Episode 1 Trainspotting Live

Welcome to Trainspotting live, I can promise you are very exciting

evening of a vast network with its tunnel, bridges and is patience and

its trains is the very backbone of this marvellous country. Where there

are trains there are the much maligned train spotters and rail

enthusiasts. We are here at the Didcot really Centre in Oxfordshire

for the next three nights to show you how they are the heroic

custodians of our glorious history. I have been a real enthusiasts and I

was one-year-old, it's not just the look of trains but that speed and

power and joy of travelling in them. We are out to discover what makes it

so exciting to people like us. I am Dr Hannah Fry, I am a mathematician

and I will look at how equations keep trains on the rails, keep the

network running and keep train spotters out there. We will be

working away the ages of railways and spotting, from the first spot of

the earliest steam train, to the latest spot of a high-speed train

yet to be watched. And we have an army of spotters up and down the

country who are going to send us their spots over the next hour. We

received this just before we went on here, this is a Class 66 from Simon

in Dawlish. Going like a bomb, wonderful. Up north from here we

have a man who likes nothing more than being covered in engine oil and

grease from head to toe, engineer Dick Strawbridge. Doncaster is one

of the central hubs of the North of England. Here in the real works they

build The Flying Scotsman and The Mall are, this is a busy station,

much loved, train spotters all over the platform and I will be joining

them. And up in Scotland is Tim Dunn, are train spotter

extraordinaire, he is after a spot of the rarest type of train on the

network. I am looking for something very rare later on, I am here for a

steam train. One of the only ones the national network tonight in this

magnificent place, it's a very special place and a very special

train. We have already mobilised a whole Trainspotting community, over

the last few weeks enthusiasts have been collecting footage across the

network for us including the journey by the newly restored The Flying

Scotsman am the most famous locomotive running in the UK. Most

importantly we want to inspire you at home to get out there and spot

trains with us. We will show you how in just a bit. Welcome to

Trainspotting Live. Here in Didcot, built in the heyday

of real construction, at the time it was the longest route on the

network. Ten days ago they celebrated the 100s of diverse

anniversary and this is a living museum full of absolutely beautiful

restored engines and carriages. Here to give us insight from the National

Railway Museum in York is Bob, have you been a spot in your time? I have

not been but I am certainly an enthusiast. We had 50 years in

which, the last 50 years have been pretty dodgy, a bumpy time, 30 years

ago it looked like you were going bust but now something has happened,

and new dawn? We are in a Renaissance, definitely, new lines,

stations, electrocution, it's definitely a Renaissance. What kind

of trains can you expect from here? Class 66, Voyagers, up to

Birmingham, high-speed trains, what's different things to see we

expect all sorts of excitement. We have a camera on the other side of

the trees so let's see if there is anything coming? Never mind!

Anticipation is everything. We are going to come back to that live feed

during the programme but there are a few trains which we have seen in the

last hour or so from here if you could talk is through them? That is

one of the Voyagers going up to Birmingham. That will be doing 100

mph or so, that is a high-speed train. That's a Class 66 blowing its

thorn in the background. The line which goes up to Oxford? That's

right. And the Cardiff line on the other side? We are in the middle of

two huge mainlines. Let's look at the star of the show tonight, the

Class 66. Here it is. Yes, going down to Southampton presumably.

Those are the trucks going along, the classic physics is essentially a

freightliner? Yes, it was built to upgrade the locomotives we had in

the UK and the level of service. This programme isn't just for

existing enthusiasts because we want all of you at home to become train

spotters. Every night we will set you a 24-hour challenge, spotting a

specific type of common train and sending in your photos and videos.

Then in the next programme we will see how you got on. The first we

want you to spot is the Class 66 locomotive. Here is the guide to it.

When you are spotting work for the numbers at the front of the

locomotive. The first two donate the class, diesels are classed from 01-

70. The Class 66, or shed as it has been nicknamed our type five and

produce over 3000 horsepower. When the design is modified it is

assigned a subclass. The eagle eyed will have noticed the subclasses go

up to number nine. But there is no subclass starting with one or two

but there is one starting with zero. Note the colour scheme or a livery

which belonged to one of the 66's five operators. It is crucial to

record the time and place of a spot. Penn, notepad and camera are

traditional tools but smartphone apps are catching on. Only spot from

public land. No flash and geography. If you spot from a station let the

staff know you are there. And an anorak is not obligatory but make

sure you dress for the weather. That's the challenge, send your

pictures and videos on social media or e-mail. As they come in we will

use them to update this marvellous spotting map. These are the little

blue pins. Young Dick Strawbridge up there, and Tim Dunn up here. We have

all these Class 66's, we will build the map up over the evening, how

important is this train again? It is what delivers, everything from

things going to supermarkets to aggregates to oil, all kinds of

things which make Britain work have been pulled around the country by

these locomotives. We have this little red pin, we have just had a

call from Sam Smith who is 13 in Cardiff. He is showing us a Class

66. There it is. I have two seed, it's not the most beautiful

locomotive is it? The enthusiasts nicknamed them sheds, but people

like sheds when you think about it. What does it have to do with sheds?

They decided that is what they looked like. Every train has a

nickname. The Class 66 pulls great, and that is a crucial target --

pulls great. Dick up in Doncaster. Your timing would have been perfect

to see a Class 66, we have been waiting for one, and with my ex

Burki, the evening star did not come through -- my expert. Tell me about

it. The evening star, the last Class 66 built for use in Great Britain,

in the tradition of British Railways who name their last steamer

locomotive evening star. It would have been lovely to see that we have

missed it. The Class 66's have such an important role to play. They are

everywhere, almost 500 in the country. You can see them at any

time, they came to this country in the 1990s when we needed to replace

ageing locomotives. They have been a marvellous stopgap and will be here

for a long time. We saw one coming through, the engineering, they are

rolling stock and the engineering, less pressure on the tracks, they

are smoother and better for the cargo. Great engineering. Great

engineering, the axle loading on the track is low which means less damage

to the track and the structures, well engineered machines. I am

gutted, I want get to see 6670 79, but I have eight down already that I

have seen. This is a busy place but I was looking to see the last of the

type, one of the things I love about looking at the actual rail and

looking at these going past does is you can see the industry of Britain.

You certainly can and it goes back in time to the Victorian era right

up to the present. The ones we have been looking at and going through, I

just wish we had seen the last one because the numbers is a great idea,

the liability is there. At this moment in time I have my notebook

ready and poised and I have to actually be working here in

Doncaster, I will get lots of Classics T6's. If you sit here long

enough you will get them all! You are a train spotters dream! Over

to another enthusiast, Malcolm in Preston, are you there? Can we see

you? How are you? Very well thank you. You are Trainspotting like mad?

I am, two coming through as we speak. The Voyager just leaving

Preston. And on the right shoulder we have the trans-Pennine class 185.

Beautiful. Much more pretty than the Class 66, I shouldn't say that!

Which is your favourite? We have had all sorts of units, we have one of

the newly branded trans-Pennine's the new livery to replace the old

colours. The livery, the colour of the train. Yes. Lovely. You are busy

by the sound of it, how long have you been Trainspotting? I have been

doing it seriously now for the last five years INAUDIBLE

Great. Thank you for all that, great. As well as the Class 66 we

have an even bigger challenge, we want you to try to find this. Very

hard to spot even though it is yellow. There are not many of them.

What is it and why is it sought after? This is the network real

measuring train, it goes and checks the tracks to make sure everything

is right. This is the one with the high-speed locomotives at the end of

it and it is yellow. The one they called offline -- the Colby flying

banana. It is just the only one and it could be anywhere in the country.

That is the holy Grail we want you to spot. Ours is the oldest rail

network in the world, we did invent the railways after all, dating back

almost two centuries. We invented the train and ever since people have

been trying to spot them. Extra bridge spent a day with Bob at the

National Railway Museum in York tracking down evidence of the first

ever train spotters. -- Dick Strawbridge spent the day.

On the shelves are countless documents covering every aspect of

the railways. From the latest high-speed network to the Stockton

Darlington, the first public line in the world to run steam locomotives.

Amongst the treasures is a rare record from one of the first real

enthusiasts in history. What we have got is John writing to his sister in

1825, my dear sister you might not understand what this drawing at the

top means but it represents the opening of the Stockton Darlington

Railway which took place on the 27th of December 18 25. I love the

drawing, we have little carriages and what is this? It's the first

locomotive. Supposedly 60,000 people turned out to see it. The train is

reported to have about 600 people on it. I love a 14-year-old boy drawing

a train for the first time, how many youngsters have drawn train since

then? All of us! All of us, Bob! 20 years after John Backhaus's

letter comes evidence of the first true spotter. I have here bound

Eddises of the 1935 Great Western Railway magazine. It is quite a

small article but it is quite an important one. It is a record of a

14-year-oldcating back to 1861 and in here I have names of engines on

the Great Western that I have seen. There's a whole record of all the

engines that have been spotted. This is evidence of the first

trainspotter. Their notebook. The name of our trainspotter? Fanny

Johnston. She was a girl. But for trainspotting to really take off,

one key ingredient was missing, and would only appear 80 years after

Fanny's teenage spots. It starts with this in 1942, which is the very

first ABC produced by Ian Alan, when he was just 20. This directory of

loco motives is a game changer. For the first time rail fans had a

comprehensive checklist on the network against which they could

record their sightings. Only 2,000 were produced and they sell out.

When did they become trainspotters? Again, the title comes post war,

when all of a sudden people recognised this phenomena of

hundreds and hundreds of people, mostly boys, out in field or on

stations, taking numbers. Loco spotting as they call it has become

the number one hobby for school boys in recent years... Trainspotting

exploded in popularity partly because the newly nationalised

British railways encouraged it, giving data books for free. At most

stations the railway authorities give plenty of facilities to the

lads and they in turn make sure they don't cause problem. Some supports

find out that those no tress passion signs mean what they say... But such

popularity didn't come without its problems. Go on, keep in there! It

becomes a bit of a worry to the north at large, because these people

are clearly not controlled. It is a bit of a change from Fanny Johnson,

first person to write it down, more and more information, then we've got

a plague. Time's up. Let's hope they have learnt their lesson. But you

can't keep a good spotter down as easily as that. Everybody, look at

this. It is not a traffic jam on the M4. We can just see the Class 66

locomotive pulling these cars along, it has stopped for a moment. There

it goes. All these cars all the way down to the West Country. What a

wonderful sight. It is time to catch up with our expert trainspotter Tim

Dunn, who is near Fort William in Scotland. His mission over the next

three nights is to spot the rarest trains out there. What have you got

for us tonight? I'm here to see a really interesting locomotive. I'm

on the West Highland Line. Over there is Fort William and down there

is Mallaig. It is a really remote part of Network Rail. It's a

stunning part of the country and of railway as well. But even more

interesting and even more stunning here in the summer when two

different trains run every day, two different locomotives, hauling The

Jacobite, with two steam locomotives. You might recognise the

viaduct from Harry Potter for example. It is difficult to get

through because of the terrain. In 1876, the-and-a-halfies, if they

found an obstacle, they would have to go over it, under it or around

it, but get through it they must. Today trains are still getting

through it. Today we had 62005, built for LNER many years ago. That

went through only this afternoon. Still to come this evening is 44871,

a Black 5. A Black 5 is often thought of being a workhorse, an

average steam locomotive. But it is very special. These are can-do go

anywhere locomotives. There were 872 built. They are really special, like

any locomotive. Any steam locomotive is really quite special. Steam

locomotives are special to me because I think of them as being

almost iron dinosaurs. They are the close thing we as human beings, as

men, as man, have ever built. They are elemental. They are built from

iron, mined from underneath where we stand. They are fuelled by coal

which we have hacked out from prehistoric plants. They are lit by

a flickering flame. Those things come together to create elemental

life. These steam locomotives are rushing about the place and every

single one has a personality. They are living creatures made by man. It

might sound mad but I honestly believe that. It really is almost

akin to real life. We rescue these things as British people, and other

countries as well, but mostly in Britain. We love them and restore

them. Tonight we are going to see whiff those things. Like bird

watchers we spent our time hunting these things down to appreciate

them. Tonight we are pretty much on a steam safari, looking for some of

the creatures that we love. And we genuinely love them, these

whistling, clanking, crashing supreme machines. Creatures in

another place. Tonight in its natural habitat we'll see a Black 5

coming past, from Mallaig. There is no turntable from Mallaig. It is

come back from its main day on The Jacobite. I hope you see it, because

it is a wonderful thing to share with you. I really am churched to

bits that I'm able to do it. I hope we manage to see it as well.

Apologies there for issues with the sound. To add to the knowledge that

Tim and our spotters are collecting from all over the country I wanted

to show you how mathematical our railways are. In everything from

timetables to engines there is an stonishing amount of maths that goes

into keeping everything running. We kick off with the help of this

beautiful steam engine here and with museum curator here at Didcot Park

way Roger. This is the King Class locomotive built in 1930 by the

Great Western rail way. One of the engines designed to pull heavy

passenger trains from Paddington up to Birmingham and down the Plymouth.

A beautiful thing. Later on we are going to get to see this engine

moving. But if it is going to move it has to accelerate from zero. And

that means it has to obey Newton's second law of motion, which says

that force is equal to mass times acceleration. A classic equation

here. Because of it has to accelerate from zero we know the

acceleration here has to be positive, so this whole thing has to

be greater than zero. But there isn't just one force acting on the

engine. This splits off into several different forces. So you have

attractive force. That's essentially the pushing force that is moving the

engine forward. But then you also have lots of resistive forces. This

can be things like friction, it could be air resistance. Lots of

them, you have to sum them up the. That has to be greater than zero.

Roger, tell us how this steam engine turns the steam into attractive

force? We have a coal fire that's heighting the water in the boiler.

The steam is collected at the top and is transferred to the cylinders

via outside pipes on this engine and connected into the driving wheels.

Lovely stuff. Whatever the design of your engine mass is going to come

into it somewhere, so let's see if this is the theory I guess, let's

see if Newton is right in practice and we can start this train moving.

OK, let's go. I'm genuinely excited about this.

Here we go. Newton's law is in practice.

What a beautiful engine, Han na. The only trouble is it is called King

Edward II, the most useless King in English history. Don't get

overexcited about this replica, it is only the iron Duke, Duke of

Wellington. It is an 1850s engine, but it is a replica. While Han Loves

ennewsing if you do see that flying Washington, send us a picture.

Somewhere in Cambridge. Ince the dawn of the steam age artists such

as Turner and writers such as Thomas Hardy have found Ince inflation the

rail network. I went to meet a man christened the trainspotter's poet.

Ian, what is it about trains that fascinates poets? I think poets are

fascinated by the idea that a train journey is like a narrative. It is

about rhythm, about movement. When you make your way down a summit it

is like making your way from St Pancras to Kettering. You see things

on the way, and you can sit in a train as though you are sitting in a

poem. As if on the train all these amazing things are happening. When

you get off at the other end it is as though you are falling out of the

poem. Poetry and trains always go together, Robert Louis Stevenson,

Thomas Hardy, Sir John Betjeman. Who is your favourite? Edward Thomas.

Yes, I remember Adelstrop because one afternoon of heat, it was late

June. I love the wait begins. When it goes, yes, I remember Adelstrop.

The train pauses, he looks out. It is that moment of stasis that you

get in a poem and sometimes in live, when you sit and wait and sow in

that waiting history turns, culture turns and then right at the end,

that wonderful line, all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire,

they rise up and united can hear them singing. Farther and farther

all the birds of ox thirdshire and Gloucestershire. Ian's own poem,

Love Me? Tender, captures the excitement of trainspotting. It is a

late night moment on a freezing station. The anything shall, the

whistle, the thrill of the number you never thought you would get

after days of frustration and weeks of regret. I love the line in your

poem when you say, the thrill of the number, which you never thought you

would get. What is poetic about trainspotting? I think it is the

thrill of being the completes. Like being a jazz fan and finding the

rarest 78 that you can. It is about seeing this number and somehow

transferring the number, the number becomes a metaphor for the moment

you were there. So I've got the 41963. That the moment they will

remember that they were at can Ford station and the sun was going down.

So it becomes an image that can define exciting things in their

lives. He and I could have chatted on for hours. In fact we did. At the

end of the show we'll be premiering Ian's newest poem composed to go

with ex-Clive footage of the flying Scotsman. We are beginning to get a

picture of how dedicated trainspotters are. Other rail

enthusiasts have amazing personal collections. And each evening we'll

be meeting one of them. Tonight we start with a man who photographs

stations. By the way, he has photographed every single station in

the UK, with a train in it. It is David Brewer. You must be dotty.

Well, I've always enjoyed railways. As a boy growing up in the late '50s

and '60s I was a keen trainspotter. I travelled around the country

visiting many sheds. What does the life think about that? She is glad

to get me out of the house. Take me through some of your best

photographs Over the last ten years I have visited all the stations. The

best kept station is Dolau on the Wales line, looked after by

volunteers, and the East Coast line, Chathill. My favourite station for

the location are stations on the Kyle of Lochalsh line. There is the

waiting room, the hexagonal waiting room. There's drum Craig... All in a

beautiful location. Those are my favourites. What was the most

difficult one to get at? A number of stations had just one train calling

each week and others every day. One train a tweak? This station has two

trains calling on a Saturday. It is on the line between Ely and Norwich.

It's the least-used station at the moment, with just 22 passengers

using the station. 22 passengers each... In the last year. You're

joking! Extraordinary. It has taken over from Teesside airport. I think

it is probably cheaper. There's a lot of these smaller stations still

there. This is perhaps the most room all

station, the nearest road is about three miles away. -- the most room

ought station. This is Redditch South and along with Kent and they

are on a line between Stockport and Stalybridge, one train once a week

on a Friday. This is the train just calling. How many stations have you

pictured? Everyone. Over 2500. Extraordinary. This is your book,

lovely. I prefer the least used stations and that is what the book

is called, it covers 200 of the least used stations, pictures I have

taken and facts about them. You started as a train spotter? Yes in

the 1960s. I think at the time there was not much for boys to do, young

boys have a lot more to do today. Train spotters UC now tend to be

people of my generation who are still interested. We don't call

ourselves train spotters, I think rail enthusiasts is the word we

would use. Thank you. Back up to Doncaster and Dick. Trains

everywhere, one has parked! How long have you been doing this? I started

when I was two years old in 1957. How come? My father took me to York

station to watch the trains. My father was not a train spotter, he

had a great interest in engineering and worked on Halifax bombers during

the war. You were two years old but after that when it came time to

review to have a choice, what major do it? The whole environment was

fantastic, steam locomotives, the colours, just being in a really was

great. Looking at the train behind us, it's not very exciting is it?

I'm afraid it is not but it is useful which is good because it can

run on services which are lightly used and provide a service. It has a

good purpose. How many of these have you spotted? All them. I have got

them all. In that case I think it's about time I had my first sprinter

number. 153374 is in my book. Thank you very much. Beautiful freight

train is going along, incredibly slowly, one of the most puzzling

thing about the railways is this train is going very slowly but in

five minutes time on that line we will see an express racing past.

It's a miracle quite frankly. We are going back to Scotland and Tim,

anything yet? Yes, I can see steam and smoke on the horizon over the

back of the woods. That means that the black five locomotive isn't far

off. It is heading to us, about a minute away, coming around a corner,

steaming up on the gradients, it will come over the top of the hill

and coast past us. The black five was designed in 1934, it is known as

the black five because of its powerful classification which is

group five and that was painted on the side of the cab. And they were

painted black. This is a black five. It's just over a there, perhaps a

bit further than I thought it was initially, I can just hear it now.

For 4871 was built in Crewe in 1945 just before the end of World War II.

Strange time but it was then drawn from that shed. One of the last

locomotives running on British Railways. It has no name, it was

called sovereign for a short while but not any longer, it is now just a

number. In 2008 it was restored to full mainline glory by Riley and

son, welder engineers who have also restored the icon of British team

locomotive owned by you and me, The Flying Scotsman. This locomotive is

no different, it has been restored to run on this line up and down and

does almost every single day in the summer and it is magnificent. The

mainstay of this branch line. I can see it coming, you can see in the

distance probably just passing over, storming up the bank. Plumes of

smoke. Here it comes around the corner on this S-bend. It's a

magnificent sight. Isn't that a lovely thing? In a

moment, rather than talk over all of this I will just stand back and let

everyone delight in the magnificent of a steam locomotive on the

national network. A black five! Give us a quick

summary. The best mixed traffic locomotive that Britain ever had. 90

mph in the last days of steam, 1968, that engine was there when steam

ended. Built in this country? Of course. We are going to go back to

the Class 66, keep sending us your pictures. This is where we saw the

black five, up here. We have just seen one going past. Triple headed.

Three locomotives! Those are the brand-new ones coming from the docks

in Newport is my guess. There was about 67 66s there. I think they are

being delivered, I think there are brand-new. The 66 is mostly built in

London on Dario and the latest one is built in Indiana I think --

London, Ontario. We have manufacturing in Derby and Newton

Aycliffe, we have a number of places trains are built. So all is not

lost? All is not lost. We are going straight down to Martin in

Leicester. I can hear you in Leicester. What is going on? Right

now not a lot happening, we are actually waiting for a Class 66 to

come through which is working but it seems to be delayed. We thought it

would fit in great with the programme tonight. That will be a

treat still to come. Tell us about what you have seen, you have been

there all day? No, I have been at work today, finished about 4pm and

thought I would come to Leicester and we have seen other riot merely

high-speed intercity, we have also seen a number of cross country

units. We have seen quite a bit of variety. There are about four

freight trains and they don't always run to time and tonight three of

them appear to not be running. Keep us posted. I think we have seen a

picture of the flying banana. There she is. In King 's cross. Remind us

about that? It is the way that the track is measured and kept correct,

you have a mobile observatory, a mobile laboratory that tells you

what the track is light and enables you to do what you need to do

subsequently once it's gone down the line. Great, keep sending us your

spots and the pictures of your spots. We are trying to build up the

map, we've done well but some mysterious rail services operating

unknown and unseen including one directly undermined pleasant Royal

Mail sorting office in London. We sent Tim to seek it out.

How far are we coming down? 65 feet down, the platform level. Crikey.

These stations closed over a decade ago. This is a working platform, two

of the 1930s trains. English Electric. Built in Preston. Put the

power on. They are trains by themselves. You could couple two

together, put a mechanical link and these two plugs would be cross

coupled so the woodwork electrically as a single unit. The trains

themselves identified by these works plates. The train numbers signified

what type it was. There used to be a six minute service where if you are

on a platform train would arrive every six minutes to be loaded or

unloaded. The network connected nine stations. Starting in the Paddington

sorting office ending up at the Eastern district office in

Whitechapel. But it became cheaper for Royal Mail to transport the post

by road. After privatisation above ground sorting offices were moved

making the underground station is redundant. That is terribly sad. A

sign saying that this station seems -- ceased to be on 22nd of April 19

95. People spent a lot of time down here, it would be like losing a

friend or member of the family. The tunnels, tracks and trains remaining

good conditions of who wouldn't take up the offer of a ride? Lights on,

handbrake off. It's remarkable, a real museum down

here. Quite a tight squeeze. It is. That

was absolutely extraordinary, something you only get to do once in

your life, a real privilege, thank you. What a wonderful Railway.

I am back here with the king Edward the second doing a little drive by,

looking absolutely beautiful. It's going about ten mph, you can see the

number on the side of the cab, 6203 and that got me thinking, because

what is the fastest speed train has to be going before a train spotter

won't be able to see the number? For that you need Pythagoras. This is

the train track, I think we are standing about ten metres away from

the train tracks. The DVLA says you have to be able to read a number

break from 20 metres away so I will use that as the sides of the

triangle, 20 metres each. Using Pythagoras you can work out the

distance along the track you have to be able to read the number on the

cab and it comes out at about 35 metres. The speed of the train will

be the lady to how quickly your brain can process the image and that

is eager .1 seconds, that's how quickly a human can decipher the

numbers. Speed equals distance over time. We have 35 metres on the track

to read the number and 0.1 seconds. That is 35 over 0.1 which is 350

metres per second, the fastest train can be going to read the number.

That might not sound like much but it's the equivalent to 782 mph. That

is faster than the speed of sound. We have not accounted for motion

blah but given that the fastest train in the world goes at 373 mph

we do have quite a lot of room for error.

Are you accounting for slower brains like mine? I haven't added in an

excitement quotient either, Peter. Thank you. We are heading up to

Doncaster. Dick, what have you got for us? Unbelievable. We've had an

amazing evening, topped off by 66779, Evening Star was here! We've

got 66779, Evening Star has arrived! That is unbelievable. We were told

it was going to be to hours late. It's brilliant. It really looks

nice. It is magnificent. And the green, what a fantastic livery. It

is superb. Spotters up and down the platform. You can see how happy they

are. That's phenomenal. That's a result for them. The amazing thing

is you look at that, it looks gorgeous. Look, he's getting his

numbers in here straight away! But as a train, that locomotive on the

front end of it, it's engineering I'm listening to going by here. The

thing you notice about that locomotive is you can barely hear

it. That's how eco-friendly it is. Why would call that a shed? It's

gorgeous. It is a rude name, it is derogatory. I would love a shed like

that with a lathe and a milling machine. The Evening Star has been

to Doncaster. We've had 10 Class 66s here. It is amazing. We had a rare

locomotive. They are rare. You don't see many, but you do at Doncaster.

There are quite a few here So they get seen in Doncaster, but if you

want to see a Colas, come to Doncaster. I've seen some amazing

things. I've seen a Darth Vader. A class 180. It looks like Kath saider

from the front. One of the most poignant things, is 91111. Yes, for

the Fallen. It is appropriate given the First World War remembrance, and

it follows in the tradition of naming locomotives after the First

World War remembrance. It is really nice to see that. It is amazing.

We've seen a lot of different things. We've had a lot of variety.

I've got to tell you, I'm back tomorrow in a brand-new location,

with a brand-new team of spotters looking after me, and I can't wait.

You've done us proud, Dick. Lots of 66s. Amazing. Let's check on that,

more 66s than ever before. At Doncaster, where Dick Strawbridge is

based. Here is the build-up around ourselves. Looking at this map,

which looks similar, what are we trying to do about Beeching's cuts?

In some parts of the country they have put the railways back,

particularly in Scotland. The Borders Line re-opened just last

year. A big success. They have done that on a number of lines up there.

We've put a number of stations back and now with capacity, where there

was once a single track we are making a double. This is the Great

Western main line. This is our executive producer who shot this

marvellous picture. Is this a freight liner? It is not a 66. He's

taken it from the train, so he is relaxed, taking that photograph.

We've got the Flying Banana to show you now. It is in Cambridge. There

she is. What a lovely picture. This is the very, very, very rare Flying

Banana. Isn't that great Bob? It is. We've got it on the map. It It

started from King's Cross anded up in Cambridge. Yes. Back to. In

Beeching. Am I talking about what happened 50 years ago when Dr

Beeching was told you've got to cut the railways back because we can't

afford it all. About a third of the network disappeared as a result of

that report. As a rail enthusiast, do you think the country should

regret that now? I think one of the mistakes that was made was they

simply got rid of the track and dishasn'tled the railway quickly.

Hasn'tled the railway quickly. -- dismantled the railway quickly. If

the track had been left the economics would have been possible

to re-open that line 10-15 years later. Keep sending us your

pictures. We've got tomorrow and Wednesday. We are on for three

nights, so send us your pictures and footage and we'll show you the best

tomorrow. Find out how to get involved as well as exclusive

content on www.bbc.co.uk/trainspottinglive. The

development of the rail networks had a profound effect on many aspects of

British life. It was a major driver of the Industrial Revolution. I'm

talking about 200 years ago. Easing the passage of coal, iron and steel

around the country. It dem okra tides travel. Travel. Suddenly

people could explore the UK. It even changed the way in which we

understood time. For nearly 100 years the Royal Observatory in

Greenwich marked the beginning and end of time. All clocks were

standardised to GMT and its reference line the prime meridian.

But it wasn't always so. In the early 19th century few people had

any reason to pay attention to Greenwich Mean Time. Instead they

would set their time by sundials. That meant that time wasn't standard

across the country. It would vary depending on where you were. If you

were in the east, where the sun rise ever so slightly earlier, your

clocks would run slightly fast. In fact for every 10 miles travelled

east of Greenwich, solar time gains just over a minute. And this

variation is compounded just over a minute. And this variation is

compounded by an additional problem - no one day is exactly the same

length as another. Clocks work on something called meantime. Meantime

is actually an approximation of solar time, but it is something that

is the same the whole way through the year. The y through the year.

The difference between the two - solar time and men time, looks like

this. The straight line represents meantime. And the curvy line shows

how in Britain solar time Dave United States from the meantime

across a year, sometimes running ahead and sometimes behind. You can

see the variation can be pretty huge. Up to 16 minutes at certain

points in the year. If London is using meantime, other places are

using solar time, you can really see how the local time differences start

to build up. Oxford was five minutes behind Greenwich time. Leeds was six

minutes. Carn fort 11 minutes, and Barrow 13 minutes. None of this was

a proper until the 1830s when the number of trains on the tracks

boomed and then there was all sorts of confusion between the station

master's and the train guards, because a train could literally go

through a different time zone in the space of 20 miles. The growth of the

railway network meant that ultimately we had to invent a way to

synchronise the country's clocks automatically. How many clocks do

you have here? Several thousand. The curator of the Royal Observatory in

Greenwich. How do they solve it? Had the Shepherd S master clock,

designed by Charles Shep period. He realised by using this

electromechanical clock you can district observatory time along a

Telegraph met work. At a prearranged time every day this clock would send

out a series of pulses to try to keep clocks in sync with Greenwich

time. You can spread the signal across the network to all your

railways and stations and cities across the country. This clock

became the hub of the standard time across the railways. By 1855, 98% of

British towns had converted to Greenwich Mean Time. And this really

was the beginning of our modern way of thinking about the value of time.

That's all the time we have tonight but I hope you got some idea of the

huge excitement of the railways. We are going to say goodbye at the

moment... Here comes Hannah in her chough-chough. Hello there. You are

driving a train I assume? How amazing is this? Really wonderful.

We are going to be back tomorrow night at 8 o'clock when we'll bring

things more up to date and focusing on a classic, the Intercity 15. I'll

be in Swindon keeping my eyes open for 15s too. It's been fantastic

seeing a steam train in Scotland tonight, so tomorrow we are heading

south to Carlisle where we'll see some Class 37s. And you've all been

terrific. You've sent us pictures of that Flying Banana. A rare train and

we spotted it twice in Cambridgeshire and King's Cross.

Keep them coming in. We are going to leave you with the poem from Ian

McMillan that we promised you earlier set to beautiful footage

that captures the whole of our rail heritage through the Flying

Scotsman, sent in by spotters. Bye-bye.

More an old and young ones craning for a look. This is poetry in

motion. This is more than a dream. This is more than engineering. This

is more like art. The Flying Scotsman rolling up the land. The

pounding of the pistons match the pounding of your heart. In moving

ways I just can't understand. These are the trainspotters. See them wait

by fence and hedge and B road. Woods and garden gate. These are the

trainspotters, see them smile as the Scotsman does its flying over mile

and mile and mile. These are the trainspotters. Hear them cheer. As

the sound gets ever closer, the legend is getting near. These are

the trainspotters. This their prize. A memory to cherish. Passing right

before their eyes. This is more than history. More than a past. Recalled

through rose tinted glasses. More than nostalgia for things that just

can't last. I'll just pause the poem while the Scotsman passes. This is

more than the power of solved coal. This engine is a thing you will

never forget. Like a stolen kiss. Or a cup-winning goal.

For a trainspotter, this is the best moment yet.