Episode 4 Full Steam Ahead


Episode 4

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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,

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revolutionising trade and transportation,

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communication and recreation.

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It was the greatest transformation in our history.

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But how did it happen?

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To find out, historians Ruth Goodman...

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-Look out!

-..Alex Langlands...

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Shovelling coal is something

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I'm going to get very, very familiar with.

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-..and Peter Ginn...

-It is hard work.

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..are bringing the railways back to life,

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as they would've been during 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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Brave new 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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..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 who 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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The steam railways connected towns and cities right across Britain,

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revolutionising the transportation of goods, people, even information.

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The way we communicate in Britain has never been the same

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since the arrival of the railways, and I want to find out first-hand

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just how they transformed Britain's postal service.

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In the second half of the 19th century,

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Britain was in the grip of an electrical revolution.

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I'm interested in finding out how, practically, the railways

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facilitated this new age in communications.

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Britain was becoming ever more connected.

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The introduction of express trains like the Flying Scotsman

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meant people began to see themselves as belonging to one common culture,

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one economy, and crucially, one nation.

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Before the railways,

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most people in Britain thought of themselves as being from Galloway,

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or Monmouthshire, or Derbyshire.

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They didn't really think of themselves as being British.

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But within a very short time of the railways arriving,

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that had completely changed.

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How did we get to feel so connected?

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In 1800,

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the quickest way to send a letter was by horse-drawn mail coach,

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but it could take days to arrive.

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As the population became more literate,

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the volume of letters soared,

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so what was needed was a quicker, more efficient way of sending mail.

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In 1838, the introduction of mail trains provided a solution.

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Letters could now be conveyed in hours, rather than days.

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This is all the post from Loughborough.

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Nice little feature, a ramp down the stairs for sliding down

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the bags of post, in this case, or indeed any luggage.

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I suspect it's every child's dream.

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Although I've seen a sign saying, "Don't use this slide".

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At the Great Central Railway in Loughborough,

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Peter is bringing this postal service back to life,

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helped by a team of enthusiasts.

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Right, last bag. We just take it round there, do we?

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Peter's helping Paul Harrison load the mail

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collected from the local area.

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-We're going in this door here.

-OK.

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You have to call out the destinations

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-and then they're logged in on the train.

-Right, OK.

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So we've got Burton-on-Trent.

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Burton-on-Trent.

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First, the post was roughly divided into sacks

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for the different areas that the mail train was travelling to.

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So you're just looking at the labels on top there?

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Yep. Coalville.

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Coalville.

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-Coalville.

-Another Coalville.

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-Burton-on-Trent.

-Burton-on-Trent.

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-Derby.

-And Derby again.

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So I'll get rid of this and then we can jump on board.

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At a time when the people of Victorian London could expect

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up to 12 postal deliveries to their homes every day,

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and the suburbs around six, speed was everything.

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In 1936,

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the role played by the railways in speeding up the postal system

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was immortalised in one of the first documentaries about working life...

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It tells the story of the Postal Special,

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carrying mail through the night from London to Glasgow,

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complete with a WH Auden poem.

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This is the Night Mail crossing the border

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Bringing the cheque and the postal order

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Letters for the rich letters for the poor

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The shop at the corner and the girl next door

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Pulling up Beattock, a steady climb

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The gradient's against her but she's on time.

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To make the service even faster,

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trains didn't just transport the mail,

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they featured a new innovation - the TPO,

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otherwise known as the Travelling Post Office.

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Now the mail could be sorted on the move, too.

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Derby.

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Leicester.

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Stafford.

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Each sorter has 48 pigeonholes, known as fillets,

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representing different towns.

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The mail must be sorted before the train reaches its first destination.

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TPO historian Brian Hallett is on hand to help.

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It's a race against time.

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So, what do we do? Do we just take the bundles?

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-Take the bundles.

-Yeah.

-And with your trusty scissors...

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I left my trusty scissors at home.

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Thank you very much.

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And am I going stamps-in, stamps-out, does it matter?

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Normally you do stamps-out.

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I couldn't actually read that.

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In its heyday, the TPO workers picked up,

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sorted and delivered 500 million letters a year.

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These men were key to the efficient running of the country,

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ensuring mail got delivered on time.

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I suppose you must have got quite fast at this?

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The TPO sorters were among the fastest sorters in the Royal Mail.

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So they were known for sorting up to 3,000 letters an hour.

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-Per person?

-Per person.

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3,000 letters an hour, what's that? That's 300 every six minutes.

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One per second.

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I mean, 3,000 letters an hour is an immense amount.

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I think I managed to get close to one a minute,

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and I suspect someone else is going to have to re-sort what I've done

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because I kind of started losing track.

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These were the postal elite.

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They were faster, harder working,

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and with the stamina to sort at speed against the clock.

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The people that worked on here... If you were doing the north-east TPO,

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and you were based in Newcastle,

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you'd travel down the first night on the passenger train,

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and work back to Newcastle, sorting, that night.

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-Yeah.

-The following night, you'd work from Newcastle to London,

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sleep over in digs during the day,

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then you'd work the next night back to Newcastle.

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It must've been quite a tight-knit bunch of guys.

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Very much so. Can you imagine working with a bunch of people

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in the same coach, for five nights of the week?

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You've got to get on. And if you didn't get on,

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-you didn't survive on the Travelling Post Office.

-Yeah.

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Despite working at speed on a constantly moving train,

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there was no room for error.

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The sorters were responsible for making sure their fillets were empty

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when they'd finished sorting.

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And the cleaners would actually go through after the shift -

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if they found any letters, they'd get a bonus,

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and that bonus would come out of the sorter's salary.

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So you want to make sure they're fully clear,

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otherwise the cleaner's taking home your money?

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Yeah.

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Once sorted, the letters for the first mail-drop

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are tied into bundles.

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Tying up the letters - pull the string all the way down?

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Pull the string down and cut off the length you need.

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Yeah.

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So these now go in here.

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So now we need to tie that up, ready to go in to the pouch to drop off.

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So if you want to tie that on there?

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-OK.

-Two or three times around with the string.

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And these labels... This is the same as the bags we were loading on

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at the start, so it just tells you where it's going.

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That's right.

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So that's got its label on,

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so that's ready to go down into the pouch,

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ready to be dropped off.

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-That's going off quite soon, isn't it?

-Yes.

-OK.

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Thanks a lot. Take it away, sonny boy.

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Righto, handsome.

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The TPO didn't just deliver and collect from stations,

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it also picked up and dropped off post at small towns and villages

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along the way...

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without the train even stopping.

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The first use of this system was on

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the London Birmingham Railway in 1838.

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Within 70 years, there were 245 in operation.

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So the first thing to do is get these flaps over

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so you get a very neat package...

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..where nothing can come apart and you don't lose any of the mail bags.

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Imagine doing this all night long,

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on a journey from Edinburgh to London.

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OK, so this is quite a constant process.

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I'm just getting worn out doing this one.

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So there you have one mail pouch ready for dispatch.

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Next, the mail pouch is attached to an arm

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on the outside of the train.

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-Just pull?

-Strong pull.

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Some workers were so terrified of doing this,

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they paid a colleague to hang the bags out for them.

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It feels quite weird.

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So you bring the bag to the edge?

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Bag to the edge, bring the arm in.

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That flap just closes to stop it falling off.

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You do find that they will come off

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so we put a piece of string round it just as an extra safety,

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so we don't drop the bag before we should do.

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That would just be a nightmare. I suppose if the bag falls off

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before the drop zone, you've got to... How do you find it?

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Well, the people who were on the ground

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have to walk back up the track and find all the letters.

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So this piece of string is actually quite an essential bit of kit.

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It is, yes.

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Further down the line,

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Ruth is getting ready for the TPO's mail to arrive.

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Oh, I see.

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And that's it, locked in place. Collect the bags.

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So they're supposed to shoot in there?

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As the train passes through, I certainly wouldn't like to be

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down that end when the bags come off the train.

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So the main thing is, stand well clear.

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-Indeed.

-Right.

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As well as mail pouches being dropped off from the train,

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they could also be picked up.

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With help from TPO expert Phil Payne,

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she's preparing the mail ready for the train to collect.

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-They ain't light, these bags, are they?

-No, they're not.

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I'll tell you what really I find interesting is how much they look

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like saddlebags. You know, they've still got that form

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from the old stagecoach days, haven't they?

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It's leather made, you know, by a saddler.

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There's a lot of work goes into these. It's all hand-stitched.

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There'd be no other way to do it, would there?

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And there's at least six layers in that.

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So many of these older crafts, you know,

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carry on a life in the automated railways

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for donkey's years.

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You couldn't find anything else to replace that kind of

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quality of leather to do the job that it's about to do.

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I mean, a train hitting that, it's going to need

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to take some punishment, so they stuck with leather.

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On the TPO, there's three minutes to go before the mail pick-up.

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-You've got the net.

-Yep.

-You push the top lever down,

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and then push the whole thing down in one smooth operation

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-until it clicks in place at the bottom.

-Yeah.

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You only do that once we've called "board".

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Then, after you've done the exchange,

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the mail bags will come in and we'll call "net",

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and that's when you release it to bring the net back in.

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OK. And I can't practise this now, can I?

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There's no way you can practise it now.

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You've only got one chance, and that has to be ready to do it,

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because we can only put the net out in safe locations.

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So how many letters would be in one parcel like this?

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I should imagine anything up to about 1,000.

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-Gosh.

-In weight, bags would come in about 60lbs, 50lbs of post.

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So, when the train hits it at full speed,

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they're doing round about 70, 80mph.

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OK.

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If it ever went wrong,

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you'd be picking up letters down the track for weeks.

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So... But that's that one done.

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You get those up there?

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Yep.

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Quite a weight, as you can see.

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Got it? Up we go.

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The leather pouches are attached to a stand by a spring clip.

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-It's not really a one-man job, is it?

-Definitely not, no.

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After word is received that the TPO is approaching

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from the nearby signalman, the bags are swung out ready for collection.

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Right, ready?

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On the mail train, there's less than a minute to go before the pick-up.

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Peter is preparing to drop the net.

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Are we in quite a dangerous area here?

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We're in a very dangerous area, because this is the location

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where the pouches will come flying in once they hit your net.

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So the faster the train's going, the harder they come in?

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Yes. At 85mph, they could land anywhere

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from hitting the ceiling and on to the benches.

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The mail was picked up and dropped off simultaneously.

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On the postal special from London to Glasgow,

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these exchanges took place 34 times a night,

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so the crew had to know the route intimately.

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If the net is put out too early, it could hit a signal or a bridge.

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So the team looks for a track-side board,

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indicating the exchange apparatus is approaching.

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-Do you want to get to the net?

-So this is the lever?

-Yes.

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And you're going to say...

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Well, one of my colleagues is going to shout "board".

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-All right, now?

-No, no.

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You want two bridges and 45 beats.

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One...two...

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Now!

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-Board!

-So, go down... Put it down now.

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All the way down, that's it. It's in.

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OK, net, net.

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Well done.

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OK. It's all right, we've still got a net.

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Yes.

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Whoa!

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There you go.

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Yeah, I see what you mean about vigorous.

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Quite substantial, isn't it?

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It's remarkably physical

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for something as light as a letter.

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Oh, my goodness. That was a flash, wasn't it?

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Yeah, all done very quickly.

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It's almost like magic.

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Suddenly, you know, these two parcels have miraculously appeared

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and, yeah, it's the mail, ready to be sorted, I suppose.

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-All ready to be sorted.

-Yeah, we can't just stand around.

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Get it open, get it out there and get it back out to the next stop.

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-We need to get the lads working.

-Yeah.

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For over 130 years, TPOs worked across the country,

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picking up and dropping off mail.

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But as trains got faster, the exchanges became more dangerous.

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So in 1971, the service was scrapped.

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On a modern train, you can't even open the window.

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Not these days.

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It gets quite exciting.

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Did many people fall out?

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Erm, they didn't have many accidents with the TPO crew.

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It was more the driver and the fireman looking out

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-when they shouldn't have done.

-Oh, to watch the...?

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And getting hit by the bags.

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Standing up on the cab,

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there's quite a few stories about firemen losing their head,

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literally, so it's quite a dangerous occupation.

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Once the mail was collected,

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the process of sorting started all over again.

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It was a never-ending cycle.

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Even tea breaks were taken on the go.

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-First division, coming over.

-And again.

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Second division. Another one.

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The TPO crew ran from, say,

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nine at night until six in the morning and they had to eat.

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So they provided them with basic - and they are basic -

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cooking facilities. Be careful, cos it's hot.

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Because they didn't actually have a meal break while they were working.

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They'd carry on working, have their tea, a pie, and carry on sorting.

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Do you fancy a pie?

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Thank you very much.

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Before the railways,

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few people travelled beyond their local towns or villages,

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so felt little connection with other parts of the country.

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But the railways forced a change that was to finally get the nation

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working in sync.

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The traditional way of telling time back in the medieval period

0:18:580:19:01

was to use the position of the sun and a sundial.

0:19:010:19:04

And it would have been watched by one of the church members

0:19:040:19:07

who would have come out and he would have checked that sundial,

0:19:070:19:10

and when the time was right, he would have gone in and rung the bell

0:19:100:19:12

and everyone in this community would have heard that bell,

0:19:120:19:15

they would have known what time it was,

0:19:150:19:17

what time to say masses and what time to say prayers.

0:19:170:19:19

As the sun rises earlier in the east than it does in the west,

0:19:210:19:24

cities across Britain could vary in time by up to 30 minutes.

0:19:240:19:28

In an age when the horse was the fastest mode of transport,

0:19:300:19:33

the odd minute difference here and there didn't matter.

0:19:330:19:37

But once high-speed trains began connecting

0:19:380:19:40

Britain's towns and cities, this became a problem.

0:19:400:19:43

London was four minutes ahead of Reading,

0:19:460:19:49

11 minutes ahead of Bristol

0:19:490:19:52

and 18 minutes ahead of Exeter...

0:19:520:19:54

..resulting in some very confusing timetables.

0:19:560:19:59

Something had to be done.

0:20:010:20:02

Alex has come to Bristol Corn Exchange

0:20:030:20:05

to meet railway historian David Turner.

0:20:050:20:09

So what's going on up there?

0:20:090:20:10

Well, we have two minute hands on this clock.

0:20:100:20:13

-OK.

-The red one is London time.

0:20:130:20:16

The darker one is actually Bristol time.

0:20:160:20:19

Right, OK. So that darker hand

0:20:190:20:21

is ten minutes behind the other red hand,

0:20:210:20:24

-which is reflecting the two different time zones.

-Yeah.

0:20:240:20:27

So when the railways came, this brought with it Greenwich Mean Time,

0:20:270:20:30

because the railways needed everything standardised,

0:20:300:20:32

they needed trains to be meeting at the right places,

0:20:320:20:36

for everybody along the line, all the staff, to have the same time.

0:20:360:20:39

Standardising time across Britain coordinated the railway network,

0:20:400:20:45

allowing it to run more efficiently

0:20:450:20:47

and making towns and cities more connected.

0:20:470:20:49

But some areas were resistant to change.

0:20:500:20:53

How are people over here in the west of England reacting to that?

0:20:540:20:57

They kind of feel the railway's invading them, the area.

0:20:570:21:01

There is a nickname for London time and it's called Cockney time.

0:21:010:21:04

It's a sort of kind of derogatory term for that time from over there.

0:21:050:21:10

And the people are quite resistant, so apparently,

0:21:100:21:13

in the commercial halls in Bristol,

0:21:130:21:16

this gentleman stands up with his grandfather's pocket watch

0:21:160:21:20

and he argues, "If one hand was good enough for my grandfather,

0:21:200:21:23

-"it's good enough for me."

-Right.

0:21:230:21:25

This is an invasion, the "other time" is coming in,

0:21:250:21:29

invading the area and changing people's rhythms,

0:21:290:21:34

their ways of life that have been in existence for, well, centuries.

0:21:340:21:38

This was a time of change in Britain.

0:21:400:21:42

While steam was revolutionising how we travelled and communicated,

0:21:430:21:47

a new source of power was being developed alongside it,

0:21:470:21:51

one that would change the world.

0:21:510:21:53

Electricity.

0:21:540:21:55

The first use of electricity was a revolutionary communication system,

0:21:560:22:00

the telegraph.

0:22:000:22:01

It allowed messages to be sent long distance

0:22:030:22:06

down a wire, instantaneously.

0:22:060:22:08

But to connect towns and cities,

0:22:100:22:12

cables would need to be laid between them.

0:22:120:22:14

And with ready-laid corridors through the countryside,

0:22:170:22:20

the railways provided the perfect routes.

0:22:200:22:22

The railways themselves took advantage of this new system

0:22:250:22:29

to ensure that a safe distance was maintained between trains.

0:22:290:22:32

That's "train entering section".

0:22:350:22:37

Signal boxes communicated the position of a train along its route,

0:22:400:22:44

using the electric telegraph.

0:22:440:22:46

-And this is all using telegraph technology?

-Yes.

0:22:480:22:51

That's how you're communicating with the other signal boxes,

0:22:510:22:54

through a series of bells relayed through telegraph systems.

0:22:540:22:57

That's right.

0:22:570:22:58

At Milton Keynes Museum,

0:23:010:23:03

Bill Griffiths is showing Alex how to use the first

0:23:030:23:05

commercial electric telegraph to send Peter a message.

0:23:050:23:09

Developed by Cooke and Wheatstone in the 1830s,

0:23:100:23:13

it took some getting used to.

0:23:130:23:15

Peter's going to be sat at the other end of the line

0:23:170:23:19

waiting for a message. Can you show me how this thing works?

0:23:190:23:22

Well, as you can see, you've got a range of letters there

0:23:220:23:25

and you actually have to point to the letters, and you do that

0:23:250:23:28

by moving these handles in opposite directions.

0:23:280:23:30

So you have to spell out every letter.

0:23:300:23:33

Alex's telegraph machine is connected to Peter's by wires,

0:23:330:23:37

and moving switches on one moves the needles on the other.

0:23:370:23:41

(The anticipation.)

0:23:410:23:43

Right, OK, so I'm going to send Peter a message.

0:23:430:23:46

So M. If I then go Y...

0:23:480:23:51

-My friend. There's no space bar, is there?

-No.

0:23:530:23:58

I'm just watching these arrows...

0:23:580:23:59

So they both point to F, that makes an F.

0:23:590:24:02

In an age before telephones,

0:24:020:24:04

being able to send instant messages known as telegrams

0:24:040:24:08

was revolutionary.

0:24:080:24:09

But there were limitations.

0:24:090:24:11

There's no U.

0:24:110:24:13

And there's no C either.

0:24:130:24:15

We're missing letters here.

0:24:150:24:16

There are. And I used to worry about that. I thought, how on earth

0:24:160:24:19

do you send messages when you've got letters missing?

0:24:190:24:21

C is quite important. U is quite important...

0:24:210:24:24

We actually do it all the time, don't we?

0:24:240:24:26

We send messages without certain letters.

0:24:260:24:28

And we get used to it. So if you left...

0:24:280:24:30

On most occasions, if you left a letter out of a word,

0:24:300:24:34

or misspelt it - and they had this problem -

0:24:340:24:37

people would understand by the whole message.

0:24:370:24:39

R... Receiving me...

0:24:400:24:42

He's obviously had a couple of drinks.

0:24:440:24:46

-"Are you

-recieving

-me?" I think that is.

0:24:460:24:49

OK. So let's see what comes through.

0:24:490:24:51

I.

0:24:530:24:54

B.

0:24:550:24:56

E.

0:24:570:24:58

I before...

0:24:580:24:59

I before E.

0:24:590:25:01

I before E...

0:25:040:25:05

Oh, yes.

0:25:060:25:08

I before E,

0:25:080:25:10

except after C.

0:25:100:25:13

Always keen to pick me up on my mistakes, Peter, isn't he?

0:25:130:25:16

Soon railways became the hub of communication,

0:25:170:25:20

with telegraph offices to send and receive telegrams,

0:25:200:25:24

for the public, for businesses and even the police.

0:25:240:25:28

While criminals could make their getaway on a train,

0:25:290:25:31

the fastest mode of transport at the time,

0:25:310:25:34

the long arm of the law could now get there even faster.

0:25:340:25:38

There was the well-known murderer, John Tawell, who was caught,

0:25:380:25:41

and he thought he'd got away with it, got on the train,

0:25:410:25:43

got away and they were able to signal from Slough to Paddington.

0:25:430:25:49

They couldn't telegraph his name, that wouldn't mean anything,

0:25:490:25:51

but they were able to telegraph a description of what he looked like.

0:25:510:25:54

They recognised him, or they thought they did, getting off the train.

0:25:540:25:57

So you've got the bobbies at the other end, knowing what

0:25:570:26:00

-this guy looks like.

-That's right.

-And that's how they got him.

0:26:000:26:02

An unprecedented... Something we take for granted nowadays.

0:26:020:26:05

But unprecedented back in that time.

0:26:050:26:07

I think it was the beginning of making our whole lives much quicker.

0:26:070:26:10

That's a road we've travelled on from then until now.

0:26:100:26:13

So everything has got speedier.

0:26:130:26:15

To start off with, it was just used as an emergency service -

0:26:150:26:19

I don't think it would be used every day. But then, of course, business

0:26:190:26:22

found out how useful that would be to get the information quickly,

0:26:220:26:26

so that took off, and then of course for news,

0:26:260:26:29

and then spread to be used in more and more different ways.

0:26:290:26:33

Every time I send an e-mail,

0:26:330:26:37

I shall be thinking about this machine,

0:26:370:26:40

cos this is basically where it all began.

0:26:400:26:42

Telegrams meant breaking news stories could be sent

0:26:450:26:47

to newspaper companies in London's Fleet Street within minutes.

0:26:470:26:51

The Victorian age saw a boom in newspaper sales,

0:26:510:26:54

thanks to the railway network that distributed them.

0:26:540:26:57

Printer Patrick Rowe is showing Peter how a newspaper proof

0:26:580:27:02

would have been quickly assembled

0:27:020:27:04

once news came through the telegraph system.

0:27:040:27:08

So you're putting it in upside down?

0:27:080:27:12

Yes, it's just easier to read from left to right,

0:27:120:27:14

the way you normally would.

0:27:140:27:16

The letters are all back to front so that when you ink them up

0:27:160:27:18

and print them, they're the right way round.

0:27:180:27:22

It wasn't just the railways that boosted circulation.

0:27:220:27:25

In the 19th century,

0:27:250:27:27

homes were increasingly being fitted with gas or even electric lighting,

0:27:270:27:31

providing more time for reading.

0:27:310:27:33

Is that rubber or metal?

0:27:330:27:35

It's zinc, and the tones are produced by these dots.

0:27:350:27:39

And the smaller the dot, the lighter the tone and the larger the dot,

0:27:390:27:43

the darker the tone.

0:27:430:27:44

Yeah.

0:27:440:27:45

It's like you're doing this with bits of Meccano.

0:27:460:27:49

-So, what are these?

-These are quoins.

0:27:510:27:53

These are the very old-fashioned type called hempel quoins.

0:27:530:27:57

You can see what's going on, the two wedges...

0:27:570:27:59

And as you turn the key,

0:27:590:28:02

it makes the wedges take up more space so it compresses.

0:28:020:28:07

So it locks everything.

0:28:070:28:08

Locks it all up nice and firm.

0:28:080:28:12

So we've put the type in,

0:28:120:28:13

so we'll have to ink it up and proof it.

0:28:130:28:16

Before the railways, newspapers had been a luxury item.

0:28:190:28:23

The Times cost 5p, a third of the daily wage of a station porter.

0:28:230:28:27

But when the Daily Telegraph dropped its price to a penny in 1856,

0:28:290:28:34

other papers soon followed suit.

0:28:340:28:36

-That's better.

-Oh, that's good.

0:28:430:28:44

So crisp, isn't it?

0:28:460:28:47

There you are, the proof.

0:28:480:28:50

The proof. And I would be taking this to...

0:28:500:28:53

Somebody would need to check it before it goes together

0:28:530:28:57

with the lines of type to put the whole pages together.

0:28:570:29:02

So, "Flying Scotsman breaks world speed record".

0:29:020:29:05

So we just need to check the picture.

0:29:050:29:09

Oh, my goodness.

0:29:090:29:10

I can see the driver.

0:29:100:29:11

Although headlines were still hand-set,

0:29:140:29:16

the body of text was set using state-of-the-art machinery...

0:29:160:29:19

..then the proof finalised.

0:29:210:29:23

The newspaper was then ready for printing.

0:29:230:29:25

As newspapers became more affordable, circulation soared,

0:29:270:29:31

driving a need for better printing methods.

0:29:310:29:34

By the 1860s,

0:29:370:29:38

rotary printing presses fed by rolls of paper five miles long

0:29:380:29:43

were able to print up to 12,000 pages per hour.

0:29:430:29:46

Newspapers could now be printed through the night...

0:29:480:29:50

..and delivered to the railway station

0:29:520:29:54

in the early hours of the morning.

0:29:540:29:55

This is news today...

0:30:000:30:02

..and it's chip paper tomorrow.

0:30:030:30:06

And that was only possible

0:30:060:30:08

because of the railways.

0:30:080:30:09

Newspapers could be on sale in towns and cities all over Britain

0:30:130:30:17

before breakfast.

0:30:170:30:18

For the first time it was possible to wake up to national news

0:30:250:30:29

hot off the press.

0:30:290:30:31

Inside the newspapers, readers were bombarded with adverts

0:30:360:30:41

for goods and services.

0:30:410:30:42

From health pills and skin creams to job vacancies.

0:30:440:30:48

Even babies.

0:30:500:30:51

In Victorian Britain, having an illegitimate child

0:30:530:30:57

carried a huge stigma.

0:30:570:30:58

But amongst the classifieds were adverts purporting to solve

0:31:010:31:04

an unmarried mother's problem.

0:31:040:31:06

At a time before adoption and fostering laws,

0:31:080:31:11

it was perfectly legal to hand your child over to whoever you wanted,

0:31:110:31:15

even a complete stranger.

0:31:150:31:17

Social historian Dr Meg Arnot

0:31:190:31:21

has spent years researching these adverts.

0:31:210:31:24

Tell me, why on earth are these

0:31:240:31:27

very lovely-sounding adverts such a problem?

0:31:270:31:31

OK, we have an advertisement here -

0:31:310:31:34

"Wanted, a child to adopt

0:31:340:31:36

"by respectable married couple who have no children of their own.

0:31:360:31:41

"Premium required, £30."

0:31:410:31:43

It could actually be a genuine couple who have no children,

0:31:430:31:47

and they want to adopt.

0:31:470:31:50

But there is some code there

0:31:500:31:53

that suggests to me that it might actually be something different.

0:31:530:31:56

They're saying they want a really quite significant premium of money

0:31:560:32:00

to be handed over with the child, that is they want £30.

0:32:000:32:04

They will take a child if you pay them 30 quid.

0:32:040:32:06

-Yes.

-We could well be talking about a baby farmer,

0:32:060:32:12

a form of human trafficking.

0:32:120:32:14

The term baby farmer was coined in the 19th century to describe people

0:32:140:32:19

who profited from taking on infants for a fee,

0:32:190:32:22

often with the intention of selling them on,

0:32:220:32:24

deliberately neglecting them,

0:32:240:32:27

or even to dispose of them altogether.

0:32:270:32:29

The railways made it possible for unmarried mothers to travel

0:32:290:32:33

far away from the people they knew and hand over their child

0:32:330:32:36

on a station platform, all the while remaining entirely anonymous.

0:32:360:32:42

The very last baby farmer to hang in Britain was Rhoda Willis,

0:32:420:32:48

who died in Wales in August 1907.

0:32:480:32:53

So, Rhoda Willis advertised for a child to adopt

0:32:530:32:58

and someone very quickly answered her ad with a newborn baby,

0:32:580:33:02

which she picked up at a railway station along with £8.

0:33:020:33:07

And then she caught the train back to her lodgings in Cardiff.

0:33:080:33:12

And then her landlady found the body in her room,

0:33:120:33:15

and she also confessed to actually killing the child on the train.

0:33:150:33:21

Gosh, before she even got home.

0:33:210:33:22

Before she even got home.

0:33:220:33:24

And I have come across other cases where there are allegations

0:33:240:33:29

that these infants were killed on trains.

0:33:290:33:32

So another... The darkest elements.

0:33:320:33:35

At the worst end of it is an utterly cynical, murdering trade.

0:33:350:33:40

What was most important to a woman with an illegitimate child

0:33:400:33:45

who she was trying to get rid of was that it was kept secret,

0:33:450:33:49

because her reputation was shredded by having an illegitimate child.

0:33:490:33:55

And the railways provided that secret environment...

0:33:550:33:57

Somewhere for nefarious activities of any sort, really.

0:33:570:34:03

A new place, rather paradoxically.

0:34:030:34:06

It's no different from the internet.

0:34:070:34:10

The internet is an amazing thing and this new flow of information

0:34:100:34:14

and communication across the world,

0:34:140:34:16

but part of the information that flows is criminal.

0:34:160:34:19

As the 19th century progressed,

0:34:370:34:40

new railway lines funded by entrepreneurs began to spread

0:34:400:34:44

to every corner of Britain.

0:34:440:34:46

Initially, there was little coordination in building

0:34:460:34:49

these new routes, but gradually they began to be linked up,

0:34:490:34:53

making long-distance rail travel possible.

0:34:530:34:55

Linking Scotland and England were two competing routes,

0:34:580:35:01

the West Coast Line and the more celebrated,

0:35:010:35:05

the East Coast Line.

0:35:050:35:06

The most famous locomotive to work this route has just undergone

0:35:150:35:19

ten years of restoration costing £4.5 million.

0:35:190:35:22

The Flying Scotsman, the most iconic steam engine of all time.

0:35:250:35:30

Look at the size of those wheels.

0:35:300:35:33

They are phenomenal, aren't they?

0:35:330:35:35

Railway companies on the West Coast and East Coast lines were competing

0:35:350:35:39

to provide the quickest service.

0:35:390:35:41

To do this, they needed ever more powerful locomotives.

0:35:410:35:46

So in 1923, one of the greatest engineers of the age,

0:35:460:35:50

Sir Nigel Gresley, gave us the Flying Scotsman,

0:35:500:35:55

the first locomotive to officially reach 100mph.

0:35:550:35:58

The journey from London to Edinburgh had taken ten and a half hours.

0:36:000:36:05

Now, behind the Flying Scotsman, it took just eight.

0:36:050:36:08

Rail operations manager Noel Hartley is prepping it

0:36:100:36:13

to go back out on the mainline.

0:36:130:36:15

Hi, Noel.

0:36:150:36:16

-Great to meet you.

-Hi, are you all right?

0:36:160:36:18

The Flying Scotsman service travelled between Edinburgh and

0:36:180:36:21

London, but this locomotive enabled a nonstop service, is that right?

0:36:210:36:26

That's right. It had a few features to enable it to do that,

0:36:260:36:29

so it had enough coal to get from London to Edinburgh, or vice versa,

0:36:290:36:33

which was nine tonnes.

0:36:330:36:36

The loco also needed a huge amount of water.

0:36:360:36:39

It could carry 5,000 gallons, but that just wasn't enough.

0:36:390:36:43

To prevent it having to stop to refill,

0:36:440:36:46

there was an ingenious solution.

0:36:460:36:48

Water troughs were placed between the rails along the route.

0:36:490:36:52

By lowering a scoop into the trough,

0:36:520:36:54

the Flying Scotsman could collect an extra 12,000 gallons of water

0:36:540:36:59

without stopping.

0:36:590:37:00

Another issue was crew fatigue.

0:37:040:37:07

Normally a driver would do four, five, six hours on a shift,

0:37:070:37:11

but because it was going to be an eight, nine-hour journey,

0:37:110:37:14

they needed to change the crew halfway.

0:37:140:37:16

So they invented a corridor tender.

0:37:160:37:19

Main line steam engines pulled a tender where the coal and water

0:37:200:37:24

were stored, but this meant the driver and fireman were cut off

0:37:240:37:27

from the rest of the train.

0:37:270:37:29

Gresley's inclusion of a corridor through the tender meant

0:37:290:37:32

the crew could now pass from the footplate to the carriages behind.

0:37:320:37:37

-Can we go down there?

-Of course you can.

0:37:370:37:39

Let's go and have an explore.

0:37:390:37:41

It's a tight squeeze, Peter. Are you sure you're all right?

0:37:410:37:44

I've been laying off the doughnuts, Alex.

0:37:440:37:47

My goodness, look at this.

0:37:470:37:49

The introduction of a corridor enabled the Flying Scotsman

0:37:500:37:54

to make the first-ever nonstop service

0:37:540:37:56

between London and Edinburgh in 1928.

0:37:560:37:59

Sir Nigel Gresley designed these engines.

0:38:000:38:03

It just emphasises the genius of the man.

0:38:040:38:07

And he really pushed the engines,

0:38:070:38:09

pushed the boundaries of speed.

0:38:090:38:12

He did, by using the simple innovation of a corridor.

0:38:120:38:15

Swapping crews halfway meant the job of looking out for

0:38:170:38:20

more than 700 signals and shovelling nine tonnes of coal

0:38:200:38:24

could now be shared.

0:38:240:38:25

So we're going to see parts of the Flying Scotsman

0:38:270:38:31

that other enthusiasts can't reach.

0:38:310:38:33

There's one other innovation that made the Flying Scotsman

0:38:350:38:38

once the world's fastest locomotive.

0:38:380:38:40

But to get to it, you have to go under the engine.

0:38:410:38:45

What you need to do is find something to hold on to

0:38:470:38:49

and pull yourself up between the frames.

0:38:490:38:51

-Don't break anything.

-I'll try not to.

-Including yourself.

0:38:510:38:55

Steam engines conventionally had two cylinders,

0:38:550:38:58

but Gresley's Flying Scotsman had three cylinders,

0:38:580:39:02

enabling it to run more smoothly with greater power.

0:39:020:39:05

There we go.

0:39:050:39:07

Raining oil.

0:39:070:39:08

And then you basically pull it open.

0:39:100:39:12

Whoa.

0:39:120:39:14

There's quite a bit, isn't there?

0:39:150:39:17

This is obviously one of the dirtiest jobs you have to do

0:39:170:39:19

on a steam engine, cleaning out the smoke.

0:39:190:39:21

If there's a dirty job that needs doing, Noel, Pete is your man.

0:39:210:39:24

Although once the pinnacle of engineering,

0:39:260:39:28

the Flying Scotsman is at its heart a steam locomotive,

0:39:280:39:32

still requiring long and complicated procedures to get it up and running.

0:39:320:39:36

Obviously it isn't a case of just turning an ignition key

0:39:360:39:39

and starting this thing up -

0:39:390:39:40

there's actually quite a warm-up phase, isn't there?

0:39:400:39:42

There is a warm-up phase. You've got around a 24-hour period of gently warming the engine through.

0:39:420:39:47

Before you even light the fire, you've got to check

0:39:470:39:49

inside the firebox to make sure nothing's leaking.

0:39:490:39:52

So, can we have a look in the firebox?

0:39:520:39:53

Yep, you can. Just lower yourself down and then slide in there.

0:39:530:39:58

Get reminded of Winnie the Pooh doing this.

0:40:000:40:03

Oh, my goodness. You can just feel the residual heat here.

0:40:040:40:08

When was the loco last running?

0:40:080:40:10

Three days ago, so it's still reasonably warm.

0:40:100:40:12

-Yeah.

-Wow.

-It's amazing, the heat coming off of this.

0:40:120:40:16

-Yeah.

-Three days later.

0:40:160:40:17

My goodness. This is what I imagine hell's like

0:40:170:40:21

-before they light the fires.

-Yeah.

0:40:210:40:23

Lovely and warm in there, it really is.

0:40:230:40:26

Oh, dear.

0:40:290:40:30

Once the fire box has been checked,

0:40:300:40:33

it must be loaded up with coal.

0:40:330:40:34

You've got to do it in one swing,

0:40:340:40:37

so start from there and then round and straight in.

0:40:370:40:39

-Right, OK.

-You don't get momentum otherwise.

0:40:390:40:42

Yeah. Here he goes.

0:40:420:40:44

And...

0:40:440:40:46

Oh!

0:40:460:40:48

Without breaking the shovel, ideally.

0:40:490:40:51

It's a small hole.

0:40:530:40:54

It is a small hole.

0:40:540:40:55

I'm amazed you got through there.

0:40:550:40:57

At this rate, Peter, we won't get her out the station.

0:41:020:41:04

Put it near the fire-hole door until it gets burning properly.

0:41:080:41:13

What we need to do is throw it on top of that coal at the front.

0:41:130:41:16

There we go.

0:41:160:41:17

Right, fire is in the firebox.

0:41:190:41:20

-We have fire.

-OK, so the fire's going quite well now.

0:41:200:41:23

-Yep.

-So it's time to put a little bit more coal on top.

0:41:230:41:26

My go.

0:41:260:41:28

The pressure's on now.

0:41:280:41:29

Put your money where your mouth is.

0:41:310:41:33

Put your money where your mouth is.

0:41:330:41:36

Whoa!

0:41:380:41:39

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

0:41:420:41:44

OK, so is it all right if I put some on there just so it goes

0:41:460:41:49

-in the right place?

-Yeah, go on, then.

-That's great.

0:41:490:41:52

-Let's watch the master at work.

-Yeah.

0:41:540:41:56

You can see why in order to graduate onto a main line loco,

0:41:590:42:03

you had to work your way up -

0:42:030:42:05

you had to work your way through the shunting, the branch lines,

0:42:050:42:09

the whole shebang.

0:42:090:42:10

All of the oiling as well.

0:42:100:42:11

Knowing all the component parts so that you're prepared and trained

0:42:110:42:17

to take on a piece of technology which was, effectively,

0:42:170:42:20

the Concorde of its age.

0:42:200:42:21

Keeping passengers, goods and mail services running across

0:42:230:42:26

the rail network created a whole new array of jobs.

0:42:260:42:29

The railways employed a workforce of half a million.

0:42:310:42:33

From engine drivers and firemen...

0:42:350:42:37

..engineering crews...

0:42:390:42:40

..boiler makers...

0:42:430:42:44

..through to guards...

0:42:460:42:47

..signalmen and porters.

0:42:520:42:55

But none of the trains could run if it wasn't for this one job...

0:42:570:43:00

The wheel tapper.

0:43:050:43:07

There is a ring there, isn't there? OK.

0:43:070:43:10

It was the job of the wheel tapper to check the wheels

0:43:100:43:13

before each journey.

0:43:130:43:15

In the case of the Flying Scotsman and its carriages,

0:43:160:43:19

it would mean tapping over 120 wheels.

0:43:190:43:22

A cracked wheel, like a cracked bell,

0:43:230:43:26

does not sound the same as one in good working order.

0:43:260:43:28

They do not ring true.

0:43:310:43:32

-That one rings quite nicely.

-That's nice, isn't it?

0:43:320:43:35

That's ringing like a bell, really, can hear it echoing down the rail.

0:43:350:43:38

Yeah, that's right. This one.

0:43:380:43:40

-That's not so good, is it?

-No, it's not quite so...

0:43:410:43:44

Doesn't ring quite like the other one, but I don't think

0:43:440:43:47

you would see the crack, well, unless it was really obvious.

0:43:470:43:49

Right. So, that's...

0:43:490:43:51

It might be just a hairline crack somewhere.

0:43:510:43:54

So that's the point of the tapping,

0:43:540:43:56

to find things you couldn't see with the naked eye?

0:43:560:43:58

Yeah, yeah. But the old wheel tappers, they'd be tuned to that.

0:43:580:44:01

They'd know exactly how far they could go.

0:44:010:44:04

If that's what you're doing...

0:44:040:44:05

Cos that was an entire job, wasn't it, wheel tapping?

0:44:050:44:07

Oh, that's all they did, yeah.

0:44:070:44:09

Rob Stinchcombe is showing Ruth how defects were recorded on a form

0:44:100:44:15

and clipped onto the wagon.

0:44:150:44:16

If it was a serious fault, they'd put a red card in it,

0:44:180:44:20

which means it's totally out of...

0:44:200:44:22

-Out of use.

-Out of traffic.

0:44:220:44:25

If a faulty wheel caused a train to break down or derail,

0:44:270:44:31

the network could come to a standstill, delaying goods,

0:44:310:44:34

passengers and mail.

0:44:340:44:36

So damaged wheels had to be sent to the workshop for repair.

0:44:360:44:39

Wheels such as those on the Flying Scotsman

0:44:410:44:44

are composed of a wheel pan and a separate steel tyre.

0:44:440:44:47

It meant that if the tyre cracked or wore out,

0:44:510:44:54

the whole wheel wouldn't need replacing.

0:44:540:44:57

At the South Devon railway workshop,

0:44:570:44:59

Ruth is helping engineer Richard Elliot

0:44:590:45:01

fit a new tyre to a train wheel.

0:45:010:45:04

First, the tyre is heated to make it expand.

0:45:040:45:07

-This is the tyre itself?

-That's the steel band, that's the tyre itself.

0:45:070:45:10

That's the tyre itself. And this is just a fire all the way round it?

0:45:100:45:14

-Yep.

-A gas fire in this case.

0:45:140:45:16

Basically, you've got about the same as your cooker or grill.

0:45:160:45:20

Oh, my goodness, yeah.

0:45:200:45:22

Yeah, so just a series of flames.

0:45:220:45:24

So all you're doing is warming her to about 220 degrees.

0:45:240:45:28

-Right.

-Gas mark eight, for you.

0:45:280:45:29

Gas mark eight!

0:45:290:45:31

For about 25 minutes.

0:45:310:45:33

How do you know when it's cooked enough?

0:45:330:45:36

-Basically, she'll go a nice golden colour all over.

-Right.

0:45:360:45:39

And the modern technology gives us things called Tempil sticks,

0:45:390:45:43

which are basically waxes that melt at specific temperatures.

0:45:430:45:46

The other method of doing it, more Victorian for you,

0:45:460:45:50

was basically to spit on it.

0:45:500:45:52

So will it do any harm if I try and spit?

0:45:520:45:55

Yeah, give it a go, see if you can.

0:45:550:45:56

-See how hot it is.

-Oh, I missed.

0:45:560:45:58

My spitting is rubbish.

0:45:580:46:00

-We'll be getting you a glass of water.

-I'm hopeless!

0:46:010:46:04

Oh, you're much better at it. Oh, look at that bubble jump.

0:46:070:46:10

-See the bubble jumps?

-Yeah, right.

0:46:100:46:12

-So we're after a little bit hotter yet.

-So we're not quite there yet.

0:46:120:46:14

We're not quite there.

0:46:140:46:16

Although some modern elements have been introduced,

0:46:160:46:18

the method is exactly as it would have been in the age of steam.

0:46:180:46:22

Obviously, our crayon is saying we're hot enough.

0:46:220:46:25

-Right.

-And if we can spit on it...

0:46:250:46:26

It's rather dry cos it's a bit warm.

0:46:260:46:29

It just hits and forms into a ball and skids around on it.

0:46:290:46:34

So we're probably about hot enough.

0:46:340:46:36

Let's go for it. Let's switch her off and fit her in.

0:46:370:46:40

Once the tyre is expanded, the wheel pan is inserted.

0:46:400:46:44

The tyre must fit within 1,000th of an inch

0:46:440:46:47

of the wheel diameter.

0:46:470:46:48

-Jeepers, this is so accurate.

-Well, it's close.

0:46:500:46:52

The tyre is pressed and as it cools,

0:46:520:46:55

it shrinks onto the wheel pan.

0:46:550:46:57

Excellent.

0:46:570:46:58

-It's on!

-It's on. One down, well done.

0:46:580:47:01

That was really exciting, thank you.

0:47:010:47:03

-Well done.

-I know you made it look so calm and professional,

0:47:030:47:06

but I found that pretty exciting actually.

0:47:060:47:08

Good, that. Right, cup of tea?

0:47:080:47:10

In the days of steam, the bigger the driving wheels,

0:47:160:47:19

the faster the loco could go.

0:47:190:47:20

On small locomotives, the wheels were around three feet in diameter.

0:47:220:47:26

But the Flying Scotsman's wheels are more than double this size.

0:47:290:47:33

It was a locomotive built for speed, a racehorse of the locomotive world.

0:47:330:47:38

With the loco now in full steam,

0:47:400:47:43

it's ready to recreate the legendary route

0:47:430:47:45

connecting London and Edinburgh.

0:47:450:47:48

-Don't make them like they used to, do they?

-No.

-They're so swish.

0:47:480:47:51

Amethyst, it's actually named.

0:47:510:47:54

Travelling in style, isn't it?

0:47:540:47:56

-Are we here? Are we all here?

-In here?

0:47:560:47:58

Good stuff.

0:47:580:48:00

With rival railway companies competing to attract passengers,

0:48:070:48:11

the range and quality of services they offered

0:48:110:48:14

was of paramount importance.

0:48:140:48:15

Head steward Keiran Flynn is training Alex

0:48:170:48:20

in the exacting standards expected by first class passengers

0:48:200:48:23

back in the 1930s.

0:48:230:48:25

Do we know when this started, then, serving food on trains?

0:48:260:48:29

-The first meal served on a train was 1878.

-Right.

0:48:290:48:32

The papers at the time reported that the food was all lovely

0:48:320:48:36

and that even though the train was travelling at 60mph and the brakes

0:48:360:48:39

were applied, nothing was spilt, nothing was broken.

0:48:390:48:42

-Right, OK.

-So they were quite impressed by that at the time.

0:48:420:48:44

So I've got quite a lot to live up to today.

0:48:440:48:47

I've got a feeling that's not going to be the situation for me today.

0:48:470:48:51

Keiran is showing Alex how to lay a table for a five course dinner.

0:48:510:48:55

-Our main plate here.

-Yeah, that's right.

0:48:550:48:57

Our salad plate goes on top here.

0:48:570:49:00

-Yep.

-OK.

0:49:000:49:01

And our side plate there?

0:49:010:49:02

-That's correct.

-To the left, OK.

0:49:020:49:04

Now, cutlery?

0:49:040:49:06

Right-hand side of the knife, so you have your starter knife

0:49:060:49:08

on the outside, your main knife on the inside.

0:49:080:49:10

Working in towards the main course.

0:49:100:49:12

-Yep. And then these...

-Yep.

0:49:120:49:15

-Grape scissors.

-Grape scissors?

0:49:150:49:18

Right, this really is fine dining, isn't it?

0:49:180:49:20

So, if you had a bunch of grapes and you needed to get through the stem,

0:49:200:49:24

that's what they're there for, and they sit just like that.

0:49:240:49:26

Now, Keiran,

0:49:260:49:27

providing service in style in a regular restaurant is hard enough.

0:49:270:49:31

-Yep.

-But how hard is it doing it on a train that's doing 60mph?

0:49:310:49:35

It can be quite tricky.

0:49:350:49:36

The main thing is just to not fight it.

0:49:360:49:38

If you try and fight against it, then you'll slam into the walls

0:49:380:49:42

a bit harder. Be prepared for it and just kind of try and bounce off

0:49:420:49:45

-whatever you land on.

-Right, OK.

0:49:450:49:47

And walk with your legs slightly wider apart,

0:49:470:49:49

sometimes helps as well.

0:49:490:49:50

-OK, so, a bit of a gait.

-Yeah.

0:49:500:49:51

Sort of sea legs in some ways, isn't it? It's like having good sea legs.

0:49:510:49:55

Yeah.

0:49:550:49:56

In the 1920s and '30s,

0:49:570:49:59

the Flying Scotsman was the pride of the nation.

0:49:590:50:02

First-class passengers were expected to dress smartly.

0:50:040:50:07

Even Peter's made an effort.

0:50:090:50:11

Peter!

0:50:110:50:13

Oh, my goodness... White.

0:50:130:50:15

Yep.

0:50:150:50:17

-On a railway powered by steam.

-Powered by steam.

0:50:170:50:20

How long are you going to stay white?

0:50:200:50:22

Long enough, because it's only for dining.

0:50:220:50:25

I'm not intending to go up there and shovel it.

0:50:250:50:28

I'm not particularly happy, Ruth.

0:50:280:50:29

Word on the grapevine - we've got a trainee waiter.

0:50:290:50:32

I've got my sea legs, my gait.

0:50:340:50:37

Watching where I'm going.

0:50:370:50:39

To serve food on a swaying train without spilling it,

0:50:420:50:45

waiters were blindfolded and trained to walk along a white line

0:50:450:50:49

on the carriage floor as the train speeded along.

0:50:490:50:52

Oh, it nearly went!

0:50:550:50:58

It is quite a bumpy ride, this.

0:50:580:51:01

This is quite rocky-rolly.

0:51:010:51:04

-Are you all right? Can we go on this?

-Let's go for this.

0:51:050:51:08

Can I have the salmon up as well, please, and the soup?

0:51:080:51:10

We're into a station in 15 minutes.

0:51:120:51:14

I need to have these customers fed.

0:51:140:51:16

Head chef Tony Keene is challenged with cooking high-quality

0:51:170:51:21

restaurant food in a tiny kitchen at over 80mph.

0:51:210:51:25

How many meals are you looking at preparing, then,

0:51:250:51:27

on a train like this?

0:51:270:51:29

On average, we're doing around 250 diners across the different classes.

0:51:290:51:33

250 diners?

0:51:330:51:35

Yeah. We cook a lot of the meals to order.

0:51:350:51:37

It's 250 people, we'll do 1,500 plates of food today,

0:51:370:51:43

individual plates of food,

0:51:430:51:44

which all have to be washed by hand by my guys down there.

0:51:440:51:48

On the other side of the wall there's a pot wash.

0:51:480:51:50

-The water slops all over the place.

-Yeah.

0:51:500:51:52

The crockery gets broken.

0:51:520:51:54

I just buy some more.

0:51:540:51:57

With space limited,

0:51:570:51:59

early Victorian dining cars had an open-air veranda at the kitchen end,

0:51:590:52:03

which was used for jobs like peeling potatoes.

0:52:030:52:06

Inside, the food was cooked on an open fire.

0:52:060:52:10

You're cooking on gas, though.

0:52:100:52:11

I mean, imagine what it would have been like cooking on coke.

0:52:110:52:14

I can't imagine.

0:52:140:52:16

The soot, the mess...

0:52:160:52:17

Respect goes out to those guys.

0:52:170:52:19

We have operational issues along those lines but not as hardcore

0:52:210:52:24

as it would have been done in the past.

0:52:240:52:26

It would have been a proper workhouse in those days.

0:52:260:52:28

Yeah.

0:52:280:52:29

In 1925, passengers on British trains consumed

0:52:290:52:34

over 7.5 million meals.

0:52:340:52:36

On long-distance journeys, there were up to three sittings.

0:52:380:52:41

Tables could be reserved by telegram.

0:52:410:52:44

-Oh, wow.

-This looks good.

0:52:460:52:48

That was inevitable.

0:52:540:52:55

Bit of a hot potato, that one, wasn't it?

0:52:570:52:58

The first Pullman dining cars, designed by American engineer

0:52:580:53:02

George Pullman, were made in Detroit workshops and shipped to Britain.

0:53:020:53:07

But the Flying Scotsman didn't just cater for diners,

0:53:070:53:10

they also tempted passengers with other luxury services,

0:53:100:53:14

from a cinema to a hairdressing salon.

0:53:140:53:18

Passengers could also listen to music on headphones.

0:53:180:53:20

For the business traveller, there was even a Dictaphone service.

0:53:230:53:26

We've both dressed up for this experience. Do you think

0:53:290:53:31

that most of the people who were doing this for real were also,

0:53:310:53:34

you know, the well-heeled, the well-dressed?

0:53:340:53:38

London and Edinburgh were the two largest cities

0:53:380:53:40

in the British empire, certainly in terms of finance,

0:53:400:53:43

so it was such an important connection.

0:53:430:53:45

Being able to communicate easily and quickly

0:53:450:53:48

between businesspeople must have been absolutely a godsend.

0:53:480:53:53

And you can just imagine the whole train, can't you,

0:53:530:53:55

buzzing with really important conversations,

0:53:550:53:58

as well as with people off on their hols to the Highlands of Scotland.

0:53:580:54:02

The Flying Scotsman is crossing the Royal Border Bridge -

0:54:040:54:08

the gateway to Scotland.

0:54:080:54:09

But in the restaurant car, there's a crisis -

0:54:110:54:15

the kitchen is running low on salmon.

0:54:150:54:17

Modern trains have the ability to call ahead to the next station

0:54:190:54:22

to stock up on supplies.

0:54:220:54:25

But not in the age of steam.

0:54:250:54:26

We're down to our last couple of salmon and there was no way

0:54:270:54:31

of communicating from the Flying Scotsman, or indeed,

0:54:310:54:34

any train in the period.

0:54:340:54:36

So, if you wanted to get some more salmon and potatoes, or indeed,

0:54:360:54:40

if something had gone wrong on the train

0:54:400:54:42

and you needed to get the message out,

0:54:420:54:44

you had to write it down,

0:54:440:54:47

rip off the note, and then if you had your handy potato,

0:54:470:54:52

you could make an incision in the side,

0:54:520:54:56

fold it up, slip it in and as you pass a signal box, throw it out.

0:54:560:55:01

That potato's gone to the signal box, that signal box

0:55:050:55:07

will telegraph forward, and when we reach our next stop,

0:55:070:55:10

our supplies will be waiting for us.

0:55:100:55:12

Gooseberry jelly.

0:55:280:55:30

Would you like some jelly?

0:55:300:55:32

-RUTH LAUGHS

-I knew you would!

0:55:320:55:35

I'm terribly sorry, sir.

0:55:380:55:40

I'm terribly sorry.

0:55:400:55:42

I'll just go and get some cream.

0:55:430:55:45

For the first time in nearly two decades,

0:55:590:56:02

the Flying Scotsman is arriving in Edinburgh.

0:56:020:56:05

-That was great, wasn't it?

-That was absolutely...

0:56:070:56:10

The Flying Scotsman enabling communication between

0:56:100:56:12

Edinburgh and London - journey of a lifetime.

0:56:120:56:15

-Wow.

-I know!

0:56:200:56:21

We have just gone from London to Edinburgh on the Flying Scotsman.

0:56:210:56:25

This linking up of Britain at such speed,

0:56:250:56:28

you start to sort of really get that sense, don't you,

0:56:280:56:31

for being one country?

0:56:310:56:32

-It's a sort of galvanising of a nation...

-Yes!

0:56:320:56:34

..that the railways afford us, isn't it?

0:56:340:56:36

-Absolutely.

-Not just the ability to travel at great speed, but also

0:56:360:56:39

things like the telegraph as well, there's technological developments.

0:56:390:56:42

If you don't have the telegraph, you don't have instantaneous messaging,

0:56:420:56:45

therefore you don't have news, so to speak.

0:56:450:56:47

-Yeah.

-And then you get the transportation of all that news

0:56:470:56:51

out from the big publishers to every corner of the country.

0:56:510:56:55

And then you can write to people about the news you've read...

0:56:550:56:58

-Yeah.

-..and that goes on the mail.

0:56:580:57:00

-Yeah.

-It's quite amazing. When you think, in our own lifetime,

0:57:000:57:02

the profound changes that we've seen because of the digital revolution.

0:57:020:57:05

-Yes.

-This internet revolution, we can back-project those

0:57:050:57:08

-and we can see all those same elements, can't we?

-I think so.

0:57:080:57:12

We can really understand what it must have been like for people

0:57:120:57:15

to move from that sort of pre-railway age -

0:57:150:57:18

everything in your life is very localised - to this sudden zoom

0:57:180:57:22

of connecting up. Very global.

0:57:220:57:24

But once you've got it, you forget how you lived without it.

0:57:240:57:28

That's very true. That's very true.

0:57:280:57:30

You see people's lives change utterly.

0:57:300:57:33

It's still a remarkable achievement, though,

0:57:330:57:35

getting from London to Edinburgh in the speed we did today.

0:57:350:57:38

-Isn't it?

-And in the style that we did today.

0:57:380:57:41

Well, speak for yourself.

0:57:410:57:43

Next time...

0:57:430:57:45

We see how branch lines revolutionised trade...

0:57:450:57:48

We did it!

0:57:480:57:49

..turning Welsh wool into a world-renowned business...

0:57:490:57:52

..putting Scotch whisky on the map...

0:57:540:57:56

This is a bit like being on a pogo stick in a sauna.

0:57:580:58:00

..and making Devon Britain's biggest producer of milk.

0:58:010:58:05

This is the railway milk industry at its source.

0:58:050:58:09

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