0:00:02 > 0:00:04FAINT RACING COMMENTARY
0:00:06 > 0:00:09On 30th April 1851,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11a huge crowd came from far and wide
0:00:11 > 0:00:15to this racecourse in the northwest of England to watch the Chester Cup.
0:00:15 > 0:00:172/1, the favourite.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21It was the railways that made such large gatherings possible.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25Thousands of racegoers travelled on special excursion trains,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28sending the Cup's attendance rate soaring.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35The expanding transport network was at the heart of a modern,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38powerful Britain, bursting with energy and confidence.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44Railways were transforming our world from the 1800s
0:00:44 > 0:00:46and well into the 20th century,
0:00:46 > 0:00:51from where we work and what we eat, to how we spend our leisure time.
0:00:51 > 0:00:52TRAIN WHISTLE
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Thanks to the railways, horse racing's Chester Cup
0:00:55 > 0:00:58became established as a great sporting holiday,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00a time for fun and escape.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05As the era of steam gathered pace,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09the summer of 1851 would prove to be a watershed moment
0:01:09 > 0:01:10in the history of our nation,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13and for a new and exciting age of leisure.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20TRAIN WHISTLE
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Today, most of us take rail travel for granted.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42We use trains for easy getaways and staycation breaks,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46for everything from sporting events to music festivals.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49Before the railways, it was a different story.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55For one thing, travelling around the country was a very slow business.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Only royalty and the moneyed classes could afford
0:01:58 > 0:02:00the time and expense of going on holiday.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03For the average factory worker
0:02:03 > 0:02:05toiling 12 or 13 hours a day, six days a week,
0:02:05 > 0:02:08the very idea of frolicking about on a beach
0:02:08 > 0:02:10would have seemed completely pie in the sky.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Many had never even seen the sea.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19With the opening of the pioneering Liverpool
0:02:19 > 0:02:22and Manchester Railway in 1830, everything changed.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Almost immediately, the railway began carrying sightseers.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31They came to look in appreciation
0:02:31 > 0:02:33at the world's earliest major railway viaduct
0:02:33 > 0:02:37here in Sankey, midway between Liverpool and Manchester.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42The cost of travelling along this architectural wonder
0:02:42 > 0:02:45was the pricey sum of five shillings per passenger.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54At the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57a replica of a locomotive built for that route
0:02:57 > 0:03:00is still in regular use for the benefit of visitors.
0:03:00 > 0:03:01TRAIN WHISTLE
0:03:01 > 0:03:04The Planet was designed and built by Robert Stevenson.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17The Sankey sightseers were in the vanguard of what was about
0:03:17 > 0:03:20to become a leisure revolution.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23The railways eventually would offer immense freedom and opportunity
0:03:23 > 0:03:26to many of the nation's ordinary working men and women.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39But back in 1830, passengers departing from here,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42the booking hall of the brand-new Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
0:03:42 > 0:03:44would have been slightly sceptical.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49A scepticism born from the fact that these new trains
0:03:49 > 0:03:51had been designed with freight in mind,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53rather than passengers and luggage.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Originally, the railway companies thought that carrying goods,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06in particular, coal and minerals and the like,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09would be the best way of making a profit.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13But they soon realised that, actually, there was fantastic demand
0:04:13 > 0:04:15for passengers to travel by rail.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19And that was because people couldn't really get about before
0:04:19 > 0:04:20without the railways.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23So the railways offered them maybe the first opportunity
0:04:23 > 0:04:29of visiting the local market town, or visiting relatives
0:04:29 > 0:04:31in distant parts of the country and the like.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36And so it really opened up England
0:04:36 > 0:04:39in a way that had never happened before.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41This widening of travel opportunities
0:04:41 > 0:04:44across the social classes wasn't welcomed by all.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49There is this fundamental contradiction between
0:04:49 > 0:04:52the idea of opening up places and people being worried
0:04:52 > 0:04:54that, really, the hoi polloi
0:04:54 > 0:04:58are going to be coming and spoiling the view.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Indeed, the upper echelons of early Victorian society
0:05:02 > 0:05:07were suspicious of the very idea of leisure time for the masses.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08They feared that inactivity
0:05:08 > 0:05:11could lead to social and political disorder,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13and the middle classes felt a moral duty
0:05:13 > 0:05:16to educate the working masses about self-improvement.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Spare time, they believed, had its dangers.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Nearly a century before the state began to provide free education,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28rail companies were offering Sunday schoolchildren
0:05:28 > 0:05:31from local mills excursions.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Trips that could be fun, but had to have a moral purpose.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42In the middle of the 19th century,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46there was a lot of feeling amongst middle-class people
0:05:46 > 0:05:49that the working classes needed to be protected
0:05:49 > 0:05:51from the sort of things that they got up to,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55such as gambling, racing, beer shops.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59So this is an area where railway excursions came in.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01And it was a kind of moral reform.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Excursions soon became a national pastime
0:06:05 > 0:06:07and would quickly become big business.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Perhaps the most famous of those early excursion entrepreneurs
0:06:10 > 0:06:12was Thomas Cook,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15who started by organising trains to temperance meetings
0:06:15 > 0:06:17in the early 1840s.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21But despite Cook's enduring legacy, he was not alone.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23When people talk about railway excursions,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26the name that usually comes to mind is Thomas Cook.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28He features in all the railway history books.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30But there were other people operating at the same time
0:06:30 > 0:06:33that were much more important to the ordinary person.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35And one of the most important in his day
0:06:35 > 0:06:38was a chappie called Henry Marcus, who was Liverpool-based,
0:06:38 > 0:06:43who was contracted with the London and North Western Railway.
0:06:43 > 0:06:44And he... By the time he'd finished,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48he'd carried 1.5 million passengers on his excursions.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51And yet, unfortunately, nobody has ever heard of him
0:06:51 > 0:06:54because he finished in 1869,
0:06:54 > 0:06:56he was, generally speaking, a one-man business,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00and he didn't leave any records, so nobody knows about him,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04apart from what you can find in newspaper advertisements.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10Excursions that were morally-improving
0:07:10 > 0:07:13were very important to early railway revenues.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15But catering to people's vices was just as important
0:07:15 > 0:07:18as catering to their virtues.
0:07:18 > 0:07:19Trips to the horse races
0:07:19 > 0:07:23were an important source of early railway revenue.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25And the railways boosted the number of spectators
0:07:25 > 0:07:27at venues like Chester Racecourse
0:07:27 > 0:07:31throughout the 1800s and well into the 20th century.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36The railways transformed the sport of horse racing
0:07:36 > 0:07:39because horses could be taken by train straight to the meet,
0:07:39 > 0:07:40being fresh and race-ready.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Top jockeys could travel around the country to ride at different meetings.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47And it helped to build up a nationwide programme of events.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Racecourses at places like Newbury, Cheltenham and Aintree
0:07:55 > 0:07:58would eventually have their own stations.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01The station at Epsom Downs, home of the Derby,
0:08:01 > 0:08:02would end up with nine platforms,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06designed to cope with the massive influx of trains on race days.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13As well as horse racing, another of the first spectator sports
0:08:13 > 0:08:16to be helped by the railways was prize-fighting.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20It's amazing to think that large crowds travelled around the country
0:08:20 > 0:08:22to watch bare-knuckle fights,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25laying bets on men beating each other to a bloody pulp.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31Prize fights were actually illegal, bare-knuckle boxing.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34So the organisers would hold the event
0:08:34 > 0:08:37probably on the boundary between two different counties,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40so you didn't know which police force was in charge.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43And all the people would arrive,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45the supporters of one prize-fight on one train
0:08:45 > 0:08:48and another prize-fighter on the other train.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50They would hold the event in a field nearby.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52And then, after the event,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54they'd get back on their respective trains and go away again.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57It was treated as being a dubious enterprise
0:08:57 > 0:09:00and frowned on, even at the time.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04Later, in 1868, Parliament ended up banning railway companies
0:09:04 > 0:09:06from running prize-fight specials.
0:09:08 > 0:09:09Sport was one thing,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12but the Victorians also used the new rail network
0:09:12 > 0:09:16to attend fashionable events that involved spectators.
0:09:16 > 0:09:17Sometimes with a macabre twist.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Public executions had always drawn crowds
0:09:22 > 0:09:26and now special execution trains were laid on for willing spectators.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32This quiet park in Liverpool was once the site of Kirkdale Jail.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34And on execution days, they would hang people
0:09:34 > 0:09:37on the scaffolding in full view of the public.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41On 12th September, 1863,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45excursion trains brought thousands upon thousands of people
0:09:45 > 0:09:48to jostle for the best view to see Jose Maria Alvarez,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51John Hughes, James O'Brien
0:09:51 > 0:09:53and Benjamin Thomas hang for murder.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59A correspondent from the Liverpool Mercury reported,
0:09:59 > 0:10:04"Never before was seen such a mass of people at an execution at Kirkdale.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09"At 11:45, there were over 100,000 persons on the ground.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13"And this number was increased by large arrivals of excursionists
0:10:13 > 0:10:15"from Huddersfield and Blackburn.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18"Up to the last moment, too.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21"The rush of people from Liverpool was something extraordinary."
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Shortly after midday,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30the four convicted murderers were dispatched simultaneously.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32And the well-behaved, if morbid crowd
0:10:32 > 0:10:35simply dispersed and went home.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37Five years later, Parliament ordered that, in future,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41no executions would take place outside prisons.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49In the 1840s, the railway excursion business really took off.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Modern West Coast Main Line trains
0:10:51 > 0:10:54can carry 600 passengers in 11 coaches
0:10:54 > 0:10:57for the two-hour journey it takes from Manchester to London.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01But at the start of the railway age, they went for something bigger.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Much bigger.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11This was the era of the monster trains,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14which were every bit as massive as their nickname suggests.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20In 1844, an excursion from Leeds to Hull
0:11:20 > 0:11:24reportedly took 7,800 day-trippers
0:11:24 > 0:11:28in 250 carriages pulled by ten locomotives.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Millions of people were catching the railway bug,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35leading to an era of true mass transportation.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38And it was good news for Britain's picturesque towns,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40many of which were on the coast.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42They could throw themselves open to business.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44The seaside holiday had arrived.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57It was born here - Fleetwood,
0:11:57 > 0:11:59a resort on the Lancashire coast
0:11:59 > 0:12:01that was created because of the railways.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08The land, initially no more than a series of sand dunes,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11was transformed into a new town and seaport
0:12:11 > 0:12:14designed to cater for this new era of tourism.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18In 1840, the first passengers arrived in search of sun,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21sea and sand along the Preston and Wyre Joint Railway.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27Dick Gillingham is a local historian with the Fleetwood Museum.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30This was the first place from the Lancashire workers'
0:12:30 > 0:12:33point of view which they could reach by train.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37Just six years later, the railway reached Blackpool and Lytham,
0:12:37 > 0:12:42and then in years beyond that, other resorts were reached by the railway.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46And how many people were the townspeople originally expecting to turn up?
0:12:46 > 0:12:50They were expecting a very limited number of passengers.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53Just 20,000 passengers for the year, probably.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56And in fact, 20,000 came in the first month.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58And in the first year of operation,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00the first summer season, if you like,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03over 100,000 people came on the train.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05A terrific number for a town which, at the time,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09only had a population of 2,500.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12So it was a huge boost to the trade of the town.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15And for somebody coming from a smoky, industrial town,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18somewhere like Chorley or Bolton or Preston, arriving here,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20what would that experience have been like?
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Well, when they got off the train,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24it was just a short walk to the beach,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27obviously, the terrific vista in front of them.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29The Lakeland Hills, magnificent views.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32It was an awe-inspiring thing to look out there
0:13:32 > 0:13:34and wonder where it all ended, really.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41In the 1840s, the seaside holiday business,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45previously the preserve of the rich, embraced the mass market.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Many of those travelling would have done so down this very line,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52now known as the East Lancashire Heritage Railway.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55In the 19th century, the line provided vital links
0:13:55 > 0:13:57between the industrial towns of the North
0:13:57 > 0:13:59and the nation's favourite coastal getaways.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11Different seaside resorts attracted different clientele.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Blackpool became a mecca for Lancashire's working classes,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17whilst Southport appealed to the slightly better-off customer.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Morecambe served the West Riding textile towns
0:14:20 > 0:14:23and became known as Bradford-by-the-sea.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30The new rail connections were making beach holidays possible all over the country,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33from Weston-Super-Mare to Scarborough,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Eastbourne to Torquay, Bournemouth to Skegness.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43TRAIN WHISTLE
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Beaches will always attract holiday-makers,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47but in industrial Victorian Britain,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49there was one more simple healthy attraction
0:14:49 > 0:14:53that was now easy to reach - clean air.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03The Lake District had already been attracting
0:15:03 > 0:15:05well-heeled visitors and artists,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07drawn to its dramatic landscapes.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10William Wordsworth, one of our great Romantic poets
0:15:10 > 0:15:12and a native of the Lakes,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15had written a guidebook which was proving popular.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19His famous poem, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22was inspired by the sight of daffodils
0:15:22 > 0:15:23on the shores of Ullswater.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Many others now wanted to sample the same air
0:15:25 > 0:15:28and increase their contact with nature.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30The railways made that possible.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46The Furness Railway, now known as the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Heritage Railway,
0:15:46 > 0:15:49was historically used for moving coal and iron ore.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55But it was tourists who were increasingly being brought into the Lakes by rail.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02But Wordsworth was horrified by the prospect of trainloads
0:16:02 > 0:16:05of working-class people descending upon his beloved Lakes.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08As a new line was proposed between Kendall and Windermere,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Wordsworth launched a campaign against it.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13He believed that bringing in uncultured travellers
0:16:13 > 0:16:17would destroy the beauty of the places they'd come to enjoy.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33For Wordsworth, these were the wrong sort of tourists.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36"As for holiday pastimes," he wrote,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38"if a scene is to be chosen suitable to them
0:16:38 > 0:16:40"for persons thronging from a distance,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43"it may be found elsewhere at less cost of every kind."
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Wordsworth's campaign failed and the line opened in 1847.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52But one of the ironies surrounding the poet
0:16:52 > 0:16:54was that while he was against tourism,
0:16:54 > 0:16:59he himself would become one of the Lakes' greatest tourist attractions.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Wordsworth's great-great-great-great grandson still owns Rydal Mount,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07the house where the poet lived and died.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12Well, I think he was sort of partly a poet, liking to be a recluse,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15but partly wanted the public acclaim.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17So you have this slight balance.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20He had, on average, 600 people a year coming through the house.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23And these people would have been well-to-do people.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27It's a bit of a struggle to get here, you're actually making a slight pilgrimage,
0:17:27 > 0:17:28you're coming to see a great poet.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31And that is a wonderful thing, he would have loved that,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34because he could have gone off into the hills and read his poetry,
0:17:34 > 0:17:36they could have come here, been given refreshment by his wife
0:17:36 > 0:17:40and his daughter and his sister, and the other women of the house,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42and then he could have come in and held court temporarily
0:17:42 > 0:17:46and then out he goes. And that would have played up to his ego.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Because towards the end of his life, he undoubtedly had an ego.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53By the time the railways had expanded, more people were coming to the area,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56do you think that Wordsworth was part of a bygone age?
0:17:56 > 0:18:01The railways opened here in 1840s and he died in 1850,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03so he was right at the end of his life.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08The Industrial Age was coming, there was no getting away from that.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12And, therefore, you know, his age was coming to an end
0:18:12 > 0:18:14and the new age was starting.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Having said that, he wrote a very famous, which he actually was very fond of,
0:18:18 > 0:18:20his Guide To The Lakes, which, ironically,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23was encouraging people to come to the Lake District.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25And therefore, he had this slight paradox of,
0:18:25 > 0:18:27"I've written this book, people should come to the Lakes,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30"and yet they're all going to come up and ruin the Lakes".
0:18:30 > 0:18:33So it was a slight double-edged sword.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41To be fair, Wordsworth wasn't the only one who was nervous
0:18:41 > 0:18:43about the impact of the railways.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46The passengers themselves often questioned the wisdom
0:18:46 > 0:18:48of travelling by train.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54It took a bit of courage to go on your first train,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58because it must have been a very mysterious experience.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Here was this engine, which somehow generated the power
0:19:01 > 0:19:05to pull along maybe a dozen carriages.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07How did it work? How did it get its power?
0:19:07 > 0:19:09And would it explode?
0:19:09 > 0:19:12Which was something that did happen occasionally.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Excursion trains were slightly more prone to accidents
0:19:16 > 0:19:18than regular trains.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20That's because they tended to be longer,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23they were running at irregular times,
0:19:23 > 0:19:27sometimes signallers kind of forgot about them.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30They often used older rolling stock.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35So they had more than their fair share of serious accidents.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38So there was a little bit of trepidation
0:19:38 > 0:19:43about taking this new mechanical way of getting around.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49But most people managed to set their fears aside and take the plunge
0:19:49 > 0:19:53because of the advantages that the railways offered.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58The 1851 Chester Cup was a great success,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00but the day was marred with tragedy.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Returning home from the race meeting, nine people were killed
0:20:04 > 0:20:07when excursion trains crashed in a tunnel between here and Manchester.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15By June 1851, the Bolton Chronicle had had enough.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19"Each week now brings its batch of railway disasters
0:20:19 > 0:20:22"as regularly as the world turns around.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25"Accidents are not to be waited for, but prevented.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27"And to delay improvements
0:20:27 > 0:20:30"is neglect criminal in fact, if not in law."
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Despite the concerns over safety,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41that very same year would also see millions of people
0:20:41 > 0:20:45take advantage of the railways to travel to the great metropolis.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Many for the first time in their lives.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50As well as opening up isolated parts of the country,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52the railways placed the capital
0:20:52 > 0:20:54within much easier reach of the general public.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58And this would make all the difference when the Great Exhibition opened in London.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05The Exhibition was a brainwave of Victoria's husband, Prince Albert.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07It was conceived as a grand display
0:21:07 > 0:21:09of the wonders of industry from around the world
0:21:09 > 0:21:13and was to be temporarily sited in London's Hyde Park
0:21:13 > 0:21:16in a glass structure nicknamed the Crystal Palace.
0:21:19 > 0:21:20Pictured here in later years,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23the Palace was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25a director of the Midland Railway.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27And it was the trains that brought the crowds.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30An average of 40,000 a day.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Six million over a six-month period.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36The Great Exhibition of 1851 was a real watershed
0:21:36 > 0:21:39for leisure mobility for ordinary people.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42But the Great Exhibition was important in other ways, as well.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46For many people, it was the first time they'd seen huge crowds
0:21:46 > 0:21:49of ordinary people in great numbers.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53And, of course, the 1840s was a time when there were great worries
0:21:53 > 0:21:56about Chartism, about riots, about crowd unrest.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59So the working classes had a bit of a reputation.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02And people were actually quite genuinely worried
0:22:02 > 0:22:05that if there was a big crowd of ordinary people
0:22:05 > 0:22:07that they would somehow cause a riot.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09And for the first time, the commentators said,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12"Well, actually, these people are quite well-behaved."
0:22:12 > 0:22:16So it was, again, a watershed for perceptions
0:22:16 > 0:22:18of the working class in great numbers.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24- MEDIA BROADCAST: - The signal was given.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30And 1,000 tonnes of steel and glass came hurtling to the ground.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35The Crystal Palace came to a fiery and indeed explosive end.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37But it ushered in a new era for London
0:22:37 > 0:22:41as an excursion destination for people up and down the country.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45According to The Times, "30 years ago,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48"not one countryman in 100 had seen the metropolis.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50"Now there is scarcely one in the same number
0:22:50 > 0:22:52"who has not spent a day there."
0:22:55 > 0:22:58The passing of the Bank Holidays Act in 1871
0:22:58 > 0:23:01helped to develop the idea of the weekend short break
0:23:01 > 0:23:05and created more opportunities for special excursion trains.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07By the turn of the century,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11resort towns like Blackpool were really hitting their glory days.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15A popularity that would continue well into modern times.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18- MEDIA BROADCAST:- Yes, you'll feel you're really on top of the world.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20How can you be down in the dumps
0:23:20 > 0:23:22when your heart's up in the clouds
0:23:22 > 0:23:25and you can throw away cares to the four winds?
0:23:25 > 0:23:27This is the height of happiness.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29But these huge numbers of holiday-makers
0:23:29 > 0:23:32would simply not have been possible without the railways.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Not only as a mass form of transport,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37but also as a force for social change.
0:23:37 > 0:23:42It wasn't true that Blackpool only started when the railway came.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47But certainly in 1846, when the branch line reached Blackpool,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50it heralded an awful lot of visitors
0:23:50 > 0:23:53and meant that there were very soon changes to Blackpool.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55They laid out streets and walks,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58they developed hotels, lodgings,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00churches, gasworks, water supplies.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05So it made a tremendous difference to the infrastructure in Blackpool.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14As the Edwardian era dawned, marketing of seaside towns
0:24:14 > 0:24:16reached new levels of sophistication.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19The National Railway Museum in York
0:24:19 > 0:24:21has an extensive collection of railway posters
0:24:21 > 0:24:25featuring resort towns from up and down the British coast.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30By the end of the 19th century, the railway companies began to use colour lithography.
0:24:30 > 0:24:31And they had much better illustrations.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Sometimes they would be made by the publishers,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36but increasingly, they began to use artists
0:24:36 > 0:24:38to actually create their posters for them.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41The advertising is quite aspirational.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43The pictures are quite carefully selected, they're telling the story.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47So if you look at the posters for Fleetwood, for example,
0:24:47 > 0:24:52in the 1930s, they're advertising the Marine Hall and the Lido.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54- It's really something to look forward to, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56You spend all your year working.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58Yeah. And, of course, these appeared in railway stations.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02With a lot of steam trains in and out, railway stations could look grimy,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04and often quite sombre colours.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07And you've got really vibrant posters
0:25:07 > 0:25:09carefully positioned to catch the eye.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12So, this is really advertising as a profession, isn't it?
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Poster advertising had been around for some time,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17but railway companies began to take it really seriously.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20And they had people whose job it was specifically
0:25:20 > 0:25:22to grab customers and get them to travel by rail.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Railways made all kinds of outdoor activities
0:25:29 > 0:25:32and recreational trips possible.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34From cycling and rambling to angling and golf.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47The railways transformed the world of sport,
0:25:47 > 0:25:49making countrywide competitions possible
0:25:49 > 0:25:53and driving the formation of national sporting leagues.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57This is the Sir Alex Ferguson stand.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00'Graham Simmonds works for the Manchester United Museum
0:26:00 > 0:26:03'and has supported the club all his life.'
0:26:03 > 0:26:06It all began around about 1878,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08when a group of engineers and coach-builders
0:26:08 > 0:26:11who worked for Newton Heath railway depot,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14they wanted to form a football club.
0:26:14 > 0:26:15And so they went to their employer
0:26:15 > 0:26:18to ask for their help, which they agreed to.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23And from that, the team was known as Newton Heath Lancashire
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and Yorkshire Railway Cricket and Football Club.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31When this film was shot in 1902,
0:26:31 > 0:26:33the club had just changed its name.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Playing here in the slightly darker tops,
0:26:35 > 0:26:38they were now known as Manchester United.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42- MEDIA BROADCAST: - The old Newton Heath club of 1902 now seen rushing to say, "How-do?"
0:26:44 > 0:26:47It was the railways which had allowed clubs up and down the country to grow.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Not least because it meant that supporters could now travel
0:26:50 > 0:26:52far and wide for away matches.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00From humble beginnings to a group of railway workers
0:27:00 > 0:27:01that worked hard all week
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and then they played football on a Saturday afternoon
0:27:04 > 0:27:07as a form of leisure, as a form of escape,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09with the help of the railways,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13we've grown into a national and global football club.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17TRAIN WHISTLE
0:27:20 > 0:27:22From prize-fights to football
0:27:22 > 0:27:24and temperance meetings to beach breaks,
0:27:24 > 0:27:28the railways changed how Britons came to see and experience leisure.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39Nowadays, our habits have changed.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Many of us own our own cars and we're just as likely
0:27:42 > 0:27:45to sun ourselves on the Costa del Sol as we are in Scarborough.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53But it's amazing to think how many of the leisure opportunities we now enjoy
0:27:53 > 0:27:55were first made possible by the railways.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01By collapsing space and time, these thundering beasts
0:28:01 > 0:28:05helped us connect as a nation in all kinds of unexpected ways.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10And today, well, it's fitting that all across the country,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13there are restored heritage railways where people come for a day out
0:28:13 > 0:28:16to experience the wonders of steam power
0:28:16 > 0:28:19nearly 200 years after their transformation
0:28:19 > 0:28:21of our national culture and sense of identity.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23That's quite a tribute.