0:00:23 > 0:00:26Many television presenters today claim they're going on a journey.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29It usually turns out to be metaphorical.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33But I really am going on a journey, back to a lost era of rail travel
0:00:33 > 0:00:37when trains had character, style and names.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42I've got a suitcase, a proper piece of luggage,
0:00:42 > 0:00:44to be used in conjunction with a luggage rack.
0:00:46 > 0:00:47Some useful books to read.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51And a jigsaw, if I can get a table.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00Around 350 named trains have come and mostly gone in this country.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05My aim is to find out why we once named trains
0:01:05 > 0:01:08and why we don't do so any more.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10I'm interested in three in particular -
0:01:10 > 0:01:14that definitive north-south express, The Flying Scotsman,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17the raffish Brighton Belle,
0:01:17 > 0:01:23and the hugely romantic Cornish Riviera Express.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25All three connected with their passengers
0:01:25 > 0:01:27in a way that would be unthinkable today.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31I mean, they had fans.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37By travelling on the surviving remnants
0:01:37 > 0:01:40of those three famous named trains,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43we'll learn something about rail travel in the past
0:01:43 > 0:01:46and how it compares with that of today.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49'It's first-class travel, even in the second-class coaches.'
0:01:49 > 0:01:51If you're wondering about the suit, by the way,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54and I'm rather wondering about it myself,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58it's because my first train will be taking me to the Riviera.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01The English Riviera, that is.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09WHISTLE TOOTS
0:02:14 > 0:02:18My first journey begins among the cheerful bustle of a holiday crowd.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23About 500 of these people are here to catch the same named train
0:02:23 > 0:02:26that I am, though they might not know it,
0:02:26 > 0:02:31because the once famous beacon of glamour has lost some of its cachet.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39I'm at Paddington Station to catch the Cornish Riviera Express
0:02:39 > 0:02:40to Penzance.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42The train dates from 1904,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45making it a very early example of a named train.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47And it still exists.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50But whereas the Edwardian version would have been widely blazoned
0:02:50 > 0:02:53in the publicity of the old Great Western Railway,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56the modern one is a bit more muted.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01But there it is - CR, standing for Cornish Riviera,
0:03:01 > 0:03:04and denoting the 10.06 for Penzance.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16Today, there is the normal scrimmage around the departure boards,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20because no-one here yet knows from which platform the train will leave.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22I'm one step ahead, however.
0:03:24 > 0:03:25A guide book produced in 1924
0:03:25 > 0:03:28for people travelling to the Cornish Riviera begins,
0:03:28 > 0:03:33"No need to ask which platform for the Cornish Riviera Express,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35"it's Number 1 every time."
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Platform 1 was always the pre-eminent platform for this station,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43reserved for the important trains.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Today, the three-faceted clock is masked by scaffolding,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50the filigreed ironwork skewered with pigeon spikes.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54But as I wait, I can imagine what it was like in the glory days.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57The tang of coal in the air,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59the steam from recently departed trains
0:03:59 > 0:04:02billowing lazily under the foot bridge,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06the clatter of milk churns at the country end of the platform.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09And here, on Platform 1, the Cornish Riviera Express,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11a departure on it bringing a tingle
0:04:11 > 0:04:14akin to leaving on a long-haul flight today.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21Being a small boy, mad about trains and ships and planes,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25my ambition was to go all the way to Penzance on the Riviera.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30And it finally happened in 1959
0:04:30 > 0:04:32when I was aged 12.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35I was at boarding school in Norwich at the time,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39and we were on our way to scout camp in west Cornwall.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48And what I remember distinctly was the station announcer.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Platform 8 will be the Cornish Riviera Express.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Platform 8 for the Cornish Riviera...
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Platform 8?! That's a demotion.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Serves me right for having a guidebook that's 90 years old.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Platform 8's on the other side of the station.
0:05:08 > 0:05:09I'm carrying my own bag.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11In Edwardian times, I would have been assisted
0:05:11 > 0:05:15by one of the half million porters who worked on the railways.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18And other details have changed...
0:05:18 > 0:05:21In the days of steam, the name would have been announced by a roof board
0:05:21 > 0:05:24on the top of the carriage.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Here, today, we must make do with a window label.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32But there's the name - Cornish Riviera. Well, most of the name.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35The word Express is not fashionable these days.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40By the way, tip for rich people - yellow means first class.
0:05:48 > 0:05:49As a VIP service,
0:05:49 > 0:05:54the Riviera would have been seen off every day by the station master.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Today, there is no station master, but a station manager.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03And he's too busy, probably monitoring sales environments,
0:06:03 > 0:06:04to come and see me off.
0:06:05 > 0:06:10Our train is an Intercity 125,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14the diesel-powered workhorse of the modern rail network.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19There's standard class, but I'm in first.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Well, in its early days, the Riviera was all first class,
0:06:23 > 0:06:25and I'm attempting authenticity.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33Cornwall then was regarded as a place for wealthy people
0:06:33 > 0:06:35who had time to spend
0:06:35 > 0:06:38to go and enjoy the landscape,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41people who were well educated.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Certainly not, in the early days, the bucket and spade thing.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Despite the up-market character of the train,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54it was named in a surprisingly democratic way.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58The Cornish Riviera Express was named
0:06:58 > 0:07:02by the staging of a competition in the Railway Magazine.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04The prize would be three guineas
0:07:04 > 0:07:08and the promise that the winners would achieve immortality
0:07:08 > 0:07:10as the namers of the train.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13I need hardly therefore mention those two immortals,
0:07:13 > 0:07:20Mr JR Shelley of Hackney and Mr F Hynam of Hampstead.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23The intention was to draw attention to a new express service to Cornwall
0:07:23 > 0:07:29whose first leg was a sensational 245-mile nonstop run to Plymouth.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33The idea was also to draw attention to Cornwall,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37a far-less familiar destination to most Edwardians than Paris.
0:07:42 > 0:07:47Some people said the GWR stood for the Great Way Round,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49as all their trains to the West Country,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53including the early Riviera, used to go via Bristol.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56In 1906, the company created a more direct route,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59bringing the journey down to about seven hours
0:07:59 > 0:08:01as against just over five today.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06For some people, of course, the longer the journey, the better.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Well, for me, the thing to do
0:08:09 > 0:08:12was just to be looking out of the window the whole time.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16First, to get the numbers of all the other trains going by.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20It was just going to a different place, different scenery,
0:08:20 > 0:08:22so there was always something to look at.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27The Great Western Railway produced numerous books
0:08:27 > 0:08:30to help the passenger enjoy the experience
0:08:30 > 0:08:32of travelling down to Cornwall.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35This was one of them - Through The Window.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37It's about the scenery.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40The book, which dates from 1924, suggested that
0:08:40 > 0:08:43on the way out of London, passengers should look out
0:08:43 > 0:08:47for such line-side highlights as the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49the Maypole margarine factory,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53and an interesting double line of telegraph poles near Twyford.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56What you got with this Through The Window book
0:08:56 > 0:09:00was that it gave all sorts of perspectives
0:09:00 > 0:09:02in terms of travelling by train.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07The idea was it was very much a part of the entire process.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10We're not just looking out of the window,
0:09:10 > 0:09:15the idea is you look out of the window with purpose.
0:09:16 > 0:09:21To what purpose at this point in the journey, I'm not sure.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25We've stopped at Reading, which the old Cornish Riviera Express
0:09:25 > 0:09:27wouldn't have touched with a bargepole.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31After Reading, standard class is even busier.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34I begin to smell frying bacon.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Most of the named trains served food.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40In steam days on the Cornish Riviera,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42the manager of the restaurant car
0:09:42 > 0:09:44would have walked the length of the train
0:09:44 > 0:09:46tinkling a little bell somewhere around Exeter
0:09:46 > 0:09:49and inviting people to take their places for lunch.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54The tradition of on-train dining has been nobly maintained
0:09:54 > 0:09:59by the current operator, although it has been modified slightly.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03And it has been complicated.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06There is the buffet, a trolley,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and it turns out that the first-class carriage I'm sitting in
0:10:09 > 0:10:13can become - according to demand - a dining car.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16- Sir, would you like tea or coffee? - Um, coffee, please. Thanks.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19- Would you like milk with that?- Yes.
0:10:19 > 0:10:20Thank you very much.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25I fancy kedgeree.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Eggs and fish, the principle ingredients,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30are staples of train dining, being quick to cook.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36But it's brunch, not lunch,
0:10:36 > 0:10:41and still less is it luncheon as served on the old Riviera.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46In a thriller of 1939 called The Cornish Riviera Mystery,
0:10:46 > 0:10:50the two principals are asked by the waiter on reaching the dining car,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52"Usual lunch, gentlemen?"
0:10:52 > 0:10:55"What is the usual lunch?"
0:10:55 > 0:10:59"Tomato soup, sole and fried potatoes, apple tart and cream."
0:10:59 > 0:11:02"I think that will do, don't you?"
0:11:04 > 0:11:07- Oh, thanks very much.- All right.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Lunch in the '30s would have cost about four shillings.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12For some reason, the GWR boasted
0:11:12 > 0:11:14that this was less than half the price of lunch
0:11:14 > 0:11:16on the Canadian Pacific Railway.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Still too pricey for some, though.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24We were a bunch of...schoolboy scouts with our packed lunches
0:11:24 > 0:11:26in greaseproof paper, I suppose.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31So we certainly didn't have the money to go into the dining car,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34but I think some of us would have sneaked up
0:11:34 > 0:11:36just to look over the tops of the chairs
0:11:36 > 0:11:39to see how the other half lived
0:11:39 > 0:11:42and I certainly remember looking into the dining car
0:11:42 > 0:11:44and being very impressed.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49The tables had tablecloths and nice comfortable seating.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51It was all done in style.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58But let's not get too romantic about the old days of the dining cars.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02OK, there's no monogram on this cutlery any more
0:12:02 > 0:12:04saying Great Western Railway,
0:12:04 > 0:12:06but that was only ever there to stop you nicking it.
0:12:06 > 0:12:11And the great days of the dining cars also coincided with the time
0:12:11 > 0:12:14when wages were low on the railways
0:12:14 > 0:12:18and all these attendants and waiters milling so helpfully around,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21they were earning very little and depended on tips.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25When rail wages began to rise in the 1960s, that was the beginning
0:12:25 > 0:12:29of the end of the really luxurious era of on-train dining.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Nobody wants to bring back railway serfdom,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41but it's a shame that almost all the dining cars in Britain
0:12:41 > 0:12:42have disappeared.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44True, they didn't make a profit,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47but they generated great goodwill.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52And they're such a civilised way to pass the time.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58The scenery is about to get going.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00From the left side of the train, I glimpse -
0:13:00 > 0:13:02as travellers for 100 years have glimpsed -
0:13:02 > 0:13:05the white horse on the hill at Westbury,
0:13:05 > 0:13:07though the town now rather gets in the way.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10About 20 miles later, we go through Taunton.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Here, the old train would have slipped a carriage,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15that is, a carriage - the end one, obviously -
0:13:15 > 0:13:18would have been uncoupled from the moving train.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20But in 1960, along came those two gents,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Mr Health and Mr Safety, and slipping stopped.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28A brief stop at Exeter, then we're in Devon.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Glorious Devon, as the guidebook has it.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34But my fellow passengers are rather taking its glories for granted.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39They're engaged in the usual selection of portable pursuits.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47I've brought one particularly relevant to this train.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50This jigsaw dates from 1929.
0:13:50 > 0:13:51It's one of more than 80
0:13:51 > 0:13:54produced by the Great Western Railway publicity department.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57No other railway made more than three jigsaws.
0:13:57 > 0:13:58Its cost would have been two and six,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02so that's quite clever - make the public pay for your own propaganda.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04The jigsaws typically showed
0:14:04 > 0:14:06the territory of the Great Western Railway,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10and they had titles like Exeter Cathedral, King Arthur On Dartmoor,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13The Vikings Landing At St Ives.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17But the jigsaws also promoted the trains and this is one of those.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19In fact, this train.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23A Cornish Riviera Express barrelling along by the sea.
0:14:34 > 0:14:35Three pieces missing.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Well, it was bought cheap on eBay.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44The scene on this puzzle is the number one railway view in Britain,
0:14:44 > 0:14:46widely reproduced in different ways.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48It was famous to children...
0:14:50 > 0:14:52..and smokers.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54This is a cigarette card.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57The location is Dawlish on the Devon coast,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00where train and sea meet in thrilling conjunction,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03the track being practically on the beach.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07For over 100 years, the trains have upstaged the sea
0:15:07 > 0:15:09as people watch the trains
0:15:09 > 0:15:13snake through the red cliffs of the Dawlish Warren.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18The railway author Benedict le Vay describes this
0:15:18 > 0:15:22as being like a needle threading through gathered cloth.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28With the Devon coast behind us,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31we're about halfway through our journey, time-wise.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35We have travelled 225 miles from London
0:15:35 > 0:15:39and we're just 80 miles away from Penzance.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Some of the best views lie ahead,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and an exciting railway moment.
0:15:45 > 0:15:46This is Plymouth.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49It's our fourth stop, but on the original Riviera,
0:15:49 > 0:15:51it would have been the first stop.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55The rail enthusiast, or railwayac in the late 1920s -
0:15:55 > 0:15:59they were often vicars - would maybe have walked along to the front
0:15:59 > 0:16:01to see a bit of exciting business.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03The heavy locomotive, say a King Class,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05would have been taken off and a smaller one,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07say a Castle Class, was put on,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10because the King would have been too heavy
0:16:10 > 0:16:12to cross the Tamar Bridge that's coming up.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20The King locos weighed in at 89 tonnes.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26Whereas the slightly smaller Castle class was 79 tonnes.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Not much lighter,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36the first-timer over the bridge might have been thinking.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40With ten carriages, that was still over 500 tonnes of train
0:16:40 > 0:16:45tiptoeing its way towards the rather delicate Royal Albert Bridge.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48You'd finally got to Plymouth, you'd gone past the dockyard,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52and then there was this wonderful, iconic bridge
0:16:52 > 0:16:55which you could see out of the window of the train.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59This was 1959, before the road bridge was built,
0:16:59 > 0:17:05so there's just this single bridge, famous bridge, built in 1859,
0:17:05 > 0:17:07and the wonderful river.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13And at the other side, this fabled land called Cornwall.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22The more imaginative sort of Edwardian,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25coming to Cornwall for the first time on this train,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28might have experienced a twinge of apprehension.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31The GWR's guidebooks to the region, after all,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33were called Holiday Haunts.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38The accent was on "a dash of adventure".
0:17:38 > 0:17:44Granite crosses, stone circles, white witches, the evil eye,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46smugglers, ghosts.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Through an enticing combination of legend, history and romance,
0:17:54 > 0:17:56the GWR was packaging Cornwall
0:17:56 > 0:17:59as an upper-middle class holiday destination.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01They offered Riviera passengers
0:18:01 > 0:18:04intellectual as well as physical pleasures.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Now, out of England, into Cornwall.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11You will find exhilaration in the surf that breaks
0:18:11 > 0:18:14and drags on the Atlantic shores.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17You will find the sun's magic on the sands of the west.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21If this were the only magic, if these were the only mysteries,
0:18:21 > 0:18:22they would be enough.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26But this is only the edge of the land
0:18:26 > 0:18:29and this is only the fringe of the mystery.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36So the ancient land was sold very heavily
0:18:36 > 0:18:40and, being the Great Western, their argument was
0:18:40 > 0:18:43that if you want to study our ancient Celtic land,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46Cornwall is the best place possible.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51There could not have been a Cornish Riviera Express
0:18:51 > 0:18:53without the concept of the Cornish Riviera.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59This was a GWR invention.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02To remind their wealthy passengers of Nice,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04they planted palm trees on platforms.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Altering geography to suit their purpose,
0:19:10 > 0:19:12the company made out that Cornwall and Italy
0:19:12 > 0:19:14were more or less interchangeable,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17even down to having the same weather.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21One was meant to perceive it as something...effectively
0:19:21 > 0:19:23continental.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25So you got wonderful expressions
0:19:25 > 0:19:26like, "In time to come,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29"Mullion will become a Monte Carlo
0:19:29 > 0:19:32"and Penzance would be as Naples."
0:19:33 > 0:19:38Whatever you can say about Mullion, it'll never be Monte Carlo.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44In some ways, Cornwall IS another land.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47From Liskeard down,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50some of the line is still controlled by semaphore signals
0:19:50 > 0:19:55of the kind used when the first Cornish Riviera steamed through.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Operations at Lostwithiel Station might be of interest
0:20:04 > 0:20:07to students of Victorian railway history.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09BELL CHIMES
0:20:15 > 0:20:19For over 100 years, local signalmen have been under instruction
0:20:19 > 0:20:22to give the Cornish Riviera Express a clear run.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40But it's impossible to be a proper express on the Cornish main line.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Because today, as in the early days of travel,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46it's cluttered with country stations.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53The old Riviera deigned to stop at some of them.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Our more democratic service stops at even more.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05I'm reminded of a quote from Evelyn Waugh
0:21:05 > 0:21:07about travelling through France.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11"My train was a Rapide, and God, it was slow."
0:21:11 > 0:21:13'Ladies and gentlemen, our next station stop,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16'in approximately 15 minutes' time, will be Truro.'
0:21:21 > 0:21:24It is a very windy line all through Cornwall,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28so you've never got the chance to go fast, so you can just sit back
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and absorb the scenery, which is constantly changing.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Although the modern train is hours ahead
0:21:35 > 0:21:37of where the old one would have been at this point,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40this final leg seems to take an age.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44We're averaging less than 60mph.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49But in the home stretch, the Cornish landscape musters its grand finale
0:21:49 > 0:21:51and you wish the train would go slower.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Coming towards Penzance,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59the author of Through The Window goes into overdrive.
0:21:59 > 0:22:00"While approaching Marazion,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03"we have caught a glimpse of that almost incredible sight
0:22:03 > 0:22:04"when seen for the first time,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07"St Michael's Mount towering up from Mount's Bay.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12"We feel the whole journey would have been worthwhile
0:22:12 > 0:22:14"if it gave us no more than this."
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Just coming into Penzance. It's about ten past three.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32The original Cornish Riviera Express would have got in
0:22:32 > 0:22:36at about five o'clock, so...not that much of a difference, but then...
0:22:36 > 0:22:37we stopped more.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40'Ladies and gentlemen, this service terminates here.'
0:22:47 > 0:22:53Penzance is journey's end for me, as for travellers of the past.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55I imagine them setting off
0:22:55 > 0:22:58with the whole of the delightful duchy at their disposal.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02Exploring Land's End, painting the continental vistas,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and finding the Atlantic to be so very like the Med
0:23:05 > 0:23:09and generally doing what the railway company have suggested they do.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14The Cornish Riviera Express did a favour to Cornwall
0:23:14 > 0:23:17because it brought people with bulging wallets into the region
0:23:17 > 0:23:20at a time when its traditional industries
0:23:20 > 0:23:24of mineral mining and china clay mining were going into decline.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30For many visitors, the GWR propaganda turned out to be true.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34The landscape was stunning and ancient.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41Unfamiliar flowers thrived and palm trees flourished.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44The visitor to the famous Morrab Gardens might have thought,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47on a good day, that the exoticism was genuine,
0:23:47 > 0:23:51not something invented in an office at Paddington.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Named trains like the Cornish Riviera were particularly popular
0:24:02 > 0:24:04between the '20s and the '40s...
0:24:06 > 0:24:08..when the railways were in the hands
0:24:08 > 0:24:10of competing private companies.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Their flair and style disguised the bottom line,
0:24:15 > 0:24:19which was about making money in a very competitive environment.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23My next train was the showpiece of another company,
0:24:23 > 0:24:25the London and North Eastern Railway.
0:24:25 > 0:24:31And this train's fame eclipsed even that of the Cornish Riviera Express.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34The Flying Scotsman, eager to be on her way.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43I rendezvous with it at a suitably distinguished point of departure.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53I'm at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56known to older guests as the North British
0:24:56 > 0:24:59after the railway company that built it.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02The same company built that...
0:25:03 > 0:25:06..Edinburgh Waverly Station,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09which looks rather like a garden centre from up here.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12I'm in town to catch the Flying Scotsman,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15the pride of the East Coast Mainline,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18the flagship of the London and North Eastern Railway.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21And look, still here...
0:25:22 > 0:25:26..on the timetable today. FS.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Well, you don't need much bigging up
0:25:29 > 0:25:32when you're the most famous train in the world.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36'The train now ready to depart from Platform 11
0:25:36 > 0:25:40'is the 05.14 Flying Scotsman service to London King's Cross.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45'Stopping at Newcastle and London King's Cross only.'
0:25:45 > 0:25:48The current train is run by the new operators
0:25:48 > 0:25:51of the East Coast Mainline - Stagecoach and Virgin.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53They've kept the name.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Imagine how much more boring that would look without the words
0:25:56 > 0:25:57"Flying Scotsman."
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Our train has an actual locomotive on the front, a rarity today.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10A loco of this type, Class 91, holds the current British speed record
0:26:10 > 0:26:14of 161mph, which makes it a fitting engine to pull this train.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18By the way, it is the train I'm talking about.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21Not the steam locomotive that was also called the Flying Scotsman.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27Sometimes, lightning struck for train spotters
0:26:27 > 0:26:29and the Flying Scotsman train
0:26:29 > 0:26:32was hauled by the Flying Scotsman locomotive.
0:26:32 > 0:26:33But not always.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Apart from a brief interruption a few years back,
0:26:36 > 0:26:41the name of this train has survived since 1924.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44Traditionally, the Flying Scotsman went both ways,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46up and down in railway terms,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49leaving King's Cross in London
0:26:49 > 0:26:52and Edinburgh Waverly at the civilised time of 10am.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Today, the Scotsman is one-way only, to London.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01And it leaves Waverly at the challenging - for some of us -
0:27:01 > 0:27:03time of 05.40.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Its early departure time reflects its purpose -
0:27:13 > 0:27:17to compete with domestic airlines for the business market.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19This echoes the older Flying Scotsman,
0:27:19 > 0:27:23many of whose passengers would have been travelling for business.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28The suit's not quite right, I know, but I'm trying to imagine myself
0:27:28 > 0:27:33as an Edinburgh solicitor on a business trip in about 1930.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36The firm's paying and, come to think of it, I'm a senior partner,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39so, of course, I'm in first class.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45First class would have been businessmen
0:27:45 > 0:27:47going down to London or up to Edinburgh.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50It would have been quite a splendid journey,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53but probably a pause in your working life if you were a businessman
0:27:53 > 0:27:55between, say, seeing the bank
0:27:55 > 0:27:57and insurance people down in London
0:27:57 > 0:28:01and maybe some of the shipping people and going up and seeing
0:28:01 > 0:28:04whichever industry you were in, you know - chemical, steel,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08shipbuilding - whatever it was that was keeping you in Edinburgh.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15The '30s journey would have taken all day,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17and that day was to be enjoyed with, perhaps,
0:28:17 > 0:28:19a little thinking about business.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Things are quite different now.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25The interwar Scotsman would have reached its destination
0:28:25 > 0:28:30just nicely in time for the end of the working day, about five o'clock.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33This train will get to King's Cross at 09.40,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36in time for the beginning of the working day.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40The business climate of today is much more frenetic,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43and although it's only 05.45am,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45most people on this train are already working.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52The airline-style at-seat breakfast
0:28:52 > 0:28:55promotes a working, rather than a leisure, environment.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58And this train is like a plane, really,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00in that it will ignore all the stations
0:29:00 > 0:29:03between Edinburgh and London except Newcastle.
0:29:03 > 0:29:05But back in 1928,
0:29:05 > 0:29:09the Scotsman began doing this run from London to Edinburgh nonstop.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13A sensational feat for a steam train
0:29:13 > 0:29:16and the USP of the Flying Scotsman.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20And onboard the early nonstop runs, it boasted services
0:29:20 > 0:29:24that would be unimaginable on any British train today.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26Services you were offered on the nonstop -
0:29:26 > 0:29:30if you're first class, obviously, you got your own dining car,
0:29:30 > 0:29:34Louis XVI style, very comfortable seats.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38You also had people who came through the train offering newspapers.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41If you're a lady, in the ladies' retiring room,
0:29:41 > 0:29:43there was a hairdresser.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46They offered things like vibro-massage.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53For a while, the Flying Scotsman boasted a cinema carriage,
0:29:53 > 0:29:54a barber...
0:29:57 > 0:30:00..a cocktail bar that served the Flying Scotsman cocktail -
0:30:00 > 0:30:06whisky, vermouth, Angostura bitters, sugar and ice.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10Apparently it could have felled a horse.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13The cocktail persisted, but the barber didn't.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Probably just as well, in view of his cut-throat razor.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18Basically, he was a publicity stunt,
0:30:18 > 0:30:23and we ought to ask - why was this train trying so hard?
0:30:26 > 0:30:29The answer? To stave off the competition.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32To detour into a bit of railway history,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34in the interwar years, Britain's trains were run
0:30:34 > 0:30:36by four private companies -
0:30:36 > 0:30:38the Southern, the GWR,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41the London Midland and Scottish,
0:30:41 > 0:30:43and the London and North Eastern Railway,
0:30:43 > 0:30:44owners of the Scotsman.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Of the four, the LNER was the least well-off,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50so they had to be particularly canny in the fight for customers.
0:30:50 > 0:30:55The Flying Scotsman train arose from competition
0:30:55 > 0:30:58between two of the companies of the big four -
0:30:58 > 0:31:01the London Midland and Scottish on the West coast route,
0:31:01 > 0:31:03and the London and North Eastern Railway
0:31:03 > 0:31:05here on the East coast route.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10You could get from London to most places in Scotland
0:31:10 > 0:31:14by either company, so they were locked in a competition for speed.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21We can think of these two routes as like two drag-racing tracks.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26The LMS's expresses pounding up the West coast, the LNER's up the East.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28And if you had a fast train in those days,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31you were jolly well going to give it a name.
0:31:31 > 0:31:32As for the theme of those names,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35well, it was enough to turn anyone Republican.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38The Coronation, the Coronation Scot,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41the Royal Scot, the Silver Jubilee.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46It was the Flying Scotsman that was the star before that.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56This was partly because the LNER was better at self-promotion.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00They made sure everyone knew their flagship named train was fast
0:32:00 > 0:32:02by staging dramatic events.
0:32:02 > 0:32:03For instance, in 1931,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07the Scotsman supposedly raced a Dart speed boat
0:32:07 > 0:32:09and a de Havilland Puss Moth,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12a plane with a top speed of 124mph.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16It had all the drama and all the integrity of a Top Gear stunt.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20TRAIN WHISTLES
0:32:25 > 0:32:28They were just trying to up the ante, take it a little bit further,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32so that they got their picture in the London papers.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35They were very good at that - making sure that they got the profile
0:32:35 > 0:32:37they wanted for their train,
0:32:37 > 0:32:41because then some of the glamour spread around the network.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45So if you were sat on a train trundling through the potato fields
0:32:45 > 0:32:48of Norfolk that wasn't going particularly quickly,
0:32:48 > 0:32:51you might think, "Oh, you know, with a couple of connections,
0:32:51 > 0:32:53"I could be on the Flying Scotsman."
0:32:56 > 0:32:57For most of the year,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00the view down this East coast route is in darkness,
0:33:00 > 0:33:02since the Scotsman leaves before dawn,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05but in summer, it's worth looking up from your laptop.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12The highlight is the crossing of the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15That was a box that every rail fan wanted to tick.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28In about half an hour, we'll be stopping at Newcastle.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35In the brilliant and brutal crime film of 1971,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39Get Carter, Michael Caine leaves London for Newcastle
0:33:39 > 0:33:42probably travelling on the Flying Scotsman.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44Well, it would be just like him
0:33:44 > 0:33:47to catch a named train rather than an anonymous one.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51In the opening credits, we see him in a BR Mark 2
0:33:51 > 0:33:55first-class compartment of the kind that I practically grew up in.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Never looked quite as good as Caine, of course.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02He's behaving in a very civilised manner, reading Farewell, My Lovely.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09We see him going to the dining car, which still existed in 1971.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11I think the director, Mike Hodges,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15was saying, here is a man who does things correctly.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18He eats his soup in the approved manner,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21moving the spoon away from himself,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24but pretty soon, he'll be throwing people off
0:34:24 > 0:34:26the multistorey car park at Gateshead.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33PA SYSTEM BEEPS
0:34:33 > 0:34:36MAN ON PA: 'Good morning. This is the 7.04 service for London Kings Cross,
0:34:36 > 0:34:38'departing from Newcastle...'
0:34:38 > 0:34:41At seven o'clock, we pull into Newcastle,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43an eerily beautiful station.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49We are joined by less bleary travellers,
0:34:49 > 0:34:52and the staff gear up to serve a second lot of breakfasts.
0:34:57 > 0:34:59Now we are nonstop to London.
0:35:01 > 0:35:02PA SYSTEM BEEPS
0:35:02 > 0:35:05MAN ON PA: 'Morning. You are onboard the 7.04,
0:35:05 > 0:35:08'the East Coast Flying Scotsman service to London, Kings Cross.'
0:35:08 > 0:35:11There are many bridges over the Tyne.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15They attest to an industrial heritage - ships, coal, steel.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20The view from the windows of the Flying Scotsman
0:35:20 > 0:35:22would have changed around here
0:35:22 > 0:35:25in a way that would have gratified passengers.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28They were passing through a literal powerhouse.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36Here's a book by an enigmatic chap called SN Pike.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Nobody seems to know what SN stood for.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42Mile By Mile On Britain's Railways.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46He chronicled the main lines of Britain in the late 1930s.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Of the stretch south from Newcastle for 30 miles or so,
0:35:49 > 0:35:52he says of the East Coast's Main Line,
0:35:52 > 0:35:56"We are now approaching a highly industrialised part of the country
0:35:56 > 0:35:57"and, in the next few miles,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00"many single-lined railways will be seen branching away
0:36:00 > 0:36:04"to the right and left to serve the collieries, steelworks
0:36:04 > 0:36:06"and other heavy industries hereabout."
0:36:07 > 0:36:10That would have been part of the glamour of the Flying Scotsman -
0:36:10 > 0:36:14the sense of being adjacent to the beating heart of England,
0:36:14 > 0:36:17that organ is rather harder to locate these days.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23Approaching York, we've come about 200 miles
0:36:23 > 0:36:26and we're roughly halfway through our journey.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30We're not going to call it York,
0:36:30 > 0:36:35just as the interwar non-stopping Scotsman didn't call it York.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37This is, in fact, the only modern-day express
0:36:37 > 0:36:39on the East Coast Main Line that doesn't call it York.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41I'm a bit annoyed about that.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46York's important - took up 30 pages of the old Bradshaw timetable,
0:36:46 > 0:36:49did York, and I was born there.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55Would customers at platform 3 please stand well clear
0:36:55 > 0:36:59from the approaching train. There is a nonstop train approaching.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06But ignoring my hometown was part of the LNER's grand plan.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12The Scotsman's nonstop run was a logistical coup for the company.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16It's actually very hard to timetable a genuine express
0:37:16 > 0:37:17because, if you think about it,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20all the other normal stopping trains get in the way.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27In 1928, as part of their PR campaign for the nonstop runs,
0:37:27 > 0:37:29the LNER offered all possible assistance
0:37:29 > 0:37:34to the makers of a feature film called the Flying Scotsman.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37When they saw the result, they wished they hadn't.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41It showed much inadvisable passenger behaviour -
0:37:41 > 0:37:43far graver matters than feet on seats.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Passengers climbed in and out of the carriages without necessarily
0:37:47 > 0:37:49waiting for the train to stop.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52The footplate crew were not paying attention.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56This was not how the LNER wanted to depict its crack express.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00What particularly annoyed Nigel Gresley,
0:38:00 > 0:38:03chief mechanical engineer of the LNER, was when the villain
0:38:03 > 0:38:08uncoupled the locomotive from the train using only a pen knife.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Gresley insisted on a disclaimer, "For the purposes of the film,
0:38:15 > 0:38:17"dramatic licence has been taken
0:38:17 > 0:38:20"with the safety features of the Flying Scotsman."
0:38:28 > 0:38:30By the time we get south of Peterborough,
0:38:30 > 0:38:33our train is racing along at over 100mph.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38Sir John Betjeman used to say,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40"The train made a different sound on this Fenland,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44"because the rails were laid down on beds of reeds."
0:38:44 > 0:38:47The modern passengers sees no reed beds.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51In recent years, the profitability of rapeseed oil has made Britain
0:38:51 > 0:38:54not so much a green and pleasant land as a yellow one.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00It's very easy to go to sleep when alongside these vast fields.
0:39:00 > 0:39:01On the old Scotsman,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04the cause of tiredness would have been drinking
0:39:04 > 0:39:06that Flying Scotsman Cocktail before a five-course lunch
0:39:06 > 0:39:09accompanied by half a bottle of wine.
0:39:11 > 0:39:12On the present day one,
0:39:12 > 0:39:16it's rather more to do with having got out of bed at five o'clock.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20Bang on time, we reach the outskirts of London
0:39:20 > 0:39:22and make our way into King's Cross station.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29Only people come into King's Cross today, but until the 1970s,
0:39:29 > 0:39:33when the southern power stations went over to oil,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36tonnes of coal flowed in by day and by night.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38Apparently the station reeked of coal.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47In the last 40 years, London has waxed as the North has waned.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50That the modern Scotsman terminates at London rather than Edinburgh
0:39:50 > 0:39:53perhaps shows the greater magnetic pull of the capital.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00There was a better North-South balance in those days.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04A Scottish solicitor wouldn't have felt remotely intimidated
0:40:04 > 0:40:05about being in the capital.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Also, he'd be dropping the name of the train that brought him here
0:40:08 > 0:40:11when he got to his business meetings.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14"Came up on the Scotsman. The run was trouble-free."
0:40:17 > 0:40:20His enthusiasm for the train would remain unabated.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23That for the capital might have been checked, however,
0:40:23 > 0:40:27when he was immediately reminded of how crowded the place was.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39In 1947, the big four private railway companies of Britain
0:40:39 > 0:40:43were nationalised and condensed into one - British Railways.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47So began a muddled chapter of named train history.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49Naming trains was a way of proclaiming
0:40:49 > 0:40:51the end of wartime austerity.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54Many new ones were created under British Railways,
0:40:54 > 0:40:58like the Elizabethan Express in 1954.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01But now came competition from other forms of transport,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05and the pressure to accommodate the growing army of commuters.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08A less exuberant climate began to prevail.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11The luxury and fun of named trains
0:41:11 > 0:41:14began to seem antiquated, inegalitarian.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17# Choo-choo
0:41:17 > 0:41:20# Choo-choo-choo-choo-ah... #
0:41:20 > 0:41:24One named train stood out as particularly frivolous -
0:41:24 > 0:41:28it's the subject of my third journey.
0:41:28 > 0:41:32If ever a name suited a train, it was that of the Brighton Belle,
0:41:32 > 0:41:36a mobile equivalent of the charming, slightly rackety town it served.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40It's so very British. The hospitality, the tea.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42It's just the way that you read about in novels,
0:41:42 > 0:41:44in British novels, you know?
0:41:44 > 0:41:48It's just so old-timey, that's why I like it.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Unlike the Cornish Riviera Express and the Flying Scotsman,
0:41:51 > 0:41:52the Belle is no longer in service,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55so this is going to be the hardest journey to replicate.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Fortunately, this train is well chronicled,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02because it was used by newsworthy people such as Laurence Olivier.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Can you tell me how you're enjoying your scrambled egg this morning?
0:42:05 > 0:42:07I'm enjoying it very much, thank you.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11I have come to Victoria station to catch a Brighton train
0:42:11 > 0:42:13that coincides with one of the Belle's six
0:42:13 > 0:42:16daily departures from London, the 11am.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Our journey, then as now, will take an hour.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24I've hired this jacket, by the way.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28I think it's right for a train that was rather Bertie Wooster-ish.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Anyone approaching these modern unnamed trains,
0:42:36 > 0:42:39and this is actually an Electrostar 377,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42is probably thinking about their destination.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44But people approaching the Brighton Belle
0:42:44 > 0:42:46were thinking about the Brighton Belle.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49They would have smelled coffee brewing, perhaps kippers frying.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52Being Brighton Belle sort of people, they'd have been wondering
0:42:52 > 0:42:55whether it was too early for a drink and rather hoping it wasn't.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59They'd have been greeted at every door by a white-jacketed attendant.
0:42:59 > 0:43:01He wouldn't have been at all shy about saying,
0:43:01 > 0:43:03"Third class that way, sir",
0:43:03 > 0:43:06to anyone who didn't quite look first-class material.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14Like Brighton, the Belle had a whiff of the louche about it.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17Each carriage was named, and the names were of the kind of girl
0:43:17 > 0:43:20a chap might want to go to Brighton with.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23Brighton has always been racy.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27This poster is typical of how the railways advertised the place -
0:43:27 > 0:43:29sort of classy sleaze.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31Somehow, the Belle summed that up.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35The Brighton Belle was launched by the Southern Railway
0:43:35 > 0:43:38on the 1st of January 1933 -
0:43:38 > 0:43:41the proud flagship of their new electrified system,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44at that time, the biggest in the world.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48If you go back to where this train came from,
0:43:48 > 0:43:51it was from an era post the Wall Street Crash.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54We have the chancellor, Winston Churchill,
0:43:54 > 0:43:56giving tax incentives to companies
0:43:56 > 0:44:00to do major projects that would soak up manpower.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03So the Southern Railway decided that they would launch
0:44:03 > 0:44:06this amazing electrification programme,
0:44:06 > 0:44:08which of course would bring mega benefits
0:44:08 > 0:44:10to the whole of the commuting South-East.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14The Brighton Belle happened to be the flagship of that programme.
0:44:14 > 0:44:16PA SYSTEM BEEPS
0:44:16 > 0:44:19'This train is the Southern service to Brighton.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21'We are now approaching Clapham Junction.
0:44:21 > 0:44:25'Please mind the gap between the platform and the train.'
0:44:25 > 0:44:28We're hardly out of London, yet already we have a stop -
0:44:28 > 0:44:29Clapham Junction.
0:44:31 > 0:44:34The Belle, famously, never stopped.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36WHISTLE SOUNDS
0:44:36 > 0:44:39In 1952, the BBC chose her nonstop journey
0:44:39 > 0:44:44to demonstrate one of the earliest uses of time-lapse on television.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46Filmed from the clean and smoke-free driver's cab,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50the electrical Belle seems to be whizzing along
0:44:50 > 0:44:51at the speed of sound.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53Her top speed in reality was 80.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01The Belle was a paradoxical train.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04It took its place amongst the Southern Railway's
0:45:04 > 0:45:06fleet of electric trains.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09We can think of these as pretty humble vehicles,
0:45:09 > 0:45:11rather like tube trains,
0:45:11 > 0:45:14pistons bringing people in and out of London.
0:45:14 > 0:45:16But like with most famous trains,
0:45:16 > 0:45:20there was no glamorous locomotive on the front of the Brighton Belle.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24To the lay observer, it looked just like a line of carriages.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26But what carriages they were.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29The writer Keith Waterhouse, who lived in Brighton,
0:45:29 > 0:45:32said that "The Brighton Belle resembled a string of sausages
0:45:32 > 0:45:35"pulled out into the Palace of Versailles."
0:45:44 > 0:45:46Everything about it was special.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49I think the most magical thing is that there were only 15 carriages,
0:45:49 > 0:45:52and each of those carriages was individually designed
0:45:52 > 0:45:55by one of the leading design houses of the day.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57So we have Heal's doing just one car,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Maples doing one car, Waring & Gillow, one car.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03These are just fantastic names.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05It meant that when you went on,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08it was a different experience in every single car.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15Words like Jazz Age and Art Deco describe the interior of the Belle.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19The elaborate marquetry featured the sunburst motif
0:46:19 > 0:46:23that was coming into fashion for cocktail cabinets and radios.
0:46:27 > 0:46:31Then, of course, you get the fabrics, very plush moquettes,
0:46:31 > 0:46:36very much up-to-date for the day, Art Deco, beautiful leaf patterns.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40Fairly bright colours, so it was an uplifting experience to go down.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45You had these little hangers and brackets on the side,
0:46:45 > 0:46:49one for your hat, one to hang your coat on.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51It was really done up nice.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58You stepped on there and you thought you were royalty.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00It really was a beautiful thing.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07The table lamps on the Belle were celluloid. They were pink.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10Somebody once described the Belle on the move
0:47:10 > 0:47:12as being a blur of table lamps.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21The Belle was making an aesthetic statement.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26It was saying, "I am a work of art", whereas today's train is not.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29Today's train, you sense, is designed not to offend anyone.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32It has the rather washed-out tones of a hospital.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40East Croydon, our second stop. It is slightly wearisome.
0:47:43 > 0:47:45The Brighton Belle was a commuter train of sorts.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51It never left either London or Brighton before 9.30 in the morning.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54Last one left Victoria at 11pm.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58So it was a train for late risers and late finishers.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03The Belle was also known as the Equity Express
0:48:03 > 0:48:06because of all the theatricals who used it to get home at night.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11Terence Rattigan, Laurence Olivier, Flora Robson, Jimmy Edwards,
0:48:11 > 0:48:15Peter Jones and Dora Bryan were all regulars on the train.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21The writer and broadcaster Alan Melville lived in Brighton
0:48:21 > 0:48:24and often travelled on the Belle. He wrote,
0:48:24 > 0:48:29"The most lethal of the Belle's journeys is the 11pm from Victoria.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33"You have to be very careful indeed if, after a long day's grind,
0:48:33 > 0:48:35"you don't want to be trapped with a lot of gay chat
0:48:35 > 0:48:38"about how fabulous the business was tonight
0:48:38 > 0:48:42"or how unreceptive the audience was all the way through act one,
0:48:42 > 0:48:46"but how they brightened up after the interval."
0:48:50 > 0:48:52The Belle was slightly more expensive
0:48:52 > 0:48:55than the regular Brighton trains. This was because it was built
0:48:55 > 0:49:00and manned by the luxury Pullman Company. They charged a supplement.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02You were also under pressure to buy a meal.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08They used to do breakfast, like the kippers, and eggs and bacon.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Anything normal you buy, you could get a steak breakfast if you wanted.
0:49:14 > 0:49:15The coffee was to die for.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19I've never tasted coffee since like that, in big silver jugs.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21Oh, it was beautiful.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30In place of what was in effect a pretty good restaurant on wheels,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34staffed by white-coated attendants, we have today...
0:49:34 > 0:49:35a lady with a trolley.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42Good afternoon. Any tea or coffee for you, sir?
0:49:42 > 0:49:46Hi. Have you got any...champagne?
0:49:46 > 0:49:49Champagne. No, we don't sell any champagne.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52Would you mind if...? Could you just give me a glass?
0:49:53 > 0:49:56- There is your glass. - Thank you, that's very kind.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03I bought this earlier - quarter bottle of champagne.
0:50:03 > 0:50:05Well, more or less.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Quarter bottles of champagne, and alcohol in general,
0:50:08 > 0:50:10were pioneered by the Pullman company.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12They were then introduced on the Brighton Belle.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15They would have got through a lot of quarter bottles of champagne
0:50:15 > 0:50:17on the Brighton Belle, I imagine.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33Yeah, it's warm.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43As we approach Brighton, I approach the loo.
0:50:45 > 0:50:47I don't like electric doors,
0:50:47 > 0:50:49they take all the fun out of going to the toilet.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58I have read about the WCs on the Belle.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01The walls were coloured eau de Nil with black beading.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06Sinks were black porcelain.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09There were iridescent glass soap dispensers.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13The floor was marbled mosaic, flecked with mother of pearl.
0:51:16 > 0:51:17It's not like that any more.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27But as with every famous beauty, the Belle's charms began to fade,
0:51:27 > 0:51:29or so British Rail concluded.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33By the late '60s,
0:51:33 > 0:51:37the Belle was starting to resemble a museum on wheels.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40So there was some updating.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45The carriage exteriors were repainted from umber and cream
0:51:45 > 0:51:49into BR's dour new livery of blue and grey.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51Blue and dirt, as it was known.
0:51:51 > 0:51:57As for the first-class armchairs, out went the '30s autumnal shades.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00In came InterCity 70 moquette.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03Black.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06The part of the train that actually needed their attention,
0:52:06 > 0:52:08the underneath, was left alone.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12It was just so rough. It was a beast. It really was.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16All the underneath was worn - that was when I got it,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19it had already done 30 or 40 years.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21But when I started driving the thing,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24it did used to roll and rock all over the place.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27If you went from the main line to the local line
0:52:27 > 0:52:29and went over the crossings, you wouldn't dare open
0:52:29 > 0:52:33the controller going across, because the back used to roll and tilt.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37Yeah, I had complaints about spilt coffee and that.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43The regulars were braced for the bumps, but when, in 1970,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46British Rail announced they were dropping kippers from the menu,
0:52:46 > 0:52:50Baron Olivier of Brighton fought for their reinstatement.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54He was magnanimous in victory, gracefully avoiding the K word.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58I think since this complaint of mine I'm very happy and I'm very grateful
0:52:58 > 0:53:02to British Railways for the way they've taken the matter
0:53:02 > 0:53:04with extreme dignity, I think.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08I'm very happy that the Brighton Belle
0:53:08 > 0:53:11will continue to be one of the fine trains of the world.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15It's as important in its way as the Master Cutler in the north,
0:53:15 > 0:53:17as the Flying Scotsman, the Orient Express,
0:53:17 > 0:53:21they should all keep their faces well lifted, I think.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23Thank you very much, Sir Laurence.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32It proved a Pyrrhic victory. Soon after,
0:53:32 > 0:53:36British Rail announced they were selling off the whole train.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39The actor Sir John Clements CBE had a lot to say about that.
0:53:41 > 0:53:46Well, of course, for us who use it a great deal, it's a tragedy.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50It'll be a very sad loss for all of us, because I suppose it's
0:53:50 > 0:53:53the most civilised short journey in England which we're going to lose.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56What adds insult to injury is that they're going to replace it
0:53:56 > 0:53:59by these ghastly buffet carts, which are absolute hell.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02Visiting American billionaire Joseph Wallace King
0:54:02 > 0:54:06thought British Rail had just plain got it wrong.
0:54:06 > 0:54:07Well, I think it's very quaint.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10It's one of the last remaining trains that has
0:54:10 > 0:54:13this personality and character. If Great Britain lose it,
0:54:13 > 0:54:17they're losing something else very pertinent to a nation.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20It's become kind of a landmark.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24They sold London Bridge, it's nothing like the Tower Bridge,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28but still, it's one landmark gone, and here goes another one.
0:54:28 > 0:54:29I think it's kind of sad.
0:54:35 > 0:54:40The Brighton Belle's last run was on Sunday 30th April, 1972.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48# We'll take a cup of kindness yet... #
0:54:48 > 0:54:52Being the Belle, she went out in theatrical style.
0:54:52 > 0:54:53As we run into the station,
0:54:53 > 0:54:57they got a massive, great brass band and it all started up.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59They were playing all this music and everything.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01Passengers in period costume,
0:55:01 > 0:55:05bands playing - it was more like a festival than the ending of an era.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09Then all these people, that really I didn't know,
0:55:09 > 0:55:13but obviously people of higher standing than me,
0:55:13 > 0:55:16they were all on there and looking through the train.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22# For auld lang syne... #
0:55:24 > 0:55:26All the Belle regulars
0:55:26 > 0:55:28and their luvvie friends turned up to say goodbye -
0:55:28 > 0:55:31actress Moira Lister, Dame Flora Robson,
0:55:31 > 0:55:34Led Zeppelin manager, Peter Grant,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38the man behind the moustache, Jimmy "Whack-O" Edwards.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42Oddly enough, the as yet unknown Bob Marley was onboard somewhere.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44All not so much drinking as quaffing champagne
0:55:44 > 0:55:46in that way of old-fashioned ravers,
0:55:46 > 0:55:49which might explain the amount of wobbling,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51as they all got off the train for the final time.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Even today, Brighton seems haunted by the Belle,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04so perfect was the match.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06It was a good example of why naming trains worked -
0:56:06 > 0:56:10the Belle became famous and it promoted its destination.
0:56:10 > 0:56:14Thank God no-one closed Brighton because it looked a bit battered.
0:56:14 > 0:56:15That's part of its charm.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19Along with uninhibited joie de vivre,
0:56:19 > 0:56:22quirky nostalgia is what brings the crowds here,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25and I think it would still be filling the Belle.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32But British Rail did not see it like that.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37The future was about one brand, not multiple eccentric brands.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41From 1976, a new breed of fast diesels became omnipresent.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44The InterCity 125.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47This was the only name BR was interested in.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50Do you think it's really rather too clinical?
0:56:50 > 0:56:53You'd prefer to have the age of elegance back again?
0:56:53 > 0:56:55I like the age of elegance, personally.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57Would you be prepared to pay for that?
0:56:57 > 0:57:00Because British Rail said it cost far too much to keep it going.
0:57:00 > 0:57:01Well, I would.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04I'd be prepared to, but I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06But then, of course, one had the choice.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08Now, one doesn't have the choice.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13Some of the best-known names did survive, but in a tokenistic way.
0:57:13 > 0:57:18Under BR, the rationale behind the naming of trains had died.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22I've ridden on the modern equivalents
0:57:22 > 0:57:25of three of the most famous named trains.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28And it is a bit difficult to avoid concluding that for all
0:57:28 > 0:57:31the efficiency of those trains, and they were all on time,
0:57:31 > 0:57:35and the undoubted skill and amiability of the staff,
0:57:35 > 0:57:39the present falls some way short of the past.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42Let's face it, modern railway travel
0:57:42 > 0:57:45is rather lacking in style and character.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47Can't we have back some of the features
0:57:47 > 0:57:49that made the named trains so enjoyable?
0:57:49 > 0:57:51Who wouldn't rather have compartments than
0:57:51 > 0:57:56close-together airline seating - that is seats with very high backs?
0:57:56 > 0:57:59Why must trains try and emulate airlines?
0:57:59 > 0:58:02I knew somebody who was on a train to the West Country,
0:58:02 > 0:58:03and the guard announced,
0:58:03 > 0:58:07"We are now commencing our approach to Bristol Temple Meads."
0:58:07 > 0:58:10Who wouldn't rather have dining cars than the at-seat trolley service?
0:58:10 > 0:58:14Which is just like being served a meal in a hospital.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17Railway style need not be a lost cause.
0:58:17 > 0:58:20There is some rekindling of named train romance.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23The Brighton Belle is being restored to run on Sundays.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27Virgin say the Northbound leg of the Scotsman is to be resumed.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30I'm very glad that dining has been brought back
0:58:30 > 0:58:32to the Cornish Riviera Express.
0:58:32 > 0:58:37I like to think that we can read the names of these historic
0:58:37 > 0:58:41titled trains not as we might the inscriptions in a graveyard,
0:58:41 > 0:58:46but as a pointer to a railway future that is more confident and more fun.
0:58:48 > 0:58:50But then I always was an optimist.
0:58:51 > 0:58:54MUSIC: This Train by Bob Marley & The Wailers
0:59:04 > 0:59:07# This train is bound to glory
0:59:07 > 0:59:12# This train
0:59:12 > 0:59:15# This train is bound to glory... #