Goes to Ireland - Belfast to Whitehead Great British Railway Journeys

'In 1840, one man transformed travel in Britain and Ireland.

'His name was George Bradshaw, and his railway guides inspired the Victorians

'to take to the tracks.

'Stop by stop, he told them where to travel,

'what to see and where to stay.

'Now, 170 years later, I'm making a series of journeys

'across the length and breadth of these islands

'to see what of Bradshaw's world remains.'

I'm continuing my journey across Northern Ireland,

which will lead me to the spectacular north coast.

Just now, I'm approaching Belfast, which,

when Parliament first approved legislation for railways,

was known as a village.

But today, it's become a mighty city.

'On today's leg of my journey, I'll be taking a step back in time.'

This is like making a visit

to the early stages of the Industrial Revolution.

'Seeing what gave pleasure-seeking Victorians the thrill of their lives.'

You're talking about being 30 to 70 feet above the sea,

crashing below you. It makes a big change from city life.

'And taking to the tracks

'in the latest hi-tech train simulator.'

Whoa!

Oh, dear! I think we're all dead.

'My 19th century guidebook

'is taking me across a land that at the time of writing

'was one Ireland under the reign of Queen Victoria.

'I've been following the historical expansion of the railways

'from Dublin towards Belfast,

'before finishing in Derry, Londonderry.

'On today's stretch, I'll be exploring Northern Ireland's capital

'before heading north to Templepatrick,

'ending at the handsome coastal town of Whitehead.'

My Bradshaw's says of Belfast,

"The tall chimneys and factories for spinning linen and cotton yarn

"are the most conspicuous buildings.

"Though ranking the second port in Ireland,

"it stands first for manufactures and trade."

And I'm delighted to be back in a city,

which has memories for me of bad times and good.

'Belfast suffered greatly during the political conflict

'and the violence of the Troubles.

'But in recent times it's experienced greater periods of calm and economic growth,

'at least until the recession.

'The city's huge industrial development began in the Victorian era.

'It was the centre for linen, and by 1873 produced more of it than anywhere in the world,

'employing thousands of workers and earning itself the moniker Linenopolis'

'But another industry also gave Belfast global renown.'

It was the water and the railways that made Belfast great.

As Bradshaw's guide says,

"Since 1839, very great improvements have been made in the harbour,

"a deep channel having been cut right up to the town,

"so that large vessels are now able

"to discharge cargo at the new quays."

But even Bradshaw, I think, foreseeing the greatness of Belfast,

would've been stunned by the scale,

and would've been in awe to know

that this city would produce ships that are household names.

'To discover how this all came to be,

'I've arrived at Belfast Dock and the Harland And Wolff shipyard,

'famous for building the ill-fated Titanic.

'I'm meeting Belfast Harbour historian Andrew Waldron

'to ascend one of two huge shipbuilding gantry cranes.

'Thankfully, by taking the lift,

'rather than climbing the heart-stopping 400 steps to the top.'

Wow! We can see everything from here.

Andrew, this is a very special experience,

being up here, as long as we're not blown off by this high wind.

We've got all of Belfast laid out before us.

Another of the iconic Harland And Wolff cranes, there.

330 feet up, here, on this.

This is the largest crane, the Samson.

Goliath is just slightly smaller than the crane we're standing on.

But these two cranes symbolise Belfast,

for what it is today.

'A third of all Northern Ireland's wealth

'is developed from the businesses operating within Belfast Port.

'And the harbour area employs a staggering 17,000 people.

'But none of this would have been possible

'without the intervention of Victorian William Dargan,

'the father of Irish railways,

'who substantially enlarged and deepened the harbour in the 1840s.

'With big ships able to dock for the first time, the port boomed.

'So much so, that Bradshaw notes that customs duties

'had risen tenfold in 40 years.

'And railways were instrumental in that growth.'

There's not much sign of railway tracks any more, apart from the tracks that these trains run on.

But at one time it must've been full of railways.

There were that many railway lines here, it was a proper industrial railway system.

There were more railway lines here than within the city of Belfast itself.

And what were those tracks doing?

They were bringing goods into the port, and goods going out of the port, you know, exports.

Various different commodities. Linen was exported.

Iron ore. Bauxite, from the hills of County Antrim. Salt.

Timber was being imported. Coal was coming in.

Just about everything under the sun came here, at one stage.

'The work that Dargan did in creating a shipping channel

'had another immense consequence for Belfast.

'The spoil from the project was used to build Queen's Island,

'named after Queen Victoria.

'And there, shipbuilding really got under way

'when Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff

'chose to site their shipyard there.

'Belfast's foresighted harbour commissioners

'provided the most up-to-date heavy lifting machinery and railways

'to enable Harland And Wolff to construct the huge vessels then being designed.'

The harbour commissioners in 1882 supplied three heavy railway wagons,

each wagon capable of taking 150-tonne loads.

They didn't have anything to haul them, so they used horses, teams of horses.

30 horses, 40 horses, 50 horses on the much larger loads.

They trundled down the quayside to the large crane, the 120-tonne crane,

then offloaded them straight into the hull of the ship.

'Steam locomotives eventually replaced the horses

'and Belfast grew to be

'the world's largest shipyard by the turn of the 20th century.

'Harland And Wolff employed an astounding 12,000 people,

'working over a site of 80 acres.

'They built enormous ocean-going liners

'including the Titanic and her two sisters,

'which were intended to sail from Southampton to New York.

'And their output went beyond designing and building ships.'

They built a number of railway locomotives for use within Northern Ireland,

and they built a number of locomotives and a railcar,

which they exported to Buenos Aires and the Sudan.

'Belfast Port continues to be a major maritime gateway today.

'Shipbuilding, on the other hand, has declined steadily.

'Having built over 1,700 ships and a fair few trains in its history,

'Harland And Wolff now focuses on ship repair and civil engineering projects

'including building wind- and tidal-powered turbines.'

So, they're not manufacturing trains here any more?

No. But the latest trains that are being built for Northern Ireland Railways,

these new state-of-the-art railcars,

are coming into here and being imported directly through Belfast port.

-So, there is a link?

-There is a link still left, yes.

'Today, there are no operational railway tracks left at Belfast Port,

'bar those that Samson and Goliath run on.

'But the docks are playing host to the latest generation of trains

'being shipped from Spain for the Northern Ireland rail network.

'When new rolling stock arrived in Bradshaw's day,

'drivers learnt on the job.

'Today, a high-tech simulator allows operators to practise

'in the safety of a virtual world.

'And I'm lucky enough to be invited to the Rail Operations Training Academy

'to try my hand at driving a modern commuter train.'

Wow, this looks like fun!

'My supervisor is Colin Watson.'

-Colin?

-Michael.

-Hello.

-How are you, are you well?

This is fantastic, look at that.

The line laid out before me. Where am I?

You're currently in platform one

in Great Victoria Street Station in Belfast.

May I start off?

Absolutely. To move, ease the power controller, over to your left.

And with the weight of your hand, just let it ease forward.

MICHAEL GASPS

-And we're off.

-My goodness! We're moving. That is...

HE LAUGHS

This is WONDERFULLY realistic, isn't it? Just amazing.

OK, we're coming to a tunnel,

so if you just blow the horn as a warning of entry.

HORN SOUNDS TWO NOTES

'This simulator can prepare drivers

'for any eventuality that they may face on the tracks.'

We can have our drivers driving in various different weather conditions.

-Oh!

-There's snow.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

That was a sudden change of weather.

I know the weather changes quickly in Northern Ireland,

but THAT is amazing.

We can put various different obstacles

in front of anyone in the simulator, here

ranging from trees to fridges.

Shopping trolleys would be

quite an occasional obstacle to come across.

So we can represent a normal day or an abnormal day for a driver.

PUSHES BRAKE LEVER

Whoa!

MICHAEL LAUGHS

Oh, dear!

I think we're all dead.

That tree really came out of nowhere, didn't it?

It did, which is always your problem in fog.

Ah, God, that was frightening.

COLIN LAUGHS

'I think I'll leave the driving to the professionals,

'and stick to what I can manage,

'as I catch a train just over a mile south across the City.'

ANNOUNCEMENT: The next station is Great Victoria Street.

'As industry and commerce prospered throughout the 19th century,

'pursuits that had been the preserve of the upper classes

'now became open to an emerging wealthy middle class.

'I'm heading for an institution

'that flourished with such changes in Victorian society.'

Bradshaw's says that here in Belfast

"the Botanical Society possesses a garden on the river,

"where an island of 20 acres has been laid out with shrubberies."

Such exotic amenities were popular in Victorian times.

I'm guessing that the right place to get out and see it

is at the railway station called Botanic.

'The Victorian period was the golden age of plant collecting,

'and botanical adventurers risked their lives

'bringing back the finest exotic specimens from around the world.

'Luscious ferns and fruits, giant water lilies from the Orient

'and palms from India.

'all these species required protection from the British climate,

'and that gave rise to stupendous Victorian glasshouses.

'My guide to this palace of plants is horticulturalist, Reg Maxwell.'

Reg, hello.

Good to have you. Welcome to Botanic Gardens.

I'm just bewitched by this building. It is so beautiful.

When does it date from?

It dates from 1839, '40,

and that was the two wings that were built first by Turner of Dublin.

He was the great iron master who went on to build a number of glass houses,

and specifically Kew Gardens, the big one.

But the dome wasn't built straight away,

that wasn't built until 1852 by Young of Edinburgh.

And is this what Bradshaw would call "an island of 20 acres"?

It's the same site today, is it?

That's right. That path systems that you walk around here,

and look into the trees and the great lawn,

were all laid out in 1828.

And how special is this palm house?

Well, I think it's special in that

it is built specifically for tropical plants.

It's made of cast iron and wrought iron, and it is a curvilinear house.

And that's because the bars are curved and the glass is curved.

That makes it very important.

Because it makes it one of the early surviving

full curvilinear palm houses.

I have a feeling it's even more remarkable inside than outside.

-Is that true? Shall we go and have a look?

-I think so.

'Advances in the manufacture of iron and glass

'gave Britain both its canopied railway stations

'and its botanical glasshouses.

'And these elegant feats of architecture and engineering

'brought Victorians flocking.'

The interior is warm and humid, and the sunlight is streaming in,

and you've got these immense specimens. It's delightful.

Isn't it? And in the Victorian times, of course, for the ordinary person coming in here,

it would've been totally amazing,

almost like, for us today, if we're dealing with the space age

and walking on the moon.

It's that kind of magnitude of surprise and interest.

Because of specimens they'd never seen before?

Yes, from parts of the world

that they could never even think of or dream of or read about.

'Business travellers and those on colonial or military service

'had the opportunity to see these plants in their habitats.

'They would then send seeds, cuttings or whole plants

'back to Britain.'

-And how did these specimens get here?

-By ship and overland.

Once the railways came, of course, things speeded up.

And so the chances of plants surviving and getting back were much greater.

And the Victorians were very serious about

studying plants and cataloguing plants, weren't they?

They were, because there were thousands of these plants coming in,

so they had to try and find out what they were,

because they didn't fit into the flora that we had in our own country,

so it was a great challenge to them to try and grow them.

And that's why they had to build these houses.

This is a fine example of a plant that came in from the South Americas

in the late Victorian period.

And this is aechmea fasciata.

And it has the lovely creaking leaf, doesn't it?

Yes, and, of course, the Victorians would love that experience

of being able to touch and feel

and smell a plant such as this.

All these plants around us would've been considered

extremely rare and exotic,

and would be the plant that you had to have

to be in the fashion and to be a collector,

but now are common houseplants, and we take them for granted.

But they're beautiful all the same.

'Back on the train into the centre of Belfast

'at the end of a fascinating day.

'Whilst my journey around this great city has so far celebrated

'the triumphs of its Victorian past,

'I can't come here without acknowledging the difficulties

'of more modern times.

'And my bed for the night is in a hotel, which experienced and withstood

'much violence during the political conflict generally known as the Troubles'.

Since the 1970s, The Europa has been one of Belfast's premier hotels,

and as such it attracted many journalists and politicians who stayed here.

I came here myself back in those days of Troubles,

and I remember it surrounded by an enormous fence with sandbags, with concrete,

with security cameras and enormous security measures, as well.

And the fact that all that has been taken away, and you can just walk straight in,

is perhaps an eloquent sign

that more peaceful times have returned to Northern Ireland.

Good morning.

For the first time, I have stayed in a room

that was once occupied by a president of the United States.

Because in November 1995 Bill And Hillary Clinton

made a remarkable visit to Northern Ireland in search of peace.

Perhaps most remarkably, at the 30th anniversary of the hotel,

Bill Clinton sent a message saying,

"The Europa stands today as a living example

"of an extraordinary past, and the promise of an even greater future."

That being a reference to the fact that this hotel was bombed 36 times during the Troubles.

'This morning my Bradshaw's leads me away from Belfast,

'to the village of Templepatrick,

'14 miles northeast of the city.

'To work the land productively

'has been key to survival in Ireland for centuries.

'And the humble spade has been the main tool

'with which the Irish have cut peat for fuel,

'planted foods, and toiled as construction workers.

'So I'm taking a step back in time

'to one of the last remaining Victorian spade mills,

'to meet spade maker Colin Dawson.'

-Colin.

-Hello, Michael. Pleased to meet you.

Great to see you. I've never been to a spade mill before.

And, tell you the truth, I've never thought about spades.

Are there many, many different varieties?

Well, in Ireland alone there were 171 different varieties of spade.

Every county had its own type of spade.

For instance, Sligo is grey clay and a lot of stone,

so you need a very narrow, thick spade.

Fermanagh is very wet land,

so you need a spade that's a wee bit like a spoon, with a bend in it,

very thick in the middle, so that you can break the suction of the wet soil.

I hope it's OK if I say that

I suppose Ireland has been a land of digging.

When I think about agriculture, when I think about turf,

and when I think about navvies,

they're all using spades, aren't they?

Yes. Irish navvy was the best navigator in the world.

People think of a navvy as being a labouring man,

but they were very, very skilful people.

'The term navvy, short for navigator,

'has been used since the 18th century

'to describe those working on civil engineering projects.

'From canals, roads and tunnels to the rail network,

'navvies are recognized as the men who built Ireland and Britain.

'But to do the job, they needed an effective tool.

'Enterprising Victorian spade manufacturers

'recognised the potential for mechanising the production of spades,

'and took over this site, originally a water-powered linen mill.'

How would conditions have been in mills like these

in the middle of the 19th century?

Oh, they would've been horrendous places to work.

There was no such a thing as health and safety,

and children worked when they were ten.

They went to work in the morning, and school in the afternoon,

or they would've went to work one day, and school the next.

They were called a half-timer, or a part-timer.

And then, whenever they were 12, they left school, went to work full time,

from six in the morning to six at night, six days a week.

At 14 you started an apprenticeship until you were 25.

And sometimes you didn't get paid for the apprenticeship.

It was a pleasure to get doing it.

And for the life of me, I don't know why they called it the good old days.

'At the peak of spade-making in the mid-19th Century,

'there were 37 mills throughout Ireland,

'making an astounding 36,000 spades per year.'

'Colin and his colleague Tom Mahon

'have kindly agreed to show me this time-hallowed process,

'something they still do every day to meet a huge order book.'

So you start just with a piece of steel?

We start with a solid block of steel. As you see, we knack it.

We split the knack and now we're going to pierce the socket down into it.

And this is water-powered, this machine.

'The whole spade head is made from one piece of steel,

'heated in the forge to blistering temperatures

'to allow it to be worked into shape.'

After you've done about 200 of these,

you're ready for a pint of Guinness.

'The spades are made in batches of 12. Whilst each is worked,

'the others are being heated in the furnace.'

Can't believe the speed at which this is going on.

One spade after another coming out of the furnace.

'Colin and Tom beat the steel into a spade-shaped blade

'using the mill's original water-powered hammer.'

Never saw anything like that in my life.

It's like a big nodding duck.

This is like making a visit to the early stages

of the Industrial Revolution.

You just can't believe the ingenuity of man.

And the skill of Colin working it.

What sort of power is that delivering, Colin?

Up to 100-tonne pressure coming down on it.

MICHAEL LAUGHS

That I don't believe. Tom just pops in there with a bit of wood.

I just can't believe it.

The whole secret is to make sure your thumb's not on top of it

when you put it in there.

Yeah, that would be important.

So the next stage is just to keep bringing it out

until you get the blade out and then you trim it up.

How many times will you have to bring it out and beat it?

About seven times.

All of this for one spade.

'In Bradshaw's day, the finished spades were distributed

'by train all over Ireland and by ship onwards to Britain

'and the continent from Belfast Port.

'Victorian entrepreneurs saw how railways could help to expand

'industrial output and supply new demands

'from the increasingly numerous middle class.'

'My last journey today takes me 17 miles north east of Belfast

'to where a Northern Irish railway magnate

'constructed an astounding coastal attraction, just for tourists.'

I'm on my way to Whitehead and Island Magee. My Bradshaw's says,

"The cliffs and caves of the island are frequently basaltic,

"especially at the Gobbins."

Since I've arrived in Ireland,

I've found most railways were built for passengers rather than freight.

On this line, the railways actually built an attraction

to bring the tourists along the line.

I think this is going to be a beautiful spot,

the way the line ran along the coast there

was just gorgeous, breathtaking.

The Victorians and Edwardians loved nothing more

than a bracing walk along a seafront

and Whitehead became a popular seaside destination.

Visitors were particularly drawn by the Gobbins,

a series of awe-inspiring cliffs towering above the Irish Sea,

on which a pathway had been constructed.

It was designed by rail entrepreneur Berkley Dean Wise for the Belfast

and Northern Counties Railway with the express aim of attracting

passengers to use the rail between Belfast and Whitehead.

Council executive Geraldine McGahey is my guide

to this intriguing Victorian sales promotion.

Berkley Dean Wise was the engineer

and architect who worked for Belfast and Northern Counties Railway.

The was the visionary behind all of the tourism aspects

that the railway company got involved in.

He helped construct Whitehead.

He built Whitehead railway station, Larne railway station

and many, many others.

So although we're dealing with cliffs and other natural phenomena,

the path itself had to be constructed in some way.

The path itself was constructed by hand

and you'll see that he has used old railway sleepers

encased in concrete. He was one of the pioneers

of reinforced concrete and he did this to encourage people

to use the railway line as far as Whitehead.

And this was about tourism,

to give something for people to do at the end of the railway line.

Wise constructed paths, suspension bridges and tunnels,

all hewn into the rocks,

intended to give pleasure-seeking Victorians

the thrill of their lives.

The Victorians liked their fresh air, they liked to be out in nature.

This gave them that kind of exposure.

You're talking about being 30 to 70 feet above the sea,

crashing below you, the fresh air that comes with that.

It makes a big change from city life.

'Unfortunately, after the Second World War the pathway

'fell into disrepair and was eventually closed to the public.

'But some parts of this great piece

'of Victorian ingenuity still remain.'

Michael, back when this path was first opened, a little boy

used to sit on the steps out there and collect the entrance money.

-Sixpence, way back in the 1900s.

-An expensive treat.

It was, but if you came on the railway, you got it free.

So, now as we come round,

you can see the spectacular pathway unfolding in front of you.

I can.

You can see where the remnants of the old railings,

handrails that came up there, they were cast iron.

And then the stonework that was built up to produce

the actual path itself. A real engineering feat.

'In its heyday, this attraction was more popular

'than Ireland's famous Giant's Causeway.'

-Are there any plans to restore it to its former glory?

-Absolutely.

We've now secured £6 million of funding from a variety

of sources and by the end of 2013, we'll have this path back

to exactly the way it was when Berkley Dean Wise first opened it.

Back to the bridges and tunnels?

The bridges, the tunnels, everything is going to be put back in place.

Maybe not cast-iron, it will be stainless steel this time,

a bit more durable, but people will still get the same experience.

'When Berkley Dean Wise's heart-stopping suspension bridges

'and tunnels are restored, I shall definitely return.

'I'd like to experience a Victorian thrill

'of tiptoeing high above the Irish Sea.'

The Victorians had an eye for beauty,

they found it in the four corners of the earth

and sent back specimens to the botanical Gardens in Belfast.

And they perceived beauty too in craftsmanship,

whether it was laying tracks, or hammering out a humble spade,

or building the mightiest ships that the world had ever seen.

'On the next part of my rail adventure,

'I'll be marvelling at a giant's handiwork...'

It's the most amazing, awe-inspiring sight.

'..hearing how women, famous for their dexterity with the needle,

'built a city...'

If there wasn't a shirt factory, this would probably be a desert.

'..and discovering how emigration profoundly shaped families and nations.'

When you went to America in the 50s,

it was kind of goodbye for ever, you know?

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