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 > 0:00:16More programmes on this theme and other BBC Four collections
0:00:16 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25WHISTLE BLOWS
0:01:18 > 0:01:22When broad gauge engines like this were first built in 1847,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26they were the largest, strongest and fastest in the world.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31The Iron Duke class pulled express trains on the Great Western Railway
0:01:31 > 0:01:35for the next 40 years at an average speed of over 50 miles per hour
0:01:35 > 0:01:37and a maximum of about 80,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40getting from London to Bristol, on a good day, in two and half hours.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44No other railway in the world could boast a mainline schedule like it.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03But the Victorian era is not really the golden age
0:02:03 > 0:02:07for which the GWR is most remembered. After their glittering dawn,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10there were terrible financial difficulties mid-century.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14Many of these were caused by their adherence to the broad gauge line,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17which didn't fit in with anybody else's.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20People's folk memories don't go back to the Iron Dukes,
0:02:20 > 0:02:23they go back to the Edwardian turn of the century days,
0:02:23 > 0:02:25when summers were always hot,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28people always went on their holidays to Devon and Cornwall,
0:02:28 > 0:02:31and the Great Western was the only way to get there.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34Indeed, it was the GWR who dreamt up the phrase, "Cornish Riviera".
0:02:47 > 0:02:49The magic of that steam highway to the west is such
0:02:49 > 0:02:51that people are still celebrating the GWR
0:02:51 > 0:02:5340 years after it ceased trading.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Today, at Bristol Temple Meads station,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00they're preparing a special excursion drawn by two veteran locos,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Hagley Hall and Dryslwyn Castle.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18WHISTLE BLOWS
0:03:20 > 0:03:22The Great Western had a penchant
0:03:22 > 0:03:26for naming its engines after manors, halls and castles in its region
0:03:26 > 0:03:28and people sometimes said that the Great Western,
0:03:28 > 0:03:30aiming at a rich class of passenger,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34might be attracting them by putting their addresses on the engines.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36But the whole point of opening up the west
0:03:36 > 0:03:39was to get everyone down there on their holidays.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42And the GWR pretty soon started looking for a mass market.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49But there was no question of a mass market to begin with.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53The line to London was the brainchild of the wealthy businessmen of Bristol
0:03:53 > 0:03:55and it was for wealthy ladies and gentlemen
0:03:55 > 0:03:57that Bristol Temple Meads station was built
0:03:57 > 0:04:00for passengers who arrived by horse and carriage.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02For those who wanted to take them with them,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04there were wagons you could load your carriage on to.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06The horse you had to leave behind.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12With all that Bristol money, it wasn't surprising
0:04:12 > 0:04:15that Temple Meads station was open and looking like a palace,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18while Paddington was still a series of wooden huts.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20Brunel's old station is still there,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23now being restored to former glory by the Brunel Engineering Trust,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27whose Caroline Parsons let me have a look round.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31- When Brunel built this in...1840? - 1840 it was finished, yes.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34I bet it was the biggest terminus in Britain.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36That's right. Well, I'd imagine so.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39It was certainly the grandest one on the Great Western Railway.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Brunel called the Great Western Railway the finest work in England,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44so it must have been the best in England.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47When the station first opened, the line was only open as far as Bath
0:04:47 > 0:04:51and they were only running about four trains in each direction a day.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55So, it wasn't exactly a great panic to get the timetable together.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57What's so amazing about it, considering that,
0:04:57 > 0:04:58is it's such a grand building.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00He must've been looking to the future.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02They did think big in those days.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Yes, I think Brunel particularly thought big -
0:05:04 > 0:05:07almost anything he did tended to be on a grand scale.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10This big grand open roof here, how was this built?
0:05:10 > 0:05:14A contemporary in the 1840s described this
0:05:14 > 0:05:15as a series of cranes, in fact.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18That's how Brunel managed to get a 72-foot span here.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Very impressive, it was the widest roof in England.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23- Really? - In its day, yes.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26The long roof rafters are like the long arm of a crane
0:05:26 > 0:05:29and the short arm of the crane goes back
0:05:29 > 0:05:32from the line of the pillars to the outside walls
0:05:32 > 0:05:36and is struck down into the masonry which provides the counterweight.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40And so the whole roof is balancing on the cast iron pillars.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43So, it's not through the pressure of meeting in the middle
0:05:43 > 0:05:46that it's being held up. That is very clever. Well done, Brunel.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49He wanted it to look like a Tudor great hall.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Which it still does, actually, it looks grand.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59But what is it that brings everyone out today?
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Is it the music of steam that they remember from their youth,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05as if they were getting out their old 78s?
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Is it the imperial trappings of deep green uniform
0:06:08 > 0:06:10and shiny metal that attracts them,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12like the cavalry riding past on parade?
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Or is it, even, as I think it is in my case,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22the feeling that these old engines
0:06:22 > 0:06:24were great actors in a lost tradition,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27filling the stage with gestures and noise and sound effects,
0:06:27 > 0:06:32making modern diesels look as if they are performing in their sleep.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39WHISTLE BLOWS
0:07:01 > 0:07:04TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:07:29 > 0:07:31The train comes out of Bristol on a peculiar S-bend
0:07:31 > 0:07:34because it's leaving the London Bristol line
0:07:34 > 0:07:37and swinging south onto the old Bristol and Exeter Railway
0:07:37 > 0:07:38which was renowned 100 years ago
0:07:38 > 0:07:41for having the highest fares in the country
0:07:41 > 0:07:43and some of the worst service.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50When it was finally taken over by the GWR in 1876,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54to the hearty relief of everyone, a poet wrote,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58"Here lies from malediction free the niggardly grasping B&E.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00"High fares and bad accommodation
0:08:00 > 0:08:03"Made it renowned throughout the nation."
0:08:03 > 0:08:08At least they had the sense to get the line engineered by Brunel,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11and he laid out a good fast line all the way down to Exeter.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24With a couple of steam engines in fine fettle,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28you can recapture the feeling of the days early this century
0:08:28 > 0:08:31when a fast express to the west was, for most people,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35the ultimate in holiday travel, the package flight of pre-war days,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38flying down to our very own British Riviera.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53The steepest part of the line before Exeter is the Wellington Bank.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57So, this is where most enthusiasts gather with their video cameras.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01Engines make the most steam and smoke going uphill, you see.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03And that always looks best in a home movie.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14WHISTLE BLOWS
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Railway people are still amazingly loyal to the line they grew up with,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41so when we enlisted railway historian Peter Simmons,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44we first had to find out secretly where he started life.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Deep in GWR territory in Cornwall, thank goodness.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53You can't help getting the impression the Great Western Railway
0:09:53 > 0:09:54is different from other railways.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57I grew up by the side of the Great Western so I feel rather pro it,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01but I've met people who feel anti it, as if it was the biggest and best,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04but no-one likes to admit it. Was it like this from the beginning?
0:10:04 > 0:10:07It was certainly one of the biggest in 1923.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11One of the top five when they formed the other four groups -
0:10:11 > 0:10:14LMS, LNER and Southern - and it got nicknamed.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Sometimes it was called the Great Way Round, GWR,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21sometimes it was referred to as God's Wonderful Railway.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25Other times it was Gone With Regret, after nationalisation, of course.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28One thing I know, because you told me,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32is GWR were very good at improving their lines, doing new lines.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34This used to be an old GWR line.
0:10:34 > 0:10:39That's right, this went out of use, oh, nearly 100 years ago,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41because they built a straighter line
0:10:41 > 0:10:46with less bridges, viaducts, but a tunnel about a mile up that way.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50This was part of the job of improving the railway down to Cornwall.
0:10:50 > 0:10:56They cut out the old way round via Bristol in 1906.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59They quadrupled to deal with the summer Saturday services,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02they quadrupled through Taunton in the '30s,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04through Bristol, and many, many improvements.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07This was all to improve the great holiday trade.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10- Yes. - They were serving or creating,
0:11:10 > 0:11:11I still can't make out which one.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Steam trains now look part of the traditional British landscape,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38but many people once found them noisy,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41dirty, nasty and modern, in fact.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Brunel tried to combat this by introducing, beyond Exeter,
0:11:46 > 0:11:52an atmospheric railway which had no locomotives, no noise, no dirt.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56The trains were driven by vacuum created in nearby pumping stations,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59red-roofed cathedrals like this one on the River Exe
0:11:59 > 0:12:02that still casts its shadow over the line.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07People who travelled on it said it was wonderfully smooth and silent
0:12:07 > 0:12:09at over 60 miles per hour.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Without modern technology and materials, however,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17even Brunel couldn't keep it working properly
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and they abandoned the dream railway before it fell to bits,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23with half a million pounds of investment lost in the sand.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Beyond Exeter, the line down to Plymouth
0:12:28 > 0:12:32was the old South Devon Railway, though again laid out by Brunel.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38WHISTLE BLOWS
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Round the corner, the line runs for nearly five miles alongside the sea.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12As near to the water as it can get without getting its feet wet.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Indeed, in Victorian times, when carriages were less waterproof,
0:13:16 > 0:13:20waves often came over the sea wall and into the coaches,
0:13:20 > 0:13:22and it was quite common for passengers
0:13:22 > 0:13:25to have to stand on the seats just to keep dry.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39This steam special was due to finish in Plymouth
0:13:39 > 0:13:41where the South Devon Railway was also forced to finish,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and for a very good reason. Its way beyond Plymouth at Saltash
0:13:45 > 0:13:49was blocked by an enormous obstacle, the River Tamar.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52I met up with Peter Simmons again down at the water's edge,
0:13:52 > 0:13:54waiting for another steam special.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56As we waited, I asked him about the problems
0:13:56 > 0:14:00of trying to join Cornwall to Paddington Station.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05We've come to the edge of Devon as the railways had done by 1840,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09and then they found this great watery mass barring their path to Cornwall.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11So, what do they do?
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Well, it was quite a problem because the river is wide, it's deep,
0:14:14 > 0:14:1780 feet, 90 feet in the centre,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20and the Admiralty insisted on having 100 feet height here
0:14:20 > 0:14:22to let their sailing ships get past.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24- Because of the huge masts? - The huge masts.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26There were already railways down in Cornwall,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28but they wanted to link those railways
0:14:28 > 0:14:30with the rest of the English railways.
0:14:32 > 0:14:33And who did they send for?
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Brunel. He was the engineer for the Cornwall Railway
0:14:36 > 0:14:39as he had been for the South Devon Railway
0:14:39 > 0:14:42and the other associated companies of the Great Western.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45What was the exact system he used to build the bridge,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48because it does look a strange shape?
0:14:48 > 0:14:53It is. He built a smaller version of this principle before at Chepstow,
0:14:53 > 0:14:54which is no longer with us,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57but this was much the biggest version of it
0:14:57 > 0:15:01and he had a combination of an arch and a suspension bridge.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04The arch tubes, those big ones on the top there,
0:15:04 > 0:15:09they're thrusting outwards because of the weight on them.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13And you normally need to have strong abutments to take that.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16The suspension bridge, as you can see on the road bridge behind,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20the cables are anchored in the land and they are pulling in.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22So, he combined them all up there
0:15:22 > 0:15:28and in this end where you see his name, IK Brunel, engineer, 1859,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30the chains and the arch come together
0:15:30 > 0:15:33and all the forces in and out disappear.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35So it's a self-contained unit
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and you could put it anywhere and support it on a pier?
0:15:38 > 0:15:41That's right, the problem is, it's 100 feet up in the air
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and you can't lift it up there.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Well, they were built out here,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54just where we're standing on the bank here,
0:15:54 > 0:15:59floated out, and they had 500 sailors from the naval dockyard
0:15:59 > 0:16:02and they walked this thing out, they floated it first of all,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06took it out across the river, the Cornish one that was put up first,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09it was floated out there and landed.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14It took about...from floating here to getting it landed on the piers
0:16:14 > 0:16:16was about two hours.
0:16:16 > 0:16:2040,000 people on these hills around were watching it
0:16:20 > 0:16:22and somebody - an entrepreneur -
0:16:22 > 0:16:25charged some of them 5p, a shilling in old money,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28for a grandstand view, just to watch.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41When they got them out there, they weren't that height, were they?
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Oh, no, they were just above water level,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46right at the bottom of those stone piers there.
0:16:46 > 0:16:52They then had 18 months or more to jack them up with hydraulic jacks.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54They weigh 1,000 tonnes, remember.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59Jack them up little by little, put new masonry in to support them
0:16:59 > 0:17:02while they repositioned the jacks and carry on again.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05- A very, very slow job. - An agonisingly slow business.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08It was. I think if the same construction were adopted nowadays,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10they'd have to do it the same way,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13which is perhaps why this bridge has never been duplicated.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16It's a slow construction job.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24The whole of the way down to Cornwall was eventually,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27in this century, turned into a double track.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30But not this bridge, the single line tablets,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33they used to pick up a staff at this end
0:17:33 > 0:17:34and give it up at the other.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37It was sort of like getting a passport to go into Cornwall.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40They must have wanted to open up Cornwall sooner or later.
0:17:40 > 0:17:45Yes, it was a very important link in the Cornwall story,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49the economic story, particularly after the through trains to London.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52The new seven hour service started in 1904,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54which eventually became the Cornish Riviera.
0:17:54 > 0:17:59That boosted traffic in one year at Penzance by 67%.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Really? And was it mostly holiday traffic?
0:18:02 > 0:18:04It must have been, yes. This was the time the Great Western
0:18:04 > 0:18:06was pushing the Cornish Riviera,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09see your own country first and that sort of thing.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12They could see a tremendous potential there.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18The initial impact on Cornwall was to help its fishing and farming.
0:18:18 > 0:18:19For the first time ever,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22they could get Cornish fish to Billingsgate within 24 hours.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25But getting holiday-makers down to Cornwall proved more important.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29The GWR developed a knack for advertising and merchandising.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33In 1904, they even produced their very own cinema commercial.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Nothing much seems to have changed in the holiday scene -
0:19:19 > 0:19:21visitors mucking around on the beach,
0:19:21 > 0:19:26the local fishermen staring at the visiting grockles,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30and the seagulls waiting for the fishermen to do some work.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Someone might even go for a swim, if the right machinery can be found.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53There was one other way of getting to the West Country -
0:19:53 > 0:19:55by ocean liner from America.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58The railways cottoned on to the fact that
0:19:58 > 0:20:00if they landed passengers at Plymouth,
0:20:00 > 0:20:01they could get them up to London
0:20:01 > 0:20:04far quicker than if they chugged up through the channel,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08even quicker, of course, if you were going to the Midlands or the North.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14"Land at Plymouth and save a day," they said. And people did,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17even though they had to get a special tender from ship to shore.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31It's odd to think these people were paying extra
0:20:31 > 0:20:33to get off their ship early.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Nowadays, they'd be paying more for one extra day on their cruise liner.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53The big boats have all gone now,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55but it is still possible to go to the West Country
0:20:55 > 0:20:57and get a mini-luxury cruise
0:20:57 > 0:21:00if you are prepared to save up the necessary 90p
0:21:00 > 0:21:04and face 200 yards of the mighty River Dart.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08I'm going across the water from Dartmouth to Kings Weir,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11the difference is, Kings Weir was in touch with London.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13This was the end of the line from London.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16People poured down here because this was, not the poor man's Italy,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19in fact it was the rich man's Italy. It was the Italian part of England,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22and to this very day you can still go from here right up to,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26well, actually, only to Paignton, but the same feeling is still here,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29going over the water to get the train to go somewhere.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Of course, the Great Western were not trying to satisfy some want
0:21:34 > 0:21:37on the part of Londoners to get to Kings Weir,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40they were trying to create that want, and then fulfil it.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Torbay was really made by the Great Western
0:21:42 > 0:21:45like many other places in the west and elsewhere.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47And, like any good manufacturer,
0:21:47 > 0:21:50the Great Western pushed their product for all they were worth.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Along the line from Kings Weir is Goodrington Sands,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41one of the last places left where you can still descend
0:22:41 > 0:22:44straight from a steam train onto the beach,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47as the GWR decreed that mankind should.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55In 1929, the Great Western published a book by SPB Mais
0:22:55 > 0:22:59called Glorious Devon, in which, right from page one,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03the author was at pains to point out that rain in Italy is quite common
0:23:03 > 0:23:06and sunshine in Devon very common indeed.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08"Sometimes there is more likelihood of sun in Torquay
0:23:08 > 0:23:10"than there is in Genoa," he said.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16What the author doesn't mention is the peculiar capacity
0:23:16 > 0:23:18of the British just to ignore the weather.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21They will enjoy themselves on the beach in temperatures which,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24at home, would put them in the pub or in front of the telly.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28Who else would hire windshields, and then call them sun traps?
0:23:28 > 0:23:30Who else would bring with them enough furniture,
0:23:30 > 0:23:32floor coverings and mod cons
0:23:32 > 0:23:36to turn their small part of the beach into a well-equipped living room?
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Oh, who'd want to be in Genoa when you could be at Goodrington Sands?
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Perhaps it's not just that the British ignore the weather,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49they can actually persuade themselves it's twice as warm as it is
0:23:49 > 0:23:51and eat ice cream when they really need
0:23:51 > 0:23:54a St Bernard dog to bring them brandy.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56ENGINE ROARS
0:24:41 > 0:24:43Are you especially a steam enthusiast or...?
0:24:43 > 0:24:46No, train enthusiast generally, rail enthusiast.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48And that's why you're here today, is it?
0:24:48 > 0:24:51- Yeah. - I heard you were scouting really.
0:24:51 > 0:24:52No!
0:24:52 > 0:24:54He refused to come to scout camp with me
0:24:54 > 0:24:56unless I took him on the train.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02Are you scouting for the trains or...? I don't understand this.
0:25:02 > 0:25:06From the scout camp we go out and do different places
0:25:06 > 0:25:09and this is a nice day out for everybody, really.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35This preserved steam railway from Paignton to Kings Weir
0:25:35 > 0:25:38is one of the last relics of the steam holiday kingdom
0:25:38 > 0:25:39of the Great Western Railway.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Within these seven miles there are enough viaducts and valleys,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57woods and hills, seaside scenes and river estuaries
0:25:57 > 0:26:00to make it seem a microcosm of the old Great Western
0:26:00 > 0:26:03and like the old Great Western in its golden days,
0:26:03 > 0:26:05it actually makes a profit as well.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36How stiff a climb is this then?
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Not too bad, it's about 1 in 60 on average both ways.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42ENGINE DROWNS DRIVER OUT
0:26:44 > 0:26:47Do you get much trouble with the wheels slipping?
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Sometimes. In conditions like today with a heavier train, yes.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Just light drizzle, which makes the track slippy.
0:26:54 > 0:26:55What do you have to do then?
0:26:57 > 0:26:59Do you use the sand much?
0:26:59 > 0:27:02We have got sands, but they're not all that effective, really.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06Just be more careful and drive according to the conditions.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14How do you take driving the same line
0:27:14 > 0:27:16backwards and forwards all the time? Don't you get tired of it?
0:27:16 > 0:27:19It's the same journey, but every trip is different.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22There's something different about it - conditions on the engine,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26conditions on the train, weather conditions, speed.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30There's always something different.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Although it's the same job, it's continuously different.
0:27:36 > 0:27:37Seems pretty busy now.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42Well, yes, there's a lot more passengers than ever used it before.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Steam is the attraction.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48And we provide a better service than BR did in those days anyway.
0:27:48 > 0:27:53Torbay being a leisure area, it's all in the right place.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16So, in this corner of Devon remains
0:28:16 > 0:28:19a small piece of the golden age of steam,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22a holiday scene preserved in sun tan oil and engine grease.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24Odd to think that the Great Western
0:28:24 > 0:28:27created the idea of holidays in the West Country.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Now it's the holiday people who are keeping alive
0:28:30 > 0:28:33this memory of the Great Western Railway as once it was.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43WHISTLE BLOWS