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.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01These people have travelled here overnight
0:01:01 > 0:01:03from all parts of the country.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07They've booked their special 75 shilling tickets weeks in advance.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Some haven't been able to sleep for the excitement of this 12-hour,
0:01:10 > 0:01:15460-mile return journey from Paddington to Birkenhead,
0:01:15 > 0:01:19because on Western Region, this has been billed as the last day of steam
0:01:19 > 0:01:21and there'll now be no excuse
0:01:21 > 0:01:25for forgetting the glory that was once the GWR.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29No retired prima donna ever took a curtain call like this.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44That particular prima donna was being seen off in the 1960s
0:01:44 > 0:01:47and commentators at the time were somewhat sneery
0:01:47 > 0:01:50about the train buffs, the railway enthusiasts,
0:01:50 > 0:01:55the spotters who wished to witness and mourn the passing of an age.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Don't you like to do anything else but the railways?
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Yeah, there is girls and...
0:02:00 > 0:02:04horses and, yeah, there's other things, but steam engines are nice.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06You feel you have to have a steam engine, you know.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08You've got to have one every now and again.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11All these chaps say the same - they've got to have a steam engine.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13You might be able to go a fortnight without a steam engine
0:02:13 > 0:02:15and then you've got to go and find one somewhere.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18But why can't you do all this with a diesel engine?
0:02:18 > 0:02:19Why couldn't you clean a diesel?
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Well, there's no... I mean, there's no noises.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26That thing's got a voice up the front, there.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29It's making a noise, it's speaking. It's a terrific noise it makes.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31It just makes lovely noises.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34When it's raising steam, 90 tons of it, raising steam,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37it sings like a kettle and it's terrific, a lovely thing.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42The end of the age of steam? Well, not quite.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45In June 1965, Clun Castle was the last steam engine
0:02:45 > 0:02:48to haul a passenger train out of Paddington.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50In November, Clun Castle was back again
0:02:50 > 0:02:53to haul another last train out of Paddington.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Last weekend, she hauled two more last trains and now,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00the railway enthusiasts are preparing for the next last train.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03But now, British Rail's patience has been exhausted.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07From next year, they say there'll be no more steam trains anywhere.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Then, it seems, we'll be in for a train drain.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14The villain, with that familiar and reminiscent moustache,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16was, of course, Dr Beeching,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19who got rid of a third of the network and hastened the end of steam.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22So far as he and British Rail were concerned,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26the last, last, LAST steam train
0:03:26 > 0:03:30ran August 11th 1968 with tickets at 15 guineas apiece.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49In the ten years up to 1968,
0:03:49 > 0:03:55a total of 16,000 steam locomotives were withdrawn from active service -
0:03:55 > 0:03:58with almost all of them ending at the knacker's
0:03:58 > 0:03:59like any other kind of scrap.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12A very few went to museums or enthusiasts,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14but it was a great time for scrap.
0:04:14 > 0:04:22In 1963 alone, 500 locomotives, 4,000 coaches, 130,000 wagons
0:04:22 > 0:04:25and 250,000 tons of rail were smashed, broken
0:04:25 > 0:04:30and cut up into little pieces, ready for making into something else...
0:04:32 > 0:04:35..such as diesels and electrics.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39They were cleaner, easier, cheaper, simpler, but somewhat boring.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Like certain caterpillars and worms,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44both ends even looked very much the same.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47And most of us began to forget the snags of steam,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49such as getting red hot cinders in your eye,
0:04:49 > 0:04:55and started to think wistfully of old days when coal and steam were king.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59But the old days still lived, after a fashion.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01One scrap merchant at Barry in South Wales
0:05:01 > 0:05:06had kept over 200 engines in case his men ever grew short of work.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Wagons were easier to break up
0:05:08 > 0:05:11and the locos could bide their time and rust.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13From Dai Woodham's point of view,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17it was good to be at the receiving end of scrap from British Rail.
0:05:17 > 0:05:24The government announced that there was to be a £250 million programme
0:05:24 > 0:05:26to modernise British Rail.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32I thought, "Well, that's a gravy train.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34"I'm going to get on it one way or another."
0:05:34 > 0:05:41Anyway, I was accepted as a man who's allowed to tender
0:05:41 > 0:05:45and we've never stopped since as far as railway works are concerned -
0:05:45 > 0:05:48rolling stock, engines, railway lines, so forth.
0:05:49 > 0:05:56And we have been breaking up British Railways now for nearly 35 years.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02It took really 140 years to build British Railways
0:06:02 > 0:06:06and we'll have literally scrapped it in 30, 30 to 40 years.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Word got around about Dai Woodham's scrap yard
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and his 200 engines became a place of pilgrimage.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17Not so much for youngsters, who see everywhere as a potential playground,
0:06:17 > 0:06:21but for adults, who in the end bought every single one,
0:06:21 > 0:06:23whatever its condition.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27If you look at some of the engines which have left Barry in the past
0:06:27 > 0:06:31and are now in full steam, it's a fantastic performance.
0:06:31 > 0:06:37This particular example, which is pretty rough,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41but I forecast that
0:06:41 > 0:06:43when the preservationists have finished with it,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47she'll be like the day she was built.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49Magic. Pure magic.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54In 1966, sold for scrap to Dai Woodham and waiting for the end
0:06:54 > 0:06:59was the express engine Port Line, of the Merchant Navy class.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Instead, and 16 years later, the rusting machinery
0:07:04 > 0:07:09was brought by a group intent upon recreating this piece of the past.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Such enthusiasm was plainly abnormal
0:07:11 > 0:07:16and promptly earned stern questioning from a visiting journalist.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Why do you think people are prepared to put in time,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22effort and spend money to restore an old hulk like this?
0:07:22 > 0:07:23It's a funny thing.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27I suppose you could say it's a peculiar British disease,
0:07:27 > 0:07:29steam railway enthusiasm.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34It attracts an awful lot of people and we've put a lot of time in,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36and we've got an awful lot of time to put in
0:07:36 > 0:07:39over the next five or seven years,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41depending on the sort of support we can get.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45But she'll run again and she'll run very fast.
0:07:46 > 0:07:52Initially, and with a police escort, £6,500 worth of engine,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55weighing some 90 tons, ran very slowly.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59But number 35027 was on its way.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08And where to, but a field close by the old railway workshops at Swindon.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12This place used to employ 14,000 people
0:08:12 > 0:08:15and was the largest such establishment anywhere in Europe.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17In the old days it could and did
0:08:17 > 0:08:20make and repair engines in a most routine fashion
0:08:20 > 0:08:22but, following the railway closures,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26most of the workshops went as well, including the famous A shed,
0:08:26 > 0:08:29where all the Great Western engines had been made.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33Once again, it was a great time to be in scrap.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43But a few people were determined to keep a part of Swindon works alive.
0:08:43 > 0:08:44The new owners, Tarmac Ltd,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48agreed to the creation of a steam repair centre here.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Its first visitor was Port Line and by early 1988,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55like any phoenix in the midst of all this carnage,
0:08:55 > 0:09:01number 35027 was in steam again, five years after restoration had begun
0:09:01 > 0:09:03and after £100,000 had been spent.
0:09:05 > 0:09:06The amount of work had been prodigious
0:09:06 > 0:09:09but when Port Line stood again,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11more or less complete, it was a great occasion.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14On every side was destruction and disrepair
0:09:14 > 0:09:18but the thought of a piece of resurrection among so much havoc
0:09:18 > 0:09:20was great joy to all concerned -
0:09:20 > 0:09:23notably for Bill Trite, founder of the restoration team.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30Well, I think our secret was that we had the right mixture of people.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33It was partly by chance and partly by design.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36But it's been necessary to get a group together
0:09:36 > 0:09:40who are competent mechanically and in engineering terms.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45Also financially, administratively
0:09:45 > 0:09:48and for matters of promotion
0:09:48 > 0:09:53and I think it's fair to say, there's been a dash of vision
0:09:53 > 0:09:56and unremitting determination to succeed
0:09:56 > 0:10:00and all these various diverse factors have come together
0:10:00 > 0:10:03and this is the result.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Britain IS a curious country, its paid workers so frequently complain,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11but volunteers like Willie Bath will work in all weathers,
0:10:11 > 0:10:12whatever the job.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14He was in charge of the restoration.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19From organising various different components to go on it,
0:10:19 > 0:10:21you read through the drawings, you ask people,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23you look at photographs to see what's missing.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25It comes as a great shock sometimes when you look round it
0:10:25 > 0:10:28and think, "God, I didn't know it had one of those!"
0:10:28 > 0:10:30You've got to go out and suddenly get a picture or a drawing of it.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33That won't suffice, of course, if you're not machined up.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36If it needs to be cast, you've got to make a pattern for it.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39You think maybe you can find if somebody else has one,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42if it's already been dealt with - that's all very rewarding,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45but at the same time, it can be very, very dismal.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49We've been out in snow drifts, we've been out in the pouring rain,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51we've been covered from head to foot in filth
0:10:51 > 0:10:53trying to brighten the thing up.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56We've worked for five years without any mains electricity
0:10:56 > 0:10:58and without any mains water.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00We've recently, thanks to the good offices of Tarmac,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02got a cover over our head.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Until then, I mean it's been purgatory.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07I mean, if you want to boil a cup of tea,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10you've got to switch all the electric tools off to get the kettle going.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11It's not all honey and pie.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14There are days when you just really wish that
0:11:14 > 0:11:16you could go and do something else.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19You can't wait for the pub to open some nights, it's that bad.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29The engine does have to be inspected thoroughly at every degree.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31The boiler inspector,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34he has to check that the gauges that you have are correct.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38So, he has a master gauge which he will put on to check that
0:11:38 > 0:11:41your gauge is not reading wildly inaccurately
0:11:41 > 0:11:43to give some dangerous problem
0:11:43 > 0:11:48because the truth is, we are all just but enthusiastic amateurs.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52You know you've done everything right - you've asked enough people,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56they've told you exactly what to do and they've been doing it for years,
0:11:56 > 0:11:57and you've done it and you've done it
0:11:57 > 0:12:00and they've looked at it and they've checked it -
0:12:00 > 0:12:04and then it moves and you think, "Oh, well, we knew it would."
0:12:08 > 0:12:11So, Port Line moves and had been inspected.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Moving up and down a short length of track,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18however exciting at the time, can suddenly seem most unsatisfactory.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21So where is a longer length of track,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25and where better than the Bluebell Railway in Sussex?
0:12:25 > 0:12:26Its five miles of isolated line
0:12:26 > 0:12:30form the first length of standard gauge to be saved.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Not only were the rails preserved,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37but everything possible to give visitors a flavour of the old days.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39And the place has also been a boon for filmmakers
0:12:39 > 0:12:44whenever the script calls for a steam train to be part of the action.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Steam trains are no longer part of normal experience
0:13:01 > 0:13:05and young engine drivers of today can wonder where all the soot comes from,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09even if they don't care how they get rid of it.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13But the latest attraction is Port Line, in steam once more
0:13:13 > 0:13:18with the experts assessing the chances of a trouble-free run
0:13:18 > 0:13:20and the restorers also anxious.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22It has kept me awake a lot at nights,
0:13:22 > 0:13:26to make sure that the thing's ready and that it's done right.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29I mean, it's a huge great big thing.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32I mean, it's a really powerful machine.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33You've got to make sure it's right
0:13:33 > 0:13:36and we've brought it to the Bluebell here
0:13:36 > 0:13:40for them to check over with us as well and make sure that it is right.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42I spent about 70 hours a week on her
0:13:42 > 0:13:47in January, February, March and April, seven days a week almost
0:13:47 > 0:13:52and I don't know - I mean, there was such an intensity in that.
0:13:52 > 0:13:53It was, in fact, good fun -
0:13:53 > 0:13:57very tired, straight to bed, straight up, straight to work.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59It just went on and on and on.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14It's been such a transformation from its original state,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17that you look forward to being able to do another one,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20because you've been through it all, you know how to get round the jobs,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23you know the problems you're going to encounter.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25You know the people to talk to about it,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29you know the places to get the equipment.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31The second one has always got to be the easier one, really,
0:14:31 > 0:14:34and I look forward to getting on with it.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36ENGINE WHISTLES
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Be all that as it may, it must be more fun with the finished product
0:14:41 > 0:14:46and marvelling yet again at the power and glory of steam.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13And remembering that this huge machine
0:15:13 > 0:15:16had just been rusting away as scrap.
0:15:18 > 0:15:19But for Willie Bath,
0:15:19 > 0:15:24the engine is far more than fire and water and steel.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26It's a time machine.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28It recaptures the only time in your life where you are, I think,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31old enough to perceive what's going on around you
0:15:31 > 0:15:33but you haven't got to worry about it.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36You don't know whether your parents can pay their mortgage or rates
0:15:36 > 0:15:38because they don't bother to tell you
0:15:38 > 0:15:40because you're not old enough to understand.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43All you know is your beans and toast are on the table at six o'clock.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46I mean, you just sit there, haven't got a care in the world.
0:15:46 > 0:15:5213 years old, what do you know? What do you know is going to happen?
0:15:52 > 0:15:53It's wonderful, those days.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03Bringing back an express engine is one undoubted achievement,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05but the enthusiasm of the restorers doesn't stop there.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Why not bring back an entire railway, as in Derbyshire?
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Buxton, in the Peak District, is still a part of British Rail
0:16:13 > 0:16:17but it's also the starting point of a scheme to reconstruct
0:16:17 > 0:16:21miles of scrapped mainline with track, signal boxes, trains, the lot.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26And one of its creators is Martin Ashworth.
0:16:26 > 0:16:27It's a tremendous challenge.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29I think it's part of the British character, really,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32that the bigger the challenge, more people like to rise to it.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35A lot of preserved railways have taken over redundant lines
0:16:35 > 0:16:36where the track's already been there,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39the buildings were there. This is even worse than that.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42We've everything to start from, absolutely everything, rock bottom
0:16:42 > 0:16:44apart from the actual track bed, which is still there.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46It's a tremendous challenge, really,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and as you overcome each stage it's very, very satisfying.
0:16:49 > 0:16:50It's taken us 12 years just
0:16:50 > 0:16:52to persuade the planners that we're serious
0:16:52 > 0:16:55But we refuse to go away, we've come back fighting each time
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and now, they accept that we are serious.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00They've looked at what we've done here, we can run trains,
0:17:00 > 0:17:04we can restore carriages and wagons, locomotives to full working order,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08we can operate, we can lay track and do building work and, you know,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12I'm sure we've now convinced the authorities that we are serious.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16So even that, overcoming sort of, not a prejudice, if you like,
0:17:16 > 0:17:20but official sort of scepticism of a group of amateurs
0:17:20 > 0:17:22taking on something of this size,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25overcoming even that problem is rewarding in itself.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28But then to go on and overcome all the practical problems,
0:17:28 > 0:17:30getting an engine out of a scrap yard,
0:17:30 > 0:17:31restoring it to full working order,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34restoring an old carriage, vintage carriage or whatever
0:17:34 > 0:17:37to working order for the public, laying the track,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40seeing an old track bed reinstated as a proper working railway again,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42reinstating an old signal box -
0:17:42 > 0:17:46this one here behind us, we had to remove from Wirksworth in pieces,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48bring it up here, and rebuild it.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51We found the frame materials at another site, we've rebuilt those.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54So, bringing all the pieces together and recreating days gone by, really,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56so it's very satisfying.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00The engine number, 1823,
0:18:00 > 0:18:06and the year it was born. 1924 is the year that this engine was built.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09In a sense, the derided steam buffs have come into their own
0:18:09 > 0:18:12for they're now educational, promoting our heritage,
0:18:12 > 0:18:16assisting tourism, creating jobs,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20benefiting all down the line - their line.
0:18:20 > 0:18:21One more.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24'Well, really, I think showing children round is probably
0:18:24 > 0:18:27'one of the most satisfying of all the jobs we do up here
0:18:27 > 0:18:29'because a lot of them haven't seen or been on a train.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31'It's surprising, really -
0:18:31 > 0:18:34'even a diesel haul train, let alone a steam haul train.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36'It's a completely new experience for them.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38'They get a great thrill out of it.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42'In turn, their enthusiasm for it, for something so new as this,
0:18:42 > 0:18:43'comes over to yourself.'
0:18:43 > 0:18:46And on its way through, it warms the water,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48boils the water to make steam.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50'I think recently it has to be said
0:18:50 > 0:18:53'that with Thomas The Tank Engine being revitalised on the television,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55'this has brought steam engines
0:18:55 > 0:18:58'to the attention of a whole new generation of children.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02'You need only put a little face on the front of one of the steam engines
0:19:02 > 0:19:04'and immediately it becomes Thomas.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07'But you never tire of it, really,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10'because of course, this is our hobby, it's our enthusiasm.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11'We like to put over to other people
0:19:11 > 0:19:13'and hope that it sort of rubs off on then,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16'that perhaps some of them will join us and become future volunteers. '
0:19:16 > 0:19:19ENGINE WHISTLES
0:19:30 > 0:19:32This site is more or less complete now.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35There's a couple of years' work, but it's more or less complete.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37It is at least functioning as a steam centre,
0:19:37 > 0:19:38we're at least able to give rides.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40But what we'd very much like to do now is get out,
0:19:40 > 0:19:44down the track bed, and get some serious track laying done.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46What the conservers wish to do
0:19:46 > 0:19:50is to make use of British Rail's first five miles out of Buxton
0:19:50 > 0:19:54and then lay 16 miles of line on an old track bed
0:19:54 > 0:19:58and finally meet up with British Rail again at Matlock.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Currently, those five miles out of Buxton are used for quarry traffic.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07The quarry traffic will continue
0:20:07 > 0:20:10and the conservers may find it necessary
0:20:10 > 0:20:14to lay their own length of track alongside the existing line.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Working south from Buxton, the line goes parallel to the A6 road,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20in what is basically a gorge.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23The railway moves from one side of the gorge to the other.
0:20:23 > 0:20:24It crosses the river several times.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27It's on an embankment one minute, through a tunnel the next.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30It's very, very inspiring scenery down there.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33The British Railway line turns off up through Great Rocks Dale.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37Our line diverges there and goes down through Miller's Dale,
0:20:37 > 0:20:39again a lovely part of the world.
0:20:39 > 0:20:40It's a very deep river valley there,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44the viaducts there are very, very tall, very impressive structures.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49The remaining part of the track bed, 16 miles or so, is derelict now.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52The track's all gone. But luckily, it's not overgrown.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55A lot of it has been retained as a bridle path,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58a walkway for hikers for the summer months.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00So the track bed is still clear
0:21:00 > 0:21:04and we feel we can reinstate the line down there quite easily.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09My own favourite spot, I think, is the Millers Dale area, really.
0:21:09 > 0:21:10I like the stretch in particular
0:21:10 > 0:21:13between Blackwell Mill and Millers Dale.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15There's about two miles there
0:21:15 > 0:21:18and it's very, very nice there with the deep limestone gorge, very nice.
0:21:20 > 0:21:21Then on down through Monsal Dale,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23there's quite a nice famous view of Monsal Dale -
0:21:23 > 0:21:27probably the classic view, really, of the Peak Line, I would have said.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Then on down through Bakewell, Longstone, Hassop
0:21:30 > 0:21:33and then eventually, of course, on to Matlock.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38At Matlock, the restored line will meet up again with British Rail.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41And it's near Matlock, with pick and shovel as in the old days,
0:21:41 > 0:21:47that the restorers are making a start in creating the old line once again.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51The navvies of the 1980s are learning what it was like
0:21:51 > 0:21:55to make a railway when human muscles did virtually all the work -
0:21:55 > 0:21:57and nothing has got any lighter!
0:22:01 > 0:22:03OK, a touch more, Andy.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05There's an old saying on the railways that the lightest thing
0:22:05 > 0:22:08was the pay packet and it's a fact that everything you touch
0:22:08 > 0:22:12on a standard-gauge railway scheme is heavy.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17Laying track, each 60 foot length of track weighs a ton.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20So it needs quite a lot of you to get round
0:22:20 > 0:22:23using rail tongs to actually put the piece of rail in position.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26It's all heavy work, there's no two ways about it,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28so we certainly can understand how the old navvies used to be.
0:22:32 > 0:22:33I suppose we have one up on them
0:22:33 > 0:22:38in the sense that they have provided the railway line itself for us.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40All we are doing now is putting the track back,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42we're replacing walls, ballasting, this sort of thing,
0:22:42 > 0:22:43which is quite small beer
0:22:43 > 0:22:46compared to what they had to put up with 100-odd years ago.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49They had to hew the whole railway out of solid rock.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53If somebody works in an office during the week,
0:22:53 > 0:22:56they might like to get out on the track laying gang at the weekends,
0:22:56 > 0:22:59which gives them a release from their normal day-to-day work.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01And vice versa, somebody who's doing a manual job
0:23:01 > 0:23:04may care to take on some of the commercial work, this sort of thing.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07We provide a vast variety of tasks and interests
0:23:07 > 0:23:09within the railway itself.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17It will undoubtedly be a formidable labour
0:23:17 > 0:23:22but up at Bo'ness, by the Firth of Forth, they have already done it.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24The Scottish Railway Preservation Society
0:23:24 > 0:23:28moved in on a piece of wasteland and turned it into a railway system,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31a living museum, a showpiece of the days of steam -
0:23:31 > 0:23:36entirely to the liking of a volunteer driver such as John Burnley,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39one of the new-style museum attendants.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43ENGINE WHISTLES
0:23:43 > 0:23:45Whether an express train or a goods engine,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47the appeal of steam is much the same.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50It's a very basic kind of machine.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53There's nothing subtle about a steam engine.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57You take these basic elemental forces like fire and a bit of water
0:23:57 > 0:23:58and make it into steam.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01There's nothing like the feeling of power you get.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03I remember the first time I stood in a steam engine
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and the driver opened the throttle and it moved,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08and there's nothing like it. It's magnificent.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13In the early '60s,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17when the modernisation programme was happening very quickly
0:24:17 > 0:24:20and steam was being eclipsed very quickly all over Britain,
0:24:20 > 0:24:21not just Scotland,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25there were growing lines of scrap or to-be-scrapped steam engines
0:24:25 > 0:24:27standing in sidings up and down the country.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30I would loved to have had my own steam engine.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33And in fact, you could buy one in those days.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35£500 would have bought you a steam engine.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39So it's all my father's fault, because he wouldn't spend the money!
0:24:39 > 0:24:41It wasn't just fathers who wouldn't spend the money.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43If anything was to be kept,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46it usually went ever so cheaply into an ordinary museum.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50But a few escaped this net and went on running.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52I remember there were four of them
0:24:52 > 0:24:54which were restored by BR in 1958 and '59
0:24:54 > 0:24:58and which were used in enthusiasts' specials all over Scottish Region
0:24:58 > 0:25:02and I remember all of these engines at one time or another,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05either by travelling behind them or by watching them.
0:25:05 > 0:25:06It was a splendid sight.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Nothing quite equalled these things in the original company colours.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12The colours shine more brightly in a museum,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15but a silent Glen Douglas somehow isn't right.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17I remember the Glen especially,
0:25:17 > 0:25:19because that was one that I managed to get a footplate ride on.
0:25:19 > 0:25:24We'd been to St Andrew's and we came back to Perth
0:25:24 > 0:25:27and I talked to the footplate inspector at Perth.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30I was still very young - I must have been 14 something like it -
0:25:30 > 0:25:33and he let me travel in the engine after Perth,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37sat up on the high seat on the fireman's side of the Glen
0:25:37 > 0:25:38and kept out of the way.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41It was a splendid experience, something you can't forget.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43There were two tunnels up there
0:25:43 > 0:25:45and they were no more straight than the rest of that railway
0:25:45 > 0:25:47and we went battering up through there,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50steam and smoke billowing through the cabin
0:25:50 > 0:25:53and the fire's glow reflecting off it, and there's nothing like it.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57You can't forget. I wouldn't have been any place else on earth.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06It's difficult to recognise it as the same engine.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Sitting in the museum, it's accessible, people can see it,
0:26:09 > 0:26:10it's well looked after.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13You can't criticise what's happened to it
0:26:13 > 0:26:16but at the same time, it lacks something.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18It's not quite a live steam engine.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Such as number 673, Maude,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28pulling and puffing and belching with its vintage train.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Wasteland has become a vintage railway line
0:27:03 > 0:27:08and what used to be is living now so that this is history today.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Bo'ness railway station looks 100% Victorian
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and IS 100% Victorian in that every part of it was made then,
0:27:15 > 0:27:17even if the different parts
0:27:17 > 0:27:20are to be brought to this one site from all over Scotland
0:27:20 > 0:27:24to make one complete piece of Victoriana.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32So what is it that we are doing with all this preservation?
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Do we love half living in different ages than our own?
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Are we becoming a nation of museum keepers,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41hating to throw anything away?
0:27:41 > 0:27:45And if we have thrown it away, we seem to love bringing it back again.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Steam can be called noisy, smoky, dirty,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04back breaking, difficult, costly, archaic
0:28:04 > 0:28:08but for lots of people, it has a sort of magic.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12And currently, those who favour the magic are preserving,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14conserving, restoring as hard as they can go.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19It's full steam ahead, just as it used to be.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47ENGINE WHISTLES