0:00:02 > 0:00:03BBC Four Collections -
0:00:03 > 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 > 0:00:14More programmes on this theme
0:00:14 > 0:00:16and other BBC Four Collections
0:00:16 > 0:00:18are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:00:55 > 0:00:5720 years after the end of steam?
0:00:57 > 0:00:59For the trains maybe,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03but steam still powers almost all our electricity.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07However many desktop computers we have, or pop-up toasters,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09videos or electric carvers,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13there's still the old business of boiling water to make steam.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15It may look quite fancy these days
0:01:15 > 0:01:19but, in essence, someone is heating a kettle, to make the steam,
0:01:19 > 0:01:22to drive the turbines, to create the electricity,
0:01:22 > 0:01:24to pop up the toast each morning.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28The kettles are also fancy,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31but any old-time steam engineer would soon know what's going on,
0:01:31 > 0:01:35even if he might then wonder where the old flat hat has gone.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39But here at Castle Donington he would feel more at home outside.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49At this power station they can still use steam -
0:01:49 > 0:01:51not just to generate electricity,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54but like they always did, to bring coal to the furnaces.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07And the man in charge of this particular fragment of history
0:02:07 > 0:02:09is Lionel Gadsby.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11I think we are the last.
0:02:11 > 0:02:15I think, as regards electricity, we are the last.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20The very last to use steam to bring the coal to make steam.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Working conditions, actually, is, er...
0:02:28 > 0:02:30up to the neck in filth.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36Coal dust, all elements, bad weather, draught, rain.
0:02:36 > 0:02:41Where in a diesel cab, it's like being in a car.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44But it's a living machine.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48You can do anything with it,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51and it's always there when you need the power.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56The power is unlimited.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59You've got so much power on a diesel,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02and when you've used it you're finished.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06But with a steam engine, if you break down or anything,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09and you think it's not too serious, you can always get home with it.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16This 040 is one of a pair built in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1954
0:03:16 > 0:03:20for the express purpose of taking coal from the main line
0:03:20 > 0:03:22to the place where it was needed.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25And steam used to do this sort of job all over the country,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28such as taking the coal and the ore to the furnaces
0:03:28 > 0:03:30that would manufacture steel.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44One way and another, heavy industry created heavy loads
0:03:44 > 0:03:46and the need to move considerable tonnages
0:03:46 > 0:03:49to everywhere that needed them.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53All along the line were steam engines doing the bulk of all that work
0:03:53 > 0:03:55but being rarely photographed at the time.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04It wasn't just pushing or pulling -
0:04:04 > 0:04:07sometimes the locos had to lift and lower.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16They were jacks of all trades, busily getting on with whatever was needed
0:04:16 > 0:04:21and running on their own sets of rails away from the fast main lines.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24No-one could ever have known the total mileage of all these
0:04:24 > 0:04:28lesser tracks, whether at the factories or the docks.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32They were always being amended, taken up or laid down elsewhere,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34as new walls or warehouses were built.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38The only certainty being a mishmash of such lines,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42of junctions and terminals, to make a criss-cross web
0:04:42 > 0:04:45on which industry could thrive most energetically.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Industry is not only in the towns.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59In East Anglia, steam was used
0:04:59 > 0:05:01to take the sugar beet from field to factory
0:05:01 > 0:05:05with special spark catchers on the funnels to lessen the chance
0:05:05 > 0:05:08of setting fire to neighbouring crops, hedges and the like,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11as the trains puffed through the English countryside.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19To think of trains is to think, probably, of the main lines,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23but there were these hundreds of lesser lines, privately owned,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26privately operated, and tucked away from general interest by,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30for example, the train enthusiasts, who could scarcely see
0:05:30 > 0:05:35let alone know about, these myriad bits and pieces of the railway age,
0:05:35 > 0:05:38no less important, in their way, than the major lines.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46But the conservationists have now, as it were,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50looked over the walls to see the privacy and have, for example,
0:05:50 > 0:05:54made a narrow gauge museum at the old chalk pits by Amberley in Sussex.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Because of the romanticism of the mainline railways,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01very few other people are taking much notice of industrial railways.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04If they're preserving anything at all,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08it's using ex-industrial equipment just to carry passengers.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11At Chalk Pits here,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15we are preserving the whole concept of industrial railways.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20For those who think that railways began with Stevenson's Rocket
0:06:20 > 0:06:23running from Stockton to Darlington,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27David Smith is happy to enlighten them.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Back in Roman times, their paved roadways had formed a network
0:06:30 > 0:06:33all over Europe and in England.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Their wheels would have worn ruts in the surface,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41which was found to be quite a useful feature
0:06:41 > 0:06:43because it probably eased the friction of it,
0:06:43 > 0:06:45certainly provided guidance,
0:06:45 > 0:06:51and they were probably the very first crude railways anywhere in the world.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55There was a Roman rutway at Blackstone Edge
0:06:55 > 0:06:58on the Pennines, near Manchester,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02which is a good example of a rutted Roman pavement,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05and perhaps, in one sense, was probably the earliest railway
0:07:05 > 0:07:09in the country, although accidental rather than deliberate.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15The first deliberate railway would probably have been somewhere
0:07:15 > 0:07:20in the middle ages, probably in a mine in what's now Germany,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23where wooden rails would have been laid
0:07:23 > 0:07:26and guide wheels would have guided the little tubs
0:07:26 > 0:07:31that men would have pushed, probably crouching to get in the mines,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35and that system would have developed over the years.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39A couple of rails is such a good idea that it was bound to catch on
0:07:39 > 0:07:43wherever there was rough ground and the need to shift a heavy load.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51But, of course, only above ground could steam come into its own
0:07:51 > 0:07:55as the universal workhorse of the Industrial revolution.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58And once that horse had been tamed there was little need
0:07:58 > 0:08:00to change its basic qualities.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05But World War I, 70 years ago, had different needs
0:08:05 > 0:08:08and hastened modern times, with David Smith equally intrigued
0:08:08 > 0:08:11by this further piece of history.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Industrial railways were very much influenced by the First World War.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18The need to develop reliable petrol engines for lorries
0:08:18 > 0:08:23and transport in the First World War resulted in the railway systems.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27It was necessary to develop petrol engines, partly because of the danger
0:08:27 > 0:08:30of sparks from steam locos igniting ammunition,
0:08:30 > 0:08:35and partly because transport right up to the front was done at night,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38and sparks from steam engines would have been highly visible.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45There would have been industrial railways in virtually
0:08:45 > 0:08:50any sort of industry, ranging from breweries, sewage works,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54water works, virtually any sort of extraction industry.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56The coalmining industry was probably
0:08:56 > 0:08:58one of the biggest users in this country.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06But, whether for coal or sewage or whatever,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09the industrial locomotives were as varied
0:09:09 > 0:09:11as the tasks they had to perform.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16This Rapier 80 is a particularly treasured museum piece,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19as only a few were built and it's still going strong.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24So, too, this veteran of a Bedfordshire brickworks,
0:09:24 > 0:09:25now taking people for a ride.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32And if the rails ran over peat bogs,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34the engine had to be as light as possible.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44But there's no power quite like steam
0:09:44 > 0:09:48as it oozes, splutters, smells, and generally draws the crowds.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53Locomotives are a very obvious thing to collect,
0:09:53 > 0:09:55particularly steam engines.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59But very few people collect the wagons that go with them.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02I think it's probably true to say that at Chalk Pits we have
0:10:02 > 0:10:05the most comprehensive collection of wagons,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and we certainly place wagons on almost equal footing
0:10:08 > 0:10:11with the locomotives for collection and restoration.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18This truck once took slate quarry workers at Penrhyn in North Wales.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36But nothing - absolutely nothing - is quite the same as steam.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Here we have a relic from the Guinness brewery, in Dublin,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53almost a part of Irish folk mythology,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55and certainly one of the tallest tales
0:10:55 > 0:10:57in the narrow gauge railway history.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00The brewery was an 18th-century development -
0:11:00 > 0:11:03obviously without railways - and in the confined space
0:11:03 > 0:11:05they needed to lay 1ft 10in tramway track.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Their chief engineer, Samuel Geoghegan, developed this
0:11:08 > 0:11:12system in the 1880s with these little coal-fired steam shunting engines
0:11:12 > 0:11:14which ran around the brewery complex,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17shifting materials from one part of the brewery to another.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20The problem arose where the 1ft 10in brewery tramway system
0:11:20 > 0:11:25joined the 5ft 3in gauge Irish railway system.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Geoghegan's design involved hoisting the little steam haulage engines
0:11:30 > 0:11:33with a massive hydraulic ram and this gantry
0:11:33 > 0:11:36into the haulage truck, over here.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41The little 1ft 10in gauge steam shunting engine
0:11:41 > 0:11:44was hydraulically lowered into the haulage truck.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46The rollers, in turn, drove the larger wheels
0:11:46 > 0:11:49of the 5ft 3in gauge haulage truck.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51The little engine was secured in place
0:11:51 > 0:11:52by a wooden wedge at each corner,
0:11:52 > 0:11:57and thus was created a unique dual gauge steam shunting engine.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03At the Chalk Pits Museum in Sussex,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07they try to show what everything used to be like pre-forklift,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10pre-conveyor belt, pre-most of today's machinery,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13when the main lifting device was generally
0:12:13 > 0:12:16the human arm supported by the human backbone.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20These particular humans are volunteers who, in their turn,
0:12:20 > 0:12:23are now the backbone of the restoration industry.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31Seeing it all working now, as good as new,
0:12:31 > 0:12:36can make one forget the awesome labour involved in such restoration.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40The Peldon, confidently pulling its old-style trucks
0:12:40 > 0:12:42along an appropriately old-style track,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45made quite a different picture ten years ago.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52And this was a French built locomotive,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54waiting for destruction after an accident,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58before the restorers turned it into this locomotive,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02spick and span and a joy both for the visitors to the museum
0:13:02 > 0:13:06and for all those who laboured so intently to turn scrap metal
0:13:06 > 0:13:09into the machine it used to be a living machine again,
0:13:09 > 0:13:13breathing smoke from its fire and releasing steam so merrily.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21When I first came across it, it looked as if it was going to
0:13:21 > 0:13:24get dismantled to provide parts for several other engines.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29However, I made approaches to them and was lucky, and we agreed a deal,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33and in late '81 we brought this over to Amberley here
0:13:33 > 0:13:38with a view to full restoration to working order if it was feasible.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41So we stripped it completely to the last nut, bolt, rivet
0:13:41 > 0:13:42and goodness knows what else,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and gradually, over a period of six years,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49it all came together fully restored into the shape it is now.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52The restoration of it meant everything to me.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55It was an enormous challenge to take something that was this far gone
0:13:55 > 0:13:57and bring it back into working order,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00and the first time you ever steam, it is,
0:14:00 > 0:14:01oh, absolute heaven.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15A definite heaven for one definite individual was in photographing
0:14:15 > 0:14:18the little railways when they were in business.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Ivor Peters wished to record as much as possible
0:14:21 > 0:14:23while it was still possible.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Ivor Peters was one of the few people who filmed
0:14:29 > 0:14:32extensively on industrial railways.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36One of the railways and locomotives Ivor filmed was Scaldwell.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41We now have the locomotive Scaldwell from that system here.
0:14:43 > 0:14:44It's an 060 saddle tank,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48which means it's got six driving wheels, the water is carried
0:14:48 > 0:14:53in a tank which forms a saddle that goes over the top of the boiler.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56It was built by Peckett & Company in Bristol,
0:14:56 > 0:15:01who were one of the major builders of industrial engines in this country.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Ivor Peters certainly recorded many of the iron ore trains
0:15:05 > 0:15:09in the days when almost all our iron was extracted
0:15:09 > 0:15:12from our own land, rather than imported.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16It was a colossal industry, with thousands of miles of track
0:15:16 > 0:15:19and the subject of an early documentary.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21'Beneath the surface of the countryside,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24'there are a million tonnes of iron ore,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26'yet few people know anything about it.'
0:15:26 > 0:15:28ORCHESTRAL MUSIC
0:15:28 > 0:15:32'The ironstone-bearing strata extends from the Tees to Weymouth,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35from the Cleveland area to Scunthorpe and Grantham,
0:15:35 > 0:15:37'in the Corby area and in Oxfordshire.'
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Well, most iron ore workings here came to an end,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56along with that kind of music,
0:15:56 > 0:16:00when richer ores were discovered in other parts of the world.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04And, suddenly, the industry here became a matter more for history
0:16:04 > 0:16:07and archaeology as the ironstone workings disappeared.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11The level of that garden dropping down to the level of this
0:16:11 > 0:16:14field indicates how the ironstone was taken out.
0:16:14 > 0:16:21The ironstone was loaded by excavator into eight-ton tipping wagons,
0:16:21 > 0:16:25which were hauled up to the site by the steam locomotives
0:16:25 > 0:16:27that were operating at that time.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30They were four wheelers and continued in operation
0:16:30 > 0:16:34until the early 1960s, when they were replaced by diesel locomotives.
0:16:35 > 0:16:41They were hauled down this track, which runs back another mile
0:16:41 > 0:16:44to the headquarters of the company, where the crushing plant was,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46and there it was crushed.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50The stone was weighed and crushed to a maximum of about four inches,
0:16:50 > 0:16:52suitable for use in the blast furnaces.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57We regretted seeing the end of the steam locomotives, of course,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59but the diesels were more economic,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02so it had to be goodbye to the steam loco system.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07So, what had been - and such a short time ago -
0:17:07 > 0:17:09became a matter for investigation.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Where were the old workings, and what signs still exist of their activity,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17such as a single water tower still standing guard over the area?
0:17:17 > 0:17:21It's a bit like looking at Hadrian's Wall and trying to understand
0:17:21 > 0:17:24who did what and where, and what all the buildings were for.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27But, fortunately, unlike that Roman wall,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29there are some who still remember the old days.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Here there was the fitting shops, the local sheds,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37the carpenter's shop, the stores, and the place was a hive of activity.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43All day long, there would be trains going backwards and forwards,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47trains going up to the headquarters to the crushing plant,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51and loaded trains coming down to join the sidings,
0:17:51 > 0:17:56and then on to the main line of British railways.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59The diesels were, of course, more economic to run,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02but of course the steam locomotives were things
0:18:02 > 0:18:05that are attached to the heart of pretty well everybody.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07Everybody likes to see a steam locomotive these days
0:18:07 > 0:18:09because it's a novelty.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11It became an everyday thing in those days, of course,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14but people did take a pride in them,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16probably more so than in the diesels.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21To make things harder for the archaeologists,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25considerable effort is made these days to cover up the past,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28to reclaim this old marshalling yard near Banbury,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and part of it has even been made into a nature reserve,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33although Bill Norman can still see where he worked.
0:18:35 > 0:18:36This was the end of our site,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39the joining of the Great Western Railway there.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42But there were eight tracks of sidings here in which
0:18:42 > 0:18:46the empty wagons were brought in and the loaded wagons came down
0:18:46 > 0:18:51full of ironstone, brought down here, marshalled into the appropriate
0:18:51 > 0:18:55tracks for going to whatever destination they had been loaded for.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03So, we who come along today have to look at the fragmentary remains
0:19:03 > 0:19:07and then use our imagination to picture the ironstone industry
0:19:07 > 0:19:09in full swing, with steam also in full swing
0:19:09 > 0:19:11and doing the bulk of the work.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15But times have changed.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18That building in the background is now the home of a tyre business
0:19:18 > 0:19:20at Colsterworth in Lincolnshire.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24Picturing the past from the present is a task for Gordon Kobish
0:19:24 > 0:19:27of the Rutland Railway Museum, who interviews old hands.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32So the trains would come along here, over the weighbridge,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36and then back to join the main line up there.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39How many trains came into the yard every day?
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Sometimes 150 a shift.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45- 150 trains? - No, wagons.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48- 150 wagons? - About eight at a time,
0:19:48 > 0:19:52or over on the other side they used to run 12 at one time.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Then what would happen?
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Well, from the weighbridge here,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01the rope runner, as he was called -
0:20:01 > 0:20:05that was the driver's mate -
0:20:05 > 0:20:10he would get the labels from the weighman,
0:20:10 > 0:20:11they would be made out,
0:20:11 > 0:20:17put the number of the wagon on to the label and go down each side
0:20:17 > 0:20:19of the wagons putting the labels in
0:20:19 > 0:20:23for dispatch to where they were going.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Where did the stone go to, in the main?
0:20:25 > 0:20:29- Well, mostly to Scunthorpe. - Stone from here went to Scunthorpe.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31- All of it? - All of it.
0:20:31 > 0:20:32- To the steelworks there? - Yes.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37The importance of the whole area in the past,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40when it came to ironstone quarrying,
0:20:40 > 0:20:45is something that you really cannot appreciate
0:20:45 > 0:20:49unless you are prepared to wander around and delve into the past.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53If you look around the locality,
0:20:53 > 0:20:59you will see a lot of remains from the quarrying activity.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02There isn't the industrial desolation,
0:21:02 > 0:21:06such as one associates with coal mining.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11But, nevertheless, the old railway track bed
0:21:11 > 0:21:14alongside a field, the bridge abutments,
0:21:14 > 0:21:19and the occasional deep hole which is the remains of the quarry itself,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22are things that you can see very clearly.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28If you consider that, 30 years ago,
0:21:28 > 0:21:35something like 80 to 90% of the ironstone that was used
0:21:35 > 0:21:39in the steelworks of this country came from this Midlands area,
0:21:39 > 0:21:45and the little steam trains that used to chuff around the countryside,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47this is the aspect of railway preservation
0:21:47 > 0:21:49that we're trying to perpetuate.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53What they're trying to do at Rutland, and elsewhere,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55is not only to collect the information,
0:21:55 > 0:21:57but the trains and the rolling stock that go with it.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Such trains do look a bit strange and old-fashioned,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08and even a touch like toys,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10but in their day, like the horse and cart,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14they were the most efficient answer to the problem,
0:22:14 > 0:22:15to countless problems.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18They beavered away, often on narrow gauge track,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21in innumerable places where rails on rough ground formed
0:22:21 > 0:22:24the best answer to moving heavy loads.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28And, so say some, a more sensible answer than moving
0:22:28 > 0:22:32so much by road, with people and freight all muddled up together
0:22:32 > 0:22:34on the same frightening highway.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39They could also look and sound very well.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12Whatever they were moving, and wherever,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15the old industrial trains had a style to them which
0:23:15 > 0:23:19the juggernaut in front of you on the roads just doesn't seem to possess.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23They kept out of harm's way, out of our way,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26and are now a piece of history worthy of our care.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32Many railway preservation societies strive to recreate
0:23:32 > 0:23:37the glamour of the crack express trains
0:23:37 > 0:23:41and the glorious days of the wayside station,
0:23:41 > 0:23:46but very few societies actually try to show the days
0:23:46 > 0:23:49when all freight was moved by rail.
0:23:49 > 0:23:55It's difficult to imagine today, in the era of mass road transport,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58just how much freight was actually moved by rail.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08But, as with much of the past, we like to have a look.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13It doesn't seem to matter whether it was 121 AD or, say, 1956 -
0:24:13 > 0:24:16we do like to see what our fathers and forefathers
0:24:16 > 0:24:18got up to in their day.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26And we thereby get a chance to imagine what it was really like,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30as at the Corby Steelworks, with acres of rolling stock,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33with steam trains delivering and taking away,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36with the whole panoply of heavy industry at work.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39Of course, a museum can never be this big,
0:24:39 > 0:24:43but the crucial portions can be kept, the representative pieces,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47and this aspect of our history can be fully documented.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52A man who has spent 50 years collecting industrial information
0:24:52 > 0:24:54is Eric Tonks.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56He not only knows as much as anyone,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01but appreciates the limitations in this aspect of our national heritage.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08You can't reproduce a works system here.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12They've gone, you can't put the whole railway system back.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17But you can keep workable units - the locomotives and wagons -
0:25:17 > 0:25:22and then seeing those you can then relate it
0:25:22 > 0:25:24to what went on in industry in the past.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32You can read about them in books, you can see pictures of them.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36People read a bit and say, "This is an interesting-looking machine."
0:25:36 > 0:25:40But if they can go and inspect it, climb on the footplate
0:25:40 > 0:25:41have a ride behind it,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44at least they can appreciate more fully what it did.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49So, what on earth will these children's children
0:25:49 > 0:25:51wish to see preserved?
0:25:51 > 0:25:55A traffic jam on the M1? An airport's crowded terminal?
0:25:55 > 0:25:56Or even more trains,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00which do seem to hold a special place in all our memories?
0:26:00 > 0:26:02WHISTLE
0:26:10 > 0:26:13They are never going to be a commercial operation,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16like some of the main preserved railways are,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20but they're doing a very important job, and something
0:26:20 > 0:26:24which is not being done elsewhere to any great extent.
0:26:27 > 0:26:32The industrial railways were a good idea, but were a bit inflexible.
0:26:32 > 0:26:34Like the poem about trams,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37they were "creatures that moved in pre-destined grooves",
0:26:37 > 0:26:41and they have yielded all along the line to other forms of transport.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44But perhaps, what with the Channel Tunnel
0:26:44 > 0:26:47and with our road system becoming more clogged seemingly every day,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50they will make some kind of comeback.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Not everything from the past was such a bad idea.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09Preserving some sight on film is one form of conservation,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12but does something have to have disappeared, or almost so,
0:27:12 > 0:27:14before we wish to preserve it?
0:27:16 > 0:27:19So, what price our pylons, which will surely go one day?
0:27:19 > 0:27:22And our coal tips, and the sights of today
0:27:22 > 0:27:24which we all take for granted?
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Such as the current crop of power stations and their cooling towers,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31disseminating heat into an overheating world.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Or can only the future decide what it wants to keep
0:27:37 > 0:27:41from all the past, such as today's form of industrial railway?