0:00:02 > 0:00:04BBC Four Collections -
0:00:04 > 0:00:06archive programmes chosen by experts.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09For this Collection, Gary Boyd-Hope
0:00:09 > 0:00:13has selected programmes celebrating Britain's steam railway legacy.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16More programmes on this theme, and other BBC Four Collections,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:24 > 0:00:25TRAIN HORN BLOWS
0:01:11 > 0:01:15An almost forgotten kind of Scotch mist has come back to the Glens
0:01:15 > 0:01:17after 20 years of silence.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26The smoke and steam of a Black 5 engine.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45Most people would think you were mad
0:01:45 > 0:01:48if you told them there was still a regular mainline steam service
0:01:48 > 0:01:50on British Rail,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53but for the last two summers the diesels on the West Highland Line,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57from Fort William to Mallaig, have been partly replaced by steam.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07They've even repainted the coaches their old pre-war colours -
0:02:07 > 0:02:09cream and green.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Just for a while, history has gone into reverse.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25I get the feeling that such quirky things
0:02:25 > 0:02:28couldn't happen nearer to London,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31but up here, far from head office,
0:02:31 > 0:02:33they like to run things their own way.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40In the 1930s, the line carried thousands of weekend trippers
0:02:40 > 0:02:43escaping from smoky Glasgow and Clydeside into the country.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47After the war, when excursions were restarted in 1949,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50most of those trippers had taken to the roads.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54Yet, although the line has never made a profit, it still lives on.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Today the summer steam trains
0:02:56 > 0:02:58are fuller than perhaps they've ever been.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09But, it wasn't so much tourists and travellers
0:03:09 > 0:03:11that the line to Mallaig was built to carry,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14it was something much more basic - fish.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20And not just any old fish, one kind of fish in particular.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Now, here's a riddle, why is a steam engine like a herring?
0:03:28 > 0:03:31That's right, it's because they were once both the commonest things
0:03:31 > 0:03:33in the world and they are now both almost extinct.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Mallaig was actually created by the railways
0:03:35 > 0:03:38and through the railways grew to be the largest herring port in Europe
0:03:38 > 0:03:40up till about 20 years ago.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44This year not one single herring has been landed in Mallaig so far.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48The main fish coming here now is the crayfish, or langoustine,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52which is taken away, not by rail any more, but by lorry
0:03:52 > 0:03:54and driven 1,000 miles or more down to the south of Spain
0:03:54 > 0:03:56where they get the best prices.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58So, if you're on holiday in the Costa Brava
0:03:58 > 0:04:01and you have a plate of large prawns they've probably come from here.
0:04:23 > 0:04:24Before the trains came,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27the 30-mile journey from Fort William to the coast
0:04:27 > 0:04:29had to be done in a horse-drawn coach
0:04:29 > 0:04:33bumping crazily over rough cart tracks.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36It took seven-and-a-half hours to get there,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39so long that you could never get back the same day.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43The railway reduced this time to little over one hour,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46an improvement of something like 80%.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49It was almost as if balloons had been replaced overnight by Concorde,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51with nothing else at all in between.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59It was here at Corpach, near Fort William,
0:04:59 > 0:05:04on January the 21st 1897, that Lady Margaret Cameron of Locheil,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08who was not just a lady but also the wife of one of the directors,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12used this silver spade to turn the first sod in the Mallaig railway.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15And it was the last really hard work she did,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18because she was replaced almost immediately by 3,500 navvies,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22who worked for the next four hard years to complete the work
0:05:22 > 0:05:24that she had so bravely started.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26But, they did finish one year ahead of schedule.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Mallaig wasn't just reached by the railway,
0:05:33 > 0:05:34it was built by the railway.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37The railway company looked at a map of Scotland
0:05:37 > 0:05:39for a good place for a fishing port,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42put its finger on a tiny, nearly uninhabited dot
0:05:42 > 0:05:46and said, "We'll build a town, a harbour and a pier, here."
0:05:46 > 0:05:50It wasn't just fishing vessels that came to call at the new harbour,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52it became a great jumping-off place
0:05:52 > 0:05:56for the ferries over the sea to Skye and Lewis, as it is today.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06You could say the first big place
0:06:06 > 0:06:08down the line from Mallaig is Glasgow,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10but they wouldn't agree with you at Fort William,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13the railway capital of the West Highlands,
0:06:13 > 0:06:15where most of the engines were always kept.
0:06:17 > 0:06:23ARCHIVE: Shed 65J, dock 6, class 5MT Stanier Black 5 from the old LMS.
0:06:23 > 0:06:29One modified K4 name McCallum Mhor. Five K1s, Peppercorns design.
0:06:29 > 0:06:35Two K2s usually based at Mallaig. And as yard pilots, two J36s.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39All to be maintained and serviced, engines to coal.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41And some to repair.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46What engine am I getting today, Jim?
0:06:46 > 0:06:471784, Johnny.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55The engines leave Fort William shed.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57To work south to Glasgow.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01And west to Mallaig.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And we shall be working west to Mallaig today
0:07:09 > 0:07:12behind this 1947 vintage Black 5.
0:07:13 > 0:07:14Black 5s were LMS engines,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18so they wouldn't have been seen up this LNER line in the old days.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21This particular one is the only one of the many Black 5s
0:07:21 > 0:07:23to be fitted with the Stephenson link motion,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26that complicated series of connecting rods.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35I wonder if that makes it a one-off special or a failed experiment.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38'Well, either way I'd give my eye teeth
0:07:38 > 0:07:40'for a chance to travel on the footplate.'
0:07:42 > 0:07:43- Another time. - Thanks.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46'Well, at least I've still got my eye teeth.'
0:07:49 > 0:07:53Our driver today is veteran Fort William man Willie Corrigan.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58There's something special about driving a Black 5.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01Quite good engines to drive and the fellas look after them pretty well.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05The Black 5s are all right,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08but the K2's really the engine for Mallaig.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11The Black 5s are just a wee bit high in the wheel for the Mallaig line.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14They used them sometimes for ballast working
0:08:14 > 0:08:16but they were never on the Mallaig line
0:08:16 > 0:08:19because it was a turntable end, they were too long for that.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21This train, anyway, it's just up and down.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24But they used to be up and down maybe two or three times a day.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Not so much hard work for the driver,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30but quite hard for the fireman, shovelling coal and that.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34But, oh, it's quite an innocent line.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36It's a lovely run
0:08:36 > 0:08:39and I've been doing it for the best part of 40 years.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41I've not got tired of it yet.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45MILES: We come out of Fort William under the shadow of Ben Nevis
0:08:45 > 0:08:48and prepare to leave the first section of single track.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Only one engine is ever allowed onto a section of single track,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56for obvious reasons.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58And the driver is entitled to be there
0:08:58 > 0:09:01only if he has the token for that stretch of line.
0:09:01 > 0:09:02As he leaves the section
0:09:02 > 0:09:05he hands over the token to the Banavie signalman
0:09:05 > 0:09:07and collects the new one.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30In 1936, a luxury train, called the Northern Belle,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32ran right round Britain.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33When it got to Fort William
0:09:33 > 0:09:36the passengers were given the choice between two excursions -
0:09:36 > 0:09:39a motor trip to Loch Ness to see the monster
0:09:39 > 0:09:42or a rail trip past Glenfinnan.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Only two people on the whole train chose to go to Loch Ness.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Now, the attraction of going to Glenfinnan
0:09:48 > 0:09:49was not to see the famous monument
0:09:49 > 0:09:52of Bonnie Prince Charlie's first landing,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55which, after all, commemorates a great Scottish failure.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Of course, the Scots have always had a great weakness for
0:09:57 > 0:09:59romanticising their own failures.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Most of their famous battles are actually defeats.
0:10:02 > 0:10:03From the massacre of Glencoe
0:10:03 > 0:10:06up until the last time they entered for the World Cup.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09And they're not always so quick to glamorise their successes.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15What the passengers on the Northern Belle were off to see that day
0:10:15 > 0:10:18was a great Scottish success, the Glenfinnan Viaduct,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22the brain child of a young Glasgow contractor, Robert McAlpine.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Today Glenfinnan, tomorrow the world, and McAlpines are still up
0:10:26 > 0:10:29with the leaders in modern construction and engineering.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32'So, I asked Bill McAlpine, Robert's great-grandson,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34'to give me the low-down on his ancestor,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37'the man known to one and all as Concrete Bob.'
0:10:37 > 0:10:41If I'm right, this was the longest concrete viaduct in the world
0:10:41 > 0:10:43when it was built by your great-grandfather.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45Yes.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Why did he build it in concrete, why not stone?
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Well, he was a great enthusiast for concrete
0:10:49 > 0:10:51and here he had an opportunity to use it,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53because the engineer designed the viaduct
0:10:53 > 0:10:56and usually specified what it was to be made of,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00but on this occasion he persuaded the engineer
0:11:00 > 0:11:03that concrete would be a good material.
0:11:03 > 0:11:04You can see it's still standing,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06there's a train going over at the moment.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09- It's not falling on us. - Not a tremor here.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17HOOTER SOUNDS
0:11:20 > 0:11:23Was that actually very revolutionary at the time?
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Well, it was, because it was a new material
0:11:25 > 0:11:27and nobody likes change very much.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29But on this particular contract
0:11:29 > 0:11:32it proved to be very satisfactory material,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35because to move masonry, to get masonry and move it up here,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37would be very, very expensive.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41And so, concrete, which was created by finding quarries
0:11:41 > 0:11:42and grinding up the rock,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45or using the rock which came out of the tunnels,
0:11:45 > 0:11:47mixing it with cement was an ideal material.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51Stone perhaps looks better, although in the environment
0:11:51 > 0:11:55and looking at this viaduct today actually in concrete,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58it fits in with the surrounding scenery much better.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00These great solid piers, are they in fact solid?
0:12:00 > 0:12:02I believe they are hollow in the centre.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05I've always been brought up with the story that on one occasion
0:12:05 > 0:12:06they were filling them,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10they had built the four walls and they were filling it with rubble
0:12:10 > 0:12:14and a horse and cart was backing to tip
0:12:14 > 0:12:16and he just went a bit too far
0:12:16 > 0:12:19and the horse and cart went down one of these massive piers
0:12:19 > 0:12:22and there was nothing to be done, so they just carried on filling.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23They're still there?
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Whether that's true or not I wouldn't like to... I rather disbelieve it.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28An idea the Mafia later took up.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I think so, yes. I think the man stayed up but the horse and cart..
0:12:32 > 0:12:34Apart from that if somebody came to McAlpines today
0:12:34 > 0:12:36and said, build us a viaduct out of concrete,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38would you do it in a very different method?
0:12:38 > 0:12:39Um, I don't...
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Yes, it would be reinforced concrete,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44in that there would be steel in the concrete
0:12:44 > 0:12:47and it would probably be not quite so massive and so on.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Although, if you look at it, 100 years and it's still there,
0:12:50 > 0:12:52this is probably a pretty good way of doing it.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54You think this is good for all time?
0:12:54 > 0:12:57I think so, should be good for another 100 years, yes.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Well, the line may still be here in 100 years' time
0:13:07 > 0:13:10and Glenfinnan Station may be still open for business,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14but it's very doubtful if there will still be a signalman at Glenfinnan.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Four bells given.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20CLANGING
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Four bells received.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27And another brass token from the Victorian one-armed bandit
0:13:27 > 0:13:29to hand on as a passport for the driver
0:13:29 > 0:13:31to go through the next stretch.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35But as he goes through the old routine of ringing through
0:13:35 > 0:13:37for permission to let the train through,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41he is already aware that he is the last signalman left hereabouts.
0:13:44 > 0:13:46The latest plan, apparently,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50is not only to do away with the traditional token system,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53but also to get rid of signals altogether
0:13:53 > 0:13:55and to give the drivers radio sets
0:13:55 > 0:13:58so they can report their position to Fort William
0:13:58 > 0:14:00and ask for clearance to continue.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02CB on trains, in fact.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11The one thing they can probably never replace
0:14:11 > 0:14:12is the man on the engine.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15On the contrary, it means even more reliance will be placed
0:14:15 > 0:14:18on the local driver and his knowledge of the line.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22MAN: It's a hard line to know.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24Well, you've got years of it.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Especially at night, in the dark, it's pitch black,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32you've really got to know the line to drive an engine up there.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43MILES: Ever since the train left Fort William,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46it has been climbing almost all the way.
0:14:46 > 0:14:47You have to start again from Glenfinnan
0:14:47 > 0:14:50on a gradient of one in 50, which is a test for any driver
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and a lot of hard work for the fireman.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56It's an extraordinary thing,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59but almost all famous lines start low down,
0:14:59 > 0:15:03go up in the middle and then come down again at the end.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05The Settle - Carlisle line does.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07The Orient Express does.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10And so does the Mallaig line.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13And unless you're actually driving the train,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15the climb to the top is the best bit.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17There's a feeling of heroic effort,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20masses of steam and smoke, and by far the best photographs.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35But if you are driving the train you get a different view,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37one of setting off into the unknown
0:15:37 > 0:15:39however well you think you do know it.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43MAN: You go away on a train, so you don't know when you're getting back.
0:15:43 > 0:15:50One time in 1947, we left on Tuesday and we never got back until Friday.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53The trains were stuck in the snow in the West Highlands.
0:15:53 > 0:15:54It was really hard work
0:15:54 > 0:15:57and it wasn't only that, you couldn't get food anywhere.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59There was no place to get a cup of tea
0:15:59 > 0:16:01once your piece ran out, you know.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45As the train eases its way over the top
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and starts the long descent to the sea,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52it goes through what the guide books like to call "glorious scenery".
0:16:59 > 0:17:01But glorious scenery is a phrase
0:17:01 > 0:17:04that strikes fear into the heart of any railway engineer,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08cos all it means to him is immense construction difficulties.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12When Bill McAlpine's great uncle, Malcolm McAlpine,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15was in charge of building this section of the line,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17he found that the stone he was tunnelling through
0:17:17 > 0:17:21was even tougher than the machinery he had available.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23BILL MCALPINE: Because on a line like this you have to start
0:17:23 > 0:17:25in a whole lot of places
0:17:25 > 0:17:26and you start at the most difficult place.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31You start at Glenfinnan Viaduct, and of course, digging the rock tunnels.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33There was a good story about that
0:17:33 > 0:17:36because Malcolm had to go to the dentist in Glasgow
0:17:36 > 0:17:38and we'd been having terrible trouble
0:17:38 > 0:17:42because we had these new compressed air drills from America
0:17:42 > 0:17:46and we priced the job on using these and the tremendous progress.
0:17:46 > 0:17:47And when we got up here
0:17:47 > 0:17:51the cost of coal for the steam-driven compressors was enormous
0:17:51 > 0:17:53because you couldn't get the coal to the line.
0:17:53 > 0:17:54You could bring up by ship
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and then it had to come by horse and cart over all this terrible country.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01And we were losing money and the company was going bankrupt.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04And he went to have his teeth drilled in Glasgow
0:18:04 > 0:18:07and the dentist had a water-driven drill.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10So he said, if he can drill my teeth with water
0:18:10 > 0:18:13I can tunnel rock with water.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16And so, they dammed up one of these lochs,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18had a water turbine to produce electricity,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21drove the compressors electrically
0:18:21 > 0:18:25and had a pipeline tapped off for compressed air
0:18:25 > 0:18:27all the way along the line and drilled.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30- It actually worked as well? - Yes, tremendous success.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32So there's a use in going to the dentist after all.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34That's right, sometimes!
0:18:42 > 0:18:45The opening of the line came too late to help many of the inhabitants
0:18:45 > 0:18:48who had already been driven out by the Highland Clearances,
0:18:48 > 0:18:52the idea behind which was that sheep were more important than men.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55When the Crofters Commission reported to the Parliament
0:18:55 > 0:18:56in London 100 years ago,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00they revealed a state of misery and poverty in the West Highlands
0:19:00 > 0:19:03which nowadays we would call Third World conditions.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Even Parliament was stunned into action
0:19:05 > 0:19:08and the Mallaig extension became the first line in Britain
0:19:08 > 0:19:10ever to get government help.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13Not that this was much consolation to the local people
0:19:13 > 0:19:16who had already lived a life of deprivation and suffering.
0:19:26 > 0:19:33# Ah, for the glens are lyin' bare
0:19:33 > 0:19:41# And the wee bit farm deserted... #
0:19:41 > 0:19:43During the Clearances men's homes
0:19:43 > 0:19:47were burnt and pulled down around them to drive them off.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49Many of them had to make new lives,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51knowing they would never see Scotland again.
0:19:51 > 0:19:58# Grows in rows o'er the broken hearted
0:19:59 > 0:20:06# Black is the wood on the roofance was braw
0:20:06 > 0:20:15# But blacker still is your heart, Victoria
0:20:15 > 0:20:22# Sent your men untae our glens
0:20:22 > 0:20:26# You'll need the Good Lord
0:20:26 > 0:20:32# Lookin' o'er ye
0:20:33 > 0:20:40# Many hae gane tae Americay
0:20:40 > 0:20:47# You burnt their hames and garred them wander
0:20:47 > 0:20:54# Gor a' would have stayed wi' the de'il himsel'
0:20:54 > 0:21:05# As bide an hour wi' the cruel Gillanders. #
0:21:08 > 0:21:13MAN: Oh, the railway made an immense difference to this part of the world.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16When it came through here in about 1900,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19it opened up the whole of the countryside
0:21:19 > 0:21:21between Glasgow and Fort William
0:21:21 > 0:21:24and then Fort William to Mallaig.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27And they reckon that the railway made Mallaig.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32And I remember clearly, the fish specials leaving Mallaig
0:21:32 > 0:21:36day and night, seven days a week, Sunday included.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40MILES: It had been a long time
0:21:40 > 0:21:43before they were able to run fish trains on the Sabbath.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Old traditions die hard round here.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49And Ronnie McLellan still combines his job as an engine driver
0:21:49 > 0:21:53with something much more ancient, the art of crofting.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59I inherited the croft in 1954.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01You've been driving on the trains all that time.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Oh, yes. I've been on the trains since 1941.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07- Long before I inherited the croft. - Oh, I see.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10How do you combine the two, isn't it almost impossible?
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Well, I think when you're brought up on a croft
0:22:13 > 0:22:16you find that the croft itself won't keep you.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19It's necessary also to have a good job.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24But I think when you're born on a croft there's some attachment
0:22:24 > 0:22:28which makes you feel as if you've always got to stick by it.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31How serious is the threat to close it down now?
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Oh, I don't think there's any threat at the moment.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38There's been rumours of the railway closing
0:22:38 > 0:22:41for quite a number of years now.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43In fact, about two years ago
0:22:43 > 0:22:47they were considering closing down the depot at Mallaig,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50but it was proved then to the powers that be
0:22:50 > 0:22:52that it wasn't a very wise thing to do,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55so we've still got the depot at Mallaig
0:22:55 > 0:22:59and it looks as if the railway is beginning to pick up.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03We've got a steam train and we've got a few specials.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05There's something about the steam
0:23:05 > 0:23:07that the diesel will never compete with.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10There's a bit of everything about the steam,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13a bit of romance, there's a bit of science.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16What is there about the diesel?
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Oh, the diesel is just a big box.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23A big box and you open the power handle and what more can you do?
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Hope and pray that it goes.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29That's another one ready for market.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36So, when you come home from driving on the railway
0:23:36 > 0:23:38you look forward to getting back to...
0:23:38 > 0:23:39Oh, yes, always have done.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Yes, yes, it's a complete contrast from railway working,
0:23:43 > 0:23:47although I've always been happy on the railway.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Happy in my job.
0:23:49 > 0:23:53It's also a great thing just to forget all about it for a while.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58And go out after the sheep, go to the hills.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00It's a different way of life completely.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13During its 85 years
0:24:13 > 0:24:18the West Highland line to Mallaig has won and lost many battles.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21I think the saddest loss of all was when British Rail decided
0:24:21 > 0:24:24it could no longer compete with the roads for the fish trade.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34SHEEP BLEAT
0:24:34 > 0:24:37It left behind nothing but folk memories of the days
0:24:37 > 0:24:39when driver and fireman used the fire box
0:24:39 > 0:24:41to cook herrings on their shovels.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Or when the rails were so wet from the drips from the fish specials
0:24:56 > 0:24:59that engines could hardly get up the hill out of Mallaig.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05The fish trains finished well before the fish did
0:25:05 > 0:25:07and in the 1970s Mallaig was still catching herring
0:25:07 > 0:25:09as if there was no tomorrow.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Sophisticated echo sounders located the shoals
0:25:18 > 0:25:21and giant nets swept the seas clean.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Then, one year all the herring had gone
0:25:24 > 0:25:26and there was indeed no tomorrow.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34The days when the smoke from 13 kipper factories
0:25:34 > 0:25:38hid Mallaig from the sunlight suddenly seemed very far off.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45The steam special stops in Mallaig for an hour
0:25:45 > 0:25:50and during this hour the station souvenir shop closes for lunch.
0:25:50 > 0:25:51I never found out why,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53unless it was to give the passengers
0:25:53 > 0:25:55the incentive to wander down to the quay
0:25:55 > 0:25:57and see the crayfish being landed.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04"Come to Mallaig and see what the Spanish get for lunch."
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Oh, grand journey, lovely journey. It's lovely.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32It's a pleasure to come up the line when it's nice and dry, you know.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35But I was quite pleased with the run today.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37It's a good engine too.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40It's in good fettle right enough, comes up the hills there no bother.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Now, there is an unspoken fear in Mallaig
0:27:22 > 0:27:26that the crayfish may one day go the same way as the herring did.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34Of course, here they don't eat crayfish, they eat fish and chips.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37And if I were to tell you that these chips have probably come
0:27:37 > 0:27:411,000 miles from the south of Spain, would you believe me?
0:27:41 > 0:27:44Spanish first crop potatoes.
0:27:44 > 0:27:45Makes you think, doesn't it?
0:27:50 > 0:27:54Today the last relic in Mallaig of the great herring days
0:27:54 > 0:27:56is George Lawrie's kipper factory.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Even then the herrings he so carefully splits and smokes
0:27:59 > 0:28:02have to be brought from further down the coast.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05But the ceremony of stacking up the smokehouse,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08laying the fires and then letting the smoke do its work at leisure
0:28:08 > 0:28:12is uncannily like the ritual of firing a railway engine
0:28:12 > 0:28:13and getting up steam.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19Long may they both continue.