0:00:16 > 0:00:20Fred Dibnah and his team have reached the Black Country,
0:00:20 > 0:00:22on their grand tour of Britain's industrial past.
0:00:22 > 0:00:28They parked their engine up at the Black Country Living Museum, here in Dudley, last night
0:00:28 > 0:00:31and they're going to visit a chain maker here.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Where did that come from?
0:00:34 > 0:00:39The journey has brought them here because this used to be the centre of chain making,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42and chains form an important part of the engine.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Our engine's actually steered by chains.
0:00:47 > 0:00:54We've come here to the Black Country Museum to see a gentleman making chains in exactly the same way
0:00:54 > 0:01:01as this chain would have been made in 1912, without any fancy electric welding or anything like that.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Why is it called the Black Country?
0:01:04 > 0:01:08Well, as well as making lots of chains and big anchors like these,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11they dug a lot of coal for the furnaces,
0:01:11 > 0:01:15but it weren't very far down, you know, and it was the pillar and store method
0:01:15 > 0:01:20and, of course, they've left a lot of pillars of coal in that eventually set on fire,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23and, of course, there were smoke coming out of the ground
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and it were not a very nice place to live.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31But all that's over with now - there's not so much of the Black Country black any more.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34By the end of the 19th century, the Black Country
0:01:34 > 0:01:38were world famous for the iron work that they made,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41and, of course, chains were one of the main things,
0:01:41 > 0:01:46but they made everything from chains for the Titanic - big links this thick -
0:01:46 > 0:01:51to teeny little chains, you know, for tying your dog to the railings.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55And Jeff over here, who I've known for quite a few years now...
0:01:55 > 0:01:57In fact, he once had me make a link for a chain.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01It weren't joined onto the chain, though. It was just a link!
0:02:02 > 0:02:06- Ah, beautiful that, Jeff! - How are you doing, all right?
0:02:06 > 0:02:10- How many links have you made since I last come seeing you? - I give up counting!
0:02:10 > 0:02:12- I lost count. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I bet.
0:02:12 > 0:02:18You know, I bought some modern chains the other day, they charged me £112,
0:02:18 > 0:02:25I think £212, I think it were, for two pieces of chain about that long, that's all it amounted to,
0:02:25 > 0:02:29you know and I never thought, I could have come here and got it for half the bloody price.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32You'd have to have mild steel, rather than wrought iron.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37- Yeah, but it doesn't matter. - Oh, it still does the job. - What's the biggest you can do?
0:02:37 > 0:02:43The biggest I can work on is 15/16. The biggest I know on the big fires is a six-and-a-half inch diameter.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47- Blimmin' heck. That's really big. - That's swinging hammers like that.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49Double heck! THEY LAUGH
0:02:49 > 0:02:53- With two handles, yeah. - That's it, two of them hammers, 28 pounds to 56 pounds.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Three of them hammers, about 140 pound.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00Yeah, I once seen this archive film, making an anchor...
0:03:00 > 0:03:03There must have been about seven of them with an hammer each
0:03:03 > 0:03:06and a million sledge hammers all beating it
0:03:06 > 0:03:10and it were going less and less and less and it were quite lop-sided.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12I thought, "How are they going to get it back?"
0:03:12 > 0:03:17And then, another bunch of lads appeared with lumps of two-inch bar, all sparking on the end,
0:03:17 > 0:03:21and they each shoved them in and bang, bang,
0:03:21 > 0:03:26and then another guy come and cut the end off and they beat it all in.
0:03:26 > 0:03:32- And in excellent time. Superb. - Yeah, all them men will be dead, won't they?- Oh, yeah.- Yeah.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35- It's what this country was made on. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37Time for a demonstration.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Alf and Jimmy are impressed.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46- He's quick.- He is quick.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53I've no doubt there's a lot of skill in that.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56It was all done this way at one time.
0:04:00 > 0:04:06And women were involved in it, I believe, you know, like a little family business.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09That's another done, quick.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19We'll go and get the ale in, Jimmy, are you going to the chip shop?
0:04:23 > 0:04:27Yeah, this is just the job, innit? Not too many customers.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30He's gone for chips, he'll not be a minute I don't think.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36- Aye, it's all right.- Oh, he's here. - Best fish 'n' chips in the country.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41- You soon managed that, didn't you? Is these mine?- Whichever.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Thank you. Hey, this is like the old-fashioned style, innit?
0:04:45 > 0:04:49In a three-cornered bag made of newspaper.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52- Smell good, don't they? - Aye, they're lovely, these.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57- Bloody hot.- Good ale, fish and chips and a lovely place.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00What the world's left behind, you know.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03I bet half of them men in London, their fancy bloody suits on
0:05:03 > 0:05:08and their fancy shirts and all that, they've longed for this really.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12They might make a lot of money, but the bloody stress of it all must be terrible.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18They longed for eating fish and chips with their fingers?
0:05:18 > 0:05:21They've never had such pleasure.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24- Can you play the piano, Jimmy? - I can play a bit.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Playing the piano in a pub is a thing I've always wanted to do.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31It's weird, like, me mam used to do it
0:05:31 > 0:05:35and she always used to say, "Why don't you go and have piano lessons?"
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Never did. When me mam died,
0:05:39 > 0:05:44we get bloody ten quid for the piano, you know, it were a right beautiful thing.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47She polished it every day.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52Jeff, the chain maker, though, the speed which his hands work, I mean, it's really fast..
0:05:52 > 0:05:57I think, everywhere we've been has been interesting, hasn't it? Every single place.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59What have you learned, Fred? Nothing?
0:05:59 > 0:06:04- You've seen it all before. - Oh, no, I have, I've learned bits of things, you know.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09I'm trying to think what I've learned...
0:06:09 > 0:06:12You always seem to be telling these other people how to do their jobs.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Yeah, well, it's, you know...
0:06:15 > 0:06:20The guy at the Severn Valley Railway, he didn't know about bananas, did he?
0:06:20 > 0:06:23I was just going to say... What you laughing at?
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Bananas in boiler making are a very important bit.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30If you put grease on it starts corrosion off, you know,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34and then the boiler maker, he said, "Daub it all round the tube plate."
0:06:34 > 0:06:40When you're banging it in, they don't pick up, you know, like, it's as though you put grease on.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Maybe Mr Brunel, if he'd have known about bananas,
0:06:48 > 0:06:53he might have got the Great Eastern in the water a bit quicker!
0:06:53 > 0:06:54Yeah. You never know.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Copper was used in great abundance for the manufacturing
0:07:04 > 0:07:09of locomotives and all sorts of other types of steam engines.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15The high-pressure steam pipes are all made from copper
0:07:15 > 0:07:20and the bearings and the fancy bits, the name plates and such as that,
0:07:20 > 0:07:25are made from an alloy of copper and tin and lead mixed together -
0:07:25 > 0:07:29non-ferrous metal for making such things.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32And on the next stage of their grand tour,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Fred and his team are going to see a mine where a lot of the copper
0:07:36 > 0:07:39for a traction engine like this would have come from.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41It means there's a long journey ahead,
0:07:41 > 0:07:44as they travel from Dudley in the West Midlands
0:07:44 > 0:07:48right across North Wales to Amlwch on the Isle of Anglesey.
0:07:54 > 0:08:01Before the Industrial Revolution, Wales was a rural country with a population of only half a million.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06But slate quarrying, lead mining and copper mining transformed Wales
0:08:06 > 0:08:11into the great industrial nation that it became in the Victorian era.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17The Isle of Anglesey became famous because of the Parys Mountain,
0:08:17 > 0:08:23which, at one time, was the largest copper mine in all of the world.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27But it's slow progress, so Roger's decided it's quicker to walk.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Go on, go straight up, Fred.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Yeah, right, what we'll do now, we'll take the van off,
0:08:37 > 0:08:44shove it down that hole there, we'll go exploring the mountains with the light engine.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48- Just with the engine.- Yeah. We might end up somewhere where we can't turn it round.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01They reckon you can chuck your car in there and it disintegrates.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04- Disintegrates?- Aye, yeah.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Look at that down there.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16We'll leave the engine here and go and have a look over the edge.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Blimmin' heck! That's a fair hole, innit?
0:09:29 > 0:09:32They've shifted a ton or two out of there.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37It's a bloody big hole, innit? You can see an old tunnel there at the front of it.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42You wonder if, well, obviously they've open casted it, but...
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I believe partly collapsed and partly open cast.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48- Yeah, well sides are felling, yeah. - Sides are felling, yeah.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52- Look at all the different colours. - It's like a lunar landscape, innit?
0:09:52 > 0:09:58- Mmm.- Yeah, yeah. Let's go and see if we can find an engine...
0:09:58 > 0:10:03There's an engine house somewhere. I've seen it from down below. Come on, we'll go and have a look.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08Come on, Roger!
0:10:12 > 0:10:15- Good afternoon.- You all right? - Fine, Fred, nice to meet you.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19- I've come to have a look at your pumping house. - It's one of the oldest in Wales.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Yeah. At least the masonry's still here, innit?
0:10:22 > 0:10:25Yeah, it's, er... It's holding down now.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Since they did the work with the Welsh Mines Preservation Trust,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32it's really consolidated it, it can't deteriorate any more.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34They left the holding-down bolts.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38That's right. It'd be nice to get the engine back again, but...
0:10:38 > 0:10:43It'll have been made into knives and forks about 27 times, you know.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46How long have they been mining on this site?
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Well, we're going back almost 4,000 years to start with.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52- As you know of.- As we know of.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55We've discovered stone tools, artefacts underground,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59and we dated that from the timber and charcoal that we found
0:10:59 > 0:11:04and then the main start of the mining operations here were 1768,
0:11:04 > 0:11:10that's when the great discovery came about. And the story goes
0:11:10 > 0:11:16that, er, March 2nd 1768, after four years of searching on the mountain...
0:11:16 > 0:11:19- Six weeks before they were due to give up.- Yeah..
0:11:19 > 0:11:24- That's right...- Lots of good tales about mining like that! - Just before they were giving up.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27Then it became of the biggest in the world, or the biggest!
0:11:27 > 0:11:31- That's right, that's right... - There's 85 shafts.- Really?!
0:11:31 > 0:11:33- 3,000 people employed here.- Mm-hm.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Amlwch was the biggest town in Wales at the time
0:11:37 > 0:11:43and they had fires all over the mountain as they were smelting them.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46You can see all the red, red stuff everywhere.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49- Yeah, that's the remains of the smelters.- Yeah.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53It was very successful and it was run by a man called Thomas Williams
0:11:53 > 0:11:58from the other side of Anglesey, who became
0:11:58 > 0:12:02a major entrepreneur in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and he not only mined here.
0:12:05 > 0:12:11He got the smelters as well and when he smelted the copper
0:12:11 > 0:12:14he made it into sheet, or he made it into blanks,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17and he delivered it to people who needed it.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21He ran a whole concern all the way from
0:12:21 > 0:12:25primary production to sale, almost to the end user.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29He became known as the copper king and this was his copper kingdom.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33The copper from Parys Mountain was made into sheets
0:12:33 > 0:12:37and would then go to a copper spinners like this.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41There are not many of them left, but Fred found one when he was in the East Midlands,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45- a bit earlier on his grand tour. - Here we are.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49We've come to witness the ancient art of metal spinning at Mr Hopkins's.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53In the olden days, they used to make everything metal spun,
0:12:53 > 0:12:58like pots and pans and all that sort of thing and lamp shades and all
0:12:58 > 0:13:03and here, they do traction engine chimney tops and cones for spitfires.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05I bet there's not a great demand for them really.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08- Morning, Geoffrey. - Morning, Fred, how are you?
0:13:08 > 0:13:10I'm all right, mate, I'm all right.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14We've come to have a look at your wonderful metal spinning operation.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17- Oh, yes, yes.- I've done a little bit of metal spinning myself
0:13:17 > 0:13:20and I got this book, Do It Yourself Metal Spinning.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24I got a pile of disasters and, in the end, I actually gave up
0:13:24 > 0:13:30and went seeing a proper metal spinner and he made it look so easy, you know.
0:13:30 > 0:13:35When we've learnt young lads, it's three to five years before
0:13:35 > 0:13:38they're proficient at doing most of the work that comes in.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41A few days on one particular job and you've learnt it - that's it.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46But then, the next job is another challenge and the next job after that.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48As I say, at the moment we've got a job on.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51So if you want to have a look, he's going to start spinning it.
0:13:55 > 0:14:00We put soap on, put oil on, and then gently moved the metal.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03You can't force the metal, it just wrinkles up.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08You've literally got to move the metal along and sort of stroke it along
0:14:08 > 0:14:12and it's got to be a fairly gentle action,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16because if you get too hard you open the grain in the metal and tear through it.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21He makes it look so easy.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Well, yes, he's made a lot of them over the years.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26You just get used to it.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30- Does he have to use a lot of pressure?- Yes. I think that's one of the difficulties.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33I think, when you're learning, particularly on hot days,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36you really put some pressure on the side of your body.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Just trimming the edge through, any surface metal, just trimming that off.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46- That's where I were going wrong when I were playing at it at home.- Yeah.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50- Good that, innit?- Aye.
0:14:52 > 0:14:57It isn't hot at all, it just warms, you get a little bit of heat on it.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Done a lovely job, hasn't he?
0:14:59 > 0:15:02- Lovely job there, mate. - Got to saw the bottom off.- Yeah.
0:15:02 > 0:15:08We produce the top piece and the two halves are joined together and we roll one over the other.
0:15:08 > 0:15:13- So that's that one, if you want to come and have a go.- Yeah, I'll try - have a bit of a go!
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Yeah, but a smaller one than that one.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Yes, a bit smaller. On a steel tool it'll make it a bit easier.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30- Hang onto the peg, Fred, hang onto the peg, that's it.- Yeah, yeah.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34Off you go. Not too hard, keep it stroking, keep stroking out.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Yeah, we're getting better, aren't we?
0:15:40 > 0:15:43You're getting better now, Fred.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46You'll get an order for these at the rate we're going.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49It's a good job it's not a candlestick, candle would be like that!
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Just put a bit of soap on. Take that edge over now.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00If you want to move your hand another...
0:16:00 > 0:16:02And just take the edge over now.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04That's it, job done.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07- Who can we give that to? - And that's it.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11- We've got the chimney. Now to make the rest of the engine.- Yeah!
0:16:12 > 0:16:16Aye, by tea time, we should have mastered it.
0:16:16 > 0:16:17It's a good one.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21- We'll have a go in the shed when we get home.- That's lovely that, innit?
0:16:21 > 0:16:26- First class, that, Fred. - Aye, do you like that?- Knock us a set of candlesticks up.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29LAUGHTER Yeah, all right.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32And there it is - finely spun copper.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35The engine is full of shining copper and brass work,
0:16:35 > 0:16:41all made in this way and all mined from places like Parys Mountain.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Back in Anglesey, it's time for a chat about the mining.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49Right, Fred, these are the photographs I was talking about earlier up on the mine.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Just a few here. Bryan, my colleague here,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56has got a terrific number of photographs,
0:16:56 > 0:17:00and has really spent years and years researching up there.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04So this shows you the main drainage mine level that we've got.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08- Some fair stalactites and stalagmites.- That's right.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10These ladders that we're using underground
0:17:10 > 0:17:14are the ladders from around 1840 and they're still in good nick.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18- You can still climb them? - Yes, we use those every night we go down.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22We'll be going down tonight, to use the same ladders.
0:17:22 > 0:17:28It's amazing when you think of these miners, walking two miles to the mine
0:17:28 > 0:17:32and going down almost 1,000 feet, you know, doing eight-hour day,
0:17:32 > 0:17:37then coming up again 1,000 feet and then back home again.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42And then working a small holding, perhaps, or going fishing.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47The ladies there, the copper ladies, they worked a 12-hour day,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51so kneeling in front of a knock stone, breaking the... breaking the ore.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Well, Alf was saying that he's been a coal miner,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59and out of all the mining activity he's seen, he'd still prefer that.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02- It was an easier job than any of these lads had.- Yeah.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07It was preferable to be working where you could see roof just above your head,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10than looking up from one of them levels
0:18:10 > 0:18:14and you can't see nothing, it's so high.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17It's a bit frightening that, to me anyway.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19You don't know what's gonna come flying out of the sky.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25- You only need a little bit falling a long way.- They had men on ladders, with hammers - tin, tin, tin.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27That's the other thing - looking at the sky.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31At one place we went in, there was 40 foot ladders still in there,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34with a plank strung across, and they'd be working on them
0:18:34 > 0:18:37with drilling machines, hammers, you name it.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42So, no, I prefer coal mining every day.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45It's a bit more time in getting squashed!
0:18:47 > 0:18:49Michael Faraday came there.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53Of course, most of the intelligentsia, I suppose,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57came to Amlwch to have a look at the mines and he was taken underground.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02And they had him kitted out in flannel clothes to absorb the sweat and the wet,
0:19:02 > 0:19:06because going down the shafts, the pumps were going,
0:19:06 > 0:19:11and they were all leaking, so he'd be sprayed every fathom down.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15And anyway, he got into one of the great stopes
0:19:15 > 0:19:20and he could see these little lights flickering like little fairies everywhere,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24and anyway, he sat down and he was given a barrel to sit on
0:19:24 > 0:19:29and he plonked his candle down on this and he realised it was a gunpowder barrel.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Miners didn't seem to care a great deal.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37- It would have been a quick way up out of the mine. - Yeah. Shot out like a canyon!
0:19:37 > 0:19:40THEY LAUGH
0:19:40 > 0:19:44What really fascinated me were the bloody beautiful colours
0:19:44 > 0:19:50of all the top of the hill, you know, bloody orange, purple, yellow, red,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53every colour you can think of. Really lovely.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56A lady comes from Greece every year and she collects samples
0:19:56 > 0:19:59of all the colours and takes them back and paints with them.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04- Yeah.- She just grinds them up and uses them as a paint medium.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08The time to go there is the setting sun just after rain.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12- The colours are so vivid, beautiful.- I should imagine.
0:20:18 > 0:20:24- NARRATOR:- As well as copper, North Wales was also the centre of the slate industry.
0:20:24 > 0:20:31From Anglesey, Fred is heading for the Welsh Slate Museum at Llanberis to see the workshops there.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35But first, he's got to find somewhere to park the engine.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38So he's making a little detour to the Ffestiniog Railway,
0:20:38 > 0:20:43which was built to transport slate from Ffestiniog to the sea at Porthmadog.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Looking well today, Jack.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05This is a nice one, innit? 1891.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08- Hello, Fred, welcome to the Ffestiniog Railway.- Hello.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10How are you, mate, all right?
0:21:10 > 0:21:15- Very well, yes, very well. - Yes, I wonder how much of the engine is like original?
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Well, that's always an interesting question.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21- We think the boiler is.- Yeah, yeah. - We think that's 113 years old.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Does that make it the oldest one in Britain?
0:21:24 > 0:21:26I reckon it's getting a bit that way.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29No doubt it will have had a bit of treatment,
0:21:29 > 0:21:33but most of it, the boiler barrel will be original, maybe.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38Well, this ended up in Surrey in the late 1960s, some chap bought it, a guy called Bernard Latham
0:21:38 > 0:21:44and he took it and put it in his back garden in Surrey and goodness knows what the neighbours thought.
0:21:44 > 0:21:51But he brought it here in the early nineties and since then we've been looking after it.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56I bet it never thought it'd end up back... back in its old hunting grounds.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59- And moving slate wagons around as well.- Yeah.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01They're interesting in themself, aren't they?
0:22:01 > 0:22:06When you think of thousands and thousands of tons of slate that them have moved...
0:22:06 > 0:22:09- Over the years. - ..to the rooftops of the world.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13Would you like to come down to our works and see where we restore them?
0:22:13 > 0:22:16- It would be a pleasure. - Right, on you pop.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22WHISTLE BLOWS
0:22:30 > 0:22:33It runs nice, don't it?
0:22:33 > 0:22:35- Nice and sweet. - Yeah, it's not bad.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38The wheel profile, the profiles of the wheels,
0:22:38 > 0:22:43are starting to get a bit old and worn, so we need to have a go at that this winter as well.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49- This is my Mrs. - And the new offspring!
0:22:49 > 0:22:52- Yeah, she's only three weeks old. - FRED LAUGHS
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Hello!
0:22:55 > 0:23:01- Having fun?- Oh, aye, yes, easier than working - messing about, you know.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04All right then, Fred, I've got the token.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06Right, what shall I do with this?
0:23:06 > 0:23:09As long as we don't lose it, we're all right!
0:23:15 > 0:23:18She doesn't roll very well even though we're going down hill.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20The bearings need sorted.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25- How many miles long is your railway? - 13½ miles this one, yeah.- Yeah.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30But it's a bit ironic, it takes a good hour to do it each way.
0:23:32 > 0:23:38Just coming down now towards the one-mile-long embankment, right across the estuary.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42- Is that a new place or is it...? - No, that was built in 1836.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47It's how the railway started, transporting stuff across there.
0:23:47 > 0:23:52- What it did, it cut the sea off from the land behind it and it's created more farming land.- Yeah.
0:23:52 > 0:23:57So in a place like North Wales, where farming land's at a premium,
0:23:57 > 0:24:01then it paid the chap who built it quite a bit of money.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06You can see there the old cliffs there - they've got trees growing on them now.
0:24:10 > 0:24:16- We're coming to a tunnel. - This is a replacement bridge that was built in the 1960s.- Yeah.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27WHISTLE BLOWS
0:24:33 > 0:24:35Thanks, Bob.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42The Ffestiniog Railway was an industrial railway built to transport slate.
0:24:42 > 0:24:48Today it's a tourist attraction carrying holiday makers through the Snowdonia National Park.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53And the restoration and maintenance of the engines is done here at the Boston Lodge Works.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58Of course, this is one of the Ffestiniog Railways' single-fairlie locomotives.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00- Like half a one. - Yeah, it's half a one.
0:25:00 > 0:25:05You can see the bogey there on the front is powered and the one at the back is unpowered.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Very smooth, very smooth engine, very smooth riding.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11It was built in the 1870s and by 1930
0:25:11 > 0:25:14it was completely worn out and they scrapped it,
0:25:14 > 0:25:19so all that was left was the chimney and the reversing lever.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21- And you started from that? - Started from that.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25This is our newest engine, but round the corner here is Prince,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28which is the oldest working steam engine in the world.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32It dates back to 1863 and, when the railway closed in 1946,
0:25:32 > 0:25:37there was a new boiler for this one in the workshops,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40so when the revivalists came along to reopen the line,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43here was a new boiler just waiting to go,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46so this was the first engine running.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50Because of that, it has a very special place in Ffestiniog Railway history.
0:25:50 > 0:25:55Last year, we were opening a new section of our Welsh Highland Railway,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58from Waunfawr up to Rhyd Ddu on the south side of Snowdon
0:25:58 > 0:26:02and we took this engine over there to open that new section
0:26:02 > 0:26:06and Prince Charles came along and actually drove this engine and it made his day,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10- having a drive with it. - Royal connections, then. - Yeah, absolutely.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20And now, there's some work to be done.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23And a chance for Fred to do some driving.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35So then, Fred, we said it was all about moving slate about and here you are -
0:26:35 > 0:26:39an authentic Ffestiniog Railway slate train. It's all yours, my friend.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41Are the wagons full?
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Aye, they are.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Now you've got a speedometer up there, Fred.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Anywhere between 10 and 15 is fine. Modern luxury, eh?
0:27:02 > 0:27:04- A speedometer!- Yeah.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11Well, I don't know about you, Fred, but I reckon that's one of the finest views you can get.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15Yeah, beautiful, yeah. Like Lawrence of Arabia, you know.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24Do I slow down at the bend or just leave it?
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Well, it's a 15 mph limit on the bend.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30We're only doing 14, so we're fine.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36I'm enjoying this!
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Whenever you see a W sign, you know what to do, don't you?
0:27:45 > 0:27:48- No, I don't, no! - Blow the whistle.- Oh, right.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09You can see a red light, we're just going onto a track circuit.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12When that detects us it'll set the station up for us,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16and it'll give us a green light, so it should change at any minute.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:52 > 0:28:55E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk