0:00:02 > 0:00:07BBC Four Collections - archive programmes chosen by experts.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10For this collection, Gary Boyd-Hope has selected programmes
0:00:10 > 0:00:13celebrating Britain's steam railway legacy.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15More programs on this theme
0:00:15 > 0:00:18and other BBC Four collections are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14There are more steam engines to be seen now on British rail lines
0:01:14 > 0:01:15than there have been for 20 years.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21Of them all, I think the most romantic is the Duchess of Hamilton.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34And of all the lines in England still open,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37the toughest must be the Settle to Carlisle railway.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10What is not so well known is that 30 years ago,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12I was the proud owner of the Duchess of Hamilton.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16She was nine inches long, weighed well over a pound
0:02:16 > 0:02:18and kept falling off at the corners.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Now, at last, I've come face-to-face with the real Duchess,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26who weighs over 100 tons in her stockinged feet
0:02:26 > 0:02:30and pull 500 tons with a full train. It was worth waiting for!
0:02:39 > 0:02:43The Duchess lives at York in the National Railway Museum
0:02:43 > 0:02:44but she sallies forth regularly
0:02:44 > 0:02:46to haul special trains over long distances.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50For this, she has to be prepared and fired up the day before
0:02:50 > 0:02:53by Pete, the fireman, and Kim, the engineer -
0:02:53 > 0:02:57prepared with extra care if you're climbing the Settle-Carlisle line.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06I spent five years in my youth sitting beside a railway line
0:03:06 > 0:03:09collecting train numbers, hardly ever going home.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11It's what they call a misspent youth.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14I shouldn't have been collecting numbers,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17I should have been finding out how engines actually work.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Well, it's never too late to learn.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20First thing we do is make sure
0:03:20 > 0:03:24that the boiler has actually got water in it.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27Because if it hasn't, it'll explode?
0:03:27 > 0:03:30You'll do quite a lot of damage if it hadn't.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34Well, I think it's about time we lit it now. The boiler is all right.
0:03:34 > 0:03:35- It's got plenty of water in. - All right?
0:03:35 > 0:03:37- Delighted. - All right.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39Right.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50They're quite fussy about the kind of coal they use.
0:03:50 > 0:03:51Welsh coal's not bad,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54but Yorkshire's good and Nottinghamshire is quite good too.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58During the miners' strike, they found themselves using Polish coal.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01They didn't like it much.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18How long does the coal take to light? Does it take fire immediately?
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Three or four minutes until the coal is actually burning.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24That's better than my fire!
0:04:25 > 0:04:27We've previously coaled the firebox,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29filled the firebox full of coal first.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32- You've got all the coal you need? - Nearly all the coal.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35You don't set off with a little bit then build up?
0:04:35 > 0:04:36No, about six inch cover.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40And what's the fullest it ever gets? Is that about it?
0:04:40 > 0:04:42No, when the engine's working
0:04:42 > 0:04:46you can have probably about three quarters of a ton in there.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50It takes about six hours to get the boiler into steam from cold.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03So really, Kim, we're sitting under a huge boiler
0:05:03 > 0:05:06which is mounted on huge wheels.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09What I want to know is, how does the steam get to the wheels?
0:05:09 > 0:05:12Well, the boiler, which is all that red mass, is full of water
0:05:12 > 0:05:15and at the top there's what we call the dome
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and in there there's the regulator valve or throttle valve.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21The steam then comes from that regulator valve,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24through into the smoke box,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26which is this black mass at the front here,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and it's then what we call superheated,
0:05:29 > 0:05:34which is the steam is then taken in tubes, back through the fire tubes,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37and heated even more to a higher temperature.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39This engine, when it's working hard,
0:05:39 > 0:05:43can get up to about 700 degrees Fahrenheit.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45And then that comes from the super heater
0:05:45 > 0:05:48and it comes down to the cylinders.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51This particular locomotive's got four cylinders.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56There's one on either side and two hidden between the frames.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00This part here, that's the valve
0:06:00 > 0:06:06that lets the steam be admitted to one or the other side of the pistons.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09This is a double acting engine, not like a car engine.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14It's double acting. The piston is actually pulled and pushed.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16And this valve up here
0:06:16 > 0:06:20controls which side of the piston that that steam's going to hit.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22So, all the power is in there?
0:06:22 > 0:06:25The power is all in the cylinders, yes.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27And just that little cylinder pushes this thing?
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Well, this and three other cylinders, yeah.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32It's then transmitted through this cross-head,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34because that piston wouldn't be strong.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38It would bend if it hadn't got support from these bars,
0:06:38 > 0:06:39and then down to the connecting rod,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44into rotary motion down onto the crank,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48which is incorporated in the wheel.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51This is one that's actually driven by the cylinders.
0:06:51 > 0:06:52The other one is the leading one.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54And that's driven by the inside cylinder?
0:06:54 > 0:06:57That's driven by the inside cylinders.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01- And that's connected along? - That's connected by a side rod
0:07:01 > 0:07:04which connects all six driving wheels together
0:07:04 > 0:07:06so that you've got better adhesion.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11- And it really makes a difference? - That makes a lot of difference.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Before the war, the London Midland Scottish Railway
0:07:14 > 0:07:16was lagging badly behind the other lines
0:07:16 > 0:07:19with nothing nearly as powerful on their express routes
0:07:19 > 0:07:20as the Great Western Kings.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22So they tempted William Stanier,
0:07:22 > 0:07:24the wizard designer of the Great Western,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27to come over to them and create something fast and sleek.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31By 1938, he'd come up with the goods -
0:07:31 > 0:07:34the Princess and Duchess classes.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38It was in that year that the Duchess of Hamilton was born at Crewe.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42All manner of smaller parts are made in the smithy -
0:07:42 > 0:07:45nuts and bolts in all sizes and varieties,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48rivets by the tens of thousands.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53This is where the mysteries go in.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58A modern engine, such as 6207, has a big appetite for steam,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02hence her large greater area of 45 square feet
0:08:02 > 0:08:05and her high amount of tubing.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08First to go in is the main steam pipe,
0:08:08 > 0:08:09through the centre of which
0:08:09 > 0:08:13will later go the rod connecting the regulator handle to the valve.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Meanwhile, things have been happening at the other end of the boiler
0:08:21 > 0:08:23and some familiar objects have been
0:08:23 > 0:08:26finding their way onto the fire-door plate.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32One of the most amazing sights is the way heavy loads,
0:08:32 > 0:08:38and mostly awkward and cumbersome ones, are slung about in the work.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40A screech from the overhead crane,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43rattling hooks descending out of the air en route
0:08:43 > 0:08:45and, almost before you can say knife,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48a load of some 50 tons up to a complete engine
0:08:48 > 0:08:50is whisked away to a new position.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56She's off!
0:08:57 > 0:09:011,000 men have served her in the making.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05How many thousands will she serve during her life on the LMS mainline?
0:09:23 > 0:09:25Is this what they call a Pacific class?
0:09:25 > 0:09:26That's right, yeah.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28And that's something to do with the wheels, isn't it?
0:09:28 > 0:09:32Yeah, you've got four carrying wheels at the front,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34then you've six driving wheels,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36and then two little carrying wheels at the back.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39So it's not the Duchess class, or it is a Duchess class as well?
0:09:39 > 0:09:43Well, the proper term for them, the LMS call them Princess Coronations.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46- What do you call them? - Duchesses.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48And did it look like this when it was first built?
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Oh, no, no. It had a streamlined casing on it.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Why did they do that?
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Helped to cut the wind resistance down,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58so in theory you burnt less coal.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00They seem to have gone through a fashion for streamlining then
0:10:00 > 0:10:03they stopped doing it, so it couldn't have been that effective?
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Well, it's very difficult to keep the engine in good maintenance
0:10:06 > 0:10:11when you've got to get behind the casing every time to do daily jobs.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Just before the war, there really was a mania for speed,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18for being the fastest steam engine on earth
0:10:18 > 0:10:21or for winning the transatlantic Blue Riband.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23And things were made to look that way, as well,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27with the streamlining stripes even going down the carriages.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Maybe it somehow helped to counteract the depression of the 1930s?
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Oddly enough, the streamlined look is back with us again today
0:10:34 > 0:10:38on British Rail's InterCity trains.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40No sooner was the Duchess built
0:10:40 > 0:10:43than she was sent to America to appear at the New York World's Fair.
0:10:43 > 0:10:44The Americans had heard all about
0:10:44 > 0:10:48the crack express from London to Scotland, the Coronation Scot,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50and the Coronation engine was what they wanted.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52What they got was the Duchess.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55They changed the nameplates and the number.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Isn't that what we call cheating?
0:10:57 > 0:10:59Well, yes, but it was done quite a bit with the locos.
0:10:59 > 0:11:05To meet American regulations, that had to be fitted with a headlight,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07plus they put a bell on it.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Was that just for fun? You don't have to have that.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11- No, that was their regulation. - Really?
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Shipping the Coronation Scot engine at Southampton is quite a job,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17for it weighs 100 tons.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Driver Bishop and fireman Carswell are there to see it put aboard.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23As the locomotive is lifted from the quayside by the ship's derrick,
0:11:23 > 0:11:24the vessel takes a list,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27but rights herself again as it's swung over the hull.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35The ship that takes it across, by the way, is Norwegian.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37The train is going to America to tour the country
0:11:37 > 0:11:39and to be on show at the World's Fair.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13A month before the fair ended, the Second World War broke out
0:12:13 > 0:12:15and the Duchess was stuck in America.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19There she stayed, being seen by an amazing 3 million visitors,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22until 1942, when the LMS decided to risk bringing her back
0:12:22 > 0:12:25on a midwinter trans-Atlantic convoy.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Luckily she arrived safe and sound in Cardiff that February.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35They needed it for the war effort, you know. It was difficult.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38They hadn't really got enough locos to keep the traffic moving.
0:12:38 > 0:12:39The war traffic.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43So everything that they could find was more or less put into traffic.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47I always imagined that trains were sort of restricted during the war?
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Oh, no, there was enormous movements of materials
0:12:50 > 0:12:53and troops during the war.
0:12:54 > 0:12:55From the ports,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58trains took the battle weary men to the dispersal points.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00At the shortest possible notice,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02special trains were hurriedly assembled
0:13:02 > 0:13:04and in the space of eight days
0:13:04 > 0:13:08620 specials were run from seven ports in the south-east of England.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11The war was good for the railways, then? I didn't realise that.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13- Well, yeah. - Good business.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16It nearly wore the railways out, actually.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19What happened when steam started being phased out and diesel came in?
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Well, they gradually got displaced.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25They were put onto empty coaching stock trains
0:13:25 > 0:13:31and freight trains, just to finish up their useful life.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34- And when they died, they died... - That's right.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37..in a scrapyard. How come Duchesses survived then?
0:13:37 > 0:13:40Well, it was just luck more than anything.
0:13:40 > 0:13:46Mr Butlin decided he would like some attractions at certain holiday camps
0:13:46 > 0:13:51and this was one that was bought, along with the Duchess of Sutherland.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53- Where did this one go? - Minehead.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57MUSIC: "I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside" by John A Glover-Kind
0:14:00 > 0:14:04After quite a bit of time, somebody asked, "Why are they in there
0:14:04 > 0:14:05"and do Butlins still want them?
0:14:05 > 0:14:08"Wouldn't it be nice to have them in a museum?"
0:14:10 > 0:14:13And after a period of a few years, that was agreed,
0:14:13 > 0:14:15that Butlins would then release them.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17So it actually still belongs to Butlins, then?
0:14:17 > 0:14:19It still belongs to them.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21They could get it back any time they wanted,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23they could take it back to the holiday camp?
0:14:23 > 0:14:24In theory, yes.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28How much did it cost to put this together again,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31when all the operations had been done on the abdomen and the guts?
0:14:31 > 0:14:34- Around about £40,000. - 40,000.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36How much did it cost to build in the first place?
0:14:36 > 0:14:38- 11,300. - To build?
0:14:38 > 0:14:40That's inflation.
0:14:42 > 0:14:43What I'd never realised was
0:14:43 > 0:14:46just how full of steam a steam engine really is.
0:14:46 > 0:14:47Smoke may come out of the chimney,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51but everything else is steam, with no electricity to help at all.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53If you want sand on the line to help the wheels grip,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55you'd blow it out by steam.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58If you want more water in the boiler, you blow it in by steam.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02The Duchess has steam pipes the way we have blood vessels.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Cut her, she bleeds steam.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07Well, I think I understand how it all works now,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10except for one thing - how do you actually start it?
0:15:10 > 0:15:11Right, well, we'll show you
0:15:11 > 0:15:15because we're now going to move off the shed in any case.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21You have to turn this handle on. That creates a brake.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27- So as you can get the brakes on. - Right.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29So, first thing you have to make sure of,
0:15:29 > 0:15:30you can stop before you move.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38That's got to come round 21 inches of mercury.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43There it is.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48We test it. We then take the engine and the handbrake off.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02- Seems fairly complicated. - Not really.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Then we move this lever to whichever direction we want to go.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09In this case, backwards.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14ENGINE WHISTLES
0:16:17 > 0:16:19And pull this lever...
0:16:19 > 0:16:22and that will move.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Magic.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47When you've gone far enough, this one stops it.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55So have you got any more to do before the run tomorrow?
0:16:55 > 0:16:57No, we're all ready for tomorrow now.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Well, I'm sorry to hear that, because it means I've got to get off.
0:17:00 > 0:17:01Right, bye!
0:17:03 > 0:17:05If anyone can be called a Duchess's best friend it's Kim,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08who accompanies her everywhere with an oily rag,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10like a butler with a napkin.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34On the great day itself,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Kim isn't actually allowed to drive the engine on a British Rail line.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Only full-time British Rail drivers can do that.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45Not that there are many people left in British Rail who still know how!
0:17:45 > 0:17:49Maybe one day we'll have lots of steam engines and no steam drivers.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54One thing we'll never run out of, though, is steam train enthusiasts,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57and for today's heavyweight contest between the Duchess of Hamilton
0:17:57 > 0:18:02and the Settle to Carlisle railway, every seat has been booked in advance
0:18:02 > 0:18:05by enthusiasts, nostalgics, connoisseurs and experts.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09One of them is local historian and non-stop enthusiast Colin Speakman.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12This is Settle and the beginning of the line?
0:18:12 > 0:18:14That's right. It was the known as the long drag, of course,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16because the climb starts here
0:18:16 > 0:18:19and it's something like 20-odd miles of continuous climb,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23a tremendous amount of work for locomotive men and their crews.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24Especially with steam engines.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27That's right, and the steam engines, yeah.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Little easier with diesel, obviously.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31The reason the line is here is nothing to do with
0:18:31 > 0:18:34the desire of people in Settle to have a day out in Carlisle
0:18:34 > 0:18:35or even vice versa.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37It's because the Midland Railway were desperate
0:18:37 > 0:18:40to get their own express mainline to Scotland
0:18:40 > 0:18:44and the only way they could drive it was over the mountains.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46Progress was so hard that they even petitioned Parliament
0:18:46 > 0:18:48to be allowed to give it up.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Parliament refused permission,
0:18:50 > 0:18:54so the Midlands spent five long, horrible, dirty, cold years
0:18:54 > 0:18:58completing the line, and the worst bit for the builders then,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01and the engine now, is the 15-mile long drag to the summit.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Nobody knows quite how powerful the Duchess is
0:19:09 > 0:19:12because they've never been able to shovel coal in fast enough
0:19:12 > 0:19:14to get her up to full power.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17It's not the train that reaches 100% output, it's the fireman.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Even two firemen wouldn't be enough.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43The line was built by thousands of Irish navvies living in townships
0:19:43 > 0:19:45rather like gold-rush towns,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47with their own shops, chapels, even tramways.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50It's odd to think the Romans were here for hundreds of years
0:19:50 > 0:19:53and left hardly anything behind except Hadrian's Wall.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56The Irish were here for just five and left great monuments behind -
0:19:56 > 0:19:59bridges, tunnels, viaducts.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04The greatest of all is the Ribblehead Viaduct, now crumbling so much
0:20:04 > 0:20:08that passage across it is restricted to one line in the middle.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10The rise and fall of the Irish empire, indeed.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12People keep talking about the Ribblehead Viaduct
0:20:12 > 0:20:15as if it was the big one. Is there something special about it?
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Well, again, it's a long and very colourful history.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22Initially, of course, they simply wanted to fill in Batty Moss bog
0:20:22 > 0:20:24and run it across the top.
0:20:24 > 0:20:25But they found it was quite impossible,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28so they hit upon a really rather brilliant engineering solution -
0:20:28 > 0:20:32to build this enormous viaduct out of local sandstone and limestone.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36But inevitably, it's now suffering from wear and tear.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38It lasted well over a century but it'll be a major problem to maintain
0:20:38 > 0:20:41and it could in fact be the great question mark
0:20:41 > 0:20:42over the future of this railway.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44You mean the whole line could exist
0:20:44 > 0:20:46but there'd be a little gap in the middle?
0:20:46 > 0:20:47That's right.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49There's talk of stopping the trains at one end of the viaduct
0:20:49 > 0:20:53and making people walk to the far end and continuing on the next train.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55We hope it won't happen.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03So, this is the dreaded Blea Moor Tunnel?
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Yes, a dreadful, nasty hole,
0:21:05 > 0:21:09something like 2,500 feet long, 500 feet underground
0:21:09 > 0:21:11and a place that was very difficult to build.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13A lot of lives lost, a lot of expense
0:21:13 > 0:21:16and railwaymen, I think, have always hated it,
0:21:16 > 0:21:18particularly in the days of steam trains.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20It was a very nasty place to go through.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22I've never met anyone who liked it at all, no.
0:21:26 > 0:21:27Is this weather typical on the line?
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Do you ever get good days to go up here?
0:21:29 > 0:21:31Well we sometimes talk about Settle-Carlisle weather.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34That's the kind of days where the rain comes sideways.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37But at the same time, it can change remarkably quickly
0:21:37 > 0:21:40and be incredibly beautiful in a matter of moments.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43We're very near the summit now,
0:21:43 > 0:21:45something like 1,100 feet above sea level.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47That's high.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49We're at Dent Head, coming up to Dent station,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52which in fact is the highest station on any railway line,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54certainly in England and Wales.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56And nowhere near Dent, as far as I can make out?
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Four and a half miles away, so it was quite a long walk
0:21:58 > 0:22:01when you arrived at Dent to walk between the station and the town.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04People often ask the old story, you know, why was the station there?
0:22:04 > 0:22:06Answer, because the railway line was there.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09What are those strange pillar like things over there?
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Snow fences. One of the problems on this line, of course,
0:22:12 > 0:22:15is that the weather can create tremendous difficulties.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19There are stories of trains disappearing under snowdrifts
0:22:19 > 0:22:20for something like three or four days
0:22:20 > 0:22:23before they could finally dig them out.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36This stop is Garsdale, but it's the same thing every stop -
0:22:36 > 0:22:39all the experts leave their seats and come rushing forward
0:22:39 > 0:22:42to photograph the engine and peer at its workings.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46They remind me rather of a squad of medical men
0:22:46 > 0:22:49making sure the Duchess doesn't have the slightest cough or splutter,
0:22:49 > 0:22:51even though she's smoking so much.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54The surgeons themselves are dressed in orange operating jackets.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58These are the super enthusiasts, who handle coal, and the water,
0:22:58 > 0:23:00and of course, the crowds.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Can you cross behind the photographers, please,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05ladies and gentlemen, then you won't be in the way.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55ENGINE WHISTLES
0:23:57 > 0:23:58You get the impression,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00going through this beautiful but desolate countryside,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03that the builders of the line had only one place in mind -
0:24:03 > 0:24:05faraway Glasgow.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11What I wonder is how much the people who lived here
0:24:11 > 0:24:12got from the new railway.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17Quite a lot. Local farming, for example, benefited.
0:24:17 > 0:24:23The dairy industry, it became possible to get your milk collected
0:24:23 > 0:24:27and taken to the nearest railway station, for example Appleby,
0:24:27 > 0:24:29and taken even on overnight trains to London,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Express Dairies, Eden Vale dairies,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35they all developed dairy farming in the region.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Is that where the yoghurt comes from?
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Originally, it gave a great stimulus to the local economy.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Of course, we're not the only film crew out today.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Almost everyone on the train seems to be producing and directing,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50shooting their own film, and at Appleby station
0:24:50 > 0:24:53the Duchess responds by putting on a special show for the cameras,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56as well as full sound effects for the microphones.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59STEAM ROARS
0:24:59 > 0:25:02Closing the Settle-Carlisle line
0:25:02 > 0:25:05could do serious damage to the Japanese photographic industry,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08not to mention wipe out the British anorak business!
0:25:17 > 0:25:20ENGINE WHISTLES
0:25:40 > 0:25:43The funny thing is that conservationists like you,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45who fight to keep the line open, would probably 100 years ago
0:25:45 > 0:25:48have fought to stop it being built in the first place.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50Oh, I've absolutely no doubt about the fact,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52but the fact that it was built and is there
0:25:52 > 0:25:54and is a great piece of architecture
0:25:54 > 0:25:57means, I think, we ought to make the best of it. We ought to use it.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59So it's bigger than just a railway line,
0:25:59 > 0:26:01it's part of historical heritage?
0:26:01 > 0:26:03I think so. It's part of the evolution, certainly,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06of the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales and the Eden Valley.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Somebody once said that the Settle to Carlisle line was "nowt but scenery,"
0:26:12 > 0:26:14and this is certainly true after Appleby,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17when the hills retreat into a watchful distance
0:26:17 > 0:26:20and the line slides quietly through the Eden Valley -
0:26:20 > 0:26:23a land flowing with milk and yogurt.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04ENGINE WHISTLES
0:27:30 > 0:27:33After that back breaking run up to the summit,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36it's a gentle jog to Carlisle, the border town
0:27:36 > 0:27:40where the Midland finally linked up with Scotland
0:27:40 > 0:27:42in that profitable line to Glasgow.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47Today, the train turns right here, off to Newcastle, home to York,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50but I get off to find a train back to London.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55It'll be a good, fast electric train.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58They won't have had to spend hours loading it up with coal and water.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01You just switch it on and off it goes.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04This is the way the world is going. I know all this.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12I also know it won't be half so grand or aristocratic or breathtaking
0:28:12 > 0:28:15as the train we've been on today.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17It won't even smell half as good.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23The next day, I'll have forgotten all about my electric ride to London.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27But once you've been over the top with the Duchess of Hamilton
0:28:27 > 0:28:29the memory stays with you, forever.