0:00:03 > 0:00:08I've not got one of these in my garden. I've always wanted one.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11I've always been interested in locomotives,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15but they had more humble beginnings than this one.
0:00:43 > 0:00:49It were a slight detour on my way home from school
0:00:49 > 0:00:53to go to the engine sheds on Crescent Road.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56The vision never really left me.
0:00:56 > 0:01:04Row upon row of steam locomotives all getting steam up, and nearly dark in winter.
0:01:04 > 0:01:11All the smoke and the windows seemed to be yellow in't corners in all the little offices.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16And that wonderful smell, you know. Fog, coal and black oil everywhere.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21It were quite... To me, it were quite romantic.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30Like all little boys' dreams, I wanted to be an engine driver.
0:01:30 > 0:01:38On me way to school, we actually got as close to the railway as what these pictures are.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42It always seemed quite exciting and romantic.
0:01:46 > 0:01:53All me relations worked on the railway - engine drivers and signal men.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58Some did the telegraph poles - maybe that's why I can climb!
0:01:58 > 0:02:02To find out all about the railways and their history,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04this is the place to head for.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07The National Railway Museum in York
0:02:07 > 0:02:11has the world's greatest collection of locomotives,
0:02:11 > 0:02:15from the latest diesel and electric machinery,
0:02:15 > 0:02:17way back to Stephenson's Rocket.
0:02:17 > 0:02:23The original's inside the museum and there's a working replica too.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26They're going to let me have a go!
0:02:26 > 0:02:28I'm really looking forward to this.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33- Now, Dave. How you doing, mate? - Welcome to the museum.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38- I'm really looking forward to this. - Aye. Let's get this under way.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42We need to get some water in as it's getting low.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45- No injector?- No, it wasn't invented.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48- No brakes.- No whistle, even!
0:02:48 > 0:02:53- We'll blow this horn.- The audible sounding device of our approach?
0:02:53 > 0:02:56The audible means of approach, as they say!
0:03:00 > 0:03:03- We're off, Fred. Good 'un.- We are.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08This was the prototype for the steam locomotive as we know it.
0:03:08 > 0:03:15Rocket was designed and built by Robert Stephenson at his works in Newcastle.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19It was a breakthrough in locomotive design.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH
0:03:40 > 0:03:43For 25 years prior to the Rocket,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48engineers had tried to design an engine to pull wagons along a track.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53Richard Trevithick built the first one in 1804,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57but in the early ones, performance was limited by the design,
0:03:57 > 0:04:01which was basically that of a mobile beam engine.
0:04:01 > 0:04:08Rocket increased the power and speed of the engine, relative to its weight.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12It was built to compete in the Rainhill Trials,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16set up to decide what motive power should be used
0:04:16 > 0:04:20for a new railway between Liverpool and Manchester.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25Three other engines entered, but Rocket outperformed them all.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28I used to dream about this thing.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31I used to do drawings of it when I were a lad.
0:04:31 > 0:04:38On the old Trinity Street Station, there used to be a model of it in a glass case.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42- You'd put a penny in and it went! - I'll show you it.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46We've got it in the workshop!
0:04:46 > 0:04:48No vacuum brakes!
0:04:55 > 0:04:59Did you like that? Better than knocking chimneys down!
0:04:59 > 0:05:01There's one you can't knock down!
0:05:01 > 0:05:04I'll come and paint it for you.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10But it was Robert Stephenson's father, George,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14who is credited as being the father of the railways.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17He was a mining engineer.
0:05:17 > 0:05:23It was in the coal fields of the north-east that railways really began to operate.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Originally, railways were an industrial transport system.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32Bowes Railway Centre is near the south bank of the River Tyne.
0:05:32 > 0:05:39Here, you can see one of Stephenson's early efforts to use steam power to transport coal.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43But his engine on this railway didn't go anywhere.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48From the top of the hill, it pulled wagons of coal with a rope.
0:05:52 > 0:05:59Here we are, on top of a big hill between Sunderland and Gateshead-on-Tyne,
0:05:59 > 0:06:04in an engine house that's got a bloody great winch in it.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09A wire goes down the hill and down the other side to God knows where.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13This is Alan who actually operates the winch.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18How many tons of coal did they let down in't olden days?
0:06:18 > 0:06:24- Going that way, about 12 trucks with about ten tons.- Bloomin' 'eck.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28Coming up the other way, there's six trucks.
0:06:28 > 0:06:35Bowes Railway is claimed to be the world's only preserved standard gauge rope-hauled railway.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40Stephenson's original engine has been replaced by an electric engine,
0:06:40 > 0:06:47but the mechanics of the operation are still as they were when Stephenson designed it.
0:06:47 > 0:06:54- The trouble is, it's not a steady gradient all the way down. It varies.- Yeah.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Of course, with this handbrake,
0:06:57 > 0:07:02you apply it, and about three days later...
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Try again.
0:07:06 > 0:07:12- Yes!- That's it.- Keep going till it won't go any further. That's the ticket.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16- Super.- Right.- We're in gear.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37Passenger railways weren't long in coming
0:07:37 > 0:07:43and it was George Stephenson who was the engineer for the first ones.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46This is where it all started.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50This is North Road Station in Darlington,
0:07:50 > 0:07:54the original route of the Stockton to Darlington Railway.
0:07:57 > 0:08:04In 1825, George Stephenson came steaming through here, driving this thing,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07pulling the first passenger train.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12This is one of the world's first successful locomotives.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16It's rather a ponderous piece of tattle.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19The guy who drove it sat on this buffet.
0:08:19 > 0:08:25He'd alternate between sitting down and playing with these two handles,
0:08:25 > 0:08:30which, of course, altered the valve timing of the thing.
0:08:30 > 0:08:36To me, it looks more complicated than a modern locomotive.
0:08:36 > 0:08:42Basically, it's just a twin cylinder beam engine and a boiler.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47From Darlington, I went to Shildon
0:08:47 > 0:08:53which played an important part in the early history of the railways.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58This is a very historic spot in the history of the railways of England.
0:08:58 > 0:09:05This is Shildon in County Durham where the Stockton to Darlington line once ran.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10It didn't really run from Stockton to Darlington -
0:09:10 > 0:09:15it started at some coal mines about two miles down the road.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21It ran to Stockton, down to the sea, where coal was loaded onto ships.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Timothy Hackworth, the superintendent engineer of the line,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29lived in a cottage over there.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32These buildings were his workshops,
0:09:32 > 0:09:37where he built new locomotives and did major repairs on existing ones.
0:09:37 > 0:09:45Timothy Hackworth was also the builder of another engine that competed in the Rainhill Trials.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57Ever since I was a little lad, I've called this the Sasperella engine.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01I know it's French, but I can't really pronounce it right.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06Perhaps Alan can tell me what it's really called.
0:10:06 > 0:10:13- She's really called Sans Pareil which means without parallel or without equal.- Oh!
0:10:13 > 0:10:18Timothy was taught French at an early age by his mother,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22although he couldn't remember where he knew French from,
0:10:22 > 0:10:27hence a lot of his locomotives had strange names compared to today.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32When I was small, I read that there was a bit of industrial espionage.
0:10:32 > 0:10:37Mr Stephenson was responsible for casting the cylinders,
0:10:37 > 0:10:42and the core moved a bit and when they bored them out,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46they were thin on one side and thick on the other.
0:10:46 > 0:10:53Initially at Rainhill, it did well, and then BANG! - it blew the side off the cylinder.
0:10:53 > 0:11:00It should have been one and three quarter inches thick, it was actually five eighths of an inch.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05So, during the trials under a real load, unfortunately it went.
0:11:05 > 0:11:12Hackworth's supporters were up in arms against the Stephenson supporters, saying espionage.
0:11:12 > 0:11:18As Hackworth had 24 of these cast, and selected two, I don't think so.
0:11:18 > 0:11:25Hackworth is definitely an unsung hero in the development of the railways.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30In many ways, he's known around the globe more than in this country.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35- This is something else - it's a biggun' isn't it?- Superb engine.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38We've just finished conserving her.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Here's something that may surprise you.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46This wheel is inside the blue spot on the £5 note.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48Timothy Hackworth's plug wheel.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50I never knew that about £5 notes.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55That's a wheel that was on nearly all these locomotives.
0:11:55 > 0:12:03George Stephenson actually credited Hackworth with re-inventing the wheel. This is how he did it.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07He cast the inside and it was fitted onto the axle.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09Then the outside was also cast.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13The two parts were joined with these wooden pegs.
0:12:13 > 0:12:20Then at the four points - north, south, east and west - he put these bolts in.
0:12:20 > 0:12:27- That would stop it flying off.- You trued it up, as with bicycle spokes.
0:12:27 > 0:12:32At a time when 60% of the workforce is building and fixing wheels,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35with this wheel, that fell to 20%.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40By the 1830s, the locomotive had the basic shape
0:12:40 > 0:12:44that we are now familiar with.
0:12:44 > 0:12:49Different locos were designed for passenger trains and goods.
0:12:49 > 0:12:54Passenger locos had large driving wheels so they could run fast.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59This is my favourite locomotive.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Patrick Stirling's single wheeler.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05The one I dream about.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10They're going to let me climb on board and fiddle with the controls!
0:13:11 > 0:13:15It must have been fantastic to do 70 miles an hour
0:13:15 > 0:13:20on a cold winter's night, with a full moon out.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24It's quite simple - almost like a big traction engine.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29Air-conditioning - windows! Not that you need it in this cab.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33It mustn't have been so bad going forwards,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37but going backwards would have been uncomfortable.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39It's still me favourite engine.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44The railways brought about a transport revolution.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48People could travel around in safety, in large numbers,
0:13:48 > 0:13:53much more quickly than they could by stagecoach.
0:13:53 > 0:14:00By the 1890s, branch lines were being built into some of the most remote parts of the country.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05When I was at Killhope lead mines in the north Pennines,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07I visited South Tynedale railway.
0:14:07 > 0:14:13It follows the route of the old Haltwhistle to Alston branch line.
0:14:13 > 0:14:20It was built when there was still a lot of lead mining activity in these remote parts.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22TRAIN BLOWS WHISTLE
0:14:27 > 0:14:30That's fine. Excellent.
0:14:30 > 0:14:37The trains here are all hauled by restored steam and diesel engines from Britain and abroad.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42Like most preservation society lines, it's run by volunteers.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47There's a lot of hard work involved, but it's enjoyable.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50That's it! Just a little bit.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52That's it. You're in.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Steam locomotives were built to last.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01There were some 19th century locos that I ran when I was a lad.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04This is one of them.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09All small boys call someone their uncle, who isn't really their uncle.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11I had one when I were a little lad.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17He drove an old Aspinall locomotive like that on the marshalling yards,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20in Bolton, near Trinity Street station.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25On Saturday mornings, I used to ride with him. It were wonderful.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29As you can see, it's got hardly any cab at all.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34When it rained, they hooked a sheet on the cab, down to the tender.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37It were lovely and snug and warm.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40I used to drink out of his brew can.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44One day he disappeared. I suppose he died.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49The engine disappeared. In fact, only one of these engines survived.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53That's it over there. It's a beautiful engine.
0:15:53 > 0:16:00As speeds increased and train loads grew heavier, locomotives grew in size.
0:16:00 > 0:16:06In the 1920s, the Great Western Railway locos were amongst the most advanced.
0:16:06 > 0:16:13By the 1930s, famous streamlined locomotives like Mallard were built.
0:16:13 > 0:16:20The Coronation Class was one of the most powerful express passenger locomotives in Britain.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22I remember these quite vividly.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27It were exciting when a streamlined one came past Bolton.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30Early after the war, I never saw many,
0:16:30 > 0:16:35but later, I think they came round our way more.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37That were quite a thing to remember.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46TRAIN BLOWS WHISTLE
0:16:46 > 0:16:51But the excitement of steam was soon to go.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53It was replaced by this.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58In 1955, the first diesel locomotive, Deltic, was built.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03It signalled the end of the line for the steam locomotive.
0:17:06 > 0:17:13In the '60s, these lovely engines started to rust away in scrap yards.
0:17:25 > 0:17:31There were too many people who loved the romance of the steam loco
0:17:31 > 0:17:33to let it disappear completely.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37The Railway Preservation Movement was born.
0:17:37 > 0:17:44Middleton Railway in Leeds was the first UK standard gauge railway to be run by volunteers.
0:17:44 > 0:17:50It was the world's first railway established by an act of Parliament.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53This was in 1758.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58The Middleton Railway Trust has a big collection of industrial locos.
0:17:58 > 0:18:05They run on a track that follows the original route of a horse-drawn wagon-way,
0:18:05 > 0:18:10built to carry coal from collieries south of Leeds to the city centre.
0:18:14 > 0:18:19The great growth of railway preservation movements
0:18:19 > 0:18:24means that the engineering skills needed to keep these locos running
0:18:24 > 0:18:27have not disappeared completely.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32One of the main centres for work on steam locomotives today,
0:18:32 > 0:18:37is here, at the Birmingham Railway Centre.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44- Hello, Fred.- Hello.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49- How many of them have you got to pull out?- 107.- Bloomin' 'eck!
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Dave's busy cutting them out.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56- These are the super heater tubes, aren't they?- That's right.
0:18:56 > 0:19:04- The super heaters go up inside. - Even more tubes go down the middle of them.- That's right.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10The workshops are full of locos that are being repaired and renovated,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13including some very famous ones.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16Bob here is in charge of the works.
0:19:16 > 0:19:22Bloomin' 'eck - it looks like you've got a tall order on here.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24What are you about with this one?
0:19:24 > 0:19:28This one is Princess Elizabeth.
0:19:28 > 0:19:34The most famous loco that London, Midland and Scottish Railway possessed before the war.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37It's obvious who it was named after.
0:19:37 > 0:19:44I remember it many years ago, in the days when train spotting was a popular hobby.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49This was one of the regular locos which went through here - 46201.
0:19:52 > 0:20:00One of the engines they've restored here is the Great Western loco Rood Ashton Hall.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02What a magnificent job they've done.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05- Alistair! How you doing?- All right.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10I believe you've done a great deal of the restoration on this thing.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14- A bit of it, yeah. - Yeah. All this pipe-work!
0:20:14 > 0:20:19Were all these lovely fittings still here? Some look new.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23The gauge glass and gauge frame are original.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27So is the regulator stuffing box.
0:20:27 > 0:20:32But the manifold, the brake valves and the lubricators are new.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37- Somewhere round there, in't it? - Yeah, that'll do.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41- Right.- You've got 25 inches on the gauge.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44- So, the brakes are off now?- Yeah.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48- Is the tender brake off? - The handbrake's off.- Right.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52- Away we go.- Give a whistle. - Oh, yeah!
0:21:11 > 0:21:16- Can I notch it up a bit? - Yeah, bring it back to 45%.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22- Somewhere round there, in't it? - That's it, just there.
0:21:27 > 0:21:32We're all right. That's it - where it says "stop", in't it?
0:21:35 > 0:21:40In the middle of the night, you'd hear this steam whistle howling,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42and main line locomotive would come.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It would pass by this narrow entry
0:21:45 > 0:21:50between Uncle Fred's temperance bar and the local barbers.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52They'd have the fire door open.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58The driver was silhouetted against the light coming from the cab.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02It must have been, to me as a small boy,
0:22:02 > 0:22:07an unbelievably exciting thing to do - being an engine driver.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13I like big engines, but I've seen some great little trains too.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18The Ffestiniog railway runs from the sea at Porthmadog
0:22:18 > 0:22:21to the slate quarries at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Most of the early railways were built around mines of some sort.
0:22:26 > 0:22:33Here in Snowdonia, they took the slate down to the sea by pack horse,
0:22:33 > 0:22:38until the 1830s, when they built a railway to Porthmadog.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43As railways developed, narrow gauge lines were constructed
0:22:43 > 0:22:48where the landscape made standard gauge impossible.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53Ffestiniog railway is one of the typical slate quarry lines in Wales.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56It was first worked by horse power,
0:22:56 > 0:23:04but in 1863 it became the first narrow gauge line to use steam locomotives.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08'A lot of young volunteers work here.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10'When I rode on the footplate,
0:23:10 > 0:23:16'David Williams was taking charge of the loco for the first time.'
0:23:16 > 0:23:18I'm in charge of the water.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30The Ffestiniog is a really good example of railway preservation.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35In the workshops, they're building complete new locos
0:23:35 > 0:23:39using the latest computer design technology.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44- This flange fits on. - Yeah, on the studs.- That's it.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49This smoke box was drawn by a guy who lives 65 miles from New York.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54When the drawing was complete, he e-mailed the drawing here
0:23:54 > 0:23:57and we've actually constructed it.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00I doubt your workshop has a computer.
0:24:00 > 0:24:06- Oh, no!- We just use them as a tool. - I'm still on feet and inches!- Yeah.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09So we're building this from scratch.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12It's changed recently, you see.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16It's not actually a replica now. It's a rebuild.
0:24:16 > 0:24:22- We found the reversing lever from the original engine.- Yeah?
0:24:22 > 0:24:25That's turned it into a rebuild.
0:24:25 > 0:24:31My old steam roller's like that. It's going to be a splendid thing.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36Everywhere you go round here, someone's making a new engine.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41It's becoming a habit! We've got to help the old timers - not you!
0:24:41 > 0:24:46This is the oldest working engine in the world, when it's working.
0:24:46 > 0:24:52- This one's a brand new one. - That's right.- This is the frame.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57There's a replica of a London to Barnstaple locomotive.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02That railway was scrapped in 1935, but we have got one original bit.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05That's a chimney off one of the engines.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Like Roland's Taliesin, this is a rebuild.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14North Wales is famous for its great little trains, like Ffestiniog.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16There are some big ones here too.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21These are the sort of engines that I remember best.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26One of the most common round where I lived were the LMS Black Fives.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31Whilst in Wales, I got a chance to ride one at Llangollen Railway.
0:25:47 > 0:25:53'Travelling here reminds me of the first time I rode on the footplate.'
0:25:58 > 0:26:01TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS
0:26:12 > 0:26:17On reaching sort of early manhood, I met this engine driver in a pub.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22He immediately recognised my great interest in locomotives.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27He said, "If you want to ride on my engine, buy a penny platform ticket
0:26:27 > 0:26:32"and sit on the very end of the platform."
0:26:32 > 0:26:37I did and this great, thundering engine came rolling in on a dirty winter's night.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40He beckoned me to jump on it.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44I went all the way to Rochdale and back.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52I had the job of firing the locomotive.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57He said, "It don't matter what you do. Just don't lose the shovel."
0:26:57 > 0:27:02It were really good fun. I did that lots of times.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14TRAIN WHISTLE DROWNS SPEECH
0:27:28 > 0:27:3130 miles an hour. Ha ha!
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Subtitles by Annie Dodwell BBC - 1999