0:00:32 > 0:00:34BBC Four Collections -
0:00:34 > 0:00:37archive programmes chosen by experts.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39For this Collection, Gary Boyd-Hope
0:00:39 > 0:00:43has selected programmes celebrating Britain's steam railway legacy.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45More programmes on this theme
0:00:45 > 0:00:46and other BBC Four Collections
0:00:46 > 0:00:48are available on BBC iPlayer.
0:01:44 > 0:01:49There used to be an old saying how any fool could start a steam engine
0:01:49 > 0:01:53but to control it and bring it to a stand is an entirely different thing.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55The thing about the job and the boys and that,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58there's nothing like a steam engine.
0:01:58 > 0:02:04I like the new work, if you can term it,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07but there is still that old fascination for steam.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Whilst I don't want to see it again, there's always that
0:02:11 > 0:02:14element of love for the old machine that you had for many years.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40There are plenty of men in London clubs ready to write letters
0:02:40 > 0:02:44to the papers about how the railways ought to be run
0:02:44 > 0:02:50and there are plenty of cold-hearted Treasury nominees who will
0:02:50 > 0:02:55invent arguments against having railways at all,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58statistical ones, and, of course,
0:02:58 > 0:03:04there are enemies of the railways in the road haulage industry but
0:03:04 > 0:03:08this film, or rather programme, isn't about them -
0:03:08 > 0:03:11it's about human beings,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13men of steam,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17and one particular bit of line.
0:03:17 > 0:03:18You know its name already
0:03:18 > 0:03:21because it said so at the beginning of the programme.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25The line from Bristol to Paddington with one branch to
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Bradford-on-Avon, one of its branches.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31The Great Western Railway.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35And here I am in the Railway Museum in the railway
0:03:35 > 0:03:41town of Swindon where the Great Western Works are.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46You know, the Great Western, it had great names.
0:03:46 > 0:03:53Brunel, Daniel Gooch, Charles Saunders, William Dean,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Churchward, Hawksworth.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00And, even now,
0:04:00 > 0:04:05it's a great honour in Swindon to be in the Great Western Works.
0:04:05 > 0:04:11That is to say what's called "inside" here in Swindon because,
0:04:11 > 0:04:16in the past, it was connected with safety and a way of life.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21Men could come in from the fields and find a job inside
0:04:21 > 0:04:25and they were looked after all their lives by the Great Western.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29It's a paternal thing and it goes from father to son
0:04:29 > 0:04:33and there are plenty of people in Swindon whose fathers
0:04:33 > 0:04:37and grandfathers and even great-grandfathers were inside,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41as it's called, in the Great Western Works.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45It's not surprising, really, as it's been going, the Great Western,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48for over 120 years.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52The Great Western was another word for the West of England.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55It did everything.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00It took us to the races, it ran four-horse brakes
0:05:00 > 0:05:02and high-powered steamers,
0:05:02 > 0:05:07it carried us on excursions to the seaside,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10it brought us our food and coal.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12True, there were other railways in the west
0:05:12 > 0:05:16but the Great Western was the king of the lot.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21It spread over Wales and up north to Birkenhead
0:05:21 > 0:05:24and it sent boats from Fishguard to Ireland.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28It bought up smaller lines and made a profit
0:05:28 > 0:05:32right until the days of nationalisation.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37It was as official and established as the cities of London and Bristol.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40And there, in the company's crest, you can see
0:05:40 > 0:05:46the arms of these two cities, the Great Western was built to join.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51The cross and sword of London on the left, the ship and castle of Bristol.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56The first engine for the new railway was ordered from Robert Stephenson.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59There it is - the North Star.
0:06:00 > 0:06:07And in 1838, it drew the first Great Western train
0:06:07 > 0:06:09and it cost £4,000.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17And by 1870, when the North Star was put out of commission,
0:06:17 > 0:06:22she had done 420,000 miles.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25Well done, old thing.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29But what about the man who laid the track along which
0:06:29 > 0:06:32the North Star was to go? What about him?
0:06:32 > 0:06:39Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who died aged 53 in 1859,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44a cigar-smoking, humorous and practical genius.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47He wanted to link the world by steam
0:06:47 > 0:06:52and designed this ironclad vessel to go from Bristol to New York,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55a continuation of his Great Western Railway
0:06:55 > 0:06:57from Bristol to London.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00That drawing he made for Clifton Suspension Bridge
0:07:00 > 0:07:05when he was only 24 shows the two sides of his character.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09The bridge is drawn with all the precision of an engineer
0:07:09 > 0:07:14and the gorge below it, with all the depth and romance of the artist.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20And I think it was the artist in Brunel which made him
0:07:20 > 0:07:25choose the Gothic style for the terminus of his railway at Bristol.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Gothic to go with the ancient city.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33Paddington, at the London end of the line, is a complete contrast -
0:07:33 > 0:07:38severely modern. Just glass and cast iron.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Brunel took great pride in Paddington Station,
0:07:41 > 0:07:47because it was what it still is - the biggest building in London
0:07:47 > 0:07:49with no outside walls.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53it is just a cutting, roofed over with iron and glass.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12When the young Brunel was asked to survey a route
0:08:12 > 0:08:14from Bristol to London in 1835,
0:08:14 > 0:08:19he refused to do so in competition with anyone else.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21He told the directors of the new company
0:08:21 > 0:08:25he would agree to survey only one road from Bristol to London
0:08:25 > 0:08:28and that would be the best, not the cheapest.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33And so it still is today - faster than any road route,
0:08:33 > 0:08:39straight and level for the broad gauge engines of Daniel Gooch.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44In the 1840s, a book of pictures of the line was published
0:08:44 > 0:08:48and here's one of them coming.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50The Wharncliffe Viaduct at Hanwell
0:08:50 > 0:08:55in the Egyptian style Brunel was so fond of.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57Just the same today.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00Notice those flat brick arches
0:09:00 > 0:09:05and then those flatter ones still over the Thames at Maidenhead,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07the flattest brick arches ever made.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Critics thought the bridge would collapse
0:09:10 > 0:09:12once the wooden centring was removed,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14so for a joke Brunel left the centring
0:09:14 > 0:09:16until it was blown away in a storm,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19but the bridge has carried trains ever since
0:09:19 > 0:09:23and so has Basildon bridge, there higher up on the Thames,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25built on the same principles.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Brunel was a genius all right.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Look at the trouble he took over detail -
0:09:32 > 0:09:35for instance, country stations.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38There is the Pangbourne station as it once was
0:09:38 > 0:09:43with a broad gauge engine waiting on the down platform.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48Now, it so happens that there is one country station left on the line,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50just as it was when Brunel designed it.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56There it is - Shrivenham in Berkshire.
0:09:56 > 0:10:01It's worth getting out and having a look at the trouble that he took
0:10:01 > 0:10:06with this little station and with the house under the broad veranda.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10You see, it was meant to look like the gate lodge of a great house,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14but on the new iron road instead of the old turnpike.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19Carved stone, Tudor style, to give a historic look
0:10:19 > 0:10:22and local flints from the downs a few miles off
0:10:22 > 0:10:24so that passengers would recognise
0:10:24 > 0:10:27the nature of the country they were in,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30and the flint all knapped at great expense.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Swindon was the place Daniel Gooch,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38the company's first locomotive engineer,
0:10:38 > 0:10:42chose for the Great Western works and repair shops.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45It was on level ground, near a canal
0:10:45 > 0:10:48and where the railway to Gloucester branched off.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52The works now cover hundreds of acres
0:10:52 > 0:10:54and there's no sign at all
0:10:54 > 0:10:58of that original wooden engine house you see there
0:10:58 > 0:11:01where Gooch stabled his iron horses.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07But here's the remarkable thing about Swindon.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Do you see that recreation ground
0:11:09 > 0:11:13over there beyond the houses in the middle distance?
0:11:13 > 0:11:15It was once a cricket field.
0:11:15 > 0:11:22Well, that ground and this church - the famous St Mark's, Swindon -
0:11:22 > 0:11:25and that inn, and a mechanics institute near it
0:11:25 > 0:11:30and all these little streets of well-built stone houses
0:11:30 > 0:11:33were built by the Great Western for their own people.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38It must be the first industrial estate in Britain, about 1840,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42and it once stood in green fields away from the smoke.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46It shows the paternal spirit of the Great Western,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50which makes Swindon to this day such a friendly place.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53When I came to Swindon 30 years ago,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55I didn't have no intentions of staying here.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00But I found it such a lovely place to live in and work in.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04I found the Great Western at Swindon -
0:12:04 > 0:12:06which was the home of the Great Western -
0:12:06 > 0:12:11I found they were such a happy place here.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15The management and men, it was one happy family in those days.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20And I was very interested in the amenities that they had here.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22If you wanted a doctor, if you wanted a bath,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26if you wanted to read, if you wanted a book or anything at all,
0:12:26 > 0:12:29you went to the Great Western. The Great Western ran the town.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32But as the years have gone by, those things have changed.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37Swindon today is not a railway town in any shape or form.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40We're just a secondary consideration today
0:12:40 > 0:12:43as far as railways are concerned. Everybody looked for a job -
0:12:43 > 0:12:46everybody worked for the Great Western.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Well, they did go, our engines wanted some beating,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51there's no doubt about it. There's no doubt about it.
0:12:51 > 0:12:57The old... Castles, the Abbey class, they wanted some touching.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59The 29s were good, but...
0:13:00 > 0:13:03The four-cylinder engines, the Castle class and the Abbey class,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05they were good engines, there's no doubt about it.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Now for the greatest obstacle on Brunel's iron road from Bristol.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14The limestone hill between Corsham and Bath at Box.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19Terror struck all England at his daring to drive a tunnel through it.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23People said that only death and black disaster were ahead.
0:13:27 > 0:13:33Out on the other side, after five years' work by thousands of men,
0:13:33 > 0:13:38Brunel built a triumphal arch to the success of his Box Tunnel.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45Over a bridge built to fit in with the Roman city,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48smoothly the Great Western glides into Bath.
0:13:50 > 0:13:57For the station, Brunel could not resist his romantic Tudor style
0:13:57 > 0:13:59and it once had a wooden roof
0:13:59 > 0:14:03like that which still survives at Temple Meads.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08The street entrance was made to look like an Elizabethan country house
0:14:08 > 0:14:12and something of the country house atmosphere survives at Bath station,
0:14:12 > 0:14:18with the station master as a grand major-domo welcoming his visitors.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27STATION MASTER: My usual day starts at 8.20.
0:14:28 > 0:14:34The first train I have to see away is the 8.32 Pullman to Paddington.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39After that I return to the office where the morning correspondence,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42the morning mail, is ready.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45I see the 9.32 out to London.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51I then meet the 7.45 in from Paddington, which departs at 10.07.
0:14:51 > 0:14:57It's followed by the Bristolian leaving at 10.28.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01And returning again to the up platform for the 10.32.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07And this is the mould and procedure, really, throughout the day.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11Well, at a station like Bath,
0:15:11 > 0:15:18one of the principal phases of the work here
0:15:18 > 0:15:22has us in contact with the travelling public,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26which includes many overseas visitors
0:15:26 > 0:15:32and, of course, many people of rank and importance,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34nationally or otherwise.
0:15:37 > 0:15:43It's fallen to my lot to meet three members of the Royal family.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48The Queen Mother, Princess Marina and Princess Margaret,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51who is now, of course, a fairly frequent visitor to Bath.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57And also many ambassadors visit Bath.
0:15:58 > 0:16:04And it has been my duty on occasions when they are private visits
0:16:04 > 0:16:08to receive them and to see to their wants to and from the station.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32NARRATOR: The signal box at Bath is poised above the station platform.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41The Great Western -
0:16:41 > 0:16:46what is it, I wonder, which makes men so proud to have belonged to it?
0:16:47 > 0:16:50STATION MASTER: Well, I think that goes back
0:16:50 > 0:16:52to the time of Sir Felix Pole
0:16:52 > 0:16:58who instituted a motto that the Great Western was a family concern.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03You see, I in turn served under Mr Randolph Pole,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06the brother of Sir Felix,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10and they instilled into all around them
0:17:10 > 0:17:14the theme that Great Western is a family concern.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18And the Great Western employees were one large family.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23And that did, no doubt, permutate down through...
0:17:23 > 0:17:28Right from the top to the bottom of the old Great Western Railway.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32And I think you will find that if you question any of the old members,
0:17:32 > 0:17:38whether they are drivers, guards, signalmen, shunters, anybody,
0:17:38 > 0:17:44that they all had that feeling that we were members of one big concern
0:17:44 > 0:17:48and whatever we did, if we did it well it was to the good.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51If we did it badly, we'd let the whole concern down.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02NARRATOR: Away down the Avon Valley, out of Somerset into Wiltshire
0:18:02 > 0:18:05on the branch line to Bradford-on-Avon.
0:18:07 > 0:18:13My goodness - nothing like the peace of a branch line
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and a well-kept country station.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19It's a satisfying peace.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24With plenty of life and plenty to do
0:18:24 > 0:18:29and where the porter has time to dream of the station competition.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38RELIEF PORTER: Well, I came on relief when the resident porter passed away.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41I didn't like to see the gardens go back
0:18:41 > 0:18:44so I just took them on and started doing them.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46I asked if it'd be all right.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49We might as well keep them up together now they are up together.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53But I had thought about taking the garden prize,
0:18:53 > 0:18:54or having a go at it anyway,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57but they've cut that out now as a garden competition
0:18:57 > 0:18:59and they've got in as a station competition.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Well I wish we're lucky enough in that. I don't know.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04We're going to have a try anyway to keep the station up together.
0:19:04 > 0:19:10In the past there was a Mr Davies. A retired porter, he recently retired.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12He was here, I believe, 40-odd years.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16He took several first prizes and special prizes.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18So I thought we might get some of them back again,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21but unfortunately it doesn't sound like that now.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24We've only got the three relief porters here.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27There's no permanent porter here at all now.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30They get the credit for the station the same as I do.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32I just do the gardening, that's all.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35I can't take the credit for keeping the station altogether
0:19:35 > 0:19:38because when they're here, they do it
0:19:38 > 0:19:42and I just keep the gardens up as well as the station.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44We haven't had any complaints yet from the station master
0:19:44 > 0:19:46about the dirtiness of the station.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04NARRATOR: That's the 3.45 from Westbury.
0:20:04 > 0:20:05All stations.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10She'll call at Limpley Stoke and Bathampton
0:20:10 > 0:20:14and she should be in Bath by 4.23.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32FARMER WHISTLES
0:20:37 > 0:20:40FARMER SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi. Come on, come on.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46Come on.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48PORTER: I think she lay down in the gutter now.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50That's right, farmer, shut that gate up.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55I can't get 'em back through the wire.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00THEY SHOUT INDISTINCTLY
0:21:09 > 0:21:10Come on.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17Come on.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43NARRATOR: I think you can get nearest to the heart of the railway
0:21:43 > 0:21:48and know what being a railwayman is by talking to the engine drivers.
0:21:49 > 0:21:55They have calm judgment, knowledge, skill and experience.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00They've gained these from each other since the days of Brunel and Gooch.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Well, in our days under the old Great Western Railway,
0:22:04 > 0:22:09we didn't have no fire inspectors or anyone like that in those days.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12We had locomotive inspectors but not firemen, not fire inspectors,
0:22:12 > 0:22:15and we were tutored and taught by the drivers.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19See, the first job we did was to go on the pilots
0:22:19 > 0:22:24and we were learnt from those drivers that were..
0:22:26 > 0:22:29..what you can call...
0:22:32 > 0:22:34..real railwaymen. There was no doubt about that.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37They were railwaymen, there's no doubt.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42And we were taught under those men our tuition.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44See, when I was made a fireman first,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47they had their own engines in those days, their own shunting engines,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49and they would look after those engines
0:22:49 > 0:22:52like they belonged to them personally.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54See, they do all sorts of little things.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57We were taught to...
0:22:57 > 0:23:00The first three days I was made a fireman,
0:23:00 > 0:23:01I wasn't allowed to touch the shovel.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05The driver did the firing and the driving
0:23:05 > 0:23:07and when I started the fire,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10he put one up on the left front corner,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12one on the right back corner and reversed it.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14A few rubbers under the door, one up the front
0:23:14 > 0:23:16and he'd tell you why he put the rubbers under the door,
0:23:16 > 0:23:18always put your small up under the brick arch
0:23:18 > 0:23:20and all that sort of thing
0:23:20 > 0:23:22and that's what we were taught in our time.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Well, the drivers, the old drivers, would see you did your work properly.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47It was really good training, really,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49and it would stand you in good stead now.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53It's a thing you never grow out of, sort of thing.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56It's rooted in you and you just can't adopt
0:23:56 > 0:23:58this couldn't-care-less attitude.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03Of course, we still maintain that pride right throughout our career.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05It's the way you're brought up.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07And I think once that gets into you, you can't get rid of it.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10Oh, I remember a great many of them.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12I remember my old mates when I was in the day.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15I had nearly ten years in the double-O at work.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Harry Crumpton, he's retired and still going about.
0:24:21 > 0:24:22George Hicks is still alive.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25I suppose George Hicks is somewhere about 80.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30I can remember my first mate, but he's gone - Ern Wakely.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Bill Luton - I remember quite a lot of 'em.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Bill Bright, another of my old mates. One of the best.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Done hundreds of miles with him.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03We always had an idea as firemen, "We can do that job," you know?
0:25:03 > 0:25:05But my old mate always said to me,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07"Ah, but it's a very lonely life being over here,"
0:25:07 > 0:25:09but we never realised that.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Well, since I've been over there I found his words are very true.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16It is a lonely life because, you see, if you have a train,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20say it's a coal train, well, the weight behind you is tremendous.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Well, you must be able to gauge the distance between signal and signal.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27It's not like a wheelbarrow where you can say put your foot down and say,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30"We are going to stop." Because you've got a man behind, a guard,
0:25:30 > 0:25:32and you've got a series of loose curtains between them all.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35Well, eventually, as you are applying the brakes,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37if you give too much brake then you're going to have
0:25:37 > 0:25:38a build-up of pressure continually
0:25:38 > 0:25:42and this man at the end really is going to be rapped about, you see?
0:25:42 > 0:25:45So you must be able to gauge the distance between signal and signal,
0:25:45 > 0:25:46especially if the distant signal is on.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50That means to say that the next signal could possibly be a danger.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52So you must be able to bring that train,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54you know, to a stop at the signal.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58So it takes a lot of skill.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01And the evening, especially at night-time,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03it seems as if you're on a different railway altogether.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07There's a vast difference between the railway at night-time and daytime.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09All you have then is just green lights to control you.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12You can't actually see the signal itself.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14You can't see the outlying district, you know?
0:26:14 > 0:26:15If there's a bit of fog, etc, well,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19then you must use your experience to guide you to these various points.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24So you can never say to the fireman, you know,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28"It's your fault." But it isn't - it always your fault.
0:26:28 > 0:26:29So it's rather a lonely life.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31It was a good railway.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36The Great Western Railway always thought a lot of their loco men,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39always did. I think more so than the other regions.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44Because we had the automatic safety device,
0:26:44 > 0:26:46which cost a lot of money in them days.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48We were the first railway to have that.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51And it was a wonderful thing, and it still is now.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57NARRATOR: And perhaps it's because of this human side of engine drivers
0:26:57 > 0:27:02that they are their own masters and elect their own representatives
0:27:02 > 0:27:06from among themselves to organise their duties.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15MAN: Well, it's an easier job altogether
0:27:15 > 0:27:17driving a hydraulic after the steam engine.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20The hydraulic is mechanically controlled
0:27:20 > 0:27:24and it's automatic gear changes and all that sort of thing.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27You haven't got that on a steam engine -
0:27:27 > 0:27:30you have to use your brains on a steam engine
0:27:30 > 0:27:32to keep your boiler right
0:27:32 > 0:27:36and not put the firemen down with his boiler or beat the firemen.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39The hydraulics are much easier altogether.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43SECOND MAN: I like the new...
0:27:43 > 0:27:46The new work, if you can term it,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49but there's still that old fascination for steam.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51Whilst I don't want to see it again
0:27:51 > 0:27:55there's always that element of love for the old machine
0:27:55 > 0:27:57that you had so many years earlier.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Now, on the steam engine, of course, we used to get dirty.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10As it is now, we have facilities of washing etc,
0:28:10 > 0:28:12being able to go home tidy,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15but to me the whole thrill is still gone.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18There's something missing and always will be missing.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21So now it's a matter of coming to do your job
0:28:21 > 0:28:24to the best of your ability and leaving it be at that,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26whereas when we were all steam
0:28:26 > 0:28:30the conversation we used to eat, drink, sleep railway work.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32You know?
0:28:32 > 0:28:36I've gone out for an evening and met various railwaymen,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39so instead of it being concerned with the evening we were there
0:28:39 > 0:28:40I suppose for the next three hours
0:28:40 > 0:28:43we'd be arguing the toss about railway work, you see?
0:28:43 > 0:28:44So it was all our lives.
0:29:00 > 0:29:06You can see what I meant about this being a programme on human beings.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09The Great Western - it meant something.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13Great Western men were proud to belong to it
0:29:13 > 0:29:16just as a soldier is proud of his regiment,
0:29:16 > 0:29:19or a sailor of his ship.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24But since nationalisation, railwaymen have been messed about.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31But the railways are a way of life
0:29:31 > 0:29:36and they could be again if each line was given back
0:29:36 > 0:29:41the individuality and humane touch it once had.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45It shouldn't be difficult.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49The spirit and the traditions are there.