0:00:08 > 0:00:10In just 50 years,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14railways have rocketed from a few lines carrying coal
0:00:14 > 0:00:18to the strongest industry in the strongest nation on the planet.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22The railways had come of age -
0:00:22 > 0:00:24confident,
0:00:24 > 0:00:26glorious,
0:00:26 > 0:00:27unchallenged.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33Between 1870 and the First World War,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36it was the golden age of railways.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Britain was industrialising, her cities were expanding,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41railways were indispensable.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Yet, what had begun as a whirlwind love affair
0:00:45 > 0:00:47between the British public and their railways
0:00:47 > 0:00:51had now settled down into a more everyday relationship.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57Until now, the real achievement of railways had been the building
0:00:57 > 0:01:00of a national network,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02the blood supply of the nation.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08But now, the challenge was to turn them into something safer,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11more profitable, more desirable.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17Railways had brought about unparalleled technological revolution,
0:01:17 > 0:01:18and now that the smoke had cleared,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22they'd have to rely on more than just the shock of the new.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27The railways would unify people as never before,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29building the houses we live in...
0:01:31 > 0:01:33..improving working conditions.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37They even changed the way we waged war.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42The nation had built the railways,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45now those railways would build a nation.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51But behind it all lurked the question -
0:01:51 > 0:01:53whose railways were they anyway?
0:02:17 > 0:02:2019th-century trains were magnificent beasts,
0:02:20 > 0:02:22British engineering at its finest.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29But rolling stock like this, and the vast network of tracks they ran on,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32had cost the rail companies millions of pounds.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Having invested so much in building them, now it was payback time.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44They still served their original purpose of carrying freight,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47such as coal and cotton,
0:02:47 > 0:02:51but the jackpot lay in turning the greatest number of passengers
0:02:51 > 0:02:53into the maximum profit.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59Something that until now they'd seemed clueless how to do.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Traditionally, these locomotives were looked after much better than the passengers.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08These were the stars of the show and they were meticulously maintained.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13But as the commercial and social environment changed,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15it became apparent to the railway companies
0:03:15 > 0:03:21if they lavished even a fraction of the attention they did on these engines onto the customer,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24it might actually be a selling point.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Previously, travelling first class
0:03:29 > 0:03:33only bought a slightly safer, drier passage.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Now, the rail companies recognised the potential
0:03:36 > 0:03:38of their better-off passengers,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42as cash cows, to be milked for all they were worth.
0:03:44 > 0:03:49The first thing to address was the dire state of railway catering.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53And, by all accounts, station refreshments were truly awful.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55There were stories of unused coffee getting recycled
0:03:55 > 0:03:58straight back in the urn for the next batch of passengers.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01And, as for station sandwiches,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03the novelist Anthony Trollope wrote
0:04:03 > 0:04:06that the sandwich looked fair enough from the outside,
0:04:06 > 0:04:11but was meagre, poor and spiritless within.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20Jokes about railway catering are as old as the trains themselves,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23but things began to look up
0:04:23 > 0:04:25with the arrival of Pullman Restaurant coaches
0:04:25 > 0:04:27from America, in 1879.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Fine for the cash cows in first class,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34but those further back in cattle class
0:04:34 > 0:04:37still had to make do with the station stops.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Either way, passengers soon had a more pressing concern,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45and that one was no respecter of class.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50What did you do if you had to go?
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Well, obviously, the Victorians had come up with a solution for this,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56and it was the secret travelling lavatory.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00It was basically a funnel and a pipe that went inside your trousers,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03emptied out onto the floor.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Ladies just had to cross their legs.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10With the advent of other creature comforts,
0:05:10 > 0:05:12such as private feet warmers,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14the battle for passengers was hotting up.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20'The penny had dropped that keeping people warm and well fed
0:05:20 > 0:05:23'meant fatter profits for the rail companies.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29'But there was another, more exciting way to attract passengers
0:05:29 > 0:05:31'and to get their pulses racing.'
0:05:41 > 0:05:43TANNOY: 'Good afternoon, everyone, and a warm welcome
0:05:43 > 0:05:45'on board the 15:03 service for Birmingham New Street.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48'My name's Clare, I'm your Train Manager.'
0:05:51 > 0:05:54There are few things as seductive as speed.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59It's a primal thrill, sitting here at 125 miles an hour,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02and I'm absolutely mesmerised looking at the track ahead.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05The earliest trains, of course, did about 30 miles an hour,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08and that was terrifying enough for most people.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Queen Victoria took a train, the first British monarch to do so
0:06:11 > 0:06:15and, after it, her husband, Prince Albert, said to the conductor,
0:06:15 > 0:06:19"Not so fast next time, Mr Conductor, please."
0:06:21 > 0:06:23By the end of the 19th century,
0:06:23 > 0:06:25Albert's view was definitely in a minority.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30The race was on for the title of Britain's fastest rail company
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and the track they chose was London to Scotland.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Just as steam liners raced across the Atlantic
0:06:45 > 0:06:46from London to New York,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48in the summer of 1895,
0:06:48 > 0:06:53express trains hurtled up the rival East and West Coast Lines
0:06:53 > 0:06:55in a bid to reach Aberdeen first.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04The trigger for this speed frenzy was a funny bunch of people
0:07:04 > 0:07:06called The Grouse Traffic.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Queen Victoria had bought the Balmoral Estate
0:07:08 > 0:07:10in the Highlands of Scotland in 1848.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Following her lead, large groups of aristocrats would charge north
0:07:16 > 0:07:18just before the beginning of the grouse season,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21preparing for the Glorious Twelfth.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24And they didn't travel light -
0:07:24 > 0:07:27they brought their children, dogs and baggage with them.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36For the railway staff, this meant hard work, but also large tips.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Over 17 days that summer,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46a tit for tat battle was fought,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49with rival East and West Coast services tearing up their timetables
0:07:49 > 0:07:51and cutting journey times.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57For the rail companies, it offered the publicity they craved.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59Train travel had never been so glamorous.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05But such glamour came at a price.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07Behind the sensational headlines,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10passenger numbers on the route were actually falling.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13The problem was that those kind of speeds on those kind of trains
0:08:13 > 0:08:16made for a very uncomfortable journey.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20And at the end of it all, you were in Aberdeen before dawn.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23It was speed for speed's sake.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29And so, they called a truce.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34With costs spiralling, the rail companies found themselves
0:08:34 > 0:08:36hurtling into a financial black hole.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43And if the railways had been reluctant to pay for comfort,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45they certainly weren't prepared
0:08:45 > 0:08:48to spend their precious profits on safety.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50TRAIN WHISTLES
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Health and safety was an alien concept.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56No such thing as a risk assessment in the 19th century.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58In fact, it seems horrifying to us today
0:08:58 > 0:09:02that so little attention was paid to safety on the railways.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07TRAIN WHISTLES
0:09:13 > 0:09:15From the beginning, the railways had benefitted
0:09:15 > 0:09:18from a government policy of non-intervention,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20known as laissez faire.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25That suited the rail companies just fine.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28After the huge capital outlay to build the railways,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31all they cared about was a healthy return on their investment.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35It was Victorian free-market economics at its brashest.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41'And nothing would symbolise this disregard for safety
0:09:41 > 0:09:44'more than their attitude to brakes.'
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Braking on Victorian trains was terrifyingly primitive.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53It was actually very hard to stop them once they were going.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56All this train would have had is a handbrake here
0:09:56 > 0:09:59and then, a conductor further back down the train with another handbrake.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01And I'd have pulled this whistle
0:10:01 > 0:10:03to let him know when to apply that brake.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Right, let's see if a novice like me can stop at this station.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Just round this next corner, OK.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13I'm going to tell my conductor to apply the brake.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15TRAIN WHISTLES
0:10:22 > 0:10:24It's having no effect whatsoever.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Aargh!
0:10:27 > 0:10:29Got a runaway train.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31This train is not slowing down at all!
0:10:31 > 0:10:32Aargh!
0:10:37 > 0:10:39You're showing me up. Hang on a sec.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41Aargh!
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Well, I reckon I've overshot the station by about a mile!
0:10:58 > 0:10:59THEY LAUGH
0:11:02 > 0:11:07The brakes on these Victorian trains were a disaster waiting to happen.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26The Government did make recommendations on safety issues,
0:11:26 > 0:11:31but, left to their own devices, the rail companies chose to ignore them.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36When disaster did finally happen,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39it was all the more tragic for its inevitability.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50This is Warrenpoint, a small seaside resort
0:11:50 > 0:11:53on Carlingford Lough, in Northern Ireland.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00On the morning of Wednesday the 12th June, 1889,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04a group of excited children with some of their parents and teachers
0:12:04 > 0:12:08got on an excursion train in Armagh bound for Warrenpoint.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10800 tickets were printed,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13but over 950 people got on that train,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16two-thirds of whom were children.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19But they never arrived here at Warrenpoint.
0:12:21 > 0:12:26The train left at 10.15, late, but with its passengers in good spirits.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30But when it reached Derry crossing,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33an incline three and a quarter miles out of Armagh,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37it ran out of steam and came to a standstill.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42So this is the point on the embankment
0:12:42 > 0:12:44where the train ground to a halt.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46And at this point, the driver, Thomas McGrath,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48and the conductor, James Elliott, had two choices.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51The first choice was to divide this train,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54then use the engine to pull each half up the hill,
0:12:54 > 0:12:55one after the other.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59But the second choice was to send a runner back down the line
0:12:59 > 0:13:01to intercept the 10:35 train from Armagh,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03get that train to slow down
0:13:03 > 0:13:06and push this train slowly up the rest of the hill.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10They chose the wrong option.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20The train was uncoupled between the fifth and sixth carriages,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22with the back section held only by the guard's handbrake
0:13:22 > 0:13:25and a few stones wedged under the wheels.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32When the front section rolled back slightly before moving off,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35that nudge was enough to crush the stones
0:13:35 > 0:13:39and start the back carriages running away down the slope.
0:13:43 > 0:13:44The driver of the train coming this way
0:13:44 > 0:13:47heard that there was something wrong on this stretch of track,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50and so, he'd slowed down to about five miles an hour.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55That still meant that the combined closing speed of the two trains was significant,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57and as he came round this corner onto the straight
0:13:57 > 0:14:00and saw the runaway train heading towards him,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02he'd have realised, to his horror,
0:14:02 > 0:14:06that there was nothing he could do to prevent a collision.
0:14:30 > 0:14:3180 people were killed,
0:14:31 > 0:14:34many of them children,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36with 260 injured.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41The public was shocked
0:14:41 > 0:14:43by an accident that was powerful,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46painful and preventable.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01The tragedy of June 1889 dealt a massive blow
0:15:01 > 0:15:03to the Government's policy of laissez faire
0:15:03 > 0:15:04when it came to the railways.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06It was one thing to stand aside
0:15:06 > 0:15:09as people lost their savings during the railway mania,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11but it was quite another to do nothing
0:15:11 > 0:15:16as men, women and children were killed on the nation's railway lines.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20My grandfather, Joseph Foster,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24was 12 years old on the day of the crash.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27He and his brother were on the excursion together
0:15:27 > 0:15:29and managed to escape from the train.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32What did he remember of the crash itself?
0:15:32 > 0:15:37He just remembered about the terrible destruction.
0:15:37 > 0:15:43Pieces of carriages, wooden pieces of doors flying all over the place,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47people throwing children out through the doors and windows
0:15:47 > 0:15:49to escape from the train.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53He, himself, had been asked by a friend to change seats
0:15:53 > 0:15:56just before the impact had taken place
0:15:56 > 0:16:00and, unfortunately, his friend died and my grandfather lived.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03That particular day,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07the drapers in the town tore up sheets to make bandages
0:16:07 > 0:16:09because the city hospital, obviously,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12hadn't got the equipment in that they needed.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15For a while after, the town must have borne that scar.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Oh, it did. The town closed down for almost a week after it
0:16:19 > 0:16:22and, of course, there were funerals nearly every day
0:16:22 > 0:16:27and people's houses, if you had a death in your family,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29you put a black crepe on the doorknocker
0:16:29 > 0:16:31to show that you'd been bereaved,
0:16:31 > 0:16:35and people and churches got together to pray.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46'The Armagh disaster exposed a fault line
0:16:46 > 0:16:49'that ran through our relationship with railways,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51'the tension between who builds them,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53'who pays for them
0:16:53 > 0:16:54'and who they're for.'
0:16:58 > 0:17:00There'd always been a perception
0:17:00 > 0:17:02that the railways were owned by the people,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04they were outside the remit of government,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07they would self-regulate and ensure safety.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09But now, that just looked naive.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Railway companies were, in fact, owned by the directors and the shareholders
0:17:13 > 0:17:18and they were there to maximise profit and nothing else.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24The Government had no choice but to intervene and, belatedly,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27apply the brakes to the runaway train of rail company greed.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Within three weeks of the Armagh crash,
0:17:32 > 0:17:37the Regulation Act was passed, addressing three key safety issues.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40First, it blocked bits of track,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42so that only one train could use them at a time.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Secondly, it demanded better brakes,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46and thirdly, it improved signalling.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49By 1901, there were a billion passenger journeys
0:17:49 > 0:17:51made on UK railways every year,
0:17:51 > 0:17:54and not one safety-related fatality.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Yet trains remained hazardous,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05if not for the passengers,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07then for those who worked on them.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13It was the third most dangerous profession
0:18:13 > 0:18:15after mining and The Royal Navy,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19with over 500 fatalities at work each year.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23And the biggest killer was fatigue,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26from working shifts of 14 hours or longer.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Until their hands were forced, the Government, as ever, stood back.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38So it fell to one lone progressive voice
0:18:38 > 0:18:41to speak up for the rights of rail workers.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Michael Thomas Bass was the Liberal MP for Derby,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54but he was also chairman of the Bass Brewing Company of Burton-on-Trent.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Every year, Bass would send half a million barrels of beer
0:18:58 > 0:19:00down here to London on the Midland line.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02When St Pancras Station was built,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Bass ensured that these columns that hold up the platforms
0:19:05 > 0:19:08were exactly three barrels of beer apart,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10so all the beer could be stored down here
0:19:10 > 0:19:13ready to be drunk by thirsty Londoners.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Bass was clearly a man worth listening to.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Alongside his business interests,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Bass was also an active social reformer.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31He'd seen first hand the shabby treatment
0:19:31 > 0:19:34of rail workers on the Midland line,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37something, he declared, needed to change.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41'And so, in 1872, with his support,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44'the first rail workers union in Britain,
0:19:44 > 0:19:48'the Amalgamated Society Of Railway Servants, was founded.'
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Others quickly followed.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58In the last years of the 19th century,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00tired of being ignored by their employers,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04the mood of union members was growing increasingly militant.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10The Taff Vale case in 1901,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13when the Amalgamated Society Of Railway Servants
0:20:13 > 0:20:18was successfully sued for going on strike, caused huge outrage.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23What had begun as a local union dispute spiralled,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26playing a key role in the formation of the Labour Party.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Workers' rights had become national and political.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37So much so that, in the summer of 1911, for two days,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41trains right across Britain were brought to a standstill.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50200,000 rail workers, from Aberdeen to Penzance,
0:20:50 > 0:20:55downed tools in the first national rail strike
0:20:55 > 0:20:58to demand better wages and shorter working hours.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02The hot summer of 1911, or the Great Unrest,
0:21:02 > 0:21:04was probably as close as the UK has ever come
0:21:04 > 0:21:06to full-blown social revolution.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13There were hundreds of unofficial strikes, from miners to jam makers.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17But the one that struck right at the heart of the economy and the state
0:21:17 > 0:21:19was the strike on the railways.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23It was as if the lifeblood of the nation had been cut off.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28It was one thing to live without jam,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31but the railways shutting down was a national crisis,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34capable of bringing down the Government.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Too late, they reacted, in blind panic.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47The Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, deployed 60,000 troops,
0:21:47 > 0:21:48but even he was forced to admit,
0:21:48 > 0:21:52"We cannot keep the railways running. We are done."
0:21:55 > 0:21:58There were violent clashes in Liverpool and Llanelli,
0:21:58 > 0:22:02with striking rail workers killed by soldiers.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07But it was a landmark moment in industrial relations in Britain.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11The railways had shown a remarkable ability
0:22:11 > 0:22:13to galvanise and accelerate
0:22:13 > 0:22:15as engines of social and political change.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23And the impact was felt right across the globe.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25The Russian revolutionary Lenin
0:22:25 > 0:22:28noted that the rail strike in Britain
0:22:28 > 0:22:31showed the new spirit of the British workers,
0:22:31 > 0:22:32who had learned to fight.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36The rail companies were forced,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39by the beleaguered Liberal government, to negotiate.
0:22:41 > 0:22:42The balance of power
0:22:42 > 0:22:45between state and private interests in the railways
0:22:45 > 0:22:47had shifted once more.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Events in Britain proved that the impact of railways
0:23:01 > 0:23:04went far beyond the movement of passengers and freight.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08Trains could unify a country physically,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12but export railways and you also exported political influence,
0:23:12 > 0:23:16social change and economic growth.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21As profits stopped growing on railways in Britain,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24private investors turned their attention to the global market,
0:23:24 > 0:23:29in search of fresh pastures to get rich away from state interference.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35One country in particular would see all aspects of life
0:23:35 > 0:23:38transformed by the introduction of railways from Britain,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40not a colony as such,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43but a flourishing part of Britain's unofficial Empire.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Argentina was a land made for railways.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Firm, with few rivers
0:23:58 > 0:24:01and flat as far as the eye can see.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08Yet, by the middle of the 19th century, no railways had been built.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12It was an ideal opportunity to make money.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18Yorkshireman George Drabble had been trading in the country
0:24:18 > 0:24:20since the 1840s.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23He knew well the rich commercial potential of the region.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27His plan was simple,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31import into Argentina the materials to build railways,
0:24:31 > 0:24:36then, export cheap agricultural produce to a hungry Europe.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Drabble invested in the Buenos Aires Southern Railway,
0:24:47 > 0:24:48which would eventually cover
0:24:48 > 0:24:52more than 5,000 miles of grassy plains, known as pampas.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58The tracks, engines, the carriages,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01even the stations were all brought out from Britain.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07And, when finished, the Argentinian railways could start paying back
0:25:07 > 0:25:09on the investment from London.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18It all began with grain.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23In 1875, Argentina was forced to import 20,000 tons of grain
0:25:23 > 0:25:25in order to feed itself.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27Over the next 20 years,
0:25:27 > 0:25:29as railway tracks spread out into the arable areas,
0:25:29 > 0:25:31into granaries like this one,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Argentina found itself in a position
0:25:34 > 0:25:39to export 1.5 million tons of grain every year.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Railways had turned Argentina into the granary of the world.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53The repeal of the Corn Laws in Britain in 1846
0:25:53 > 0:25:57had removed government protection for domestic cereal producers
0:25:57 > 0:25:59against cheap imports.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Investors in Argentinian grain could now reap huge rewards
0:26:03 > 0:26:05on the free market.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11And grain wasn't the only profitable resource to be found on the pampas.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31COW MOOS
0:26:31 > 0:26:35The Argentinians loved their beef as much as the British.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38The trouble they had, they had more cattle than mouths to feed.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Early European settlers were stunned to see perfectly good carcases
0:26:42 > 0:26:45rotting out here on the pampas once they'd been skinned for their hides.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48The British took one look at this and thought immediately,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52"There must be a way to make money from all that meat."
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Luckily for them, new advances in refrigeration technology
0:26:57 > 0:27:00had arrived at the perfect time to deliver the solution.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17George Drabble knew of the first successful export of frozen meats
0:27:17 > 0:27:20from New Zealand to London in 1882.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24Later that year, he set up the River Plate Fresh Meat Company
0:27:24 > 0:27:27to export frozen Argentinian meat to Europe.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39This area had a tradition of exporting dried and salted meat,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42but this was a paradigm shift.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46The idea that you could send beef all the way around the world
0:27:46 > 0:27:51and it would arrive, fresh, ready to eat, was revolutionary.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55George Drabble had worked out exactly what to do
0:27:55 > 0:27:57with all that meat on the pampas.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05It was Drabble's railways that brought the cattle
0:28:05 > 0:28:09to his frigorifico, or freezing plant, in Campana.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12And his railways carried the frozen meat from there
0:28:12 > 0:28:15to the port of Buenos Aires for export to Britain.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26Soon, George Drabble's meat was being sold on British high streets.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33The following year, £1 million invested in Argentina's railways
0:28:33 > 0:28:36yielded higher returns than a similar investment
0:28:36 > 0:28:37anywhere else in the world.
0:28:42 > 0:28:44People are always commenting today
0:28:44 > 0:28:47on just how little British produce there is in supermarkets,
0:28:47 > 0:28:49how it all seems to come from abroad.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Well, that begins right here, whether it's South African apples
0:28:53 > 0:28:57or New Zealand lamb or the finest beef tenderloin from Argentina.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00Railways, with the new refrigeration technology,
0:29:00 > 0:29:04allows the creation of a globalised food production system.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09Suddenly, Argentina's west is our west. Go on!
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Hey, hey, hey!
0:29:19 > 0:29:23Argentina's railway boom created a new, wealthy,
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Anglo-Argentine community in Buenos Aires,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30grown rich on trade links with Britain.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33Wives went shopping at Harrods.
0:29:33 > 0:29:39And their husbands played golf at the exclusive Hurlingham Club.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43It was a home from home.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52The Argentinians travelled on British-owned and built trains.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Their businesses paid healthy returns to British investors.
0:29:56 > 0:29:58Their food fed the British public.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00They lived British lives,
0:30:00 > 0:30:02all without the British government
0:30:02 > 0:30:05going to the enormous trouble of invading and occupying.
0:30:05 > 0:30:11This was a perfect example of informal Empire,
0:30:11 > 0:30:16the benefits of direct rule without its enormous costs.
0:30:21 > 0:30:22Right across the country,
0:30:22 > 0:30:26railways opened up Argentina's economic potential
0:30:26 > 0:30:32through a network of lines known as The English Octopus.
0:30:32 > 0:30:38By 1915, Argentina had over 22,000 miles of railways.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41But it wasn't just the wealthy money makers
0:30:41 > 0:30:44who left their mark on Argentina.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Many humble rail workers who built and ran the lines
0:30:47 > 0:30:49also made their home here.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54They were unlikely to be found playing golf at the Hurlingham Club,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56but they did leave their mark.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03On the 20th June 1867,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06two English brothers, Thomas and James Hogg,
0:31:06 > 0:31:08organised a football match at the Buenos Aires Cricket Club,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11the White Caps versus the Red Caps.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14This was not only the first football match in Argentina,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17it was the first in the whole of South America.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22The earliest Argentinian football teams
0:31:22 > 0:31:25were started by British rail workers.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29Their national passion for the sport quickly developed.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35This was railways at their most transformative,
0:31:35 > 0:31:39unifying a society at all levels.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44Railways broke the physical tyranny of distance,
0:31:44 > 0:31:48but they also broke the tyranny of cultural isolation.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Their tentacles reached into the lives
0:31:50 > 0:31:53of every person in the countries in which they were built.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57They were great at carrying wine and beef and grain
0:31:57 > 0:31:58but, just as importantly,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00and this is over 100 years before the internet,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03they were fantastic at carrying ideas.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Railways allowed, on a global scale,
0:32:07 > 0:32:12the import and export of people, of knowledge, of culture.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29By the turn of the 20th century,
0:32:29 > 0:32:34the expanding British population was enjoying a new social phenomenon -
0:32:34 > 0:32:36leisure time.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39The Grouse Traffic had been the first to use the railways
0:32:39 > 0:32:42to pursue their favourite pastime of blasting birds.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47But now, workers also had a little bit of extra money
0:32:47 > 0:32:50and a little bit of spare time,
0:32:50 > 0:32:51perhaps to bet on a horse
0:32:51 > 0:32:54or to follow their favourite team around the country.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59And, on the big national sporting occasions,
0:32:59 > 0:33:01like The Derby or a cup final,
0:33:01 > 0:33:03railways really came into their own.
0:33:03 > 0:33:09# Championes, championes ole, ole, ole... #
0:33:09 > 0:33:13As early as 1892, a newspaper article appeared,
0:33:13 > 0:33:16called The New Football Mania,
0:33:16 > 0:33:19describing this phenomenon of groups of youths and young men
0:33:19 > 0:33:21travelling to fields of combat,
0:33:21 > 0:33:2450, 100 miles away from their homes to watch football.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28And already complaints about how rowdy and noisy
0:33:28 > 0:33:30the trains and the stations were getting.
0:33:35 > 0:33:40In no time, attendances at major football games rocketed.
0:33:40 > 0:33:47In 1872, the first FA Cup Final was watched by just 2,000 spectators.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51'Less than 20 years later,
0:33:51 > 0:33:56'the 1901 Final drew an estimated crowd of 114,000,'
0:33:56 > 0:33:59the majority of whom arrived at Crystal Palace by train.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05Leisure had been democratised.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07An army of football fans were on the move.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12But railways would prove even more crucial
0:34:12 > 0:34:15for the vast numbers of young men who were soon heading
0:34:15 > 0:34:18towards an altogether more real field of combat.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32The First World War was the first mechanised,
0:34:32 > 0:34:36industrialised, total war,
0:34:36 > 0:34:40and it was made possible by the railways.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45The British railways could be said to have been preparing for war
0:34:45 > 0:34:47for as much as 50 years.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50It was way back in 1871 that the Government had been granted powers
0:34:50 > 0:34:54to take control of the rail network in times of emergency.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56And the British Army had long been using railways
0:34:56 > 0:35:00as far back as the Crimea War, also the Boer War and Sudan,
0:35:00 > 0:35:02but it was on the outbreak of war in 1914
0:35:02 > 0:35:05that the British railways really came into their own.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07In fact, it could be said that that year
0:35:07 > 0:35:09saw the British railways' finest hour.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18The First World War represented a significant moment for the railways
0:35:18 > 0:35:21in a tug of war between public and private interests.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26'For the first time in their history,
0:35:26 > 0:35:29'they were taken under state control
0:35:29 > 0:35:34'and all competition was set aside in the national interest.'
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Within a month of the outbreak of war,
0:35:36 > 0:35:40670 trains had carried 120,000 men
0:35:40 > 0:35:43and 40,000 horses to Southampton,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46where they embarked on ships and crossed the Channel
0:35:46 > 0:35:49to join the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium and France,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52and the remarkable thing is
0:35:52 > 0:35:56that all of those trains were either on time or early.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07From 1915 onwards, Folkestone took over from Southampton
0:36:07 > 0:36:10as the main departure point for Allied soldiers.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17The harbour station was situated on the pier.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21Either side were berths for steamers to head straight across the Channel,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24crammed with men and supplies.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Millions and millions of British soldiers passed through Folkestone
0:36:29 > 0:36:31on the way to the continent.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38For many of them who failed to return,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41THIS was the last time their feet touched British soil.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51As well as all the passengers, freight came through here,
0:36:51 > 0:36:55parcels and letters for the men in France, food, coal, ammunition.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01It's all testament to the energy and professionalism
0:37:01 > 0:37:03of the railwaymen who ran this line.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13The mobilisation effort of the railways was remarkable,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16but it's only the beginning of the story.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20The rest of it played out on the other side of the Channel.
0:37:38 > 0:37:40This is Flanders.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44Today, a peaceful region of Belgium, near the border with France,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47famous for growing hops.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51But during the First World War,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53these were killing fields
0:37:53 > 0:37:56in a drawn-out campaign to stop the German advance
0:37:56 > 0:37:58through Belgium and into northern France.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10And no rail line was of greater strategic importance
0:38:10 > 0:38:13than this stretch between Poperinge and Ypres.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17For the first couple of years of the war,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20the British were convinced this would be a war of movement,
0:38:20 > 0:38:23so there was no point investing in really expensive railway tracks,
0:38:23 > 0:38:27because, by the time they were finished, the fighting would have moved on elsewhere.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30But, by the summer of 1916, it was very clear to everyone
0:38:30 > 0:38:35that this was now a bloody, static, stalemate, a war of attrition.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43A fixed battlefield was perfect for trains,
0:38:43 > 0:38:47but the railways here had become stretched to breaking point.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Urgent action was needed.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55And so, the British government formed its own Railway Operating Division
0:38:55 > 0:38:59to keep supply trains running to bitterly contested cities,
0:38:59 > 0:39:00such as Ypres.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05This was actually the first bit of line that the Railway Division took over,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07and it was in range of the German heavy guns
0:39:07 > 0:39:10that were arrayed all around the Ypres Salient.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13So the railway workers here risked their lives, day and night,
0:39:13 > 0:39:17repairing this track every time it was hit by German shell fire,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20everything to keep that flow of supplies going to the front line.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28Railways also played a crucial role
0:39:28 > 0:39:32in transporting a new fighting machine, never seen before,
0:39:32 > 0:39:33onto the battlefield.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39People often think of tanks as a key development in World War One,
0:39:39 > 0:39:41and they were a breakthrough weapon,
0:39:41 > 0:39:44but not enough people know about the role that trains played
0:39:44 > 0:39:46in taking tanks to the battlefield.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Those early tanks weighed 25 to 30 tons.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52They travelled at only four miles an hour.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56They got bogged down in marshy ground, and they always broke down.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Without trains taking them quickly right to the battlefield,
0:39:59 > 0:40:02tanks would have struggled to get to their own front line,
0:40:02 > 0:40:04let alone the German one.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12If moving tanks was important,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15even more essential was getting daily supplies
0:40:15 > 0:40:18of food and munitions to the trenches.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25The railways as we know them could only get them so far.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Often, the railhead would be a couple of miles behind the front line
0:40:29 > 0:40:33and that's why British and French built hundreds of miles
0:40:33 > 0:40:35of light railway during the war.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39This was narrow gauge, flexible and quick to lay,
0:40:39 > 0:40:43and it could bring supplies right up to the barbed wire here.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45After the Allies took the village of Passchendaele,
0:40:45 > 0:40:47just over there, in late 1917,
0:40:47 > 0:40:49within 60 hours, there was a light railway
0:40:49 > 0:40:52running into the heart of this newly-occupied territory,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55taking out casualties and pushing in reinforcements.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03As the battlefields became waterlogged,
0:41:03 > 0:41:05impassable by any other means,
0:41:05 > 0:41:09the light railways were a lifeline to the men in the trenches.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15If the front moved, the railway moved with it.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23These front line trenches are now directly connected to the home front,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27but rather than speeding up the pace of war, that seemed to slow it down,
0:41:27 > 0:41:28and that's because millions of men,
0:41:28 > 0:41:30millions of tons of supplies,
0:41:30 > 0:41:34can now be kept up here on the front line almost indefinitely,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37and any attempt to dislodge people from these trenches
0:41:37 > 0:41:40can be greeted with overwhelming firepower.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The same trains that had taken these men to football matches,
0:41:48 > 0:41:52that had given them jobs, given them a voice,
0:41:52 > 0:41:57were now delivering them into the line of fire and keeping them there.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06The grim truth is that railways were responsible
0:42:06 > 0:42:11for the horrifying and iconic nature of warfare on The Western Front.
0:42:28 > 0:42:33The war had seen the railways in Britain come together for the nation,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36but the effort left them on their knees.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40In the years following the war,
0:42:40 > 0:42:43they were still under state control,
0:42:43 > 0:42:45yet left to their own devices
0:42:45 > 0:42:49to run a network too big for the nation it served.
0:42:50 > 0:42:52It was the worst of both worlds.
0:42:56 > 0:43:01Eventually, in 1923, the Government handed over control of the railways
0:43:01 > 0:43:04to four regional conglomerates.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09They became known as The Big Four.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13But with passenger numbers and freight traffic down,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16and a chronic lack of money to upgrade an exhausted network,
0:43:16 > 0:43:21for the first time, the supremacy of the railways looked at risk
0:43:21 > 0:43:26and within three years, events would bear this out.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30In May 1926,
0:43:30 > 0:43:36the railways once more ground to a halt as part of the general strike.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39This time, though, the Government were prepared.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43Volunteers were drafted in to keep trains running
0:43:43 > 0:43:47and, after ten days, the strike ended.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51It was all so different from 15 years earlier.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53Now, a rail strike merely showed
0:43:53 > 0:43:58that the country was no longer completely dependent on the railways.
0:44:01 > 0:44:03And, to make matters worse,
0:44:03 > 0:44:07there was a now a new, young competitor on the block.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18During the war, thousands of men had learned how to drive,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21and many of them, with their demob money, bought ex-army vehicles,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24set themselves up in competition with the railways.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28They delivered goods door to door, locally or nationally.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31It was the birth of a man with a van.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34'During the general strike,
0:44:34 > 0:44:38'it was the roads that picked up business from the railways.'
0:44:38 > 0:44:41The motor industry was young and vigorous,
0:44:41 > 0:44:42and free of regulation.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46For freight, vans were versatile and cheap.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48For passengers, it was the car
0:44:48 > 0:44:52that was starting to make the railways look old-fashioned.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57The motor car was dynamic. It was sexy.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00It promised freedom and individuality.
0:45:00 > 0:45:01It felt like the future,
0:45:01 > 0:45:05and this was at a time when the railway system was completely knackered
0:45:05 > 0:45:07and it had been underinvested in and overused.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11If the car was the fresh young starlet,
0:45:11 > 0:45:14then trains felt like faded beauties,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17relying too much on former glories.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19The message was clear.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23The railways needed to adapt to survive.
0:45:33 > 0:45:34One rail company, in particular,
0:45:34 > 0:45:38saw opportunity in the changing face of Britain.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Suburbs weren't new.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55They'd sprung up during the 19th century,
0:45:55 > 0:45:59but the Metropolitan Railway now went a step further.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02'"Why not," said a clever member of the Board,
0:46:02 > 0:46:07'"why not buy these orchards and farms as we go along,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10'"turn out the cattle, and fill the meadowland with houses?"'
0:46:13 > 0:46:16It became known as Metro-land,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19made famous by poet Sir John Betjeman.
0:46:22 > 0:46:28'Bucks, Herts and Middlesex yielded to Metro-land,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31'and city men could breakfast
0:46:31 > 0:46:33'on the fast train to London town.'
0:46:40 > 0:46:44The Metropolitan Railway was an unusually progressive organisation.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46Each year, they produced a glossy little booklet
0:46:46 > 0:46:48to extol the virtues in their catchment area.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50There were suggested walks
0:46:50 > 0:46:52and the idea was, of course, that people might go for a ramble,
0:46:52 > 0:46:55look around and think, "Wouldn't it be nice to live here?"
0:46:55 > 0:46:59Unlike other suburbs, the railway wasn't there to serve the community,
0:46:59 > 0:47:01but to create one itself.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06For once, the Government lent a helping hand.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10After the war, it offered generous subsidies to build
0:47:10 > 0:47:14"homes fit for heroes returning from The Western Front."
0:47:15 > 0:47:19Before 1914, hardly anyone in Britain owned their own home.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Now, the pages of Metro-land were crammed
0:47:22 > 0:47:25with ads for new housing estates,
0:47:25 > 0:47:27from Ruislip to Amersham,
0:47:27 > 0:47:31a dream made real thanks to a new phenomenon known as the mortgage.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36The age of home ownership had arrived,
0:47:36 > 0:47:39helped in no small part by the railways.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44This was a rural idyll.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49It was sold by the Met as a realm of rest from London's weary ways.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51You can imagine that a middling clerk,
0:47:51 > 0:47:55chained to his desk in a filthy, overcrowded city,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57must have dreamt of a place like this,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59with its green spaces and clean air,
0:47:59 > 0:48:03reachable from town in less than an hour on the train,
0:48:03 > 0:48:06and all for a deposit of £50.
0:48:06 > 0:48:08You can see the appeal.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Throughout the '20s,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21the Met developed a series of ambitious housing estates,
0:48:21 > 0:48:22all the way along the line.
0:48:24 > 0:48:29But nowhere epitomised its efforts more than Rayners Lane.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33What had been little more than farm buildings and pasture
0:48:33 > 0:48:37was rapidly transformed into a thriving suburb.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Rayners Lane was known as Pneumonia Junction,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50thanks to icy cold winds that used to blow in off the Chilterns.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53But that didn't stop people aspiring to own a little piece
0:48:53 > 0:48:55of semi-detached suburban paradise.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04It was here that the Met built its flagship development,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Harrow Garden Village, covering 230 acres,
0:49:07 > 0:49:11offering suburban nests to suit every taste and budget.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18By 1934, the medieval fields of Rayners Lane
0:49:18 > 0:49:22had been submerged beneath a sea of Metro-land houses.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28Harrow Garden Village was designed to be affordable,
0:49:28 > 0:49:31the kind of place that blue-collar workers could aspire to buy,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34and this was all part of a national picture.
0:49:34 > 0:49:37After the First World War, millions of new homes were built,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40and the railways were playing a vital part
0:49:40 > 0:49:43in that democratisation of property ownership.
0:49:43 > 0:49:47The dream that they sold remains a potent one to this day.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54In 1930, before the development of the area,
0:49:54 > 0:49:58Rayners Lane Station saw just 22,000 passengers annually.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01Within seven years,
0:50:01 > 0:50:03that figure had risen to four million.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12Railways completely changed the way people worked, ate and played.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14Now, they were even changing where people lived,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17because no longer did people have to live
0:50:17 > 0:50:18right next to their place of work.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23The trouble was, it was a bit of a Faustian pact,
0:50:23 > 0:50:27because, in return for a nice new house, lots of fresh air,
0:50:27 > 0:50:30you were completely dependent on the railways, twice a day,
0:50:30 > 0:50:32every day of your working life.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36And, quite quickly, the glamour of the railways,
0:50:36 > 0:50:37particularly on these lines,
0:50:37 > 0:50:39began to turn to the mundane.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47This was the reality of everyday train travel.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Overcrowded, under-loved,
0:50:50 > 0:50:52but necessary to live the dream.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58Escape became a potent idea in the 1930s.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00With Britain plunged into economic gloom,
0:51:00 > 0:51:04the railways suffered as much as any other industry.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10In their advertising, the rail companies resorted to fantasy,
0:51:10 > 0:51:12painting a picture of Britain
0:51:12 > 0:51:15increasingly at odds with real life.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19Under threat from the motor industry,
0:51:19 > 0:51:22and with fares now regulated by the state,
0:51:22 > 0:51:26The Big Four gambled by once more playing their trump card -
0:51:26 > 0:51:28the glamour of speed.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44This is one of the pin-ups of the new express locomotives.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48It's called Bittern - it's an A4 Pacific, designed by Nigel Gresley.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52Gresley was very influenced in his designs by the Italian Bugatti,
0:51:52 > 0:51:57and you can see the classic, sleek futuristic look of this locomotive.
0:51:57 > 0:51:58This was the perfect thing
0:51:58 > 0:52:01to reintroduce some of the wow to British railways.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08'In 1932, the East and West Coast rail companies
0:52:08 > 0:52:12'tore up their gentlemen's agreement to stick to eight and a quarter hours minimum
0:52:12 > 0:52:14'for the journey from London to Scotland.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17'The race to the north was back on.'
0:52:18 > 0:52:19All right, sir?
0:52:21 > 0:52:25By 1938, the Flying Scotsman was arriving in Edinburgh
0:52:25 > 0:52:28in seven hours without stopping.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30And the year before, the Coronation Scot,
0:52:30 > 0:52:32running on the West Coast Line,
0:52:32 > 0:52:36had set a British steam record of 114 miles per hour.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44The competition wasn't just between rival British companies,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46the Nazis were also obsessed with speed.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48And after they took power in Germany,
0:52:48 > 0:52:50they set about upgrading the Reichsbahn.
0:52:50 > 0:52:56In 1936, a train set the world record of 124.5 miles an hour
0:52:56 > 0:52:58between Berlin and Hamburg.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02Then, in 1938, on July 3rd,
0:53:02 > 0:53:07something happened in Lincolnshire which took the world by surprise.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19Mallard was a sister locomotive of Bittern.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22Under a cloak of secrecy,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26Nigel Gresley arranged a brakes test for Mallard on the East Coast Line.
0:53:28 > 0:53:32On board were fireman Tommy Bray and driver Joe Duddington.
0:53:36 > 0:53:43At 4:15 pm, Mallard left Burston South Junction and headed south.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45She picked up speed heading up the Stoke Bank,
0:53:45 > 0:53:50and then, as she descended the other side, Duddington let her go.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58'Once over the top, I gave Mallard her head
0:53:58 > 0:54:00'and she just jumped to it like a live thing.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03'And when the record is held at 122 miles per hour,
0:54:03 > 0:54:07'for a mile and a half, it was at fever heat.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09'"Go on, old girl," I thought, "we can do better than this."
0:54:09 > 0:54:13'So I nursed her, and shot through Little Bytham at a 123.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19'And in the next one and a quarter miles, the needle crept up further.
0:54:19 > 0:54:24'123 and a half, 124, 125...
0:54:24 > 0:54:26'And then, for a quarter of a mile,
0:54:26 > 0:54:30'while they tell me the folks in the car held their breaths,
0:54:30 > 0:54:31'126 miles per hour.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37'Tommy Bray, "You done it, you blighter!"
0:54:37 > 0:54:39'She answered every call I made on her.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41'She couldn't have done better in the St Ledger.'
0:54:47 > 0:54:50It was just for a second, and it was going downhill,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53Mallard never even made it to King's Cross,
0:54:53 > 0:54:55because she had mechanical failure in Peterborough,
0:54:55 > 0:54:59but she comfortably beat the previous British record holder,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01and she just edged out the Germans.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Mallard was the fastest steam train in history,
0:55:06 > 0:55:08and she still is.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13And we all come out of school,
0:55:13 > 0:55:17and I stood here, and then a mate of mine, Len Wilson,
0:55:17 > 0:55:19he stood on the bridge,
0:55:19 > 0:55:21and he give us a shout when it were coming.
0:55:21 > 0:55:22He said, "Here she comes!"
0:55:22 > 0:55:25And we all leant over the fence and had a look at it.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28What did you make of it, you kids? Had you ever seen anything like it?
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Not so fast as that.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33We'd always see steam engines when they used to go by regular,
0:55:33 > 0:55:37but this one, I mean, it were, well, it were a bloody masterpiece.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41The sound of it, I mean it just whistled.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Yeah. It was great.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47Are you now the last...you're the last man left of everyone in that class, are you?
0:55:47 > 0:55:49I think maybe I am. Well, I am, yeah.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53Yeah, I think all my mates have all passed away now.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56I think there's only me left. Yeah.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00Is it...? What's it like, knowing that you're the last witness
0:56:00 > 0:56:02to a bit of history like that?
0:56:02 > 0:56:04Well, it's nice, really.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06No-one's to know I'm still here, to tell the tale.
0:56:06 > 0:56:07THEY CHUCKLE
0:56:07 > 0:56:08Yeah.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18Mallard and her fellow A4 Pacifics
0:56:18 > 0:56:21were the epitome of British engineering,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25never to be equalled for elegance as much as for speed.
0:56:27 > 0:56:30Seeing them streak through the British countryside,
0:56:30 > 0:56:34it was possible to believe, just for a fleeting moment,
0:56:34 > 0:56:36that the future belonged to the railways,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39that a new golden age was just around the corner.
0:56:42 > 0:56:43But it wasn't to be.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53As these express engines tore past commuter trains,
0:56:53 > 0:56:54the passengers on those trains
0:56:54 > 0:56:57weren't dreaming about being on here,
0:56:57 > 0:56:59they were dreaming about owning a car.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03No matter how fast, how record-breaking,
0:57:03 > 0:57:06how romantic these engines were,
0:57:06 > 0:57:09ultimately, these trains, even the Mallard,
0:57:09 > 0:57:11were steaming into the past.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20And once again, world events would overtake everything.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26As news of the Mallard spread round the world,
0:57:26 > 0:57:29the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, was trying to prevent the world
0:57:29 > 0:57:32from slipping back into a terrible conflict,
0:57:32 > 0:57:36a war that seemed more inevitable every day.
0:57:36 > 0:57:37When that war did come,
0:57:37 > 0:57:40the railways once again were taken over by the Government
0:57:40 > 0:57:42and trains became the engines of war.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50'The railways had done so much to bring the nation together,
0:57:50 > 0:57:54'at work, at play, during wartime.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59'But their time of supremacy, which had lasted for 100 years,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02'was drawing to a close.'
0:58:04 > 0:58:07The era of the railways was by no means over.
0:58:07 > 0:58:12What was over was Britain's period of global domination,
0:58:12 > 0:58:15and that's the bittersweet irony about the railways,
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Britain's greatest contribution to the modern world.
0:58:18 > 0:58:24They facilitated the creation of vast continental superpowers,
0:58:24 > 0:58:26like America and the Soviet Union,
0:58:26 > 0:58:29against which Britain just couldn't compete.
0:59:04 > 0:59:08Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd