0:00:05 > 0:00:09It's 1858 and thousands line the streets of Birmingham to catch
0:00:09 > 0:00:12a glimpse of Queen Victoria.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14It's the first time that a reigning British monarch
0:00:14 > 0:00:17has ever officially visited the second city.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Victoria is unlike any other monarch in the history of the realm.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25She's able to travel the country, see more of her kingdom,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28and meet more of her subjects than any of her predecessors.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34And this is entirely down to the railways.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40The expanding transport network was at the heart of modern,
0:00:40 > 0:00:42powerful Victorian Britain.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45A Britain bursting with energy and confidence.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49Railways were transforming virtually everything, from where we live
0:00:49 > 0:00:54to how we work, from what we eat to how we spend our leisure time.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01They also reflected Britain's deep class divisions, offering
0:01:01 > 0:01:05different services for different people, based on status and wealth.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09Yet, Victoria's visit was one example of how trains could
0:01:09 > 0:01:10bring people together,
0:01:10 > 0:01:15offering us a new shared sense of national identity and culture.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Until now, the wealthy and the poor had inhabited separate and
0:01:19 > 0:01:21very distinct worlds.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25But by levelling people's experience of travel, did the railways
0:01:25 > 0:01:29spell the beginning of the end for Britain's rigid social hierarchies?
0:01:43 > 0:01:44Birmingham New Street,
0:01:44 > 0:01:50one of the busiest railway stations in the country. All life is here.
0:01:50 > 0:01:55A swirling mix of ages, cultures, and social classes.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Hundreds of people pass through railway stations every day.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Each has a different story to tell.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Railways undoubtedly changed the country.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05They gave us a great melting pot.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08A more open, connected and democratic world, where
0:02:08 > 0:02:13people from all walks of life can travel over long distances quickly.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16But when passenger railways first appeared in the early 1830s,
0:02:16 > 0:02:20it seemed that they would simply reinforce
0:02:20 > 0:02:25a rigid social hierarchy where everyone knew their place.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Of course, at first, the trains were mainly for the well-to-do.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45Nowadays, many of our old Victorian lines have become heritage railways.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49There's the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire and in Shropshire and
0:02:49 > 0:02:54Worcestershire, there's the Severn Valley Line, built in the mid 1800s.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58As with many heritage lines, the rolling stock used are from
0:02:58 > 0:03:02a variety of periods, but you can still get a sense of a bygone
0:03:02 > 0:03:06age of steam, an age dominated by a clear class structure.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11What were the carriages like in the early days?
0:03:11 > 0:03:16Well, first class was nice upholstered seats and some
0:03:16 > 0:03:19people even actually put their own carriages on.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Second class would have been all right.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Probably wooden seats, but still reasonably comfortable.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28From the start, there were clear distinctions
0:03:28 > 0:03:31between first and second class.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35Writing later in the 1800s, the artist GD Leslie said that
0:03:35 > 0:03:38second offered a livelier experience.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41"I generally prefer going in the second class compartments,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44"partly from motives of economy, but chiefly on account of the
0:03:44 > 0:03:48"greater variety and interest to be found amongst the passengers.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52"First class passengers appear to me to be too much impressed with
0:03:52 > 0:03:53"their own greatness.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56"Little or no conversation have they for strangers."
0:03:58 > 0:04:02At first, railways catered mainly for the upper ranks of society.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Third class travel for the workers wasn't introduced until later
0:04:06 > 0:04:08on in the 1830s.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13The railways companies were not really interested in carrying
0:04:13 > 0:04:15people who were not very well off.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20They envisaged that the railway was for the upper classes,
0:04:20 > 0:04:22for the growing number of middle classes,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25but they didn't think that the labourers,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29the working classes, would be able to afford to go on the railway,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33but actually, there was a great demand from them and gradually,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35they started to meet that demand.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Eventually, third class travel came into existence,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44but if you're thinking it was probably just hard wooden seats,
0:04:44 > 0:04:49a few more people in the carriages and no buffet car, think again.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51There's no roof on this carriage,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54it's exposed to the elements and you feel fairly unsafe.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01The National Railway Museum in York is home to an 1834 Bodmin and
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Wadebridge carriage. Believe it or not,
0:05:04 > 0:05:07it was probably plusher than most third class carriages from the time.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11Many were virtually the same as the wagons used for goods and animals.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14With seemingly no profit to be made from poorer travellers,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18there was no incentive to invest in their comfort.
0:05:18 > 0:05:26Third class carriages were really nothing but simple freight
0:05:26 > 0:05:33open top wagons intended to carry all sorts of random loads and
0:05:33 > 0:05:38you might just put a few benches in them and put people in them.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40But they were really pretty dangerous.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46But despite the terrible conditions, the railways did at least create
0:05:46 > 0:05:50opportunities for more people to travel, whatever their social class.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Third class passengers, remember in those days,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56had probably never travelled anywhere before.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58And if they did, it might have been, you know,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01on top of a stagecoach, again open to the elements,
0:06:01 > 0:06:07so they were prepared to put up with pretty basic conditions of
0:06:07 > 0:06:11travel cos it enabled them to do journeys that, you know,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14even before 1830 would just never been conceived of.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20But not everyone was pleased about the newly mobile lower classes.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26First class passengers got to travel in their own carriages,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30of course, but many complained about having to stand shoulder to
0:06:30 > 0:06:32shoulder with working men on the platform.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36Not only that, there was a distinct nervousness about letting
0:06:36 > 0:06:38working class people travel on trains at all.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47In the 1840s, Benjamin Disraeli's novel Sybil captured the mood
0:06:47 > 0:06:53of the aristocracy. "Equality is not our metier," says Lord de Mowbray.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56"If we nobles do not make a stand against this levelling spirit
0:06:56 > 0:07:00"of the age, then I am at a loss to know who will fight the battle.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05"We may depend on it. These railroads are very dangerous things."
0:07:08 > 0:07:10He may have had a point.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13The working classes and their supporters found trains
0:07:13 > 0:07:16useful when it came to organising protests.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Europe was rocked by a series of revolutions in the mid 1800s.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23During this fractious period,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27a British revolt seemed a genuine possibility.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31In 1839, Birmingham experienced riots and the railways played
0:07:31 > 0:07:35an important role, both symbolically and practically.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39Thousands of Chartists took to the streets of the UK's second city,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41demanding political reforms.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46With tension mounting, trouble was clearly brewing.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48Workers from far afield were able to get to Birmingham,
0:07:48 > 0:07:54thanks in part to the trains. Mass transportation for mass protest.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58But that wasn't the only role the railways played in the riots.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Birmingham didn't yet have its own police force and
0:08:02 > 0:08:09so the Mayor of Birmingham worried about this mounting unrest
0:08:09 > 0:08:15and the speeches every other night by fiery Chartist leaders.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17He has to go up to London,
0:08:17 > 0:08:20where he gets the Home Secretary
0:08:20 > 0:08:23to lend him some Metropolitan Police officers,
0:08:23 > 0:08:29so he comes back to Birmingham on the train with 60 police officers.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33They bring their staves down to the ballroom where the Mayor of
0:08:33 > 0:08:38Birmingham suggests that they should try and disperse the crowd of
0:08:38 > 0:08:42heated up Chartists and you can imagine the struggle then between
0:08:42 > 0:08:4560 lightly armed police officers and
0:08:45 > 0:08:49a crowd of worked up Chartists.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55So, the railways played a dual role.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57They both enabled political protest
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and helped the authorities to control protesters.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06But with more and more passengers using the railways en masse,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10there was a growing risk of injuries and fatalities,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13particularly for those travelling third class.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18With conditions in their carriages so bad,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21it was only a matter of time before a major accident occurred.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27A grim Punch cartoon depicted a cheery undertaker touting for
0:09:27 > 0:09:30business on a station platform.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34The inevitable disaster happened on Christmas Eve in 1841,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37as a train carrying workers from London back home to Bristol
0:09:37 > 0:09:41derailed at Sonning Cutting because of a landslide.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Nine people who were travelling in standing only carriages,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47which were reserved for the poorest passengers, were killed.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51It became a big story,
0:09:51 > 0:09:55whose symbolism wasn't lost on the powers that be.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Here you had workmen travelling in appalling conditions after
0:09:58 > 0:10:02finishing work at the Palace of Westminster.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06"The morning was dark and gloomy, but through the obscure light which
0:10:06 > 0:10:09"was obtained were discerned the corpses of eight persons
0:10:09 > 0:10:13"frightfully mutilated and crushed amidst the wreck of the trucks
0:10:13 > 0:10:16"which were heaped in confusion, one upon the other."
0:10:18 > 0:10:22It's hard to see positives when so many people lost their lives,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26but the Sonning Crash was an important catalyst for change.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Well, it drew attention to the risks of minimum provision for the
0:10:30 > 0:10:33lowest grade of passenger.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37The Great Western was treating them really like any other cargo,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40they were mixed in with the general goods train and they were being
0:10:40 > 0:10:45carried in the most basic sort of open topped wagons with sides so
0:10:45 > 0:10:48low that many of the casualties were thrown over the sides when
0:10:48 > 0:10:52the train hit the landslip that caused the disaster.
0:10:52 > 0:10:58In 1844, future prime minister William Gladstone introduced
0:10:58 > 0:11:02a new Railway Act which obliged rail companies to provide third class
0:11:02 > 0:11:06travel services in seated carriages, protected from the weather.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10He introduced what were called parliamentary trains,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13which ensured that on every line,
0:11:13 > 0:11:18at least one train per day in both directions would cost just
0:11:18 > 0:11:23a penny a mile and while that was still quite expensive because
0:11:23 > 0:11:27wages were maybe a shilling or so a day, 12p a day,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31at least it meant that working people could use those trains.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36He also introduced the increased baggage allowance.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40It was part of a plan to increase the circulation of labour
0:11:40 > 0:11:41around the country.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43And it worked.
0:11:43 > 0:11:49People could carry up to 56 pounds of material, so maybe a plasterer
0:11:49 > 0:11:54could carry a sack of plaster to his work and that sort of thing.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58That was very important because it meant that people working
0:11:58 > 0:12:03no longer had to walk to work or go by horse and cart.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07They could actually take their tools and material to the place of work
0:12:07 > 0:12:11and use it there and the railway companies encouraged that
0:12:11 > 0:12:13because it meant regular travellers.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16This was a key period in the history of the railways.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19It allowed more people from the lower classes to travel,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22and to come into contact with new accents and customs,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24places and faces,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26and new trades and skills.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Britain was no longer a series of isolated villages, towns and cities,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34now anyone with a few pence and the motivation
0:12:34 > 0:12:35could travel anywhere.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Within five years of the 1844 Act,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41half of all passengers were paying the third-class fare.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Later in the Victorian era,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47companies would be made to provide special workmen's trains
0:12:47 > 0:12:49making travel even more affordable.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Towards the end of the 1840s,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59people started using the railways for leisure,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02with entrepreneurs organising trips all over the country.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05These excursions were considerably cheaper
0:13:05 > 0:13:07than the penny-a-mile services
0:13:07 > 0:13:10and they marked the beginnings of mass-market leisure
0:13:10 > 0:13:13which, by the end of the 19th century,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15and well into the 20th, would be booming.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17They're not stupid, the railways,
0:13:17 > 0:13:19and they're quick to see the potential
0:13:19 > 0:13:21of growing their traffic, third-class traffic.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24So if you were a working-class family,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27you couldn't afford regular third-class travel -
0:13:27 > 0:13:29almost certainly, not over long distances -
0:13:29 > 0:13:33but you might be able to save up for a trip by the seaside
0:13:33 > 0:13:35or something like that.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39The downside of that was that you could put almost anything on a train
0:13:39 > 0:13:41to carry excursion passengers,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44and they were still using, effectively, open carriages,
0:13:44 > 0:13:46open-top carriages, even wagons,
0:13:46 > 0:13:50into mid-Victorian times and later still, 1870s.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Despite the drawbacks,
0:13:52 > 0:13:54the cheap excursion trains
0:13:54 > 0:13:56got more people moving all over the country.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Many of these new passengers were women,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06but railways weren't necessarily the safest places
0:14:06 > 0:14:08for lone female travellers.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12William Birt, general manager of the Great Eastern,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14admitted, "I should be sorry indeed
0:14:14 > 0:14:18"to allow any respectable female connected with my household
0:14:18 > 0:14:20"to travel third class upon the Great Eastern
0:14:20 > 0:14:22"during those hours of the day
0:14:22 > 0:14:24"in which the workers are travelling."
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Birt might have had a point, but often the gentry were no better,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and there are accounts of well-to-do men travelling third class
0:14:32 > 0:14:37with the sole intention of taking advantage of lone female travellers.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41We know that there were cases of assault
0:14:41 > 0:14:44from several high-profile cases which hit the newspapers.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48In particular, one which involved a Colonel Valentine Baker,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52who assaulted a Miss Kate Dickinson,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54very attractive young woman,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57described as of very prepossessing disposition.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01And Kate had to escape onto the running board of the train -
0:15:01 > 0:15:02very dangerous procedure.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Can you imagine it in high-button boots and a crinoline,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07clinging on to the side of the train?
0:15:07 > 0:15:11To counter this threat, at stations up and down the country
0:15:11 > 0:15:14ladies-only waiting rooms started to appear.
0:15:14 > 0:15:15And a positive outcome of this
0:15:15 > 0:15:18was it created jobs for hundreds of women,
0:15:18 > 0:15:21because female-only waiting rooms required female attendants.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27That wasn't all women did on the railways, though.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Women also were crossing keepers.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33The hours were long, but the work was quite light,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35so that was another job women could do.
0:15:35 > 0:15:40They often inherited these posts as widows when their husbands died.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45Women also actually did work as maintenance workers on the tracks,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48even right down to the 1960s.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Despite the need for female staff,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58working on the railways was largely a man's world.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Jobs could be tough, but they were seen as providing a decent career.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09What was the life of a railway servant like?
0:16:09 > 0:16:14The railway attracted lots of people to work for them,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16and it was a very desirable job
0:16:16 > 0:16:18because it was a long-term job.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21It wasn't fantastically well paid but it was steady
0:16:21 > 0:16:25and, at the time, most people didn't have steady jobs,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28they'd work maybe as labourers for a season,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32they'd work in the fields for harvest time, or whatever.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35But the railways offered year-round employment
0:16:35 > 0:16:37for many people who had never had access
0:16:37 > 0:16:39to those sort of steady jobs.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43So it was quite a desirable thing, to work for the railways.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Working on a heritage line like the Severn Valley
0:16:48 > 0:16:49is very different, of course.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52But Bob Heath knows more than most
0:16:52 > 0:16:56about what the life of a Victorian railway worker would have been like.
0:16:58 > 0:17:00You do this for a hobby, in your spare time,
0:17:00 > 0:17:02but to do it for a living every day,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05what do you think that would have been like, 100, 150 years ago?
0:17:05 > 0:17:07It's hard work, but the people who did it -
0:17:07 > 0:17:10most of the people who did it - would have thoroughly enjoyed it.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14I mean, you have your days where you'd be too cold,
0:17:14 > 0:17:16too hot, wet -
0:17:16 > 0:17:18you know what it's like, you've been on a locomotive.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Erm, I mean, the locomotives weren't cabins like these,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25they might have had the cab roof finish there
0:17:25 > 0:17:28and a little spectacle plate.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30So you're open to the elements
0:17:30 > 0:17:32and it would have been really hard work.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35- A lot of cinders and ash in the face, things like that.- Yeah.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40As the railways spread across the country,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42there was an unexpected consequence
0:17:42 > 0:17:46that would quite literally play a part in making the nation.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48The railway enabled ordinary people
0:17:48 > 0:17:52to travel beyond their local village,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54quite possibly for the first time ever.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56And that had an important effect,
0:17:56 > 0:18:00because people could then meet future spouses much more easily,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03widening the gene pool
0:18:03 > 0:18:06and, therefore, getting rid of the problem of the village idiot,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10which was actually a product of the fact that people intermarried
0:18:10 > 0:18:12with their cousins and second cousins
0:18:12 > 0:18:15and actually caused that problem.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17It wasn't just the passengers
0:18:17 > 0:18:19who helped to widen the gene pool, though.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22When the railways got longer
0:18:22 > 0:18:25and people had to drive in the trains,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29be the fireman, had to actually stay overnight in places,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32that meant that, to some extent, they were living two lives.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35They would live in Newcastle some of the time,
0:18:35 > 0:18:36in London some of the time,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and some of them definitely established second families.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41So they would have a family
0:18:41 > 0:18:45in Newcastle, where maybe they originally came from,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47and then a family in London,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50and neither of them obviously knew of each other's existence,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53because there was no telephone and no communication between the two.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55That was not infrequent.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59The idea of an alternative home
0:18:59 > 0:19:04also appealed to one particular passenger in a class all of her own.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08The railways presented Queen Victoria with the opportunity
0:19:08 > 0:19:10to expand her property portfolio.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13Without the railways, it's likely Victoria
0:19:13 > 0:19:15would never have bought Balmoral,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18beloved second home of the royals to this day.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20By road it took days to get there,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23by rail it was just hours.
0:19:26 > 0:19:27Despite their regular use of them,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31Victoria and Albert never became total converts to the railways -
0:19:31 > 0:19:33they were just too fast for them.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36But they did see the potential in engaging with their subjects
0:19:36 > 0:19:39in a way that the monarchy had never been able to do before.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45In 1858, they came to Birmingham -
0:19:45 > 0:19:47the first time the city had been visited officially
0:19:47 > 0:19:49by a reigning monarch.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52It showed just how the railways were enabling Victoria
0:19:52 > 0:19:54to get to all corners of the kingdom -
0:19:54 > 0:19:56not just to her rural getaway,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00but to the heart of industrial, working Britain.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03A newspaper account from the time
0:20:03 > 0:20:07noted that "the brawny men working amidst showers of sparks,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09"digging in dark mines,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11"plunging around furnaces,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14"came into the open air and had a holiday
0:20:14 > 0:20:17"and sped to honour the Queen."
0:20:17 > 0:20:20It's clear how excited the city was about Victoria's visit,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24but it wasn't just the locals who turned out in their thousands.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Birmingham gave its hundreds of thousands to the streets,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32and all the country towns and villages
0:20:32 > 0:20:34swelled the mass of living people.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40The royals, of course, travelled in luxury,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42in their own private trains,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45and this is Queen Victoria's carriage.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47It's so plush and opulent
0:20:47 > 0:20:50it's like a room in Buckingham Palace on the rails.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54First-class travel was far from shabby,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56but this was another level altogether.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Everything on the train was as she wanted it.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05You were travelling for hours, days at a time,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08so it had to be a home from home, and almost a court on wheels.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11So it had all mod cons,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14even though Victoria distrusted electricity.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16So, Victoria's carriage finished its working life
0:21:16 > 0:21:20with electric lights but still had gas and oil.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23She didn't like there being two separate carriages,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25a day saloon and an evening saloon.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28So the corridor connection was a new invention at the time -
0:21:28 > 0:21:30she didn't like that idea at all.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33So, if she wanted to go between the day saloon and her evening saloon,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36to go to bed, for example, then the train had to stop
0:21:36 > 0:21:39which, of course, was an operational nightmare.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43She insisted that her train only travelled at 40 miles an hour
0:21:43 > 0:21:46during the day and 30 miles an hour in the evening,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49though we understand that the train crews' interpretation of that
0:21:49 > 0:21:50was somewhat liberal.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52"What speed are we doing?"
0:21:52 > 0:21:53"We're doing 40 miles an hour, Ma'am."
0:21:53 > 0:21:55You know, it was like that.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Royal patronage, of course, was a very important thing as well.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03If the Queen was seen to enjoy and endorse rail travel,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05then it was good for the rest of the nation to travel by train.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Victoria and Albert gave a publicity boost to the railways,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12but their experiences were a far cry
0:22:12 > 0:22:16from those of the majority of train travellers.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19Of course all passengers would have got hungry on long journeys,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23but even the food reflected deep class divisions.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25On one line, a hungry traveller
0:22:25 > 0:22:27could choose between luncheon baskets.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30The aristocratic hamper offered select cuts of meat
0:22:30 > 0:22:32and a bottle of claret.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34But on the other hand, for a much cheaper price,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36you could have had the democratic hamper,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39which came with nondescript cuts of meat and a bottle of ale.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Although the caterers were mindful of the less well-off passengers,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49railway companies in general still seemed reluctant
0:22:49 > 0:22:51to invest in their comfort.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54In fact, despite the ever-increasing popularity
0:22:54 > 0:22:55amongst the lower classes,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59conditions in third class were still dismal.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03By the mid-1800s, third-class carriages may have had roofs,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06but conditions remained cramped and unpleasant.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Passengers had to endure lengthy journeys on timber benches
0:23:09 > 0:23:12in rows of five or six.
0:23:12 > 0:23:13However, by the 1870s,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18big changes were introduced to low-cost travel by one rail company,
0:23:18 > 0:23:20thanks to a man who had a vision.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Birmingham-born James Allport was boss of the Midland line.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29He considered it his duty to provide for the less well-off.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Allport realised that the railways were catering far too much
0:23:33 > 0:23:35just for the well-off,
0:23:35 > 0:23:38so he opened up the railway for third-class people
0:23:38 > 0:23:40and encouraged them to use it.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44His big change was to abolish second class
0:23:44 > 0:23:47so that people only had first and third class,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49and third class actually became
0:23:49 > 0:23:53the main way that the railway earned its income.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Effectively, third class became second class,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59and what we know now as standard class.
0:23:59 > 0:24:03It was really Allport's initiative that changed that.
0:24:03 > 0:24:04The railways had been very snooty
0:24:04 > 0:24:10about encouraging third-class passengers onto the railway -
0:24:10 > 0:24:11Allport changed that.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Allport's reforms opened up the full timetable to third-class travellers.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20Other lines followed the Midland's lead
0:24:20 > 0:24:24and, by 1913, 96% of all rail journeys were third-class.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29With nearly all travellers sharing the same carriages,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33the railways had achieved a striking example of social levelling.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37But Allport made sure wealthier customers were still catered for.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42He introduced the so-called Pullman coaches to the Midland line.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44These were inspired by a visit to America,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47and included hotel-style services, a restaurant car,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51waiter-served meals and, later, accommodation.
0:24:51 > 0:24:56These cars became a regular staple of long journeys until 1985,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59and although this one is a 1960s replica,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02it's a clear part of Allport's legacy.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Whilst Allport and the Midland saw profit to be made
0:25:06 > 0:25:08from both the rich and the poor,
0:25:08 > 0:25:13another canny company saw that there was money to be made from the dead.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16In the 1800s, London was experiencing a major problem -
0:25:16 > 0:25:18overcrowded graveyards.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23But there was a solution - of course, provided by the railways.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25It was the so-called necropolis train,
0:25:25 > 0:25:30operating from Waterloo from 1854 to 1941 -
0:25:30 > 0:25:33its sole purpose to ferry London's dead from the city
0:25:33 > 0:25:35to a large cemetery in Surrey.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39And yes, you could pay for your coffin to go first,
0:25:39 > 0:25:40second or third class -
0:25:40 > 0:25:42it was a strictly one-way ticket, though.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47Back in the land of the living,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50traditional travelling divisions were breaking down even more
0:25:50 > 0:25:51by the turn of the century.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55When the City and South London Underground line opened in 1890,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58it had dispensed with different class carriages,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00so the lord of the manor could easily find himself
0:26:00 > 0:26:02sitting next to his gardener.
0:26:02 > 0:26:03This was a first step
0:26:03 > 0:26:07towards the essentially classless London Tube system we know today.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11Trains were being used for all manner of transportation
0:26:11 > 0:26:12but, in the late 1890s,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15one very special train journey was made,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19one which would do much to unite the hearts and minds of the nation.
0:26:20 > 0:26:25In 1897, Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubilee
0:26:25 > 0:26:28with a pageant through the streets of the capital.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29The lucky few in London
0:26:29 > 0:26:32could observe the pomp and circumstance first-hand.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36But within hours, thanks to the train and the enterprise of one man,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38people in the north of England
0:26:38 > 0:26:40could also witness what happened.
0:26:42 > 0:26:43Richard James Appleton,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46a Bradford man known as "The First Knight of the Camera",
0:26:46 > 0:26:50was in London filming it as part of a bold publicity stunt
0:26:50 > 0:26:52to promote The Daily Argus newspaper.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Film was the new media of its day,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59and several film-makers recorded the event.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Unfortunately, Appleton's actual footage has not survived,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06but we do know it was developed on a specially adapted train
0:27:06 > 0:27:08with its own darkroom -
0:27:08 > 0:27:10a dangerous task, given the chemicals required
0:27:10 > 0:27:13and the constant jostling of the tracks.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17It may not have been instantaneous by today's standards,
0:27:17 > 0:27:19but it was the closest mankind had ever come
0:27:19 > 0:27:22to a shared moment of great historical importance.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Over the course of a few special screenings,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32tens of thousands of people in the north of England saw this footage.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34We can't know what they felt,
0:27:34 > 0:27:39but I imagine it was a sense of pride, unity and wonder.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50That's what I love about the Jubilee story.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Yes, the railways reflected class divisions
0:27:53 > 0:27:55and, to a degree, continue to do so -
0:27:55 > 0:27:58we still have first class after all.
0:27:59 > 0:28:00But they also mixed things up.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04They created opportunities and transported people far and wide.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07They helped us to share customs and culture,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10and opened up a world to the masses beyond their front doors.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14As one Victorian writer put it,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17they made the Land's End and John o'Groats house
0:28:17 > 0:28:18next-door neighbours.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25Of course, the great thing about the railways is,
0:28:25 > 0:28:27whichever carriage you're travelling in,
0:28:27 > 0:28:29however much you paid for your ticket,
0:28:29 > 0:28:32everyone arrives at the same place at the same time,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34and surely that's equality.