0:00:03 > 0:00:08For Victorian Britons, George Bradshaw was a household name.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11At a time when railways were new,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Bradshaw's guidebook inspired them to take to the tracks.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17I'm using a Bradshaw's guide
0:00:17 > 0:00:21to understand how trains transformed Britain,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25its landscape, its industry, society and leisure time.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30As I crisscross the country 150 years later,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33it helps me to discover the Britain of today.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51After my exciting trip on the Flying Scotsman,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54I'm now following its path northwards,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58taking the slow train from London at a more leisurely pace.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00As I open my Bradshaw's guide,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04a vivid impression of Victorian Britain tumbles out.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06The metropolis which I'm just leaving
0:01:06 > 0:01:10contains the largest mass of human life,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14arts, science, wealth, powers and architectural splendours
0:01:14 > 0:01:16that in almost all of these particulars,
0:01:16 > 0:01:20has ever existed in the annals of mankind.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24London was the capital of a vast empire,
0:01:24 > 0:01:26which exceeded even ancient Rome.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29As I retrace the tracks of the Flying Scotsman,
0:01:29 > 0:01:32I hope to grasp the psyche of a people
0:01:32 > 0:01:35who ruled a quarter of the globe.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43My journey will take me up the East Coast Main Line
0:01:43 > 0:01:47from London's King's Cross, through the counties of Hertfordshire
0:01:47 > 0:01:49and Bedfordshire, and on via Cambridgeshire
0:01:49 > 0:01:51to the market town of Newark.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55I'll visit the former port of Stockton-on-Tees
0:01:55 > 0:01:58and the coastal towns of Alnmouth and Dunbar
0:01:58 > 0:02:00before finishing in Edinburgh.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05The first leg of my trip takes me deep into
0:02:05 > 0:02:08the Hertfordshire countryside, to Welwyn Garden City.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11From there, I'll travel to the county town of Hertford,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14crossing into Bedfordshire to Biggleswade
0:02:14 > 0:02:17and finally on to the cathedral city of Peterborough.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21'On this journey, I work up a sweat...'
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Oh, joy!
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Chuck the exercise bike, get a pump trolley and a mile of track.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34'..discover the archive of one of our best-known Victorian writers...'
0:02:34 > 0:02:38These were sold on the Indian book-seller stalls
0:02:38 > 0:02:42in the railways for one rupee.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45'..and get steamed up in a vintage car.'
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Apply the throttle - hurray! And we're off!
0:02:56 > 0:02:59I will leave this train at Welwyn Garden City.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04Bradshaw says, "With its sweet sylvan scenes and trout streams,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07'there's no county so rich in associations
0:03:07 > 0:03:10'and in stately seats of gentlemen,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13'as the small inland county of Hertfordshire.'
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Since the days of Queen Elizabeth I,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20with men like Francis Bacon and John Dee, and later with Isaac Newton,
0:03:20 > 0:03:24the British Isles have produced minds that enquired into
0:03:24 > 0:03:26the order of the natural world.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29And, as I hope to discover here,
0:03:29 > 0:03:34it took the Victorians to apply science to the production of food.
0:03:38 > 0:03:4124 miles north of London's King's Cross,
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Welwyn Garden City was the creation of social reformer
0:03:45 > 0:03:48and town planning pioneer Sir Ebenezer Howard.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Established in 1920,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54it was designed to offer families a healthy alternative
0:03:54 > 0:03:58to crowded inner-city living. 80 years earlier, a booming
0:03:58 > 0:04:03Victorian population inspired new ideas in the science of farming.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08I'm heading to Rothamsted Manor, where it all began,
0:04:08 > 0:04:12to meet retired plant pathologist Dr John Jenkin.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15- Hi, John. I'm Michael. - Hello, pleased to meet you.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Lovely to be at Rothamsted Manor. Whose was it?
0:04:18 > 0:04:21The most famous occupant was somebody called John Bennet Lawes,
0:04:21 > 0:04:23who was born here in 1814.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26He was a gentleman who has two principle claims to fame.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29First of all, he started an experimental station
0:04:29 > 0:04:31now known as Rothamsted Research.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35But he also really established the fertiliser industry.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38What was the challenge that they were facing,
0:04:38 > 0:04:39what made the endeavour worthwhile?
0:04:39 > 0:04:43We had a growing population and so we needed to produce more food.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46We couldn't produce enough farmyard manure
0:04:46 > 0:04:49to adequately fertilise all of the crops in a rotation.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Farmers would have supplemented that with things like wool,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54but also bones, for example.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56They were a very important source of phosphate,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59which is one of the important plant nutrients.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02And Lawes developed a process for treating bones
0:05:02 > 0:05:05and later other phosphatic materials with sulphuric acid.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09What this does is make the phosphate more soluble
0:05:09 > 0:05:12- and more readily available to plants.- How did Lawes get started?
0:05:12 > 0:05:16He went to Oxford. He would have been doing classics, philosophy,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20but we do know he went to lectures given by a professor of chemistry
0:05:20 > 0:05:24at Oxford, and when Lawes came back to the manor in 1834,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27without a degree, I hasten to add,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29one of the first things he did was to have one of the bedrooms here
0:05:29 > 0:05:31converted into a laboratory.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36He proceeded to essentially teach himself chemistry.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38He did experiments initially in pots,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42but latterly in small plots on his home farm here at Rothamsted.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45After eight years of research,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50Lawes took out a patent in 1842 on his super phosphate fertiliser
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and put it into production the following year.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57With his hands full at his London factory, he hired chemist
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Henry Gilbert to take charge of continuing research at Rothamsted.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Lawes and Gilbert collaborated for 57 years,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10laying the foundations for modern agricultural science,
0:06:10 > 0:06:16and amazingly, some of the research they started continues to this day.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20The most famous example is the park grass experiment,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22begun in 1856.
0:06:22 > 0:06:24So, John, if you don't mind me saying so,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27a rather average looking field. Why is this of such interest?
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Well, they learned very quickly that the different fertilisers
0:06:31 > 0:06:34gave different yields, but they also noticed very quickly that
0:06:34 > 0:06:37there were big effects on the composition,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and so we have some plots which have a lot of clover in them,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43other plots that have practically no clover,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46plots, for example, that are very typical of acid moorland,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49so there's a great diversity here now, which is why
0:06:49 > 0:06:52it is considered to be probably the most important
0:06:52 > 0:06:54ecological experiment in the world.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59'Close by, Rothamsted Research,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03'visited by agricultural scientists from all over the world,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05'is Lawes' lasting legacy.'
0:07:05 > 0:07:07- Hello, Angela.- Hello, Michael.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11'Professor Angela Karp is Associate Director of Science Innovation at the centre,
0:07:11 > 0:07:16'where there's an archive of more than 300,000 plant and soil samples.'
0:07:16 > 0:07:20You have vast quantities of stuff, dating back to when?
0:07:20 > 0:07:25Actually, here is the first sample that was taken back in 1844.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29So since this date, we have been taking samples of grain like this,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31straw and soil, every single year.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35"Wheat grain 1844 from plot number one."
0:07:35 > 0:07:40But what is the point of keeping wheat that's nearly two centuries old?
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Well, these samples help us to study how what we've been doing in agriculture
0:07:44 > 0:07:48has affected our soils, for example, our environment around the farm.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52And to understand how our practices today are going to impact
0:07:52 > 0:07:53on the environment in the future.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Alongside this historic collection are these state-of-the-art
0:07:58 > 0:08:01laboratories, focused on tomorrow's agriculture.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05The Victorian challenge was to feed a growing mass of people.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07What's the challenge today?
0:08:07 > 0:08:10The complexity has changed enormously,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12because now we have to feed more people,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14but with less land and less chemistry,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17in terms of controlling pests and diseases,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19but also less in terms of fertiliser.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23So, really, it's doing agriculture in a more environmentally friendly
0:08:23 > 0:08:26way, while still maintaining productivity.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31'Dr Nicola Hawkins is one of 200 scientists at Rothamsted Research.'
0:08:31 > 0:08:34Your experiment is intended to find out what?
0:08:34 > 0:08:36I'm looking at plant diseases.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38A lot of the crop diseases are becoming resistant
0:08:38 > 0:08:41to the fungicides that they used to control them,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44so at the moment I'm carrying out a DNA test,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46looking at the levels of resistance,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49and we're actually using some of the samples from the archive.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53So here they've been ground up and the DNA's been extracted.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57We can analyse them with technologies that Lawes and Gilbert
0:08:57 > 0:08:59couldn't have dreamed of and then we'll look at
0:08:59 > 0:09:03what point in history the resistance genes come in.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06So it's extraordinary, isn't it, that the care and attention
0:09:06 > 0:09:09that the Victorians took is still helpful to us today?
0:09:20 > 0:09:24From Welwyn Garden City, my journey takes me six miles to Hertford,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27over the River Mimram, and a famous landmark
0:09:27 > 0:09:29with a royal legend attached.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33You get a marvellous view from the Welwyn Viaduct,
0:09:33 > 0:09:37which Bradshaw's tells me is a structure of 90 feet high.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40It was opened by Queen Victoria,
0:09:40 > 0:09:44but she didn't put her trust in it by travelling across it in a train.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48Instead, she visited beneath in a horse-drawn carriage.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52She need hardly have feared, it's stood the test of time,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56carrying, what, hundreds of high-speed trains every day.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Having come north to Stevenage, I have to change onto
0:10:15 > 0:10:19the so-called Hertford Loop for the final journey to Hertford North.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Bradshaw's tells me that Hertford is the capital of Hertfordshire,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30a small irregularly-built country town
0:10:30 > 0:10:33with the remains of a royal castle or palace,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37which, having been modernised, has now been turned into a school.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40After my lifetime of gaffes,
0:10:40 > 0:10:43I'm looking for a few lessons in diplomacy.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47At the time of my guidebook,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Britain had colonies across the globe,
0:10:50 > 0:10:51and during Queen Victoria's reign,
0:10:51 > 0:10:55it would become the largest imperial power in the world.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00The East India Company ran parts of India on behalf of
0:11:00 > 0:11:03the British government and educated young men
0:11:03 > 0:11:06to be skilled administrators.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08Just outside Hertford,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11I'm meeting Haileybury College's archivist, Toby Parker.
0:11:11 > 0:11:13- Toby, I'm Michael.- Hello.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18What a fine set of buildings the school has,
0:11:18 > 0:11:20but it doesn't look like a castle,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23which is what I expected from my Bradshaw's.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26Well, it originally started in a castle in Hertford,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29but it moved out in 1809 when the college buildings were completed.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31And they were designed specifically
0:11:31 > 0:11:35to provide a training college for the East India Company.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Young men would have been educated here from the age of 15,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42to go out with the requisite skills to govern India.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49'2,000 of the East India College's pupils went on to become civil servants.'
0:11:51 > 0:11:54In what subjects where the students expected to be proficient?
0:11:54 > 0:11:57There was an expectation that they had a good working knowledge
0:11:57 > 0:12:01of languages such as Persian, Hindustani, Telugu
0:12:01 > 0:12:06and also mathematics, astronomy, experimental science
0:12:06 > 0:12:09and also political economy.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13The emphasis on the Indian languages interests me.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17So they were intending to administer or govern in the local language?
0:12:17 > 0:12:21Yeah. Until we see English being imposed
0:12:21 > 0:12:25as the language of rule in India, the administration
0:12:25 > 0:12:29by the East India Company was done through local courts, etc,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33where, actually, the vernacular, the local language, was used.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36They could have relied on translators,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39but there was a growing concern that actually the translators
0:12:39 > 0:12:43were subverting what the administrators wanted to do.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Were they also taught about Indian culture and customs?
0:12:46 > 0:12:52They had lectures and examinations on Mohammed and law
0:12:52 > 0:12:55and Hindu culture, so that the young men
0:12:55 > 0:12:59had an understanding of the nuances of the cultures
0:12:59 > 0:13:01that they were going to work within.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05'Following the Indian mutiny against the company in 1857,
0:13:05 > 0:13:07'it was closed by the British government,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10'who took over direct colonial rule
0:13:10 > 0:13:14'that lasted until India gained independence in 1947.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19'The college became the independent Haileybury Boarding School,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23'and I'm intrigued to discover a lasting connection with India.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28'It became home to the archive of one of our best-known
0:13:28 > 0:13:31'late Victorian writers, Rudyard Kipling.'
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Tremendous collection of works.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38What first brings Kipling to public attention?
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Probably a series of publications
0:13:41 > 0:13:47that are produced in India, known as the Indian Railway Library,
0:13:47 > 0:13:53and these were sold on the Indian book-seller stalls
0:13:53 > 0:13:56in the railways for one rupee.
0:13:56 > 0:14:01Affordable, almost throwaway editions of Kipling's short stories.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05In 1889, he leaves India,
0:14:05 > 0:14:09having made quite a lot of money out of these publications.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11He moves to London.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15By 1894, he's published The Jungle Book.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Jungle Book is still very well-known, it was made into a movie,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21but by comparison with all that he wrote,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24so much of this seems to have passed into oblivion.
0:14:24 > 0:14:25Why so, do you think?
0:14:25 > 0:14:30Well, he's become viewed as a controversial character.
0:14:30 > 0:14:36The associations with imperialism and, by default, colonisation,
0:14:36 > 0:14:42has made him a less palatable figure in some of the public's eyes,
0:14:42 > 0:14:48but there is probably one poem that still holds the attention,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52the interest of the British public, and that is If.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56"If you can keep your head when all about you
0:14:56 > 0:14:59"Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02"If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05"But make allowance for their doubting too...
0:15:05 > 0:15:07"If you can fill the unforgiving minute
0:15:07 > 0:15:10"With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13"Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17"And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"
0:15:18 > 0:15:22For the young men at this college who dream of a civil service career
0:15:22 > 0:15:26in India, two years of study culminated in tough exams.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I wonder whether I have what it took?
0:15:30 > 0:15:35My invigilator is the school's current master, Joe Davis.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37- Portillo?- Yes, sir.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40Sit down. This is the political economy paper.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42One hour. You may begin.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57It's hard to imagine what was going through these boys' heads
0:15:57 > 0:15:59as they prepared to leave Britain.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03I'm sure I would have found it more than a little daunting.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Portillo, stop writing now, please.
0:16:10 > 0:16:11Let me have a look.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18HE SIGHS
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Not very good, is it?
0:16:21 > 0:16:23No India for you.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27Home civil service, I think, Portillo.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Public works, if you're lucky.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46It's a new day on my journey
0:16:46 > 0:16:49retracing the route taken by the famous Flying Scotsman.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54My next stop will be Biggleswade.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Bradshaw's tells me it's a market town in Bedfordshire
0:16:57 > 0:17:03and recommends Old Warden House, property of Lord Ongley.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06I hope to discover that Robert Henley Ongley
0:17:06 > 0:17:11was no common-or-garden Baron, but rather a pleasure peer.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17Biggleswade was a farming area, growing wheat and barley
0:17:17 > 0:17:20and supplying vegetables to the capital.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24It became the first town in Bedfordshire to have a mainline station
0:17:24 > 0:17:27when the Great Northern reached here in 1850.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32Just west of the town is the village of Old Warden.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Samuel Ongley's 17th-century mansion, described in my Bradshaw's,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39was replaced in the late 1800s,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42but its wonderful Swiss Garden has been preserved.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47I'm meeting Christine Hill, who's written a book about the estate.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Who was Lord Ongley?
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Lord Ongley was the fifth in line of the Ongley Squires
0:17:55 > 0:17:59of Old Warden and he inherited the estate at a very young age.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05His father died when he was just 11, and in 1824 he came into the money.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08What do you think would have been the inspiration for these gardens?
0:18:08 > 0:18:12During the 1820s, a lot of young nobility,
0:18:12 > 0:18:16landowners, were going off to Europe to look at the picturesque scenery
0:18:16 > 0:18:20over there, and he developed a passion for the Swiss.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24We don't know whether he actually went to Switzerland,
0:18:24 > 0:18:27but he took on the picturesque style,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29as his theme for both the Swiss Garden
0:18:29 > 0:18:31and the village of Old Warden.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35He made his villagers wear clothing with a Swiss theme.
0:18:35 > 0:18:40Red cloaks, tall hats and red neckerchiefs.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Dotted amongst the Alpine lawns and pines
0:18:47 > 0:18:51are statues and elaborate follies, including
0:18:51 > 0:18:56this Swiss-style thatched cottage that Ongley used as a teahouse.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58Once you've built a garden like this, I suppose
0:18:58 > 0:19:00- you want to entertain, is that what he did?- He did entertain.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03A newspaper report tells us that in 1832,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07he laid on a big bash for the local nobility.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09They were dancing quadrilles
0:19:09 > 0:19:12and had a special band brought up from London.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16It says that from every turn there were exotic birds
0:19:16 > 0:19:19walking in front. And we know that Ongley had an aviary,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23and today, of course, we have peacocks in the garden still.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Ongley seems like quite an attractive character to me, what was his fate?
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Well, he wasn't a good businessman,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31and his money went.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34By 1854, he had given up in Old Warden.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37He moved down to Bushy Lodge at Teddington,
0:19:37 > 0:19:42overlooking Hampton Court, and it was there he died in 1877.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Old Warden House was bought by Joseph Shuttleworth,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53who made his fortune producing steam-powered farming machines.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59His grandson Richard inherited his love of engines
0:19:59 > 0:20:03and started to amass aircraft and cars here on the estate.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10Following his death in a flying accident at just 31 years of age,
0:20:10 > 0:20:14his mother, Lady Dorothy, opened his collection to the public.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Richard Shuttleworth's passion for machinery
0:20:24 > 0:20:28has been vigorously sustained and Shuttleworth now has
0:20:28 > 0:20:34a permanent collection of aircraft and motorcars, all in working order.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35Today is gala day,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39and the extraordinary engineering on display is matched
0:20:39 > 0:20:42only by the extraordinary crowd that's come to see it.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52- Hello, happy picnickers, how are you all? Lovely to see you. - Lovely to see you.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55So, you're beautifully turned out, congratulations to you. Why?
0:20:55 > 0:20:57It's a Roaring '20s race day.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00We're re-enactor historians for Shuttleworth.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Shuttleworth asked us along to come and be 1920s for them.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Are you sort of paying a tribute to Richard Shuttleworth?
0:21:05 > 0:21:07Very much so and also Lady Dorothy as well.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09- Who continued it all.- Absolutely.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11Yeah, yeah. And are you enjoying the airshow?
0:21:11 > 0:21:13Oh, yes. Brilliant.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19As well as 40 airworthy vintage planes,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23this 20th-century collection includes around 70 vehicles
0:21:23 > 0:21:25and it's managed by Stuart Gray.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30- Stuart, hello.- Hello, Michael. - Lovely to see you.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Now, you're leaving a bit of a vapour trail today.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36- What are you driving? - I'm driving a 1900 Locomobile.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40- A Locomobile. A steam car. - American steam car.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43An American steam car. And why is it in the Shuttleworth collection?
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Locomobiles were very popular at the turn of the century
0:21:46 > 0:21:51and Richard Shuttleworth actually bought this car in 1932, I believe,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54and it turned out to be one of his most favourite cars.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58- And what's it like to drive? - It's fun. You ought to have a go.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00I'd love to.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07This is your steering, it's a tiller steer and there's your throttle.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09How far can we go in this, Stuart?
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Well, Richard did the London to Brighton run in 1934.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15I think we'll do something slightly less ambitious.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17So, foot off brake.
0:22:17 > 0:22:18We've obviously got steam.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20Apply the throttle - hooray!
0:22:20 > 0:22:22And we're off!
0:22:27 > 0:22:29At the end of Victoria's reign,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32on Britain's roads it was full steam ahead.
0:22:45 > 0:22:51I'm heading back to Biggleswade station to continue 35 miles north.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Next stop, Peterborough, which Bradshaw says,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01"..is a cathedral town on the River Nene
0:23:01 > 0:23:03"and on the Great Northern Railway,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06"where three or four other lines strike off."
0:23:06 > 0:23:09One line, running along the river valley,
0:23:09 > 0:23:12was struck off the map for a number of years,
0:23:12 > 0:23:14but has steamed back into life.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Although it boasts this impressive 12th-century cathedral,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Peterborough was a small market town until the arrival of the railways,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39which transformed it into a bustling industrial centre.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44The London and Birmingham railway completed the first railway line
0:23:44 > 0:23:48to Peterborough in 1845, which ran via Northampton.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53It became one of the last victims of the Beeching cuts of the 1960s.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56But today, a seven-and-a-half-mile stretch of the track
0:23:56 > 0:23:59is home to the heritage Nene Valley Railway.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04It's based just west of the city in the pretty village of Wansford.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07But, before I board one of its trains,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10I'm going to do something I've always wanted to do,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12helped by volunteer Phil Marshall.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14- Hello, Phil.- Hello, Michael.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16And what a wonderful vehicle this is,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19an old pump trolley if I'm not mistaken, is that right?
0:24:19 > 0:24:23It is indeed. Built by the North Eastern Railways in about 1907.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Many of these left?
0:24:25 > 0:24:28I would say there's around about 20 of them remaining,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31of which there's three or four of them, maximum, that are operational.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Really? Oh, wow, so it's really rare.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37- It's brilliantly simple, isn't it? - It is indeed. There's no gearboxes.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42Even to get it from forward to reverse you simply rock the handle the opposite way.
0:24:42 > 0:24:43And what was its main use?
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Before the days of the van, the only way to get down the track
0:24:46 > 0:24:49was for them to actually jump on one of these trolleys
0:24:49 > 0:24:54and the gangers would have probably have done about sort of ten
0:24:54 > 0:24:57to 20 miles on it a day as they inspected the track.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58Well, can we take it for a spin?
0:24:58 > 0:25:00- We can indeed.- So, chocks away.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05A bit of elbow grease to begin with.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08And she moves!
0:25:09 > 0:25:10And off we go.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Once she's rolling, it's a lot easier.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Oh, joy.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18The wind in my hair.
0:25:18 > 0:25:19No locomotive.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Muscle power!
0:25:29 > 0:25:32What gargantuan speed have we reached now?
0:25:32 > 0:25:35About 8mph, I would say.
0:25:35 > 0:25:398mph, and it feels like 120.
0:25:41 > 0:25:43Oh, I'm enjoying this!
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Chuck the exercise bike, get a pump trolley
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and a mile of track.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04I think, after that, I've earned a more restful ride back to Peterborough.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09After you.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17The Nene Valley is one of around 100 heritage railways
0:26:17 > 0:26:20across Britain that keep alive the romance of steam.
0:26:21 > 0:26:27It was resurrected in the 1970s and is run by a group of up to 250 volunteers.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Marketing manager Gerry Thurston is joining me for tea.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36Congratulations on the Nene Valley Railway,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38which is absolutely delightful.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41When it was in full use, what was it used for?
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Absolutely everything that a branch line would be used for,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46from the, literally, the schools' specials trains
0:26:46 > 0:26:49right the way through to freight and there was a couple of quarries
0:26:49 > 0:26:51so they'd bring the stone in that way.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54There are lots of heritage railways in Britain, thank goodness.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57What's special about the Nene Valley Railway?
0:26:57 > 0:27:00I think probably the fact that we run between
0:27:00 > 0:27:02the wonderful cathedral city of Peterborough
0:27:02 > 0:27:06and out of the rurality of the Nene Valley itself.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10We do have literally one foot in the city and the other in the country.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30The Nene Valley Railway evokes the age of steam,
0:27:30 > 0:27:33a time when the urban population was swelling.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37John Lawes wrestled with how to increase food production.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Meanwhile, the East India College was harvesting young British minds
0:27:41 > 0:27:43to govern India.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48Rudyard Kipling won a Nobel Prize, but is now largely out of fashion.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52Perhaps, had imperialism not been discredited,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55his reputation would stand higher today,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57but that's one of the big ifs.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08'Next time, I rally a crowd of choristers...'
0:28:08 > 0:28:12- Has your chanting ever been atrocious?- No.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15'..get friendly with a prickly chap...'
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Hello, Charles.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Charles is certainly not lacking in energy or strength, is he?
0:28:20 > 0:28:22He's quite a character.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25'..and get fired up with a Victorian chemist.'
0:28:26 > 0:28:28Let there be light.