41:150:41:19

Come on. Chop chop!

0:41:190:41:22

"One in ten!"

0:41:220:41:23

Ruth's returned to the Ffestiniog Railway, to drive the slate train

0:41:260:41:31

from the port up to the quarry.

0:41:310:41:33

So we're heading up the mountain now,

0:41:350:41:38

with all the empty wagons behind us.

0:41:380:41:40

And when we get to the top, hopefully we should meet the boys.

0:41:400:41:44

Who should, I hope, have mined some slate.

0:41:440:41:47

Such was the scale of the operation,

0:41:560:41:58

that often two locomotives were needed to haul the wagons.

0:41:580:42:02

Well, there they are. Waiting for us.

0:42:150:42:17

It's red and it's noisy.

0:42:190:42:20

-It's a nice steam engine as well, isn't it?

-Wonderful.

0:42:220:42:26

We have some slates for you, as well.

0:42:270:42:29

-Oh, they look proper, don't they?

-These are lady slates.

-Lady slates?

0:42:290:42:33

-Do they meet with your approval?

-Special female slates.

-Yeah.

0:42:330:42:37

They're lovely.

0:42:370:42:39

-Well, lady's the size.

-Oh, is it?

-They've all got names.

0:42:390:42:42

They're predominantly female names, but...

0:42:420:42:44

Lady's actually quite a manageable size.

0:42:440:42:46

Some of these things are pretty big.

0:42:460:42:48

So this is a lady you can handle, Peter(!)

0:42:480:42:51

The slates are loaded onto the train.

0:42:530:42:57

Are you all right?

0:42:570:42:58

-I only brought a lady-sized stack of ladies.

-Oh, right, yeah!

0:42:580:43:02

The wagons are tightly packed,

0:43:020:43:04

so the fragile cargo reaches the port intact.

0:43:040:43:07

You can certainly see how these things were rattled around

0:43:080:43:12

and you'd have lost slates.

0:43:120:43:13

Because we're going to need a lot more to pack them in,

0:43:130:43:16

because otherwise we'll have a load

0:43:160:43:18

of coasters with cuts by the time we get to the end!

0:43:180:43:20

So we've got our slate loaded up. What's the job now?

0:43:260:43:29

-Well, we've finished with our steam locos now.

-Right, OK.

0:43:290:43:33

And we're going to detach them and now just use gravity to get all

0:43:330:43:37

the way down to the harbour.

0:43:370:43:39

-It's known as the oldest roller-coaster on earth.

-I like it!

0:43:410:43:44

-Right. Right, slates to the sea, then?

-Yeah, slates to the sea!

0:43:440:43:49

In one go, 120 wagons carrying 500 tonnes of slate could be

0:43:490:43:54

rolled from the quarry 14 miles downhill to the mainline.

0:43:540:43:58

-So, Ruth on there now.

-OK.

0:44:000:44:03

Peter with William.

0:44:030:44:04

Good. Peter on there, good.

0:44:040:44:06

-I'm on the important carriage.

-Come up front with me.

-Yes.

0:44:060:44:09

Ian is the driver of the engine's train.

0:44:090:44:11

His only means of control are simple brakes on each wagon,

0:44:110:44:15

which Alex, Peter and Ruth must help operate.

0:44:150:44:17

OK, let's go.

0:44:170:44:20

BUGLE BLOWS

0:44:200:44:22

All off!

0:44:240:44:26

Just like that?

0:44:280:44:29

We're off!

0:44:310:44:32

-We're really getting a shift on here, Ian!

-Certainly, yeah.

0:44:340:44:36

It's quite some speed! Blimey.

0:44:360:44:40

So at what point, Ian, do we start putting the brakes on?

0:44:420:44:45

-Probably just around this corner.

-Fine, OK.

0:44:450:44:48

BUGLE BLOWS CONTINUOUSLY

0:44:480:44:51

These mountains also would have supported

0:44:550:44:59

a thriving sheep industry,

0:44:590:45:00

with lots and lots of crossings.

0:45:000:45:03

And this is what Ian's bugling for.

0:45:030:45:06

Just so that the sheep and the shepherds know that the slate

0:45:060:45:10

train's coming through.

0:45:100:45:11

-Still haven't applied any brakes yet, Ian.

-No.

0:45:180:45:20

It's amazing how much 15mph feels

0:45:260:45:28

so much faster when you're sat on the edge of a slate truck.

0:45:280:45:31

Absolutely.

0:45:310:45:32

Running the train downhill without an engine, just using gravity,

0:45:330:45:37

not only saves coal, but it makes the ride smoother.

0:45:370:45:41

Going down the hill under the power of gravity,

0:45:420:45:46

the same force is working over the entirety of the train.

0:45:460:45:49

So that means there's less jolting, less vibrations.

0:45:490:45:54

And less slates breaking.

0:45:540:45:56

So by the time we get to the port,

0:45:560:45:57

hopefully most of them will be intact.

0:45:570:45:59

It's the responsibility of the driver to maintain enough speed

0:46:060:46:09

to carry the wagons to the end of the line.

0:46:090:46:12

So we're probably going just about fast enough,

0:46:120:46:15

so if you want to pull on that lever and put our brake on.

0:46:150:46:17

-OK.

-You just do one for now.

0:46:170:46:20

OK, so we've got one brake on now.

0:46:200:46:23

One brake! The rest of the train is now bunching up,

0:46:230:46:27

because we've got this one brake on.

0:46:270:46:30

To apply the rest of the wagon's brakes,

0:46:300:46:32

Ian shouts out numbers as to how many must be applied.

0:46:320:46:36

OK, two!

0:46:360:46:38

Here we go. Brake on...

0:46:380:46:40

And you can feel it, actually it's just starting to slow.

0:46:420:46:47

That's the signal for all of the brakes on?

0:46:480:46:51

Yeah, all of the brakes are coming on on the train and

0:46:510:46:54

that'll slow us down.

0:46:540:46:56

-All off!

-All off!

0:46:560:46:57

That was absolutely thrilling, that run down.

0:47:000:47:03

But the brakeman's job here is a pretty exposed job, isn't it, Ian?

0:47:030:47:07

It is, especially at this time of year.

0:47:070:47:10

Running up and down the mountain, basically just sat on slates.

0:47:100:47:13

Exactly. Day in, day out, all year round.

0:47:130:47:15

That's a pretty harsh job by anyone's reckoning.

0:47:150:47:19

I do see actually how it is incredibly easy to control.

0:47:210:47:25

I mean, we're just now creeping into the platform.

0:47:250:47:29

That is magical!

0:47:310:47:34

Absolutely magical. Time for a cup of tea, I think.

0:47:340:47:38

It's time for a nice, warm cup of tea.

0:47:380:47:41

-I'd love one, but I've got slate bum.

-Cold, cold slate bum.

0:47:410:47:46

-Oh! Oh!

-Come on, old man! Come on, you old dear.

-Thank you.

0:47:460:47:51

Let's go get you a nice cup of tea, Peter, shall we?

0:47:510:47:55

-That was thrilling though, wasn't it?

-Yeah, that was something else.

0:47:550:47:59

-That was absolutely amazing.

-Something else.

0:47:590:48:01

Once the slate had been brought down the mountain on the narrow

0:48:120:48:15

gauge railway, it was transferred to the standard gauge national network,

0:48:150:48:21

where it could be distributed across Britain.

0:48:210:48:24

By the 1880s, the railways had connected all of Britain's cities.

0:48:250:48:30

St Pancras Station in London, completed in 1876,

0:48:340:48:38

connected the capital to the Midlands.

0:48:380:48:41

I absolutely love this station. It is breathtaking.

0:48:410:48:45

And to think, they were going to pull it down. My goodness!

0:48:470:48:51

Today, it stands as a testament to the railway's ability to move

0:48:510:48:55

bulky building materials across Britain.

0:48:550:48:58

We are stood right on the limit of Georgian London.

0:48:580:49:01

And those houses, they're built out of bricks that are made locally,

0:49:010:49:05

using clay that's dug out from the very ground below us.

0:49:050:49:08

And it's formed what is known as a London brick,

0:49:080:49:10

which is very, very yellow in colour.

0:49:100:49:13

But St Pancras is made out of red bricks,

0:49:130:49:15

and that's because St Pancras is built out of materials

0:49:150:49:18

that have been brought here by the railways.

0:49:180:49:20

The bricks that face the building have come from Nottingham.

0:49:220:49:26

The red stonework was also brought in by rail from Mansfield...

0:49:260:49:30

..the white stone from Ancaster in Lincolnshire...

0:49:320:49:34

..and the ironwork that spans the ceiling, from Derbyshire.

0:49:350:49:39

The crowning glory of this building is its roof. It is beautiful.

0:49:410:49:46

And it is made out of, you guessed it, hundreds of thousands of slates.

0:49:460:49:50

Many of those slates have been mined from the Welsh slate mines

0:49:500:49:53

that surround the Ffestiniog Railway.

0:49:530:49:55

And those slates have travelled down the very same gravity train

0:49:550:49:59

that we've sat on.

0:49:590:50:00

And this place... it's a monument to the railways.

0:50:000:50:05

It is a statement of their prowess in being able to move bulk goods

0:50:050:50:10

from the heart of the country into the capital

0:50:100:50:13

of the industrialised world.

0:50:130:50:15

While the railways brought many benefits to those living in towns,

0:50:260:50:30

some traditions were lost forever.

0:50:300:50:33

One was the way we cooked our food.

0:50:340:50:37

If you roast a piece of meat in front of a wood fire, all the

0:50:420:50:45

fat draws in the flavours from the wood smoke, and it's just divine.

0:50:450:50:50

But the railways meant people switched from cooking on wood

0:50:500:50:54

to coal.

0:50:540:50:56

Anything that's roasted or open cooked,

0:50:560:50:58

where the smoke can get at it, is going to get that taint.

0:50:580:51:01

In front of a coal fire,

0:51:010:51:02

it does the same thing with the coal smoke, and it tastes disgusting.

0:51:020:51:06

So people have to start changing the way they cook.

0:51:060:51:08

Open fires were replaced with cast-iron ranges

0:51:120:51:16

that separate the smoky burning coal from the food,

0:51:160:51:19

with an oven and a hob.

0:51:190:51:21

It meant that spit-roasted beef was consigned to history.

0:51:240:51:28

The tradition of Britain as the home of roast beef underwent

0:51:280:51:31

a major overhaul as soon as the railways started moving coal

0:51:310:51:37

into ordinary people's houses.

0:51:370:51:40

Ruth's unearthed a recipe from the 19th century.

0:51:400:51:44

Spuds, lots of spuds in a baking tray.

0:51:440:51:49

A saucer. Breadcrumbs...

0:51:490:51:52

It shows how people adapted

0:51:520:51:54

from roasting beef on wood to baking it with coal.

0:51:540:51:58

So I want you to think of this as a very typical post-railway dinner.

0:52:000:52:05

The sort of thing you would have once coal had taken over your life.

0:52:050:52:10

Knob of fat. I've got a bit of butter.

0:52:100:52:14

And now my beef goes on top,

0:52:140:52:16

and that sits right on top of the saucer.

0:52:160:52:20

Next, some hot water.

0:52:200:52:22

And this water goes around the potatoes.

0:52:240:52:27

Controlling the temperature of a coal oven was difficult.

0:52:290:52:32

But the water provided an ingenious way of stopping it overheating.

0:52:320:52:36

If you've got water present, it sort of evens out temperatures.

0:52:370:52:42

Traditional food of Britain was changing.

0:52:450:52:48

Gone were the 18th-century recipes.

0:52:480:52:51

The whole of the traditional British diet

0:52:530:52:56

was under attack from the railways.

0:52:560:52:58

It wasn't just our diet that was changing. So was our kitchenware.

0:53:000:53:05

This is more or less the traditional shape of pots,

0:53:050:53:09

cooking pots in Britain.

0:53:090:53:11

For over 500 years, they had been round-bottomed and with legs.

0:53:110:53:15

On a wood fire, flames come up, they hit the bottom of that round

0:53:170:53:20

shape and then as they come up, they spread out and lick around the pot.

0:53:200:53:26

But look at it on here.

0:53:260:53:28

SHE LAUGHS

0:53:280:53:29

The traditional pans of Britain did not work on these new coal fires.

0:53:290:53:34

You just had to replace them! There was no choice,

0:53:340:53:38

you suddenly had to go for flat bottomed pans like the kettle,

0:53:380:53:42

like the saucepans that we're all used to.

0:53:420:53:45

Moreover, on a wood fire, an iron pot, say something like this,

0:53:450:53:50

will in fact last two, three, 400 years.

0:53:500:53:54

The sort of thing that can be passed down in your family. An heirloom.

0:53:540:53:58

It's just going nowhere.

0:53:580:53:59

But if you put the pan directly over the coal,

0:54:010:54:04

you're looking at a lifespan of no more than 20 years.

0:54:040:54:07

From something that can last you generation after generation,

0:54:070:54:10

that could be passed down, to something you're going to have to

0:54:100:54:13

replace a couple of times in your lifetime.

0:54:130:54:16

So all this coal the railways are bringing into towns and villages and

0:54:160:54:21

cities all over Britain are bringing with it a new demand for ironware.

0:54:210:54:26

The terraced miners' cottages were all pretty much identical.

0:54:300:54:34

There was one place the occupiers could express their individuality...

0:54:340:54:38

..in the garden.

0:54:400:54:42

These gardens very quickly became a source of pride, because this

0:54:430:54:47

was the opportunity to differentiate yourselves from your neighbours.

0:54:470:54:50

You're all living in essentially the same buildings.

0:54:500:54:54

You needed some way to say, look, I'm different. It's all about me.

0:54:540:54:57

You could keep your garden meticulously clean

0:54:570:55:01

and highly productive.

0:55:010:55:02

And it said something about you as a member of this community.

0:55:020:55:05

But of course, the main benefit that all of this was to have was the fact

0:55:050:55:11

that for the first time, really, these industrial communities

0:55:110:55:16

had the opportunity to grow their own fresh fruit and veg.

0:55:160:55:20

These'll go lovely, I think, with our baked beef.

0:55:220:55:26

-A-ha!

-Smells good!

0:55:350:55:36

-Good timing, good timing.

-Hi, Ruth.

-Hello, Peter!

0:55:360:55:40

Oh, that looks good.

0:55:400:55:41

Wonderful.

0:55:410:55:43

Absolutely wonderful.

0:55:430:55:45

I'm not even going to try and do clever carving. This is lumps.

0:55:460:55:50

-I like lumps. I don't like thin slices.

-Thank you.

0:55:500:55:54

Lovely!

0:55:540:55:56

Smells delicious!

0:55:560:55:58

This is a railway dinner.

0:55:580:55:59

Everything about it speaks of that network.

0:55:590:56:02

You know, bringing the coal in,

0:56:020:56:04

bringing the ironwork so that you're having to change your recipes

0:56:040:56:07

and cook in a new, different way from the way you've done before.

0:56:070:56:11

Everything we're looking at is about

0:56:110:56:13

the connectivity of Britain that the railways brought.

0:56:130:56:16

We think of this as our sort of traditional cuisine,

0:56:160:56:19

the meat and the two veg -

0:56:190:56:21

it's a railway cuisine.

0:56:210:56:23

-And it's railway dinner, effectively in a railway cottage as well.

-Yeah.

0:56:230:56:27

You couldn't have built effectively the housing for industrial Britain,

0:56:270:56:30

without the railways.

0:56:300:56:32

The 19th century itself is just almost

0:56:320:56:35

a perfect storm in Britain of advancement.

0:56:350:56:39

You've got a population explosion,

0:56:390:56:40

you've got advances in medicine and materials,

0:56:400:56:43

and the railways are that kind of lightning rod

0:56:430:56:45

that conducts it all and just makes it happen.

0:56:450:56:47

Yeah. For 150 years, nearly 200 years,

0:56:470:56:52

the railways allowed a new,

0:56:520:56:54

unique and special way of life.

0:56:540:56:56

It's probably, I think,

0:56:560:56:58

the most amazing legacy from the industrial period -

0:56:580:57:02

the railway networks that still furnish our modern

0:57:020:57:05

British cities and still function and enable those cities to function.

0:57:050:57:08

Exactly!

0:57:080:57:10

So, railway food.

0:57:110:57:13

It's good, but it's not quite as good as the old roast beef, is it?

0:57:130:57:16

-You don't think?

-No.

-I don't know, Ruth. This is pretty good!

0:57:160:57:19

-It's the same as the one I had in St Pancras.

-Is it really?

-Yeah.

0:57:190:57:23

-That's two roast beefs you've had in two days.

-This ain't roast, mate.

0:57:230:57:27

-Two baked beefs in two days, Peter!

-Baked beef!

0:57:270:57:30

You can see what the railways have done for Peter.

0:57:300:57:33

Next time, we see how the railways transformed from being

0:57:370:57:41

a carrier of goods to a carrier of people...

0:57:410:57:45

And it's nicely painted. It's all lovely and clean in here.

0:57:450:57:47

But it is just a wooden wagon with some wooden benches.

0:57:470:57:50

..experience the life of the workers who built the new network.

0:57:500:57:55

I think you left it in the pot a bit long there.

0:57:550:57:57

Seen better days. Give it a clean-up, it'll be fine.

0:57:570:58:00

..and find out what is like to be a passenger in Victorian Britain.

0:58:000:58:04

"In going through a tunnel, it is always as well to have

0:58:040:58:07

"the hands and arms ready, disposed for defence."

0:58:070:58:09

Tunnel!

0:58:110:58:12

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