The Early Pioneers

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0:00:22 > 0:00:26First of all there was water and wind,

0:00:26 > 0:00:30the earliest forms of power to drive machinery.

0:00:34 > 0:00:37Then came steam.

0:00:37 > 0:00:40In the 18th century Britain led the world

0:00:40 > 0:00:46in harnessing the power of coal, water and steam to drive engines that revolutionised transport

0:00:46 > 0:00:50and made mass production possible.

0:00:50 > 0:00:54The steam engine really is a fascinating thing.

0:00:54 > 0:00:57When it's running it comes alive.

0:00:57 > 0:01:01It has an unbelievable smell, for a start.

0:01:01 > 0:01:04When people come in here near me boiler...

0:01:04 > 0:01:09An old guy of 80-odd came in the other day and he was sniffing away.

0:01:09 > 0:01:14He said, "That brings back memories from my youth."

0:01:14 > 0:01:18The smell of oil and steam is like a smell all of its own.

0:01:18 > 0:01:23They say if you could bottle it you could sell it - it's that good!

0:01:23 > 0:01:27The first engines were developed for the draining of mines.

0:01:27 > 0:01:32Throughout the 18th century, one invention followed another.

0:01:32 > 0:01:37Manufacturers could increase their output to make Britain prosperous

0:01:37 > 0:01:41on a scale that no-one else could match.

0:01:41 > 0:01:47By the 19th century, steam power was being adapted to provide a new means of transport.

0:01:47 > 0:01:52Britain saw the development of the world's first railway.

0:01:52 > 0:01:59It's only within my lifetime that steam locomotives stopped operating on Britain's railways.

0:01:59 > 0:02:04In this series, I'll be looking at the development of the steam engine

0:02:04 > 0:02:10from the very earliest, right up to streamlined locomotives like this.

0:02:10 > 0:02:13But what exactly is a steam engine?

0:02:13 > 0:02:17A steam engine is really a simple thing.

0:02:17 > 0:02:19There are two main principles.

0:02:19 > 0:02:26The expansion of steam in a cylinder pushing a piston connected to a crankshaft or a connecting rod.

0:02:26 > 0:02:31The second principle is the condensation of steam

0:02:31 > 0:02:34which creates a vacuum in the cylinder,

0:02:34 > 0:02:39making it easier for the steam to push the piston along the cylinder.

0:02:40 > 0:02:44When you mention steam engines to people today,

0:02:44 > 0:02:49they think steam is something from the past, but that's not true.

0:02:49 > 0:02:51It's still with us today.

0:02:51 > 0:02:57It generates electricity, in order to drive a train like this.

0:02:58 > 0:03:01The age of steam is not yet dead.

0:03:01 > 0:03:05When industry and transport demanded more and more electricity

0:03:05 > 0:03:12it is still the steam turbine that provides the power right up to this present day.

0:03:12 > 0:03:17Three power stations, Ferrybridge, Eggborough and Drax over there

0:03:17 > 0:03:24are capable of supplying 15% of the country's needs for electricity.

0:03:24 > 0:03:30These three great power stations are here because there's plenty of the stuff that makes them go.

0:03:30 > 0:03:34Number one - water from the River Aire.

0:03:34 > 0:03:39And number two - coal. There are plenty of coal mines in the area.

0:03:39 > 0:03:44Coal and water raise the steam that turns the huge turbines in here.

0:03:44 > 0:03:49These turn the electromagnets that generate the electricity.

0:03:49 > 0:03:54If it wasn't for steam we'd have no electricity.

0:03:54 > 0:03:58Steam turbine isn't only used for generating electricity.

0:03:58 > 0:04:04It serves dozens of purposes in the world of industry.

0:04:04 > 0:04:08The first steam engine came about 2,000 years ago

0:04:08 > 0:04:13when we have the first recorded use of steam power.

0:04:13 > 0:04:17They were done by a Greek mathematician

0:04:17 > 0:04:19called Hero of Alexandria.

0:04:19 > 0:04:23This is a model of Hero's...

0:04:23 > 0:04:26I call it steam whirligig!

0:04:26 > 0:04:32He did drawings in the 1st century AD for this creation.

0:04:32 > 0:04:37Nobody knows whether he made one or whether or not it would work.

0:04:37 > 0:04:41We thought we'd make a model and prove that it works.

0:04:41 > 0:04:46In some ways it's a turbine without an outer casing.

0:04:46 > 0:04:49We'll give it a whirl and see what happens.

0:04:51 > 0:04:54MACHINE HISSES

0:04:55 > 0:04:59HE CHUCKLES

0:04:59 > 0:05:02He disappeared in a cloud of steam!

0:05:02 > 0:05:09Hero's model had a boiler down at the base of two vertical pipes with a fire underneath it.

0:05:09 > 0:05:14When the water boiled, the steam came up the pipes

0:05:14 > 0:05:16and came out into the sphere.

0:05:16 > 0:05:23Then it came out of the two vent pipes, causing it to... causing it to revolve.

0:05:24 > 0:05:28I'll just give it a little bit more steam.

0:05:28 > 0:05:31HISSING INTENSIFIES

0:05:31 > 0:05:34LOUD BANG, HE LAUGHS

0:05:37 > 0:05:42That's incredible! I knew that would happen!

0:05:43 > 0:05:46Where's the copper pipe bit?

0:05:46 > 0:05:51Well, that rules out any more demonstrations with the whirligig!

0:05:51 > 0:05:54What a shame!

0:05:54 > 0:06:00In the ancient world, experiments were carried on as a novelty.

0:06:00 > 0:06:04It was another 1,500 years before anybody

0:06:04 > 0:06:10tried to carry out any serious investigations into steam power.

0:06:10 > 0:06:13But they only had limited success.

0:06:13 > 0:06:17The development of the world's first successful steam engine

0:06:17 > 0:06:22took place in what seems today to be an unlikely place.

0:06:22 > 0:06:26When you think of Cornwall you think of scenic beaches like this.

0:06:26 > 0:06:29Cliffs and all nice things.

0:06:29 > 0:06:34For centuries it was the world's leader in mining tin and copper.

0:06:34 > 0:06:41As the demand for tin and copper grew it meant that the miners had to go further and further down,

0:06:41 > 0:06:44which left them with a big problem.

0:06:44 > 0:06:46Water.

0:06:47 > 0:06:52The problem of underground seepage plagued management and miners alike.

0:06:52 > 0:06:56It cut into profits, stopped production and took lives.

0:06:56 > 0:07:01Especially when shafts were sunk on the cliff edge near the coast.

0:07:01 > 0:07:06The workings washed out for over a mile, like this one at Botallack.

0:07:07 > 0:07:12A blacksmith from Dartmouth who made tools and bits and pieces

0:07:12 > 0:07:15for mines in the South West,

0:07:15 > 0:07:21saw what was going on and decided to do something about it.

0:07:21 > 0:07:26When he did, he set in motion one of the most crucial developments

0:07:26 > 0:07:29of the industrial revolution.

0:07:29 > 0:07:32Between 1710 and 1712,

0:07:32 > 0:07:37Thomas Newcomen invented a brand-new type of steam engine

0:07:37 > 0:07:43which was designed solely to pump water from deep mine shafts.

0:07:43 > 0:07:48The first was installed here in Staffordshire at a colliery.

0:07:48 > 0:07:52It proved to be the world's most successful steam engine.

0:07:52 > 0:07:55It was used near here at Dudley Castle

0:07:55 > 0:08:00for pumping water out of the many coal mines in the area.

0:08:00 > 0:08:04There are only two Newcomen pumping engines left.

0:08:04 > 0:08:11At the Black Country Living Museum they've built a full-size replica with a beautiful engine house.

0:08:11 > 0:08:17When it's in steam it gives you a chance to go back to the beginning of the steam revolution.

0:08:17 > 0:08:22You can see the great beam sticking out of the engine house

0:08:22 > 0:08:26which works the pump rod down the shaft.

0:08:26 > 0:08:31That's attached to the pumps in the bottom of the mine shaft sump

0:08:31 > 0:08:37which forces water up a rising main and down to a pond to get rid of it.

0:08:40 > 0:08:45- Hello, Rodger! All right? - Not too bad thanks, Fred.

0:08:45 > 0:08:49This is Rodger - the chief engineer of this wonderful creation.

0:08:49 > 0:08:53He's one of the few men who knows how it works!

0:08:53 > 0:08:57Last time we come we had a bit of bother with it!

0:08:57 > 0:09:00- Shall I stop it while we talk?- Yes.

0:09:00 > 0:09:06- Is that the brake? - It is, yes, and the starting handle.

0:09:06 > 0:09:10You don't seem to turn taps off to stop it.

0:09:10 > 0:09:13It's different to a steam engine.

0:09:13 > 0:09:17When Newcomen made it there was no boiler technology.

0:09:17 > 0:09:21There was only a giant kettle from the brewing industry.

0:09:21 > 0:09:24That's literally what this is.

0:09:24 > 0:09:31It had a copper bottom and lead top which often melted. The cylinder is mounted above that with a valve.

0:09:31 > 0:09:38You turn the steam valve off and inject water. The cold water condenses and the cycle begins.

0:09:38 > 0:09:43- It looks a bit technical but it's quite simple.- It IS simple.

0:09:43 > 0:09:48It's hard to keep going. Most of the work is keeping the fire right.

0:09:48 > 0:09:51It has no other controls, no valves.

0:09:51 > 0:09:55If the fire is wrong it stops quickly.

0:09:55 > 0:09:58Rodger is now going to activate the engine.

0:09:58 > 0:10:01That's what it's all about!

0:10:04 > 0:10:10In 1712, this were the cutting edge of technology. Before then...

0:10:10 > 0:10:16LAUGHTER

0:10:16 > 0:10:19I do have a water problem at times.

0:10:19 > 0:10:23Believe it or not, this engine was a breakthrough.

0:10:23 > 0:10:27The only other ways of raising water from mine workings

0:10:27 > 0:10:32were either by buckets propelled by horse gins and things like that,

0:10:32 > 0:10:36or wooden pipes with chains and bits of rag on.

0:10:36 > 0:10:40So really this were quite something.

0:10:40 > 0:10:45It enabled the miners to go much deeper to get rid of the water.

0:10:52 > 0:10:56It was called an atmospheric engine

0:10:56 > 0:11:01because it used the pressure of the atmosphere to move the piston.

0:11:03 > 0:11:09This is a drawing of Newcomen's atmospheric mine-pumping engine.

0:11:09 > 0:11:13It's an interesting thing really.

0:11:13 > 0:11:16This bit here is a boiler.

0:11:16 > 0:11:19It's a simple sort of boiler. A haystack boiler.

0:11:19 > 0:11:25The early ones were made of lead. There wasn't much pressure in them.

0:11:25 > 0:11:31When you open this valve here, the steam filled the cylinder.

0:11:31 > 0:11:34The cylinder was made of brass.

0:11:34 > 0:11:38From the tank here, the cold water - the "header" tank

0:11:38 > 0:11:42as you'd say, like in a central heating system,

0:11:42 > 0:11:47came down the pipe and it came through this cock here

0:11:47 > 0:11:50and rushed into the cylinder,

0:11:50 > 0:11:54condensing the steam and making a vacuum.

0:11:54 > 0:11:59Then the atmospheric pressure pressed the piston to the bottom,

0:11:59 > 0:12:04activating the great beam pulling up the pump rods in the mine shaft.

0:12:04 > 0:12:10The weight of the rods went down, working the pump at the same time.

0:12:10 > 0:12:13And that's basically how it worked.

0:12:15 > 0:12:19In spite of Newcomen's unbelievable success

0:12:19 > 0:12:24and worldwide acclaim for these engines, it had many weak points.

0:12:24 > 0:12:28They only worked on a few pounds per square inch

0:12:28 > 0:12:33and reputedly burned as much as 12 tonnes of coal in a day.

0:12:33 > 0:12:37When you took it away from the coal fields it wasn't efficient.

0:12:37 > 0:12:40What was needed was a more efficient engine.

0:12:40 > 0:12:44This is where James Watt came on the scene.

0:12:44 > 0:12:51As a young man he was given a model of a Newcomen engine to repair. He decided to improve on it.

0:12:51 > 0:12:55In 1769, James Watt came up with the answer.

0:12:55 > 0:13:00He put together all the existing technologies known at the time

0:13:00 > 0:13:03and come up with a revolutionary design.

0:13:03 > 0:13:07This earned him the name - Father of the Steam Engine.

0:13:07 > 0:13:13One of the best things he came up with was a separate condenser.

0:13:13 > 0:13:20In the Newcomen system, every time cold water was injected into the cylinder it cooled it all off.

0:13:20 > 0:13:25When Watt moved it outside... it doesn't look important...

0:13:25 > 0:13:31But the smaller of the two cylinders there is Watt's outside condenser.

0:13:31 > 0:13:34When the stroke had finished,

0:13:34 > 0:13:39the exhaust comes down the pipes here into the condenser

0:13:39 > 0:13:42and turns back into water again.

0:13:42 > 0:13:47This had the effect of keeping the cylinder hot all the time.

0:13:47 > 0:13:51He also made the cylinder "double active".

0:13:51 > 0:13:58He had a power stroke each side of the piston. One squeezed it down the other shoved it up.

0:13:58 > 0:14:03It saved as much as 70% on the coal bill which was incredible.

0:14:04 > 0:14:07Meanwhile, back here in Cornwall,

0:14:07 > 0:14:12the increased efficiency of the Boulton & Watt pumping engines

0:14:12 > 0:14:17meant there were no Newcomen engines left in the mining areas.

0:14:17 > 0:14:20It did another wonderful thing.

0:14:20 > 0:14:25If you took off the pump rod and put a connecting rod and a crank on

0:14:25 > 0:14:32you could make it into a rotary engine to wind men down to work faster and bring the ore up too.

0:14:32 > 0:14:36This was very good news for the miners themselves.

0:14:38 > 0:14:41Look into this great chasm here.

0:14:41 > 0:14:46You can see flights of steps coming up the cliff side.

0:14:46 > 0:14:50In the olden days before steam winders and ropes and cages,

0:14:50 > 0:14:55the miners had to descend the cliff face as near to the sea as possible.

0:14:55 > 0:14:58They entered by an adit that met the main shaft,

0:14:58 > 0:15:05then continued the journey for 1,800 feet on ladders with platforms down the shaft.

0:15:05 > 0:15:09Then they had to go for a mile beneath the ocean

0:15:09 > 0:15:12before they started work.

0:15:12 > 0:15:15They must have been special men, them men.

0:15:15 > 0:15:19The steam winder changed all that.

0:15:19 > 0:15:24Behind me is the mine at Levant. It went more than 1,800 feet down,

0:15:24 > 0:15:27then more than a mile under the Atlantic Ocean.

0:15:27 > 0:15:30Quite an incredible feat!

0:15:32 > 0:15:37In the engine house they've got a winder I can't wait to have a go on!

0:15:37 > 0:15:40- Can I have a go?- Certainly!

0:15:40 > 0:15:43- Take the brake off. - Take the brake off.

0:15:43 > 0:15:47This engine is what were known as the fast winder.

0:15:47 > 0:15:55It's based on a James Watt beam engine principle built by Harvey's of Hayle in 1840.

0:15:55 > 0:16:01It wound skips of ore from a shaft 1,800 feet deep in five minutes.

0:16:01 > 0:16:05MACHINE CLUNKS

0:16:08 > 0:16:12Up there you can see the great beam rocking up and down.

0:16:12 > 0:16:18It's unusual because pumping engines had half the beam poking outside.

0:16:18 > 0:16:22This one is inside the engine house.

0:16:25 > 0:16:30Down below is the condenser, which makes a vacuum,

0:16:30 > 0:16:34which makes the piston go up and down easier.

0:16:34 > 0:16:40It's about 14lbs per square inch less pressure against the steam

0:16:40 > 0:16:43so it works more economically.

0:16:43 > 0:16:47That's why Cornish beam engines were very economical.

0:16:48 > 0:16:53James Watt might be regarded as the father of the steam engine,

0:16:53 > 0:16:57but it was a Cornishman named Richard Trevithick

0:16:57 > 0:17:03who made great advances in the 1790s and early 1800s.

0:17:03 > 0:17:08Trevithick was born at Illogan near Cambourne.

0:17:08 > 0:17:12His family soon moved to this cottage nearby.

0:17:12 > 0:17:16His father was the manager of the Wheal Chance copper mine.

0:17:16 > 0:17:20Trevithick grew up here attending the village school.

0:17:20 > 0:17:24The headmaster described him as being a loafer

0:17:24 > 0:17:27and inattentive and very slow.

0:17:27 > 0:17:30Bit like me, in a way!

0:17:30 > 0:17:34He didn't do well. Even his father said he were a loafer.

0:17:34 > 0:17:41He spent his time wandering around looking at tin mines and the machinery that existed at the time.

0:17:41 > 0:17:46He amazed his superiors and so-called men of better education

0:17:46 > 0:17:52by his unbelievable ability to solve mechanical problems - just by his own intuition.

0:17:52 > 0:17:57By 1790, at the ripe old age of 19 years,

0:17:57 > 0:18:03he had already procured quite a few jobs as an engineer at various pits.

0:18:03 > 0:18:08His father apprenticed him to Watts' assistant - Murdoch.

0:18:08 > 0:18:13They were erecting all the great pumping engines round the tin mines.

0:18:13 > 0:18:18You've got to think that Murdoch taught him all he knew

0:18:18 > 0:18:24and gave him a good grounding for his great career as an engineer.

0:18:24 > 0:18:30His greatest advance was to design engines that would work at a much higher pressure than Watts.

0:18:30 > 0:18:35If you got 100lbs pressure per square inch pushing on a piston,

0:18:35 > 0:18:39rather than 15lbs, which the earlier engines had,

0:18:39 > 0:18:44it would make the engine much more powerful and efficient.

0:18:44 > 0:18:48He was working at the Ding Dong mines in Penzance

0:18:48 > 0:18:52when he developed his first high-pressure steam engine,

0:18:52 > 0:18:57which in the long run led to the development of big pumping engines

0:18:57 > 0:19:01like this one at Cornish Engines in Poole.

0:19:01 > 0:19:05The main market for the steam engine at the time was industry.

0:19:05 > 0:19:10Down in Cornwall there was a huge demand for engines for the mines.

0:19:10 > 0:19:14Other engineers used Trevithick's application of high-pressure steam.

0:19:14 > 0:19:18Cornish engines became famous the world over.

0:19:18 > 0:19:24During the course of the 19th century, they got bigger and bigger.

0:19:24 > 0:19:30This is the last of the line of pumping engines on the Taylor Shaft.

0:19:30 > 0:19:33It was erected in 1924.

0:19:33 > 0:19:37It represents the ultimate in mine-pumping engineering,

0:19:37 > 0:19:41which started in the days of Newcomen.

0:19:41 > 0:19:47It ran on a three-shift system with three engine drivers working day and night.

0:19:47 > 0:19:50The ginormous size of it!

0:19:50 > 0:19:56It burned 50 tonnes of coal a week and has a 90-inch diameter cylinder.

0:19:56 > 0:19:59It has a ten-foot stalk. It's incredible!

0:20:00 > 0:20:07The majority of these great engines were made here in Cornish foundries by people like Allman Brothers

0:20:07 > 0:20:11and Harvey's of Hayle who made this engine.

0:20:11 > 0:20:17They exported them all over the world. Then the Cornish engineers went out and erected the things.

0:20:17 > 0:20:21They stayed to work the mines too.

0:20:21 > 0:20:26The idea that Richard Trevithick came up with was the chimney.

0:20:26 > 0:20:30It improved the draft on the boilers

0:20:30 > 0:20:35and eventually became common in all industrial areas on the skyline.

0:20:35 > 0:20:41The advances he made in pumping engines and winding machinery

0:20:41 > 0:20:48gave Cornwall an unbelievable prosperity between 1800 and 1870.

0:20:50 > 0:20:54But in spite of the great advances that had been made,

0:20:54 > 0:21:01the steam engine didn't change the fact that mining was still a difficult and dangerous business.

0:21:01 > 0:21:06Sometimes it was the steam engine itself that made it dangerous.

0:21:06 > 0:21:09This is the shaft head of the man engine at Levant.

0:21:09 > 0:21:15There was a great wooden pump rod leading to the bottom of the shaft.

0:21:15 > 0:21:17As the engine had a ten-foot stroke,

0:21:17 > 0:21:20it had platforms and handles to hold.

0:21:20 > 0:21:26Level down the side of the rod were platforms at ten-foot centres.

0:21:26 > 0:21:30A man stood on the platform holding the handles.

0:21:30 > 0:21:35The pump rod descended ten feet and he jumped on a platform at the side.

0:21:35 > 0:21:39All this in pitch dark with a candle on his head.

0:21:39 > 0:21:45Here in 1919, on this spot, a terrible accident happened.

0:21:45 > 0:21:52The man in charge of the man engine complained to the manager that there was something wrong with it.

0:21:52 > 0:21:57If they didn't do summat quick he would leave their employ.

0:21:57 > 0:22:00They didn't do anything and he left their employ.

0:22:00 > 0:22:06Later the beam broke and the rods went down the shaft with the men on.

0:22:06 > 0:22:1336 of them died. They were smashed to bits by timber and iron.

0:22:13 > 0:22:17It took four days to dig them all out.

0:22:17 > 0:22:20This really is a very sad spot, here at Levant.

0:22:20 > 0:22:25The whole industrial landscape in Cornwall is a bit sad really.

0:22:25 > 0:22:28It's just about all derelict now.

0:22:28 > 0:22:34There is little trace of the work of Trevithick, one of the greatest pioneers of steam.

0:22:34 > 0:22:41His development of the Cornish Engine wasn't the only thing that made him one of the giants of steam.

0:22:43 > 0:22:47He never got true recognition for his contribution

0:22:47 > 0:22:50to the development of the steam engine.

0:22:50 > 0:22:55Not only in mining but in steam road transport and railways too.

0:22:55 > 0:23:00His invention of high-pressure, or "strong steam" as he called it,

0:23:00 > 0:23:06led to the development of the first steam-powered locomotives.

0:23:06 > 0:23:09His first was designed to run on a road.

0:23:18 > 0:23:23Trevithick's use of strong steam meant you could build an engine, weighing about ten tonnes,

0:23:23 > 0:23:29that would do the same work as an engine that weighed 650 tonnes.

0:23:29 > 0:23:35He realised that the engine were small enough to transport itself along the road.

0:23:35 > 0:23:40Here at Cambourne they've built a reproduction of the Puffing Devil.

0:23:40 > 0:23:43It's an interesting machine.

0:23:43 > 0:23:45The engine was pretty simple.

0:23:45 > 0:23:52A mixture of wood and iron, it was blacksmith made. The only problem was the boiler was too small.

0:23:52 > 0:23:58The steam couldn't be kept up for long when it was under way.

0:23:58 > 0:24:03But it was the first successful high-pressure engine

0:24:03 > 0:24:10constructed on the principle of a moving piston which was raised and depressed by the steam.

0:24:12 > 0:24:17On Christmas Eve 1801, he ran this up a hill of several hundred yards

0:24:17 > 0:24:21with a few people hanging on it a bit like this!

0:24:21 > 0:24:26Unfortunately it burnt out when Trevithick and his mates

0:24:26 > 0:24:32had a booze-up to celebrate their success in a nearby inn!

0:24:32 > 0:24:34This concrete is bad news!

0:24:38 > 0:24:41This first carriage was mad-looking but it worked.

0:24:41 > 0:24:46Encouraged by his success he went on to build another one.

0:24:46 > 0:24:49It was even madder-looking!

0:24:49 > 0:24:51STEAM HISSES

0:24:51 > 0:24:56In 1803, Richard Trevithick built a second road carriage

0:24:56 > 0:25:00which he drove around the streets of London.

0:25:00 > 0:25:06He realised by the road surface that the vehicle wasn't up to it, so he abandoned it.

0:25:06 > 0:25:12You can't help wondering what would have happened if the roads were as they are today.

0:25:12 > 0:25:16The history of road transport would be different.

0:25:16 > 0:25:23This magnificent engine has been made by Mr Tom Brogden, a chap who I've known for some time.

0:25:23 > 0:25:31He's constructed this engine more or less on his own from just a few drawings.

0:25:31 > 0:25:33It's a wonderful creation.

0:25:33 > 0:25:37What made you decide to construct it?

0:25:37 > 0:25:43My wife gave me a birthday card from the Science Museum in London.

0:25:43 > 0:25:48It was a picture they'd had painted to see what this would be like.

0:25:48 > 0:25:52It intrigued me. It got me going so I researched it.

0:25:52 > 0:25:55I got the patent drawings.

0:25:55 > 0:25:59It's a Trevithick carriage built to his pattern.

0:25:59 > 0:26:03If he was here now he'd demand royalties!

0:26:03 > 0:26:09He carried eight people from London, from Holborn to Paddington, in 1803

0:26:09 > 0:26:12and brought them back the same day!

0:26:12 > 0:26:17- What an achievement!- They refused to go again!- A hairy ride!

0:26:17 > 0:26:20The carriage would only run forwards.

0:26:20 > 0:26:25Its engine is a high-pressure, simple expansion engine.

0:26:25 > 0:26:28It uses a water pump to supply the boiler.

0:26:32 > 0:26:35..Yes. Shall I put some on?

0:26:35 > 0:26:38INAUDIBLE

0:26:40 > 0:26:43We'll put a bit on. Just keep it alive.

0:26:43 > 0:26:47Where there are holes - fill the front holes.

0:26:47 > 0:26:53Trevithick's industrial engines ran at 100lbs per square inch.

0:26:53 > 0:26:59He only ran this at about 30 because he was worried about it blowing up on the road.

0:26:59 > 0:27:02I'll climb up into the driving position.

0:27:09 > 0:27:11Ah!

0:27:43 > 0:27:47HE CHUCKLES

0:27:53 > 0:28:00I really enjoyed that! You can imagine what it was like in 1803!

0:28:00 > 0:28:04The roads were full of deep ruts and horse-drawn traffic.

0:28:04 > 0:28:11It's all right on a nice smooth car park but you can see why Mr Trevithick abandoned it!

0:28:11 > 0:28:16If you've got to put up with them sort of conditions!

0:28:20 > 0:28:26So Trevithick developed a steam locomotive to run on rails.

0:28:47 > 0:28:49Subtitles by BBC Broadcast - 2003