0:00:18 > 0:00:21In Darlington, in 2008, a team of enthusiasts is building
0:00:21 > 0:00:27the first brand-new British steam locomotive from scratch in nearly 50 years.
0:00:28 > 0:00:34It's a multi-million pound endeavour that started nearly 20 years ago.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Though the project is unique, the enthusiasm is not.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Steam engines still have a huge and passionate following all over Britain.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47When you're near a steam locomotive,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50there's an almost elemental force at work.
0:00:50 > 0:00:55You can feel every single aspect of that machine is working.
0:00:56 > 0:01:03It's passionate, it's theatrical, it's dirty, noisy, powerful.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05It's heavy metal in motion.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11It's a combination of noise, and atmosphere,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14vast, cranking engines and colour and coal and fire.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17I just think it's the most wonderful thing on earth.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Most of us think of steam trains as museum pieces.
0:01:28 > 0:01:35They were a Victorian technology, dirty, incredibly inefficient and dangerous.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37But as late as 1968,
0:01:37 > 0:01:42scheduled steam services still ran on British railways.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48After World War II, most European countries switched to diesel and electric powered trains.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52Britain chose to stick with steam power.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Thousands of new steam locomotives were built.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59A quixotic enterprise doomed to failure.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05The steam engine had been around for 150 years, it had done its job, the world had moved on.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10The day of the diesel and electric train had come, and steam had to die.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Other countries left steam behind long ago.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Why did Britain persist?
0:02:17 > 0:02:21And why do we still find it so hard to let go of steam?
0:02:34 > 0:02:37The origins of Britain's post-war obsession with steam
0:02:37 > 0:02:45lie in the decision to build over 2,500 brand-new locomotives between 1948 and 1960.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51This was in stark contrast to many European countries,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55which chose to leave Victorian designed steam power behind.
0:02:55 > 0:03:01If you look at the railways of Italy, France and Germany,
0:03:01 > 0:03:03which were not entirely destroyed,
0:03:03 > 0:03:08but certainly in Germany, 70% of the bridges were blown up.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Quite a lot of the railways were completely destroyed.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14And, particularly in France, they said, "Right, we are going to,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18"as fast as we possibly can, build a new railway."
0:03:18 > 0:03:21And when they built their new railway they said, "Right,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24"we don't want steam any more, we are going to electrify."
0:03:24 > 0:03:31The destruction of allied Europe's railways meant they had to be rebuilt from scratch.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Our railways hadn't been destroyed outright.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37It was possible to patch them up, and keep them running with steam.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42The finances for a complete overhaul were not yet available.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48There were investment shortages across the whole of the UK economy.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51And railways were not top of the agenda, quite rightly.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55There was a National Health Service to fund, there were houses to build,
0:03:55 > 0:04:00there was a huge housing shortage. There was a steel industry to revive.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04There were tremendous investment challenges.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07The railways may not have been Britain's top priority,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11but their central role in the war effort had been crucial to victory.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17The use of railways during the war was a critical element,
0:04:17 > 0:04:24because the railways were not only operating at volumes that were much higher than in peace time,
0:04:24 > 0:04:26but there was no time to maintain the railways.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30Indeed, it was quite dangerous times to try and maintain the railways.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33The non-stop journey from Holland to home
0:04:33 > 0:04:36was made possible by the military authorities and British Railways.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39Red tape was cut and the green light shown...
0:04:39 > 0:04:45The Second World War left the four big private companies completely bankrupt,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48as far as their infrastructure was concerned,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51pretty much smashed up as well.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Really, that's why British Railways came into being
0:04:54 > 0:04:58because the war had rendered the railways almost inoperable
0:04:58 > 0:05:01as a private source of income, to a certain extent.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08Most of Europe had operated nationalised railways before World War II.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Britain had run four big, private railway companies.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14The London and North Eastern Railway,
0:05:14 > 0:05:16the London, Midland and Scottish Railway,
0:05:16 > 0:05:20the Southern Railway and the Great Western Railway.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23We had the combined railways system
0:05:23 > 0:05:28with four major companies, heavily regulated,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30providing railway services.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35They were utilities, they weren't particularly profitable,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37and they were largely taken for granted.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42The four big railway companies had struggled even before the war.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46When the Labour government swept into power in 1945,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49they promised to invest in the railways.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Nationalisation was on the agenda.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56And the railways, what have we got there?
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Operated for more than 100 years without a break.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Feeding a war machine for six weary years
0:06:02 > 0:06:08without adequate renewals and repairs that left them as tired as the rest of us.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11A wonderful, but complicated heritage,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14that could do with a bit of sorting out.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18The railways were run down after the Second World War,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and the private sector, quite frankly I think,
0:06:21 > 0:06:23was going to find it hard to carry on.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28So when the government, as part of its nationalisation programme,
0:06:28 > 0:06:33offered the railways the possibility of compensation,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36the owners snatched their hands off, actually.
0:06:37 > 0:06:431st January 1948 ushered in a period of new hope.
0:06:43 > 0:06:49The four great railways companies were brought together into one single new organisation -
0:06:49 > 0:06:51British Railways.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55It's just a few minutes before midnight, and very soon,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57the signalman here will signal in
0:06:57 > 0:07:01the last Great Western Railway train to pass through Reading.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10On day one of British Railways everyone was thinking, "We've got a bright future,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14"we're going to modernise, we're going to be a shining example
0:07:14 > 0:07:17"of a modern passenger transport system."
0:07:17 > 0:07:20With the passing of the old year,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24the principal railways of Great Britain, London Transport,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28came under public ownership. So the first big stride
0:07:28 > 0:07:31was taken towards establishing in this country
0:07:31 > 0:07:35a publicly owned transport system under unified management.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40The vesting of the four mainline companies, and more than 50 others
0:07:40 > 0:07:44in the British Transport Commission, is indeed an historic occasion.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50You can imagine the scene at midnight on 31st December.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54In many people's eyes, become owned by the people,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58whistles were let off, no doubt caps were thrown into the air.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03A very theatrical moment, a moment I think of real enthusiasm amongst
0:08:03 > 0:08:07great swathes of the population that the railways had become
0:08:07 > 0:08:09British Railways, the people's railway.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14But officially, the Great Western Railway is dead.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17And to many, undoubtedly, the late lamented.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21The assets they inherited were massive. They inherited everything
0:08:21 > 0:08:25that was within the control of the former railway companies.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Not only the infrastructure which they owned, the track, signalling,
0:08:29 > 0:08:33all the locomotives, a very large number, and we're talking about
0:08:33 > 0:08:38tens of thousands of wagons, were just not fit for purpose.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43What also came into the railway operations was shipping, hotels,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45and well over a million people.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51British Railways were starting a new chapter, and so were the British people.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Travel restrictions were lifted, and people took the opportunity
0:08:55 > 0:09:00to journey around their country again, looking for light relief.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04After the war, people responded to the new freedom to travel.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09Firstly, through more and more people going away on holiday to a resort,
0:09:09 > 0:09:14the archetypal fortnight in Hastings or Brighton or wherever it was.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16But also through the excursion.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Both of those were responses to people's desire to get around,
0:09:20 > 0:09:25and there's no doubt about it, people started to travel again, big time.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30The mounting pressure on the world's oldest rail system
0:09:30 > 0:09:34got engineers and managers thinking about the future.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38The question of steam's continuing place on our railways had to be addressed.
0:09:38 > 0:09:44The steam locomotive had been a very successful technology for Britain's railways.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48But even in the 1930s, there had been discussions about
0:09:48 > 0:09:51how great a future, how long a future steam traction had.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58After the Second World War, the debate started again.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01What sort of traction should be used?
0:10:01 > 0:10:05Leading British Railways' search for a new type of locomotive
0:10:05 > 0:10:07was their chief engineer, Robin Riddles,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10who had three options to look at.
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Traditional coal-powered steam, electric or diesel.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17Electric trains had been successfully run in parts
0:10:17 > 0:10:20of southern England since the turn of the century.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24They seemed a logical replacement for steam.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Electric was superior, it is superior, it was superior.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33But it cost more. Robin Riddles was in fact in favour of electrification,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36which was ruled out because of investment shortages after the war.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39We were in the middle of the austerity period.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Electrification required miles and miles of costly overhead lines.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Diesel power was more straightforward.
0:10:50 > 0:10:56Yet the first diesel trains to run on main lines in 1948 proved very unreliable.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01However, the real argument against using diesel power at the time
0:11:01 > 0:11:03came down to energy supplies.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Diesel traction, certainly, relied on oil.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09There were some people who argued that we didn't have any oil -
0:11:09 > 0:11:12of course, nobody knew about North Sea oil in those days -
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and that it would be very foolish to turn the railways over
0:11:15 > 0:11:19to an oil-based form of traction, diesel.
0:11:19 > 0:11:26It was felt that coal was an indigenous fuel from this country, oil wasn't, and therefore we should
0:11:26 > 0:11:32use coal, we should use it to continue with steam locomotives as long as possible, and eventually
0:11:32 > 0:11:36convert the mainline railways to electricity,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40again using electricity produced from burning coal.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Steam was the proven technology.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Everybody knew how a steam locomotive worked,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50how it could be used most effectively, and above all, steam traction was cheap.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52It was cheap to build, anyway,
0:11:52 > 0:11:56it didn't cost very much to construct a locomotive.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Britain was not yet ready for the expensive switch to electric or diesel.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03Steam power was cheap and coal was plentiful.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06But the decision to stick with steam at this time
0:12:06 > 0:12:08may have been built on more than just practicalities.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14It may have been influenced by personal agendas.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18I'm not sure that it was the right decision.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Robin Riddles was a frustrated steam locomotive designer,
0:12:21 > 0:12:27who couldn't wait to actually get in there and design his own locomotives.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31For many of the people working in BR,
0:12:31 > 0:12:35it was hard to imagine a railway without steam.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Beginning more than a century ago,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40it had helped to make Britain strong.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45For many who had grown up with it, steam WAS the railways.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49The train was the first sign of modernisation, pre-dating the car, of course.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53A steam train went to every corner of the country.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56They were the first thing that knitted Britain together.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Everything about the railway was modern. It was new.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03We really can't understand what it was like to live
0:13:03 > 0:13:06in a predominantly rural society, when these great iron horses
0:13:06 > 0:13:09were crashing through, saying to people,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12"This is the future, you've got to get used to it."
0:13:12 > 0:13:15The engines themselves became cultural phenomena -
0:13:15 > 0:13:20heroic machines designed with fearful symmetry.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Some famous engines became household names. The Flying Scotsman
0:13:24 > 0:13:28and Mallard, the fastest steam locomotive of all time.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37British Railways' decision to stick with steam after World War II meant that new locomotives
0:13:37 > 0:13:41had to be built, in places like Darlington Sheds,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44one of the oldest railway workshops in the world.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48You're OK, we can come down.
0:13:53 > 0:13:5460 years after nationalisation,
0:13:54 > 0:13:59a new locomotive, called Tornado, is nearing completion.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04It's known as an A1 Class and it's cost £3 million to build.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09This is a 160 tonne,
0:14:09 > 0:14:1190mph steam locomotive,
0:14:11 > 0:14:16capable of developing something in the region of 2,600 horse power.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22There'd been 49 of them built, during a period of 1948 to '49.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27It was the sort of engine that hauled the fastest trains from King's Cross
0:14:27 > 0:14:28to Newcastle and Edinburgh.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33The major things that they achieved, compared with the pre-war engines,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36were improvement in maintenance requirement.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41Easier to turn around and service, would run on less good quality coal,
0:14:41 > 0:14:44and would run longer between major overhauls.
0:14:48 > 0:14:53It would've been expected that these would've been in frontline service for 35-40 years,
0:14:53 > 0:14:54as their predecessors had been.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58That's it.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10The A1 class is a Pacific.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14And Pacific means that it's got four small wheels at the front,
0:15:14 > 0:15:16which are just carrying weight,
0:15:16 > 0:15:21six large driving wheels, and finally two small wheels at the back.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26One of the key features which goes right the way back to the Flying Scotsman in 1922
0:15:26 > 0:15:31is the wide firebox which goes right to the edge of the running plate.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35And on this, there's 50 square feet of grate fire.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39That's somewhat bigger than the pre-war engines, which were 41.5 square feet.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46The locomotive is equipped with Walschaerts valve gear,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50which is driven through a series of rods and levers,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54through this device here, called the radius link.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58Now, this is the essentially clever part of the steam locomotive,
0:15:58 > 0:15:59which avoids the use of gears.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05And as you start moving quicker, you gradually wind this in,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09so that by the time the engine is cruising at 70mph,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12you're probably only actually admitting steam into the cylinders
0:16:12 > 0:16:16for about 15% of the total stroke of each piston.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20It also explains why when engines start off,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22they make a very loud chuffing noise...
0:16:24 > 0:16:29Cos you're admitting steam for nearly the whole stroke of the piston,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and then letting out the exhaust, at not much less than boiler pressure.
0:16:35 > 0:16:41But as you wind the gear back, you're only letting steam in for a short distance,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44so when they're cruising they're making more of a soft beat,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47rather than the fierce beat at the start.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00Tornado is a new engine, but the design predates British Railways.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Looking forwards as a single, unified organisation,
0:17:05 > 0:17:10BR chose to develop a new class of steam locomotive for the future.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16Locomotive trials were set up to cherry-pick the best ideas from the big four companies.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23We're knocking four railways into one.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26That's bound to cause a bit of a clatter!
0:17:26 > 0:17:30We're taking the thing a stage further than it had already gone.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34To save waste and overlapping, we've got to standardise.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36And standardisation
0:17:36 > 0:17:40on such a big scale as this can only be done as it comes.
0:17:40 > 0:17:45Each railway in the big four group had their own way of doing things.
0:17:45 > 0:17:50Now what we have to do is to examine them all and take the best from each.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Everything from carriage bogeys to signalling.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58Within two years, designs had been produced for standard
0:17:58 > 0:18:02locomotives for the whole of the British railway system.
0:18:02 > 0:18:09And they were designed specifically to be as easy to maintain as was possible.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14A simple example of that is that a lot of the mainline express locomotives designed
0:18:14 > 0:18:17by the big four companies had four cylinders -
0:18:17 > 0:18:22you had the two on the outside, and then you had two hidden inside.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27And maintaining the inside cylinders was actually very time-consuming and quite difficult.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32The decision was taken very early on that all of the steam locomotives
0:18:32 > 0:18:37produced for the unified British Railways would all be two-cylinder locomotives.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39It would be possible to get to the wheels,
0:18:39 > 0:18:43it would be possible to get to the coupling rods and the motion.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47You would see, if you had pictures of the standard locomotives,
0:18:47 > 0:18:52they weren't necessarily pretty, but they were very accessible.
0:18:52 > 0:18:58Over the next decade, 999 Standard Class engines were built,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01as well as more than 1,500 non-standard engines.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05This great variety of locomotives running on the lines gave rise to
0:19:05 > 0:19:09a cultural phenomenon that celebrated this diversity.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Young boys all over the country appeared at railway stations
0:19:15 > 0:19:17in droves to catch a glimpse of
0:19:17 > 0:19:21the weird and wonderful engines running on Britain's railways.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23The spark that ignited
0:19:23 > 0:19:27the train-spotting revolution was Ian Allan's
0:19:27 > 0:19:29ABC Guide to Southern Locomotives,
0:19:29 > 0:19:34which was published in 1942, when he was 15.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38What it is, it's a list of numbers, which doesn't sound very exciting,
0:19:38 > 0:19:43it's not a great read, but the point is that you take it out onto the end of the platform,
0:19:43 > 0:19:48and you wait to tick off the engines as they come past.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51And it became very popular amongst teenage boys.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55It was kind of the iPod of its generation.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Train spotting in 1942 was hip.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02It's unthinkable now, but it was.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08During the war, Ian Allan was working for the PR department at Waterloo Station,
0:20:08 > 0:20:12answering letters from the public asking for information
0:20:12 > 0:20:14about Southern Railways engines and carriages.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17One of my chores
0:20:17 > 0:20:23was to deal with letters from the public, asking for information
0:20:23 > 0:20:29relating to locomotive names and numbers and principal dimensions.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32It was then that I said, "Well, why go to all this trouble
0:20:32 > 0:20:35"writing separate letters to people?
0:20:35 > 0:20:39"We should do this book which would encompass the whole thing."
0:20:40 > 0:20:46The book contained all of the information about Southern Railway trains that the enthusiast needed.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Engine classes, numbers and dimensions.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52The first run sold out immediately.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56He published guides to other regions and train spotting took off.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01There was very little else on the market
0:21:01 > 0:21:05for boys or girls to participate in.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10Because...there wasn't anything on during the war.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13Everything was on a war basis.
0:21:13 > 0:21:18And here was something that they could go down to the local station,
0:21:18 > 0:21:19and watch the trains.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Railways did have a romance attached to them,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28they were in a sense a hangover from the great Victorian period.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32There was a sort of a wonderful permanence about the permanent way.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36It was efficient. It did on the whole run on time,
0:21:36 > 0:21:39it brought everything and took everything away.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43The platform, the greeting, the departing, the arriving,
0:21:43 > 0:21:48everything about the station and the train was exciting, particularly to children.
0:21:48 > 0:21:56So it's not surprising that it attracted the romantic attachment that train spotting represented.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Don't you like to do anything else but the railways?
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Well, yeah, there's girls and horses and...
0:22:02 > 0:22:05Yeah, there's other things, but steam engines are nice,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09you feel you have to have a steam engine, every now and again.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13All these chaps say the same, they've got to have a steam engine.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16You might be able to go a fortnight, then you've got to find one.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19That thing's got a voice, it's making a noise,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22it's speaking, it's a terrific noise, it makes...
0:22:22 > 0:22:24Well, it just makes lovely noises.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27When it's raising steam, 90 tons of it,
0:22:27 > 0:22:29it sings like a kettle, it's terrific, a lovely thing!
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Train spotting was at the heart of British culture for decades.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41Far from being the anorak activity that its reputation now has,
0:22:41 > 0:22:42it was a social activity,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45a way for youngsters to meet.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52One group of young lads used to meet up in Southall in London
0:22:52 > 0:22:55to share their passion for the railways.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59I suppose it's interesting how we all got together, we met, which was
0:22:59 > 0:23:03basically Southall, the railway bridge, as far as I'm concerned.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08The footbridge was a meeting place for us, evenings, weekends.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11It was a social gathering point.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Exactly. There was always somebody there.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18I often hear this mimicked in today's society, "Oh, there wasn't a lot to do."
0:23:18 > 0:23:21But in fairness, in the late '50s, early '60s,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23there wasn't a great deal to do.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27And we had to find our own fun.
0:23:27 > 0:23:33Well, you'd arrive on the bike, park up your bike on the bridge.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Erm, possibly stock up with frozen Jubbly and...
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Frozen Jubblies, yes! Ha ha!
0:23:39 > 0:23:42I mean, you could see right the way down the line as far as Hanwell,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46so you could see trains coming well over a mile away,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and there was this sort of crescendo as they approached.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52And then the thrill of the thing going past, getting the number...
0:23:52 > 0:23:55- Smoke and steam. - Seeing what sort of train it was,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59it might have been a milk train, might have been a parcels or goods...
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Many of the pre-war trains were still running on the main lines,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07as well as the new standard classes.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Locomotive diversity was at its height.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12There was more to see than there is now.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15There were different kinds of locomotives.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19Now, there are only three or four of the motive units that we might see.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23Then you'd see lots and lots of different engines.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Pre-nationalisation, the coaches would have different liveries,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31it was easier to get to see really quite odd things.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34You would see little tank engines doing jobs,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36or big steam engines coming through.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40So there were lots more things to see.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43The nation's youth celebrated the new steam age.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Britain's romantic view of steam appeared to be as strong as ever.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54The romance that people attached to it very rarely applied to the actual workers.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58Nothing illustrates the ambivalence of the British towards modernisation
0:24:58 > 0:25:00so much as their attitude towards a steam train.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02No, they wouldn't do it themselves.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07But, yes, they wanted someone else to do it, because they rather liked the romance of it.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10As a teenager, Peter Gransden worked for British Railways
0:25:10 > 0:25:15stoking the fires on locomotives in the last years of steam.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17The only light thing on the railways
0:25:17 > 0:25:18was the wage packet.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21Everything else was pretty hard.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Some jobs were easy, but the majority of actually running
0:25:24 > 0:25:27the railway were very difficult jobs.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29You know, not much money and long hours.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35The fireman, he literally looks after the fire
0:25:35 > 0:25:39and also looks after the water in the boiler for making steam,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41and he also has to look out for the signals,
0:25:41 > 0:25:47because the driver is on the opposite side of the train to where the signals are.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51So he has quite a lot to do. Yeah, it was dirty.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55I mean, you got bloody filthy.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58And, like, you had no washing facilities on the sheds,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01and you had a bucket, and you filled the bucket up
0:26:01 > 0:26:04from the overflow from the injectors, you'd get a bar of soap,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07and you'd have the best wash you could from that.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10And if you was on some turns, and you were going out
0:26:10 > 0:26:14with your girlfriend of an evening, you'd get as much dirt off
0:26:14 > 0:26:17as you could and hope it didn't rain because if it rained
0:26:17 > 0:26:20you'd have all dirty streaks down your face out of your hair!
0:26:20 > 0:26:22Which didn't look very good, really.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30As time wore on, it wasn't just the railwaymen
0:26:30 > 0:26:33who had had enough of the dirty Victorian technology.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36The general British public were starting to tire of it as well.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45In the immediate years after the war, rail was the only option for long distance travel.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50During the '50s, what happened was that the railways were slow,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53they weren't desperately keen.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57Most people took their holidays from Saturday to Saturday
0:26:57 > 0:27:00over eight or nine weeks in the summer.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03The railways actually couldn't handle the development
0:27:03 > 0:27:09of holidays with pay, as it became known in the early 1950s.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13And many people and many families' only experience of long-distance rail travel
0:27:13 > 0:27:17was on summer Saturdays in dirty, clapped-out coaches
0:27:17 > 0:27:19with trains running increasingly late.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22And as soon as they had the opportunity to buy a family car,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25they just never travelled on the train at all.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28They may have done if they were commuting to work in London or another city.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32But the thought of getting on the train to go on your holidays,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35by the mid 1960s, fewer and fewer people did so.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Not only was BR losing its public, but also their freight services
0:27:41 > 0:27:46were increasingly in decline, as more goods were transported by road.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50British Railways ceased to be a profitable company.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Well, quite simply, what happened in 1948 to 1955
0:27:55 > 0:27:57is that British Rail began to lose money.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01It began to register operating deficits,
0:28:01 > 0:28:06having not done so previously, and it was
0:28:06 > 0:28:10being challenged by road transport, both on the freight side,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13and on the passenger side, for the first time.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15And I think, therefore,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19this is the origin of what was called the British Rail problem.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23And I think this informs attitudes to motive power.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26How can we get operating costs down?
0:28:26 > 0:28:31And one of the ways that one could do that was to replace steam with diesel.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35After the war, it had not been seen as cost effective to leave
0:28:35 > 0:28:39steam behind because coal was still cheap and plentiful.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Within a few years, coal prices were on the rise,
0:28:42 > 0:28:44and oil prices were dropping.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49The time had come to make the big switch to diesel power.
0:28:49 > 0:28:54By the middle of the 1950s it was becoming apparent that steam was not
0:28:54 > 0:28:57going to be easy to perpetuate. Several things were working
0:28:57 > 0:29:00against it. The price of coal was going up fairly dramatically.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Of course, steam locomotives are messy things that tend to need
0:29:04 > 0:29:08maintenance 24 hours a day, and it was becoming more and more difficult
0:29:08 > 0:29:10to get people to work on them.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13In 1955, the British Transport Commission,
0:29:13 > 0:29:18which by that point had taken over all responsibility for
0:29:18 > 0:29:20strategic planning on the railway,
0:29:20 > 0:29:25announced a modernisation plan to spend really quite considerable
0:29:25 > 0:29:27amounts of capital for modernisation of the railways.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31A key element of the plan was the abolition of steam traction
0:29:31 > 0:29:35because it was now felt that diesel traction had developed
0:29:35 > 0:29:38to the point where it was a viable, workable technology.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40And also that there should be some
0:29:40 > 0:29:44large-scale electrification of Britain's main lines.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49So by the mid-1950s it was widely recognised within the industry and
0:29:49 > 0:29:52outside the industry that steam traction was coming
0:29:52 > 0:29:55to the end of its useful life.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57Steam overreached itself.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01The world moved on, and steam paid little heed to change.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03In the kingdom of the railways,
0:30:03 > 0:30:07diesel and electric have usurped the throne.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09The glory of steam is played out.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11Finished. Gone.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17Despite the fact that nearly 2,000 standard
0:30:17 > 0:30:20and non-standard engines had been built by the mid '50s,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23the writing was on the wall for steam power.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30British Railways were promised a new lease of life.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33A vast modernisation plan to be carried out
0:30:33 > 0:30:39over 15 years at a cost of more than £1,500 million.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43The days of the grand old steam locomotives were numbered.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50These sleek new giants began to take their place.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54The transition from steam to newer forms of traction
0:30:54 > 0:30:57was not an altogether smooth one.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59HORN BLOWS
0:30:59 > 0:31:01The result was, on the one hand,
0:31:01 > 0:31:04that the rate of withdrawal of steam traction increased.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09So steam locomotives were taken out of service more and more rapidly.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11But the new diesels often broke down.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15They were often unreliable, or some of them were unreliable.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20So quite often in the late 1950s and early 1960s, British Railways
0:31:20 > 0:31:23was faced with the unenviable image
0:31:23 > 0:31:27of brand-new diesel locomotives being hauled back,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30rescued, as it were, from breakdowns
0:31:30 > 0:31:33by the old-fashioned steam locomotive.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37The passing of steam was happening.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39Even the railway enthusiasts could see
0:31:39 > 0:31:42that the age of steam could not carry on.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44The age of steam had to finish
0:31:44 > 0:31:49because it is an inefficient means of transportation.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51Burning coal to turn water into steam
0:31:51 > 0:31:53is very, very, very inefficient.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56It's dirty, and it's manpower intensive,
0:31:56 > 0:32:01and I don't think it could've survived into the 21st century.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03Even if they'd had the will to do so.
0:32:03 > 0:32:07Steam was dirty, noisy and impractical.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10New diesels were clean, safe and quiet.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13For many of the people working on the trains every day,
0:32:13 > 0:32:17the end of steam could not come soon enough.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20Bill, how do you like driving one of these new diesels?
0:32:20 > 0:32:24Oh, I like them very much, I think they're a driver's dream, you know.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28It's vastly different altogether to the old steam engine,
0:32:28 > 0:32:29they're much cleaner.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Do you get as much satisfaction out of the job
0:32:32 > 0:32:35- as you did driving the old steam locos?- I think so,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37and as a matter of fact, now I'm used to it,
0:32:37 > 0:32:41I get more satisfaction. Why I say that is because,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45with the old steam engine with its faults and that,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48we did have some difficulty in maintaining the schedule
0:32:48 > 0:32:49when we got behind,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52but owing to the enormous amount of reserve power that
0:32:52 > 0:32:55we've got with these, we can pick up
0:32:55 > 0:32:58quite a lot of time and maintain an on-time schedule.
0:33:01 > 0:33:07The modernisation plan had promised an end to steam-powered locomotives,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10but steam engines carried on being built for several years.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19British Railways continued to make steam locomotives until 1960.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22The modernisation plan of 1955 had said that steam locomotives
0:33:22 > 0:33:26will eventually be eliminated, though it didn't give a timescale.
0:33:26 > 0:33:32And the steam locomotives that were being built into 1960 had,
0:33:32 > 0:33:36essentially, a useful life of between 25 and 30 years.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40And it wasn't until March 1960 that the last steam locomotive
0:33:40 > 0:33:43was built for Britain's mainline railways.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46It was built at Swindon, and in the tradition
0:33:46 > 0:33:51of the Great Western Railway and Swindon Works of naming engines after
0:33:51 > 0:33:56the stars in the heavens, it was called, appropriately, Evening Star.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02Evening Star was, in many ways, a normal steam engine,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06built to haul heavy freight and passenger trains.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09But the men who built and named her knew the significance she held.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13The ceremony to launch Evening Star was a sombre and poignant affair.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19And d'you know, the incredible thing about Evening Star
0:34:19 > 0:34:24is, having been completed in 1960, it was out of service by 1965.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28Five years' work, just gives you an idea of the, almost the...
0:34:28 > 0:34:32if not undue haste, certainly the ill-planned haste
0:34:32 > 0:34:35with which the transition to steam and diesel took place.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38HORN BLOWS
0:34:40 > 0:34:42There was this assumption that steam would keep going
0:34:42 > 0:34:44until the early or the mid 1970s,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47so it wasn't completely crackers
0:34:47 > 0:34:50to build Evening Star, on that assumption.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52But what happens is, you get this shift
0:34:52 > 0:34:54at the end of the '50s where they say,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56"Well, we've got to build diesels
0:34:57 > 0:34:59"because they're going to be cheaper,"
0:34:59 > 0:35:01and there's this momentum.
0:35:01 > 0:35:06You can't just stop construction programmes just like that.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08The unions object, this kind of thing.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15Perfectly good steam trains started to be taken off the railway
0:35:15 > 0:35:17and out of use for ever.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21The locomotives and carriages were sent to scrap yards.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24But BR recognised the importance to the nation's heritage in some
0:35:24 > 0:35:26of these locomotive engines,
0:35:26 > 0:35:31and decided to save a number of them for posterity.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34British Railways produced a list of the 71 steam locomotives
0:35:34 > 0:35:36it felt ought to be preserved.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41That was a huge commitment, because they weren't thinking about
0:35:41 > 0:35:45populating a whole network of heritage railways. This was...
0:35:45 > 0:35:49Their perception was of static museums.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53I think it's a pretty long list rather than a short one, when you
0:35:53 > 0:35:57consider what they were committing future generations to holding on to.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02The list of 71 contained many well known engines,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05covering steam's long history.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07But most were from the previous century,
0:36:07 > 0:36:12ignoring the working locomotives known and loved by trains potters.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Some enthusiasts were bound to be disappointed.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Well, I think we got together on the footbridge,
0:36:19 > 0:36:23and we though we'd better have a meeting about this.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26So we had this meeting and, because I'd got a typewriter,
0:36:26 > 0:36:30I said, "Well, I'll write a letter to The Railway Magazine."
0:36:31 > 0:36:35The letter called for donations from fellow enthusiasts
0:36:35 > 0:36:38to buy a 14XX steam engine from British Railways.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40A couple of months went by,
0:36:40 > 0:36:43and to be fair, we may have thought, "Ah, well,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46"it's not gonna happen, but it's nice while it lasted."
0:36:46 > 0:36:50And I was on holiday in the Lake District, on a camping holiday,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53and my post was forwarded to me by my mother,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57and I opened up this envelope in the middle of the Lake District,
0:36:57 > 0:36:59to find a £10 cheque in it from somebody,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03subscribing to my appeal for the money to buy this engine,
0:37:03 > 0:37:05and I thought, "Goodness!
0:37:05 > 0:37:09- "What are we gonna do now?!"- Yeah, what are we gonna do now, yeah!
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Within a few months, they had received enough money
0:37:15 > 0:37:18to buy the engine and begin restoring it.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Well, it's not looking so bad.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26Although, er, how many hundred pounds did we have to pay for it now?
0:37:26 > 0:37:29- 950.- No, six hundred and...
0:37:29 > 0:37:31I think it was £690.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33There was certainly change out of £1,000.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37And a £50 delivery charge, I think.
0:37:38 > 0:37:39Dear me! So...!
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Then we thought, where are we gonna put it?
0:37:48 > 0:37:50You know, who's got the biggest back garden?
0:37:52 > 0:37:55We had a steam engine, a good steam engine, that worked.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59And we thought, "Well, we wanna make it work."
0:37:59 > 0:38:01None of us had ever driven a steam engine,
0:38:01 > 0:38:02didn't know how to light it up.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Eventually, we found somebody
0:38:05 > 0:38:07who could give us some advice.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21Literally, we steamed this engine on a bit of track,
0:38:21 > 0:38:22which had a road right next to it.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26We were puffing this engine up and down.
0:38:26 > 0:38:30I've always thought, right from the earliest days of the society, that,
0:38:30 > 0:38:33erm, because we were 16,
0:38:33 > 0:38:38we weren't experts at raising funds, buying railway engines,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40doing any of this type of thing.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42And I think that meant that we had no conception
0:38:42 > 0:38:47of the fact that probably what we were trying to do wasn't possible.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49Which is why we went on and did it.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02The Southall boys were not alone in their crusade.
0:39:02 > 0:39:09Others were racing against the clock to preserve steam's heritage.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13The axing of trains and lines continued apace.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15The modernisation plan hadn't worked.
0:39:15 > 0:39:17The railways were losing more money than ever.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27Well, from the mid '50s, things began to change.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31There was no fuel rationing affecting private motoring,
0:39:31 > 0:39:37road transport began to get a great impetus from new road building, culminating
0:39:37 > 0:39:42in the first motorway, the M1, in 1959.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45It was a period of economic prosperity.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48It was important that the railways didn't fall behind.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52But one could say that they were already in a difficult position.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57Within the Ministry of Transport, there was a feeling that road
0:39:57 > 0:40:03transport was important to invest in because rail transport was declining.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07It was certainly losing market share.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11The Beeching report of 1963 advocated the closure
0:40:11 > 0:40:14of money-losing regional lines,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17and speeded up the changeover to diesel powered trains.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20Of course, some of you will say,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23"Well, what about all this modernisation?
0:40:23 > 0:40:26"Can't we have the branch lines as well?
0:40:26 > 0:40:31"Can't you attract enough traffic to them to make them pay?"
0:40:31 > 0:40:32But unfortunately, we can't.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35We cannot make them pay,
0:40:35 > 0:40:40because the traffic is not there, and so many people have motor cars.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45The real question is whether you, as owners of the railways, want us
0:40:45 > 0:40:48to go on running these services, at very high cost,
0:40:48 > 0:40:53when the demand for them has very largely disappeared.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Steam was being withdrawn at a time
0:40:55 > 0:41:00when the nature of the railway itself was changing.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03The railway was now being seen by railway managers
0:41:03 > 0:41:05and many politicians alike
0:41:05 > 0:41:09as something which would become much more specialised.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13The railway would do what it could do best -
0:41:13 > 0:41:17fast, inter-city passenger trains, bulk freight trains...
0:41:17 > 0:41:20Yes, there was gonna be money for modernisation, but it was going
0:41:20 > 0:41:24to be modernisation money spent on a much smaller railway system,
0:41:24 > 0:41:26a much more specialised railway system.
0:41:27 > 0:41:32To reclaim the market being lost to private motoring,
0:41:32 > 0:41:34BR introduced a new and elite service.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38Naturally, the ultra-modern trains used diesel engines, not steam.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Luxury Pullmans provide one of the answers.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46Here's the first, introduced on the Manchester to London run.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48It's good but pricey.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51It's already called the Expense Account train.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56The coaches are air conditioned and draught proof.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00The food is excellent, all cooked in a spotless kitchen.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05And as it cruises along comfortably at an average speed of 90mph,
0:42:05 > 0:42:09it cocks a snook at the traffic on the M1.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Beeching regarded the electrification of the railway
0:42:17 > 0:42:19and the dieselification of the railway, if that's the word,
0:42:19 > 0:42:22he regarded it as simply the emblem of modernisation.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25The new Britain, the Britain of the '60s,
0:42:25 > 0:42:27had nothing to do with this filthy, old technology.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31He also had to grapple with the fact
0:42:31 > 0:42:35that he was running steam engines on branch lines with no passengers.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38And the fact that people appeared to love them hadn't
0:42:38 > 0:42:42made them use them. So Beeching saw the end of steam as the advent of
0:42:42 > 0:42:45rationalism, as well as of modernisation, in British Industry.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49I mean, he wasn't a railwayman himself. He was just sensible.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51And he realised this had to be the great battle,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53and he fought it and he won it.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01The closure of underused branch lines
0:43:01 > 0:43:04upset and isolated rural communities.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07The final steam services could draw huge crowds,
0:43:07 > 0:43:10as people came to lament the passing of an era.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22Living appropriately in a station 14 months derelict, Miss Laurence Aston,
0:43:22 > 0:43:2635 years a railways worker, broods on the injustice of bureaucracy
0:43:26 > 0:43:29and the wrongs of the Great Western Railway.
0:43:29 > 0:43:30Were you here when the last train left?
0:43:30 > 0:43:32- Yes, I was.- Tell me about that.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39Well, it was a long train with a big engine, and crowded.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41Of course they couldn't crowd it before.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44But this was the last trip.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49And to most of them, it was just a junket thing, a party,
0:43:49 > 0:43:50an excuse to make a noise.
0:43:50 > 0:43:55But to me it was like riding behind a hearse, it really was.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07Throughout the country, throughout the '60s,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10steam was clinically removed from
0:44:10 > 0:44:14first railway sheds, but then from complete regions.
0:44:14 > 0:44:19For instance, the Western region, which covered an enormous area,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23was basically steam free by the end of 1965.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28And another one of the last of the 300 steam locomotives
0:44:28 > 0:44:32in service with British Railways comes to the end
0:44:32 > 0:44:36of the line, to its final resting place in a sidings
0:44:36 > 0:44:41which is becoming known as the graveyard of steam.
0:44:41 > 0:44:48In one year alone, 500 locomotives, 4,000 coaches, 130,000 wagons
0:44:48 > 0:44:53and 250,000 tons of rail were destroyed without sentiment.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03David Shepherd is one of Britain's most well known artists,
0:45:03 > 0:45:05who made his name painting wildlife.
0:45:05 > 0:45:10In 1967, he dropped everything to paint the last days of steam.
0:45:10 > 0:45:15In my days as an artist, I had suddenly realised, like everybody else in England
0:45:15 > 0:45:17who were interested in railways,
0:45:17 > 0:45:18that it was going, and going fast.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21And through the eyes of a painter, I thought,
0:45:21 > 0:45:22I have to do something about this.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24So I got involved with the steam sheds,
0:45:24 > 0:45:25Nine Elms and Guildford particularly.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28Nine Elms shed was more full of railway enthusiasts
0:45:28 > 0:45:29than it was of railwaymen.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31It was clamouring with railway enthusiasts,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34trying to experience in one way or another the end of steam.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36There was no control. I felt sorry for BR, as they
0:45:36 > 0:45:39were trying to run a railway while all this was going on!
0:45:39 > 0:45:41This one is actually one of my favourites,
0:45:41 > 0:45:43in the sense that it's one of the toughest I did.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47Three different angles of a circle, which is in itself bloody difficult.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49Wheels that way, body that way.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52But that's the most valuable part of this painting,
0:45:52 > 0:45:54and I don't believe you could get that colour,
0:45:54 > 0:45:56sensitivity of colour, in a photograph.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00And the dirt, lovely, much more exciting than a red buffer beam.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02I don't paint happy railway pictures,
0:46:02 > 0:46:05shafts of sunlight coming through a soot-encrusted hole in the roof.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08Everything was falling apart, little plays of light
0:46:08 > 0:46:09on the oil on the shed floor.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11People say, what's that white stripe?
0:46:11 > 0:46:14It's the light, the sunlight catching the edge of the inspection pit.
0:46:16 > 0:46:19You know, you have to go in and see it, to do that,
0:46:19 > 0:46:21it never would have occurred to me.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24Happy days, wonderful days. The sheer hell of doing it was,
0:46:24 > 0:46:26oh, God, the painting I did at Wilson's sheds,
0:46:26 > 0:46:28the snow was coming through the roof.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30And it was black by the time it hit the ground!
0:46:30 > 0:46:32The main thing was, I was trying to record the last
0:46:32 > 0:46:35days of steam through the eyes of an artist, rather than a photographer.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37It's the colours that were interesting, not the shape of
0:46:37 > 0:46:39the wheels, that didn't matter, cos the camera did that.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42That's why those sketches are so valuable to me.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45They're not worth any money, but they're irreplaceable to me,
0:46:45 > 0:46:49because they were done in the heat of the moment, the dying days of steam.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52One of my many rushed visits to Guildford shed,
0:46:52 > 0:46:54just down the road from where we lived.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Just at the right moment, I saw this loco,
0:46:56 > 0:46:58half in the sun and half in the shadow, just by chance,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02and I thought, what an opportunity, with the subtle colours
0:47:02 > 0:47:05on a dirty engine, in the sun and in the shade.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09And also, I noticed they had cleaned the number around so that they could
0:47:09 > 0:47:12at least identify the number of the engine,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15otherwise that would have been invisible like everything else.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18I think it was premature urge to, of necessity,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20go into diesels and electrics.
0:47:20 > 0:47:22Steam could have lasted longer, but it wouldn't have done
0:47:22 > 0:47:25because you wouldn't get the people to put up with it now,
0:47:25 > 0:47:27all the dirt and everything I've described.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30People don't want to get filthy dirty when they go to London,
0:47:30 > 0:47:33or anywhere for that matter. So it would have died, and it had to die,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36but it was just disgusting the way it went out. Get rid of it, filthy.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38We should have been proud of our steam engines.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45As the engines were removed, jobs went, too.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48Some of the men who operated them, the drivers and the firemen,
0:47:48 > 0:47:51were retrained, but many found themselves
0:47:51 > 0:47:55redundant, skilled in a job that belonged in the last century.
0:47:57 > 0:48:02Most of the drivers actually went to Oxford to work,
0:48:02 > 0:48:05but I think nearly all the firemen left.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07Yeah, it was a sad day.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11It's... You know, nothing we could do about it.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17When it closed, I started working on building sites,
0:48:17 > 0:48:21you know, and erm...whatever jobs you could get, because
0:48:21 > 0:48:26you end up with what you thought you were, a skilled man
0:48:26 > 0:48:30when you was a fireman, you found you had no skills whatsoever.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34Steam needed to come to an end.
0:48:34 > 0:48:38I suppose the issue is, did it need to come to an end in 1968?
0:48:38 > 0:48:40The answer is probably no.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44There was a determined assault on steam locomotion
0:48:44 > 0:48:45in the Beeching period.
0:48:45 > 0:48:50Having been slower than many European countries
0:48:50 > 0:48:55to phase out steam, we suddenly embarked on a headlong rush
0:48:55 > 0:48:58to get rid of steam from 1963 to 1968.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00And I think that was unfortunate,
0:49:00 > 0:49:04because I think the diesel alternative wasn't always there.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08I mean, you've got to understand that when you go from steam
0:49:08 > 0:49:11to diesel, you've got to go overnight.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15You've got to stop all your coaling plants, you've got to stop all your
0:49:15 > 0:49:18water points, you've got to retrain all the drivers.
0:49:18 > 0:49:20It's crazy to run a double system.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23And Beeching's genius was he realised that.
0:49:23 > 0:49:26He'd got to retrain all his drivers at one go,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29you'd got to abandon steam, you couldn't let it dribble on.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32It did dribble on in various areas of the country.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34But essentially,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37the conversion of a railway from one form of locomotion to another
0:49:37 > 0:49:40has to be overnight, or you're doubling everything.
0:49:40 > 0:49:41And that's very, very expensive.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46On 11 August 1968, the fires were lit
0:49:46 > 0:49:51for the final passenger train to be pulled by steam on the main line.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55It was know as the 15 guineas special,
0:49:55 > 0:49:59because a ticket to ride that train cost 15 guineas.
0:49:59 > 0:50:05And it was a train that went from Liverpool to Manchester,
0:50:05 > 0:50:09then to Hellifield, and over the Settle-Carlisle line to Carlisle.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15And it was pulled by two types of engine, one type called the
0:50:15 > 0:50:20Black Five, which ended up being the major workhorse at the end of steam.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24And the last express passenger engine,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28which was a Pacific called Oliver Cromwell.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41But 1968 was not the end of steam.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45Though most engines lay rusting in scrap yards,
0:50:45 > 0:50:47a steam revival lay ahead.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50And the centre of that resurrection
0:50:50 > 0:50:51was a scrap yard in Barry in Wales,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54where many of the engines had been sent.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59All the way through the 1950s and '60s, when steam was being run down,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02the scrap yards of Britain were buzzing with gas axes, because,
0:51:02 > 0:51:06you know, they had a lot of engines to get through.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08And steam engines are made of very thick steel.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12Now, one of the scrap yards was called Barry Scrap Yard,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15it was owned by a guy called Dai Woodham, who got, I think,
0:51:15 > 0:51:19approaching 200 engines into his yard, but at the time,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23was cutting up wagons and coaches,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26had enough of those to be getting on with.
0:51:26 > 0:51:28The Government announced
0:51:28 > 0:51:32that there was to be a £250 million programme
0:51:32 > 0:51:34to modernise British Rail.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40And I thought, "Well, that's a gravy train! I'd better get on it!"
0:51:40 > 0:51:43And by the time the end of the '60s came along,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45preservation societies that had been set up
0:51:45 > 0:51:49after the end of steam were beginning to have enough money
0:51:49 > 0:51:50to buy individual engines.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52And Barry Scrap Yard was the last scrap yard
0:51:52 > 0:51:55where they were left in any number. So, suddenly,
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Dai was getting phone calls from preservation societies
0:51:58 > 0:52:01saying, "Can we buy that engine back from you, we want to restore it?"
0:52:01 > 0:52:05And, you know, obviously, Dai was gonna make a few quid out of that,
0:52:05 > 0:52:07probably a bit more than scrap value.
0:52:07 > 0:52:08So he went, "Yeah."
0:52:08 > 0:52:11And it saved him the trouble of having to cut them up.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13And over a 25-year period,
0:52:13 > 0:52:20every single engine in that yard was bought by a preservation society.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24Without Barry scrap yard, actually, the preservation industry wouldn't
0:52:24 > 0:52:27be that big, because there wouldn't be enough engines to run on it.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31I had my easel in Barry's scrap yard.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34That engine will probably be running now on a preserved railway.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37And look at the boiler cladding had burst open,
0:52:37 > 0:52:40and white asbestos, we were chucking it about.
0:52:40 > 0:52:41Terrifying to think
0:52:41 > 0:52:43what we were doing in those days.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46But what an end to a steam engine. But she was saved by someone.
0:52:46 > 0:52:51David Shepherd didn't just paint the steam engines that he loved.
0:52:51 > 0:52:53He bought several locomotives
0:52:53 > 0:52:56and began the long process of restoring them.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00And look at this thing here.
0:53:00 > 0:53:02It's rather pathetic when you think about it,
0:53:02 > 0:53:04cos these things live, don't they?
0:53:04 > 0:53:06Compared with a diesel, they have life.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10Something's got to be done, you know, we'll have to save some of these.
0:53:12 > 0:53:14And I went round to their office,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16their office was in the guard's van body,
0:53:16 > 0:53:20next to his Rolls-Royce, the whole thing was so funny, his Rolls-Royce,
0:53:20 > 0:53:22covered in oil, it was marvellous.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25I said, "I've come for some spares." He said, "OK, if you're fair,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28"and you treat us properly, take what you want."
0:53:28 > 0:53:30And we borrowed their oxyacetylene.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33But for £110, I think I got a whole set of coupling rods
0:53:33 > 0:53:36and a mechanical lubricator, which would cost thousands to build now.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40He said, "What have you got in the back of your estate car?"
0:53:40 > 0:53:42I said, "I've got a mechanical lubricator." "What's that?"
0:53:42 > 0:53:44He didn't know what it was. It was just hidden money to him.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47He gave it a push, and he said 12s 6d.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50So I gave him a quid and he gave us the change!
0:53:50 > 0:53:52I mean, those days were unreal.
0:53:52 > 0:53:58And this particular example, which is pretty rough,
0:53:58 > 0:54:03but I forecast that when the preservationists
0:54:03 > 0:54:07are finished with it, she'll be like the day she was built.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Magic. Pure magic.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13I mean, steam hasn't come to an end,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16it was the beginning of the enthusiasts'
0:54:16 > 0:54:20railways, and really that is a tremendous story in its own right.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25It's a story that over the last 40 years has grown to include over 100
0:54:25 > 0:54:32separate heritage railways with 1,300 working steam locomotives.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34Six million visitors annually
0:54:34 > 0:54:38is proof that the public are still in love with steam.
0:54:38 > 0:54:40Have your tickets ready, please.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43Certainly, railway enthusiasm in Great Britain is...
0:54:43 > 0:54:46It's an industry now. It's huge.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49Literally millions of people travel on preserved lines
0:54:49 > 0:54:51or preserved steam trains every weekend.
0:54:51 > 0:54:56There are hundreds of thousands of people who are members of a society,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59or at least part of the wider circle
0:54:59 > 0:55:03of steam preservation societies in this country. It is huge.
0:55:04 > 0:55:08These are extraordinary enterprises, really,
0:55:08 > 0:55:12these are essentially amateurs, railway enthusiasts
0:55:12 > 0:55:14in the best sense of that word.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18People who are seeing part of British life disappearing,
0:55:18 > 0:55:20and who decide to do something about it.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25To preserve it in some shape or form, and to use their own time,
0:55:25 > 0:55:30their own money, their own energy to do precisely that. And they succeed.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34One the biggest success stories in railway preservation
0:55:34 > 0:55:37is the Great Western Society, based at Didcot,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40and started by the Southall boys.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42And money was still coming in!
0:55:42 > 0:55:45We'd bought the engine, we'd bought the coach,
0:55:45 > 0:55:47and then I suppose we started getting greedy!
0:55:47 > 0:55:50What else should we do? And in the end it began to...
0:55:50 > 0:55:55Not only engines and coaches, it was the artefacts, as you say.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58People began to collect and forward on to us
0:55:58 > 0:56:01or steer us in the direction of, you know...
0:56:01 > 0:56:04The Southall boys gradually assembled
0:56:04 > 0:56:07one of the finest railway collections in the world.
0:56:07 > 0:56:1324 steam locomotives stand alongside more than 80 wagons and coaches,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17and even signal boxes. The Great Western Society
0:56:17 > 0:56:22is now the second biggest tourist attraction in Oxfordshire.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24Different bell codes.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26Different means of operation.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29But then again you'd think that this box had been here for ever.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32The love of steam is no longer confined
0:56:32 > 0:56:34to looking back at the past.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38It's August 1st 2008 in Darlington.
0:56:38 > 0:56:44After 18 years, and funded by private donations to the tune of
0:56:44 > 0:56:45£3 million, the brand new
0:56:45 > 0:56:48A1 Class Tornado is finally ready to be launched.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01For me, it's the culmination of a lifetime's ambition.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03When I was at school and bored,
0:57:03 > 0:57:06I used to draw steam locomotives like this in my rough book.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09Subsequently, I've worked on restoring them,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12building models of them, and the chance to actually
0:57:12 > 0:57:14build a full size one, here in 2008,
0:57:14 > 0:57:18for me at the age of 57, I just find it unbelievable.
0:57:18 > 0:57:20It's really a great privilege
0:57:20 > 0:57:23and I'm very pleased to have had this chance, and to have had all the
0:57:23 > 0:57:25support that we've had to enable it to happen.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29It's the 40th anniversary of the end of steam.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34It's the 60th anniversary of the first A1 entering service.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45HORN BLOWS
0:57:50 > 0:57:53It's been 40 years since the last steam passenger train
0:57:53 > 0:57:55ran on a mainline in this country.
0:57:58 > 0:58:04With the launch of Tornado, steam has again found a new lease of life.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14It's good, it's working, it's doing what it's supposed to do.
0:58:14 > 0:58:18And hopefully she's putting on a good show for the crowd.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up at the moment,
0:58:23 > 0:58:25and the eyes are moistening.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31# There's an engine at the station
0:58:31 > 0:58:33# And the whistle blows my name
0:58:33 > 0:58:35# It's callin' callin' callin'
0:58:35 > 0:58:38# Come and get aboard the train
0:58:38 > 0:58:43# My baby's gone and I'm alone to live in misery
0:58:43 > 0:58:48# I'm gonna call and make a reservation for me
0:58:48 > 0:58:50# Gonna ride a blue train
0:58:50 > 0:58:52# Gonna ride a blue train. #
0:58:52 > 0:58:54Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:54 > 0:58:57E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk