Todmorden to York Great British Railway Journeys


Todmorden to York

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In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.

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His name was George Bradshaw and his railway guides inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.

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Stop by stop, he told them where to travel.

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What to see and where to stay.

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Now, 170 years later, I am making four long journeys across the length

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and breadth of the country to see what remains of Bradshaw's Britain.

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In the days of Sherlock Holmes, you wouldn't have set out

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across Britain's private railways

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without first consulting the timetables compiled by George Bradshaw.

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I've embarked on four intriguing excursions up-and-down the country

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using one of his guide books, 150 years old.

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Halfway through this journey, it's lit up for me the Victorian world and set me to discover

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what happened to its industries and artisans and how the railways made the British people what we are.

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Today, I'll be travelling back in time in a Victorian railway carriage.

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In the age before Health and Safety, it doesn't say, "Do not lean out of the windows."

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-So, may I have a lean out of the window, please?

-Yes.

-Thank you.

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WHISTLE BLOWS

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I'll be finding out about the latest Roman discoveries in York.

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Well, this is part of the city wall that was only exposed about 30 years ago.

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And I'll be taking to the air in the Network Rail helicopter.

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The Victorians built it right along the cliff edge,

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it's one of the most spectacular bits of track I've seen.

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We're looking for anything, any damage or any debris

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or anything that's out of the ordinary that should not be there.

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I'm almost halfway through this week's journey,

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travelling from Liverpool, across the country.

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Having passed through Bradshaw's home town of Manchester, I'm headed east into Yorkshire.

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Before continuing along the Humber estuary, past Hull,

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towards my final destination, Scarborough.

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Today, I'm leaving Bury and travelling to Todmorden and Skipton,

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ending up at the historic city of York.

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And this is my first stop.

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Once a cotton milling town, today the people of Todmorden are on a mission.

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They're going back to a way of life rather similar to Bradshaw's day.

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Todmorden.

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I'm meeting a lady called Pam.

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I've no idea what she looks like.

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So, I hope she's come to the station and not been put off by the wet weather.

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-Thank you.

-Enjoy your day.

-Thank you.

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-Hello.

-Are you Pam?

-I'm Pam.

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Have you got room under that umbrella?

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-Nice to see you. Welcome to Todmorden.

-What weather!

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Local cafe owner Pam Warhurst is encouraging her neighbours

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to grow vegetables and produce their own food.

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Before the railways, growing your own food wasn't unusual.

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These days, we're more accustomed to going to the supermarket.

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Pam wants to make Todmorden more self sufficient

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so she's even persuading people to keep chickens in their gardens.

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-Wow.

-Hi, guys.

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Lynne has a dozen hens and sells eggs directly to her neighbours.

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-Hello. Hi.

-I'm Michael.

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Hi, Michael. Nice to meet you.

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-What are the chickens?

-They're bantams.

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-They're are a mixture of White Rock, Black Rock, Rhode Island Red and one Wyandotte.

-Are they good layers?

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Yes, although the eggs are smaller than your average chicken egg.

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And how many do you normally get?

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We get three or four eggs a day. Five of those are just chicks at the moment so they're not laying.

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-Any eggs I could see?

-Yes. They haven't laid very many that I found

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but there are some around the garden. We can have a hunt.

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-We have to go and look for them?

-That's what WE do.

-I suppose you do, yes!

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I found one.

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Well done.

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-A nice mucky one.

-We started a campaign, Every Egg Matters, and we've now got an egg map.

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We started off with four people keeping chickens in their gardens and we've got 30 now.

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And the egg map is on our website and people that live in any vicinity

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can look and see who's the nearest local person keeping chickens.

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Phone them up and say, "Can I have half-a-dozen eggs?" And they say, "Yeah, OK".

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Chickens aren't the only thing in Lynn's garden. She also has a large vegetable patch.

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And her friends are digging up and planting the rest of Todmorden too.

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Anyone can help themselves to the carrots growing in the car parks

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and the herbs sprouting on the railway platform.

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In Bradshaw's time, the railways changed what we ate.

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Suddenly, fresh food could move swiftly up and down the country.

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The railways carried milk to the cities, strawberries from Somerset, fish from the coast.

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Food was no longer locally grown and locally eaten.

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Now Todmorden is trying to cut down on how far food travels.

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Michael, let me introduce you to Jean.

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-Good morning, Jean.

-Good morning.

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-Lovely to see you.

-Pleased to meet you.

-Are you telling me everything on that blackboard is local?

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Everything on that blackboard is within a 30-mile radius of Todmorden.

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-Lovely.

-And we've even got our local cheese.

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The first Todmorden organic cheese. Launched a couple of weeks ago.

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-Wonderful, and I've sold out.

-Really?

-Yes.

-That's a good sign.

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As fast as it comes, it goes.

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Yes, it is a good sign. It's a wonderful cheese. And it's just from down the valley.

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What is the nearest cheese that you've got to Todmorden?

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The nearest I have are the Lancashire ones.

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Can I taste a bit of crumbly Lancashire?

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It is my favourite. It's wonderful.

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-Let me share this with you, Pam.

-Thank you.

-There we go.

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-It's my favourite as well.

-You know this well?

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This is divine. We serve it in our cafe with local chutney.

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Fantastic. Really popular.

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-Fabulous cheese.

-It's heaven.

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Jean, that was delicious.

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-Thank you.

-Thank you. See you, Jean.

-Bye-bye.

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I love it that now ever more people care passionately

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about the quality of what they eat and where it comes from.

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150 years ago, it was a breakthrough that fresh food could be brought from the countryside to cities

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and I suppose it's not surprising that soon, urban folk didn't know that eggs came from chickens.

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But we've reached the situation where even people

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living in towns and villages didn't know that milk came from cows.

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And there at Todmorden, they were doing something to put that right.

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The next leg of my journey takes me to Skipton, on the edge

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of the Yorkshire Dales where I'll be taking a step back in time.

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I'm old enough to remember travelling by steam train.

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By comparison with nowadays, it was relatively uncomfortable and, certainly, much smellier.

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But now I'd like to discover what railway travel was like at the time of Bradshaw, 150 years ago.

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At the Embsay and Bolton steam railway, they have trains dating back to the Victoria era.

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-Hello, Stephen.

-Hello, Michael.

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A lovely station! Absolutely fantastic.

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Thank you. We're trying to recreate the past here. I gather you've come to see some of my carriages?

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Yes, please. 'Stephen Middleton's passion is restoring these old railway carriages.'

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Which one will we be travelling in?

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We'll be travelling in this great North of Scotland coach.

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It's a first third and I think it's everyone's favourite.

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It's absolutely beautiful.

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Do have a look in.

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-It had wood like this originally, did it?

-Quite likely, yes.

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We've copied some of the gold detailing there.

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The lamps are rather splendid although they came from British Home Stores.

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-HE LAUGHS

-But they would have been similar in design.

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Very similar, yes.

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Few people can recall how to operate these.

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Oh, no, I recall.

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You position that there and then it stops it.

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You pull the strap and up it goes.

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Oh, you pull the strap and up it goes. I wasn't remembering perfectly then.

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That's it. You can control your ventilation.

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The only problem was these used to get stolen, these straps.

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I gather the old fashioned cut-throat razors could be sharpened on these.

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Well, thank you very much. Lovely.

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Fantastic sound, when you set off on a steam train.

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It is. It's not quite the same with an electric train, is it?

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No, it is not.

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This carriage is typical of the 1890s

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and has a luxuriously upholstered interior for first class passengers.

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But it wasn't always like this.

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Take me back to 1850s when Bradshaw's guide was written, the one I am following.

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I think the 1850s, the passengers then may have been grateful to have a shelter over their heads.

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Because a lot of them would have experienced the 1840s riding in open wagons.

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Open wagons.

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Clearly, the railways thought, "We get more money transporting coal.

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"We get more money transporting cattle."

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So, they put as many third-class passengers into an open wagon as possible.

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Parliament stepped in and decreed that they really ought to have better travelling conditions.

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In the age before Health and Safety, it doesn't say, "Do not to lean out of the window".

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So, may I have a lean out of the window, please?

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-Yes, of course.

-Thank you.

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It's a great feeling, the smoke pouring down the line.

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TRAIN WHISTLES

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Magic.

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My next stop is Bolton Abbey.

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The station was built here in 1880 to accommodate day-trippers who flocked here to visit the ruin,

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which commands a vista unspoilt by time.

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My Bradshaw says it is "most charmingly situated on the banks of the River Wharfe.

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"Indeed the picturesque character of this and surrounding districts is peculiarly striking and impressive."

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The 30,000 acre estate has been owned by the Dukes of Devonshire since 1755.

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The Devonshire Arms, a 17th-century coaching inn on the estate, has been turned into a rather smart hotel.

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I think Bradshaw would have approved.

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Fit for a duke.

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And warm and dry.

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A new day and a new part of my adventure.

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But though I'm following the route from my trusty guide,

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I'm about to see it in a way George Bradshaw could barely have imagined.

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George Bradshaw loved progress.

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He couldn't see a viaduct or a railway tunnel without praising the engineering skill involved.

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Nowadays, an important part of the maintenance of

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the railway infrastructure is carried out from the air.

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I'm sorry George Bradshaw isn't here to share the experience

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but at least with me today one of his guide books will go aloft.

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Most of us travel by train without a second's thought for how the line's kept safe.

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-Can I get aboard?

-You certainly can, sir.

-Thank you.

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But ever since the railways were built, someone's had to look after almost 20,000 miles of track.

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A few moments ago, we took off from Leeds-Bradford airport,

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now we're flying at fairly high level towards York.

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When we get there, we'll pick up the East Coast mainline heading up towards Edinburgh

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and we're going to start to survey that bit of track.

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In Bradshaw's Victorian Britain, the linesmen would walk the tracks at night checking for problems.

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This helicopter helps do the job today, stuffed full of gadgets

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and gizmos in which Bradshaw would surely have taken delight.

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The camera on the bottom of the aircraft is following

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the track northwards and I can see it with the naked eye

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but also following here on the screen inside the aircraft

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and as I'm watching,

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Howard is zooming in for me taking me into remarkable degrees of detail.

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One of the most important devices is an infrared camera used to inspect the points.

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The infrared camera checks whether the heating system on every set of points is working properly.

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A breakdown here could cause chaos.

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Bradshaw's having a great day out.

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It's going to come down to the right.

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So, a 12 minute flight has brought us all the way to the east coast

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and we're looking at a little bit of track here that runs between Redcar and Whitby.

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And the Victorians built it right along the cliff edge.

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It's one of the most spectacular bits of track I've ever seen.

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Nowadays, you just need to keep an eye on it to make sure that

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with the coastal erosion, it's not in any danger.

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And the helicopter is making a video of this spot so that it can be

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examined by the engineers who need to know that everything is safe.

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It's an absolutely spectacular bit of track.

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I'd love to ride the train along there and see the view.

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That's given me an idea for a future railway journey.

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Whether you come to York by air, road or rail you discover a beautiful city.

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The station itself is well worth a look.

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Built in 1877, and designed by architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey,

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it was the largest station in the world.

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And with almost 400 trains passing through it every day, it's now one of the busiest.

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Not surprisingly, York attracts about four million visitors a year.

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Some come to search out its Roman roots.

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Some come to marvel at its medieval buildings.

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And others...

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Well, others come for the trains.

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Experience tells me that you'll always find trainspotters at the ends of platforms

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where they can jot down the numbers of locomotives or photograph them, or whatever.

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-Good evening.

-Good evening. Pleased to meet you.

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Very nice to see you. Would you by any chance be a trainspotter?

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No, railway photographer, please.

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You've got a camera.

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I don't know how to put this to you, but trainspotters do have a certain reputation.

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Which reputation are you thinking of?

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Well... maybe for being a little bit dull?

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I think you become involved to an extent that you ignore the real world outside.

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You come into your own little world and you have many people who join you in that,

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whether they're interested in mechanics,

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interested in the actual observations, interested in the operations.

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They all have their own little interest.

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But it means that we're committed to what we enjoy.

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A little obsessive, then? You will admit to a little obsessive, would you?

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I think obsessive, possibly, yes.

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But certainly not dull.

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I wouldn't consider myself an obsessive about trains, but I do like them.

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I wonder whether there isn't a little bit of trainspotter in all of us?

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-What do you think of trainspotters?

-Well, I think it's a good pastime.

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Yeah? Have you ever been a trainspotter yourself?

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When I was a little lad but I'm 74 years of age now.

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There we are. There's an advertisement for trainspotting.

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-Keeps you young.

-That's right.

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In my day, it was very much the thing to do.

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My mum used to say to me, "Don't you dare go trainspotting."

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But you know what lads are. It was wonderful.

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A wonderful era to see all the steam coming out, you know.

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And the engine drivers were all black with the coal and...

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What an era!

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It's all gone now, hasn't it?

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You are a poet of your age.

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-Am I?

-Yes.

-Well, that's very kind of you to say.

-Beautifully said.

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Do you have any views on trainspotters?

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Yes, leave them to it.

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I think they're interesting and fastidious, probably.

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And, yeah, good on them.

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Have you ever been one yourself?

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I've never had a camera but I like to see a freight train.

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-You like to see a freight train?

-Yeah, I'm fascinated by freight trains.

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-Really?

-Interesting trains, yeah...

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I don't get it immediately. What's the fascination with freight trains?

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Well, actually, I'll tell you what it is. When I was younger I was in America for a long time.

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The trains there are enormous.

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They're half a mile long. So I think that's what it is.

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-Wow, I've struck gold.

-Yeah.

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-I mean in meeting you.

-Thank you!

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I never expected to find a man in love with freight trains. Great.

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York is a largely medieval city built around the Minster.

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It started out in AD71 as a settlement besides a huge Roman fortress.

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And it was those Roman beginnings that impressed Bradshaw the most.

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Bradshaw really knew his Roman history of York.

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"Having been an imperial city all the time the Romans kept possession

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"of Britain, there are of course many vestiges of antiquities. Here died Constantius Chlorus,

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"the father of Constantine the first Roman Christian Emperor."

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But I wonder whether Bradshaw is still a good guide to Roman archaeology in York?

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Fortunately, I'm meeting a man who knows.

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Andrew Jones, from the York Archaeological Trust.

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-Andrew.

-Hello and welcome to York.

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Lovely to see. Thank you so much for your time.

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You're going to tell me something about Bradshaw's Roman history?

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Yes. Bradshaw did a lot to promote Roman York but it was actually known

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as an important place for at least 200 years before he wrote his book.

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First on the tour is what's left of the original Roman settlement.

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This is part of the Roman fortress wall, and if you

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look carefully at the wall, you can see how eroded the stones are.

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They're quite rounded and that's because of 1,700 years of rain and pollution and so forth.

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One of the things I'd like you to do is to squint along the wall

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and just appreciate how straight and how vertical this is.

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Remember, this was built by Yorkshire lads 1,700 years ago.

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It's absolutely true, isn't it?

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It's a fantastic piece of masonry.

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York was an important military base for the Romans with 6,000 soldiers based at the fort.

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For a short time, the whole Roman Empire was ruled from York when the Emperor Severus lived here in 209.

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The red line here that interrupts the wall, what's that?

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These are tiles.

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This is a characteristic of Roman military architecture.

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A lot of forts have these tile courses deliberately built into them.

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They're there for two reasons.

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One is they're a signature saying this piece of masonry is Roman.

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We are here claiming the landscape, beware all you native people.

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And it's also there as a practical thing to allow people to

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get a level surface and start building again straight up.

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You've told me that this has been weathered for 1,700 years so,

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clearly, Bradshaw must have known all about this?

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He did but what he didn't know is about the things we've discovered inside since his time.

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So let's go and see that next.

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This is the place here that I'd like to show you now, Michael.

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And this demonstrates what, then?

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This is a part of the city wall that was only exposed about 30 years ago.

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-This?

-Yes. This was formerly covered completely in a mound of earth,

0:24:380:24:44

so this has not been exposed to 1,700 years of weathering and you can see the stones are

0:24:440:24:49

beautifully cut and you can even see the little bits of tooling marks on them.

0:24:490:24:53

Looking further along, you can see the tile courses are actually projecting.

0:24:530:24:58

So these were not just a practical thing, they were there

0:24:580:25:01

to cast a shadow, to make a line, to be an architectural feature.

0:25:010:25:06

A bit like a string course in today's buildings.

0:25:060:25:09

It's a small detail but to me it brings the Roman achievement to another level.

0:25:090:25:16

Given, then, that this was covered up during Bradshaw's time, it turns out, in your view, that

0:25:160:25:21

the Romans were even more brilliant engineers than archaeologists of Bradshaw's era would have known.

0:25:210:25:27

That's absolutely right.

0:25:270:25:28

What's more, when the new railway station was built in the 1870s,

0:25:280:25:34

even more fascinating Roman discoveries were made and I'd like to show you those as a final bit.

0:25:340:25:40

Lead on.

0:25:400:25:42

These are some of the stone sarcophagi that were found

0:25:510:25:55

when they rebuilt the railway station in the 1870s.

0:25:550:25:59

In the old railway station, then?

0:25:590:26:00

No, the first railway station was inside the city walls but the railways grew and expanded

0:26:000:26:06

and the present day railway station, built in the 1870s, was built on the site of a Roman cemetery.

0:26:060:26:14

And these are some of the sarcophagi discovered there and brought here for safekeeping.

0:26:140:26:17

Very substantial bits of stone.

0:26:170:26:20

Massive pieces of stone. Weighing five or six tons, at least.

0:26:200:26:24

And brought a long way, carved out for, obviously, people who were very highly regarded.

0:26:240:26:30

And very substantial members of the community.

0:26:300:26:34

I think Bradshaw would have been doubly pleased.

0:26:340:26:37

York was getting a new and bigger railway station and new Roman discoveries came about as well.

0:26:370:26:41

That's absolutely right. And we keep making new discoveries to this day.

0:26:410:26:45

Seeing Roman York through the eyes of the Victorian Bradshaw makes me aware of some striking parallels.

0:26:500:26:57

When the Romans invaded Britain,

0:27:000:27:02

bringing with them fine architecture and fast roads, they made us part of

0:27:020:27:08

the most advanced civilisation that the world had ever seen.

0:27:080:27:13

The Victorians with their factories and steam engines were the new Romans.

0:27:130:27:18

It's symbolic that when the railways reached York,

0:27:180:27:21

the tracks punched their way through the ancient walls to reach the historic centre of the city.

0:27:210:27:29

With our love today of steam engines and the obsession of trainspotters,

0:27:290:27:34

it's clear that the railways still have us in a powerful grip.

0:27:340:27:39

On my next journey, I'll be discovering how the railways

0:27:500:27:53

made Hull one of the biggest white fish ports in the world.

0:27:530:27:56

The railways make fish an article of cheap mass consumption.

0:27:560:28:00

They create the trawling industry and it grows phenomenally.

0:28:000:28:04

'I'll be searching for liquorice in Pontefract.' I'm guessing that is a liquorice plant.

0:28:040:28:08

This is a liquorice plant.

0:28:080:28:10

It's a Mediterranean plant.

0:28:100:28:12

It came from Spain, originally.

0:28:120:28:13

That's why in Pontefract we gave it the nickname "a stick of Spanish".

0:28:130:28:17

And I'll be finding out why cod might soon be off the menu.

0:28:170:28:21

We're starting to see a lot more warm-water species that we normally associate with the Mediterranean.

0:28:210:28:26

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