0:00:05 > 0:00:10In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12His name was George Bradshaw,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17and his Railway Guide inspired the Victorians to take to the tracks.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Stop by stop, he told them where to travel, what to see, and where to stay.
0:00:25 > 0:00:31Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys across the length and breadth of the country
0:00:31 > 0:00:34to see what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58I've embarked on another railway journey,
0:00:58 > 0:01:03confident that my trusty Bradshaw's guide will continue to give me insights
0:01:03 > 0:01:08into the vast areas of the British Isles that I've yet to explore.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10In today's journey, I'll be discovering a macabre side
0:01:10 > 0:01:13to Great Yarmouth's railway history.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16The railway negotiates a special rate with him,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19and they move the body at so much per ton.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24Operating an engineering triumph that opened East Anglia to rail traffic.
0:01:24 > 0:01:25Pull the dog in. That's it.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Hand at the top, and a nice snappy movement. That's it.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31- No, you've not had your Weetabix, you see.- What, is that not in?
0:01:31 > 0:01:34And learning how Bradshawing meant the difference
0:01:34 > 0:01:37between death and life in the Second World War.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Ha! I really enjoyed it, I must say. It was very thrilling.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Starting on the East Coast, this journey takes me south
0:01:46 > 0:01:51through Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, finishing in the City of London.
0:01:51 > 0:01:52I'll be travelling a route that,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54in Bradshaw's day, opened up
0:01:54 > 0:01:57inhospitable and isolated territory
0:01:57 > 0:02:00and allowed the natural riches of the region to be exploited.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04My stretch today begins in Great Yarmouth,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07then takes me south through the village of Reedham,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09and on to Beccles in Suffolk.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21This journey takes me across East Anglia,
0:02:21 > 0:02:25which has always seemed remote to a Londoner like me.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Certainly, its network of waterways made it difficult to cross
0:02:28 > 0:02:30except by boat.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34So railway building offered an enormous speculative opportunity
0:02:34 > 0:02:37to Victorian investors.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41But that railway mania brought bust as well as boom.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49My first destination is the coastal town of Great Yarmouth.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53- Bye-bye.- Bye, now. It's a beautiful line, isn't it?
0:02:53 > 0:02:56- Beautiful line. Beautiful!- It's lovely, especially in the morning.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00I have had the most delightful journey through meadows
0:03:00 > 0:03:05grazed by sheep and cows, to this enormous station at Great Yarmouth.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09So why did they build this branch line all the way to here?
0:03:09 > 0:03:10Very fishy.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17The railway reached Great Yarmouth in 1844,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and the line to London was completed two years later.
0:03:20 > 0:03:25Famous for its herrings, the railways and this station enabled Great Yarmouth
0:03:25 > 0:03:29to take full advantage of the fish stocks of the North Sea.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32The catch could reach markets all over the country
0:03:32 > 0:03:36and indeed abroad, and brought the town prosperity.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38My Bradshaw's guide tells me that Great Yarmouth
0:03:38 > 0:03:41"is situated on the east bank of the River Yare.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46"The inhabitants are chiefly engaged in the mackerel, herring and deep-sea fisheries,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50"which are prosecuted to a very great extent with much success."
0:03:50 > 0:03:55Sadly, a decline in fish stocks means that today,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58nothing remains of this once great fishing fleet.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04To get an idea of the scale of the Great Yarmouth herring industry in its heyday,
0:04:04 > 0:04:08I'm meeting local resident Ernie Childs.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11So your family are fishermen?
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Yeah, all my granddads and things like that, they were all to do with the sea.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19The fishing was very big in Yarmouth, as the biggest port in the world,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22you know, for catching, exporting...
0:04:22 > 0:04:25The seas that surrounded Yarmouth just teemed with herring,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28and we had a fleet of about 1,200.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32- 1,200?- 1,200. It takes believing, doesn't it?
0:04:32 > 0:04:35- You could walk across the river... - On boats?- On boats, yeah.
0:04:35 > 0:04:36Each boat had ten miles of nets.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40A colossal amount of fish that was caught, you know, each night.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42The huge shoals of herring
0:04:42 > 0:04:45would arrive in the waters off Great Yarmouth in the autumn.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49At its peak, the town was landing 125,000 tons a year.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53The railways helped the fisheries to expand to such a degree
0:04:53 > 0:04:56that an extensive rail system was built on the quays
0:04:56 > 0:04:58to serve the fishermen's wharf.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04And by the late 1800s, Great Yarmouth had not one, but three railway stations.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07There's a railway line that went straight to the wharf
0:05:07 > 0:05:09all the way from the Vauxhall over there.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12And that was up and down all day long, you know. That was a busy line.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Without the railways, you know, this town wouldn't have been as big.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19The main freights carried were said to be
0:05:19 > 0:05:21"salt and coal in and loose fish out."
0:05:21 > 0:05:26And the trains carried something of greater interest than coal or fish.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30They imported masses of Scottish girls, who gutted the herrings,
0:05:30 > 0:05:34following the shoals of fish as they migrated down the East Coast.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36So it wasn't just the railways taking the fish out.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39- They were bringing the fishery workers in?- That's right, yeah.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42But even in my day. When I... I grew up on the wharf,
0:05:42 > 0:05:47and that was so busy, you know. The Scots girls were there, they were singing all the while,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50and if they weren't singing, they were knitting. They were very, very quick.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52They put a competition out once.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Who could gut the best, either a machine or a Scots girl.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57And the Scots girls won.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59They could gut a fish, one a second.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Now, it'd take me a bloody minute to do one.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05Ernie paints a magnificent picture of a teeming port
0:06:05 > 0:06:10in an era when fish and railways brought Great Yarmouth great wealth.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14The railways declined alongside the fishing.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17And now just one station serves the town.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24Before I bid farewell to Yarmouth,
0:06:24 > 0:06:29there's just one more entry in Bradshaw's that I want to investigate.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31Its link to the railways is ghoulish.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35My Bradshaw's guide says that "the old town
0:06:35 > 0:06:38"contains about 150 narrow streets or passages
0:06:38 > 0:06:41"locally called rows,
0:06:41 > 0:06:46"in which many remains of antiquity may still be traced."
0:06:46 > 0:06:49And talking of antiquity, I understand that this one,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53number six, was known as "Snatch Body Row."
0:06:53 > 0:06:58And I'm here to get a skeletal idea of why it got its name.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00I've come to the graveyard of St Nicholas' Church
0:07:00 > 0:07:03to pick over the bones of this story
0:07:03 > 0:07:05with medical historian Dr Elizabeth Hurren.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09- Hello. How nice to meet you! - Very nice to see you indeed.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Now, I'm using my Bradshaw's guide and I've been looking at the rows,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16and I understand that number six was called Snatch Body Row.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18Now, why is that?
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Well, this parish church was notorious for providing bodies
0:07:21 > 0:07:24to anatomists in London
0:07:24 > 0:07:27at the end of the 18th century.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30And there were a couple of notorious resurrectionists
0:07:30 > 0:07:33who dug up bodies from this graveyard.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36They would have come at night into this churchyard,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and they would have used a wooden shovel, and put them in a sack.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42And, in fact, their more common name was "sackmen".
0:07:42 > 0:07:46And then, over the shoulder, and then they would have taken the body down to London
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and sold it to one of the leading anatomists.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54Before the advent of the railway in Great Yarmouth, the economy was unpredictable.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Abject poverty, allied with developments in medical science,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00which provoked a need for corpses for dissection,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03gave rise to the dark crime of body snatching.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07A fast trade route to London by sea,
0:08:07 > 0:08:11and access to the largest parish church in England
0:08:11 > 0:08:16made St Nicholas' a favourite place for illicit exhumation.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Presumably, when this illegal trade in stealing bodies is under way,
0:08:19 > 0:08:23families must get very worried that their loved ones' corpses have been stolen.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27The paupers typically would have had to stay awake -
0:08:27 > 0:08:30that's where the tradition of a wake comes from -
0:08:30 > 0:08:34for three days, to watch the body going into the ground.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38Then they would have stayed awake, come in to the graveyard very regularly,
0:08:38 > 0:08:43and watched to make sure that no-one had dug up or interfered with the body.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48Once the railways arrived in 1844, prosperity surged.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52But far from being stopped in its tracks,
0:08:52 > 0:08:53the body trade gathered steam,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56fuelled by the Anatomy Act of 1832,
0:08:56 > 0:09:01which legalised the use of pauper carcasses for dissection.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05When that happens, then you don't have to resurrect them from a graveyard like this.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07You simply buy them down the road,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09at Yarmouth workhouse, at the back of it.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Or at a local pub.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15These were paupers, and when they died, their bodies were just made available for science?
0:09:15 > 0:09:18- Absolutely.- So how did Bradshaw's come into it?
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Well, Alexander Macalister, who was the Chair of Anatomy at Cambridge,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25this was absolutely critical for him.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28And when he arrived at Cambridge, he had a body supply problem,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32because in the late 19th century,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34the number of medical students quadruples.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37And so he has to get on the train
0:09:37 > 0:09:41with this book, and he has to start going along all the branch lines out of Cambridge,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45and he has to get off the train and do a body deal with whoever he can.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48And of course, he alights at Yarmouth, and realises
0:09:48 > 0:09:51that they are very willing to make a number of deals with him.
0:09:51 > 0:09:57And he pays up to £12 a body for each dissected pauper.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59- Huge amount of money!- Absolutely.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02And he transports it on the railway out of Yarmouth.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05And the railway negotiates a special rate with him,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and they move the body at so much per ton.
0:10:08 > 0:10:15And they are in the back of the carriages, in what's known as the "dead carriage".
0:10:15 > 0:10:18The railways enabled corpses to arrive in Cambridge or London
0:10:18 > 0:10:21in a matter of hours, as fresh as new-caught herrings.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26I know that in the book Dracula, Count Dracula uses a Bradshaw's plan
0:10:26 > 0:10:29moving his coffins round Britain.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32So, I mean, there was obviously more than a grain of truth in this.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Macalister and this book, he was the one that everybody else copied.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40He was the one that, as I call him, he was a travelling anatomist.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43He got on the railway, he made the deals, and in that way,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47he was able to revive the whole medical school at Cambridge.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51But, of course, there was a big social cost to the poor.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54And so, as we have always in the history of medicine,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58we owe the poor an enormous amount, actually, for where we are today in biomedicine.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Astonishingly, this trade in bodies continued
0:11:02 > 0:11:05until the turn of the 20th century.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09But after a popular outcry over the theft of a pauper's body
0:11:09 > 0:11:11from Great Yarmouth in 1901,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13an extensive public enquiry
0:11:13 > 0:11:18finally brought the secretive trade in the town to an end.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23The "death-box" had made its last journey from Great Yarmouth station.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Well, now I feel nervous about getting on a train.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32I want to be sure that at the back here, it's entirely cadaver-less.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36But luckily, most of these passengers look pretty alive to me.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54I love these wide plains,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57and the big skies that you get in Norfolk.
0:11:57 > 0:12:03And Bradshaw refers to "extensive views of this flattish country
0:12:03 > 0:12:05"between Norwich and the sea."
0:12:05 > 0:12:08And this low-lying land provided many challenges
0:12:08 > 0:12:11for Victorian railway engineers.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14And now, I'm on my way to see one of the most spectacular examples
0:12:14 > 0:12:16of how they overcame them.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20In Bradshaw's day, a local railway entrepreneur,
0:12:20 > 0:12:21Sir Samuel Morton Peto,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24had designs on the riches of East Anglia.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28His plan required him to conquer the tough landscape.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Part of the solution was a piece of Victorian engineering genius,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38the swing bridge, that allowed rights of passage for traffic
0:12:38 > 0:12:40on both the river and the railway.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58- Bye-bye. Nice to see you.- Thank you.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01Reedham.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04A name that's famous for its swing bridge.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06Peto built the original swing bridge,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10carrying the railway across the River Yare, in the 1840s.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13He declared that it would "enable fresh fish from Lowestoft
0:13:13 > 0:13:15"to arrive in Manchester in time for tea."
0:13:15 > 0:13:19I've been granted special access to cross the bridge
0:13:19 > 0:13:21and take a closer look.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23This is so exciting,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25to walk along a railway line
0:13:25 > 0:13:27on this lovely ancient structure.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Always a bit nerve-wracking, of course, walking on a railway line.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38But we have been assured that there are no trains coming.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Nonetheless, if you'll forgive me, I think I'll hurry along.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46Waiting for me at the end of the swing bridge is signalman Alan English.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49- That was so exciting, walking across the bridge.- Was it?
0:13:49 > 0:13:50That was fabulous! I really enjoyed that!
0:13:50 > 0:13:53- I don't often get to walk on a railway line.- Would you like to come in?
0:13:53 > 0:13:56- I'll show you the... - After you, after you.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Welcome to our small abode.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03- Ha! Charming! Is it an old, old signal box?- It was built in 1904.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06It must have been thought a fantastic piece of engineering in those days.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09They had to decide to do something to cross the river.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Not easy when the surrounding countryside was marshy
0:14:12 > 0:14:15and intersected by navigable rivers,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18which were then the arteries of trade.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21A normal bridge would need an immense span to allow clearance
0:14:21 > 0:14:24to the region's staple transport,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27wherry boats with 40-foot-high masts.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Peto's swing bridge was an astonishing breakthrough.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32It could pivot open to allow the wherrymen to ply their trade,
0:14:32 > 0:14:37and rotate back so that trains could penetrate this watery landscape.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41So when the original bridge was built, the waterway, of course,
0:14:41 > 0:14:43was considered the most important means of transport?
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Well, the waterway, when this line was built, was the only form
0:14:46 > 0:14:49of transport for anything other than you could put in a horse and cart.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Yeah, so along comes the bridge, and the bridge has to, obviously,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55it has to fit in with the traffic on the water.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Yes, I mean, that was a major consideration.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00It's a new thing, no-one had seen the railways before.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Competition, obviously, the river users, or the wherrymen.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08And they obviously wanted to ensure that they had free rights of passage through the bridge.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10- Can we see how it works? - Of course you can.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Do you want to get your hands dirty and help me?
0:15:12 > 0:15:14- Ha-ha! Yes, please.- OK, then.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17The first lever I want you to pull, Michael, is number one.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20If you'd like to use a cloth, so you don't dirty our lovely levers up.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22Pull the dog in. That's it.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Hand at the top, and a nice snappy movement. That's it.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28- No, you've not had your Weetabix, you see.- What, is that not in?
0:15:28 > 0:15:33No, no, you see, the indicator is still showing out, so back all the way in.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35Pull the lever towards you slightly. That's it.
0:15:35 > 0:15:36Push it back in.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39- Same thing again.- Right.
0:15:39 > 0:15:40Hand at the top.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Hand on there, and a nice, snappy movement.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Yeah, well done, that's there!
0:15:49 > 0:15:52And this is the best bit - the lever.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56There's no cogs, there's no brakes.
0:15:56 > 0:15:57What do I do with it?
0:15:57 > 0:16:00- Gently, move it to the off position. - Yes.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03Which will start the wincher downstairs.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06But it's a centrifugal clutch, it's nice and smooth, so just move it across.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Move it across, gently, that's it.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10- You see, you've now got weight on it.- Yes.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14- Keep moving?- If you look out the window now, you're now moving. - Oh, my goodness!
0:16:14 > 0:16:16- You see, so you're in charge now. - Do I hold it in this position?
0:16:16 > 0:16:20- Just hold it there for a little while.- The bridge is swinging.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22And now, I just want you to ease back a little bit on the lever.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27- Here I go.- Wow, that will do. - You're doing it all by ear, are you?
0:16:27 > 0:16:31All by ear, yeah. You're doing well, you're a professional. Natural!
0:16:31 > 0:16:33She's an old lady. She'll start off nice and easy,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35and then she'll get tired halfway through.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49And now you've got your speed up again, just ease back a little bit again.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53Because we must stop it in the middle, so ease back a bit. Whoa!
0:16:53 > 0:16:57- Perfect! Do you want a job? - Ha-ha-ha-ha!
0:16:57 > 0:16:59I feel a huge sense of relief, actually.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01You didn't break it, so that's the...
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Yeah, I was thinking that all the time, when you were saying, "Go a bit more."
0:17:04 > 0:17:07It certainly builds up your respect for this bit of engineering.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12Last year, we swung this bridge 1,300 times in a year.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14You old swingers!
0:17:30 > 0:17:35I'm on my way to find out more about Peto,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39one of the railway's great creators during the Industrial Revolution.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42A 19th-century entrepreneur and civil engineer,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46his innovative railways and bridges provided a Steam Age link
0:17:46 > 0:17:49between East Anglia and the rest of Britain.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Yet few of us know anything about him.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03I've arrived in Peto's home village of Somerleyton, in Suffolk.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11My Bradshaw's tells me that this is "Somerleyton Hall,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15"the old Elizabethan seat, now the residence
0:18:15 > 0:18:17"of Sir Samuel M Peto Baronet,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21"who has greatly enlarged the building."
0:18:21 > 0:18:23And what a stunning place it is!
0:18:23 > 0:18:26What you could do with a few railway millions!
0:18:26 > 0:18:30And what a fantastic place to spend the evening.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35I'm staggered by the scale and opulence of Peto's home.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38As one of the richest men of his day,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41he could afford to employ Prince Albert's architect,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46who took seven years to remodel the Tudor mansion.
0:18:47 > 0:18:52Sir Samuel Morton Peto was, by all accounts, a driven man.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56I'm hoping that local historian Adrian Vaughan can tell me more.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59- That's the great man, is it? - Samuel Morton Peto.
0:18:59 > 0:19:05The railways that Morton Peto was engaged in were really visionary.
0:19:05 > 0:19:11He had, with Robert Stephenson and George Parker Bidder,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13they were a trinity.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18And they envisaged the trade across the Atlantic - New York, Liverpool.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Liverpool by rail, through to Lowestoft,
0:19:21 > 0:19:25which was an open port, with no taxes on it.
0:19:25 > 0:19:31And from Lowestoft, they set up a shipping line to go into Denmark, to Norway.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34They built the railway lines in Norway and Denmark.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39And then they had another shipping line on to Archangel, St Petersburg.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43And Peto built the railways in Russia to connect the whole thing up.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Despite for many years being the largest employer of labour in the world,
0:19:47 > 0:19:54Peto overreached himself, and in the banking collapse of 1866, he lost his fortune.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57He had to sell the Somerleyton Estate
0:19:57 > 0:20:01and give up his seat in Parliament, dying in obscurity in 1889.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04But we should remember him for this house, and for the railways,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07on which we still travel today.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09It's been a wonderful day.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12And it ends at a beautiful place.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16And so I raise my glass to the memory of Sir Samuel Morton Peto.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Day two of my journey, and I'm taking another of the many lines
0:20:30 > 0:20:33that sprang up across this region in Bradshaw's day.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Another day.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43And I boarded the train at Somerleyton,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46arrived at Lowestoft,
0:20:46 > 0:20:50to change to Beccles from one colour train to another.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Beccles is not in my Bradshaw's guide.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15But I'm headed there today because I believe that
0:21:15 > 0:21:18if George Bradshaw had lived another hundred years,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22he would have been gratified to know that the railways would provide
0:21:22 > 0:21:26a technique that could make the difference between death and life.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30And that technique would be forever associated
0:21:30 > 0:21:33with the name of Bradshaw.
0:21:33 > 0:21:34In the Second World War,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37the railways were the arteries of Britain,
0:21:37 > 0:21:41moving soldiers, tanks and evacuees up and down the country.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46The railways were a highly visible target for German attacks,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50but they were also invaluable to a special group of British heroes
0:21:50 > 0:21:52doing an immensely important job.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I'm at Beccles Airfield to meet Joy Lofthouse,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58one of the last surviving World War Two female aviators
0:21:58 > 0:22:02of the Air Transport Auxiliary.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05- Hello, Joy.- Hello, Michael.- How very good to see you.- Nice to see you.
0:22:05 > 0:22:10Beccles was an airfield used in World War Two. How was it that you came into flying?
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Well, in 1943, I saw an advertisement in The Aeroplane,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16and I had never even been in an aeroplane before.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18I didn't even drive a car.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20But that seemed an exciting thing to do,
0:22:20 > 0:22:21as a lot of my boyfriends
0:22:21 > 0:22:23were in the Air Force.
0:22:23 > 0:22:24The men and women of the ATA
0:22:24 > 0:22:28were hired to free other pilots for combat.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32Their job was to fly aircraft from the factories to the squadrons
0:22:32 > 0:22:34for operational duties.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37And so what kinds of aircraft were you flying?
0:22:37 > 0:22:40Cos probably, we would still know some of the names, wouldn't we?
0:22:40 > 0:22:42Oh, absolutely, yes. All the trading aircraft.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46But also single-seaters - Spitfire, Hurricane, Mustang...
0:22:46 > 0:22:50A lot of the Fleet Air Arm things - Barracudas, etc.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52Anything with one engine.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54- You flew all those things? - Yes, absolutely. Yes.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59Now, forgive my ignorance, would they not be a little bit different, one from another, to fly?
0:22:59 > 0:23:04Well, they would, but this was our Bible, the Ferry Pilot's Notes.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09On each page, there's the particulars of every aircraft
0:23:09 > 0:23:12in service with either the RAF or the Fleet Air Arm.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16I assume it's just like you getting into a different make of car. Not very different.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19Well, I don't think so. I'm simply amazed that you would just
0:23:19 > 0:23:22jump in an aircraft, look up the proper page and off you go.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26- That's just extraordinary!- Well, we were very young, you know.- Ha-ha-ha!
0:23:26 > 0:23:30The railways of Britain were vital navigational aids
0:23:30 > 0:23:31for Joy and her fellow pilots,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35as all over the country, other key landmarks
0:23:35 > 0:23:37had been concealed to thwart enemy bombers.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39So how did you find your way around?
0:23:39 > 0:23:44Because you didn't have modern navigational aids in those days, did you?
0:23:44 > 0:23:46You drew a line on a map,
0:23:46 > 0:23:50you set off your compass point to land through for whatever wind there was,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52and you looked for checkpoints on the way.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56And, of course, the railways were amongst the best things to follow.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59No motorways in those days, no large roads to follow.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01We called it Bradshawing, of course.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04And that was a reference to my very own George Bradshaw.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07- That was a reference to your Bradshaw, yes.- Yeah.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11- And the railways were a reliable guide?- Oh, absolutely.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16In fact, in one of the sentences in this book, we had...
0:24:16 > 0:24:19I don't know whether you'd like to read it.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22I think that's rather a sweet sentence.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24"Finding a strange airfield.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26"The golden rule is, don't look for it.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30"Some camouflage expert has done his best to prevent your seeing it.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33"So look instead for the landmarks which point to the airfield.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36"Even the Air Ministry cannot camouflage them."
0:24:36 > 0:24:40And that would refer to things like railways. They couldn't be camouflaged.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42They couldn't do anything to the railways, no.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Now, tell me though, was this quite dangerous?
0:24:44 > 0:24:49I mean, I know you weren't flying in combat, but did the ATA suffer many losses?
0:24:49 > 0:24:54We had about 140-odd casualties, and I would say 80% of them were due to weather.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56But we were warned, of course,
0:24:56 > 0:24:58that...try not to be bleedin' heroes,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01and if you get into bad weather,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03then land and wait for it to be better.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07And we were very, we ladies, anyway, were very cunning
0:25:07 > 0:25:11that we knew where most of the American airfields were.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14And if you knew you were into bad weather near an American airfield,
0:25:14 > 0:25:16one would try and land there.
0:25:16 > 0:25:22Because the food was good, and they would take you to the PX,
0:25:22 > 0:25:27the equivalent of our NAAFI, and you could buy lipstick and chocolate,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31and stockings, and things that were all rationed at home.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34So it wasn't so unusual to get bad weather near an American airfield?
0:25:34 > 0:25:37It wasn't too unusual to get bad weather there!
0:25:37 > 0:25:40I don't expect my mission to lead me to a cache of lipstick or nylons.
0:25:40 > 0:25:45But I want to get airborne to have a go at navigating.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Now, I'm going to a do a little Bradshawing myself this afternoon. Are you available to take me up?
0:25:49 > 0:25:52Certainly not. I don't think you would be able to trust me now at my age.
0:25:52 > 0:25:53I think I would trust her,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57but instead, I put my life in pilot John Wignall's hands.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Apprentice Navigator Portillo reporting for duty, Sir.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02- Well, jump aboard and we'll get flying.- Thank you.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05John is going to fly me a few miles away,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08and I'll attempt to navigate back to the airfield,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11using just a basic map and the railways as my guide.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23I reckon we're going to head down this track here,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26and I want you
0:26:26 > 0:26:28to keep straight on.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31I think Reedham must be there. We hope.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Ha-ha-ha-ha!
0:26:33 > 0:26:36- You're navigating.- This isn't navigating, this is Bradshawing.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40It's very exciting. I can see the swing bridge where we were earlier.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Sorry, it's a long way around,
0:26:43 > 0:26:45but I'm quite a novice at this Bradshawing business.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49Er... Ha-ha-ha! OK...
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Yes, I can see a railway line.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Please turn right, railway line ahoy!
0:26:54 > 0:26:56It's absolutely fantastic.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01According to my map, your airfield is going to lie
0:27:01 > 0:27:03to the left of the railway line.
0:27:03 > 0:27:05That worked pretty well, didn't it?
0:27:05 > 0:27:08I really enjoyed it, I must say. It was very thrilling!
0:27:08 > 0:27:12I've become used to travelling around Britain
0:27:12 > 0:27:16with my trusted Bradshaw's guide.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19But I would never have realised
0:27:19 > 0:27:25that the same railways that George Bradshaw mapped in the 1830s,
0:27:25 > 0:27:28just over a hundred years later
0:27:28 > 0:27:33would prove the vital lifeline for RAF pilots in World War Two.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39And that as those brave fliers found their way back to their airfields,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42using the railway tracks as their guide,
0:27:42 > 0:27:45they would call that activity Bradshawing.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Thank you, George.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52On the next leg of my journey,
0:27:52 > 0:27:53I'll be following Victorian tourists
0:27:53 > 0:27:58to an English city that was lost like Atlantis.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00It's not just the church ruins that go onto the beach,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04it's also the bodies of the dead from the graveyard.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Meeting some gentle giants who were crucial
0:28:06 > 0:28:09to the smooth running of the railways.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Face of an angel, middle like a beer barrel,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14and a backside on it like a farmer's daughter.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16That sums up the Suffolk horse.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19And discovering how a 19th-century railway entrepreneur
0:28:19 > 0:28:24started something that would grow beyond his wildest dreams.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28I've never been this close to one of these container ships as this.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30It's absolutely enormous!
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:51 > 0:28:54E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk