The Source of Iron Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain

With 100 miles already covered, Fred Dibnah has now reached the Lake District

on his grand tour of Britain's industrial past.

My eldest son Jack's come over from the Isle of Man to give us a lift on this trip.

And really, the way we're going on I think we need all the help we can get.

We've got Jimmy and the support vehicle behind us.

We're stopping so frequently through lack of steam

and going up hills, that a pair of flashing lights behind is a must on country lanes like this.

The Lake District isn't really an area that most people associate

with our industrial past and heavy industry.

But once upon a time, round Workington and Burrow-in-Furness

there were great industrial centres and they mined iron ore

by the hundreds of tonnes and it was some of the best iron ore in all of England.

And alas it's all gone now. Bit sad really.

But while we're up here we're calling on a mate of mine Mr Richard Ransome,

who is also a fellow traction engine owner and steam engine enthusiast,

to do a few running repairs cos it's giving me trouble, and I'm a bit disappointed in it.

Trouble is, in the hurry to get the engine on the road,

Fred didn't have time for enough fine-tuning.

So he keeps coming across little problems that need to be sorted out.

It isn't steaming very well at all.

I think... The fact the piston rods... is the one thing...

it's my fault, I've put the cylinder block a bit too far forward and the...

I know for a fact that the piston, the high pressure piston,

covers the port holes up when it's in the forward position.

Which means that when it's supposed to be working,

the steam can't get at it properly.

So when I get to Mr Ransome's,

I'll beg him to use his workshop and shorten the piston rods by about quarter of an inch.

-Are you going to get to Dick's all right?

-Well, there's another big hill yet!

Fred knows some good steam engine men here who he'll be able to get help and advice from.

Mind that car.

But he's got to get there first.

Fred's engine is a four horse-power model, built to pull around 15 tonnes.

But right now it's struggling to pull two.

This is ridiculous, isn't it?

-A bottom gear job.

-Mm-hm.

We're on, Dad.

At least the scenery is good. It's time for a re-think.

Fortunately, Fred's friend Dick Ransome has arrived and he's got a plan.

We were a bit worried as to whether the engine'd get the van up.

So Dick's got one of his mates what'll come and rescue it, pull it up with a Land Rover.

-It's a bit of an insult to our engine but...

-Just a bit of insurance Fred, isn't it?

-When we get there we'll do some running repairs, won't we?

-Absolutely, make it well again.

-Any man who never did owt never took the risk.

-Never was a man, was he?

When you think we had t'boiler in about five different pieces, three times, before we riveted it together.

We must've lost summat somewhere.

Anyway, I think if we do what we say we'll be all right.

-We'll give it a whirl. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

-Right.

That's a bit easier

without the living van in tow.

It's been such a disappointing journey!

In the morning, when it's cooled down, we'll have to take the cylinder end covers off

and weigh up how much we can take off the end of a piston rod.

And hopefully he'll help me, I know he'll help me, cos I've known him a long time.

Something happened, we lost the nuts and they never got put back so...

-I hope it's...

-Never mind losing your nuts!

-Thank you, Mr Ransome.

-God bless you.

-Have you got another crateful?

-Yeah, two-box-full.

-Good health.

-Aye.

-Why have you not got one?

I'm a bitter man. I'm not a reet a stout fella. Well, I am...

-Good health.

-Good health, Fred.

-Dad!

-What?

-I'm moving it.

-Oh, right, I'll get out your way then.

Woah, that's full forwards now you can see the point there, can't you?

But is it enough, you know?

-Now I don't think that's healthy-looking, is it?

-No. But it's in that recess, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-But it's not healthy looking.

-It is, it's too long, isn't it?

-Yeah. I think we've gotta shorten, maybe leave this one.

-Woah, that's just about covering it up, isn't it?

-I reckon about quarter of an inch, easy.

-Yeah.

It'll make it so the steam comes in a lot better than it is doing.

Hold it there Jack, back a bit. Woah.

Yeah, go on, Jack.

-We've got Roger coming, who's quite a bleeding authority...

-Oh, absolutely...

-..on steam engines.

He actually makes steam engines for rich people's steam yachts,

for Lake Windermere, and everywhere else.

Turn it back again, Jack.

Morning!

-What've you found, then?

-We've got a problem.

-Got a nest in there, have you?

-Yeah, dunno what it is.

-You gonna lift me up, then?

You think the whole crosshead, the whole piston rod, the whole lot...

Yeah, it's too far forward.

-There is a slight clearance.

-Yeah, but it's like nothing.

I mean it looks it.

If you put it in with 200 on the clock, and open the regulator,

it's reluctant to start without the double eye.

Yeah, what do you think, Roger?

Generally, it's not in bad condition.

I'm a bit worried about the way the piston is covering the port opening

-in the cylinder, so when the valve opens there is no room for...

-The steam, yeah.

-..to get through.

So what I propose to doing is lending you a high speed burr

and machining a lot of the iron out of the cylinder round the port...

Anyway I'm going to go to down to me boat,

-and if later in the

-day

-you fancy coming out for a run then I'll...

-Yeah, I'll love that.

-Get me away from this!

-Get something that works!

-Yeah.

-All right, then.

-Nice to see you, anyway.

-See you, see you later, Roger.

-Bye.

-Ta-ra.

Good afternoon, Roger!

Have you got t'steam up?

Oh, yeah, blowing hot!

Yeah. We're ready for our trip round the lake.

Well, the Shamrock, she was built in 1906 by Shepherds of Bowness.

Wealthy families, such as, I think I'm right in saying,

families like Beatrix Potter's family used to come and take...

the castle for the summer season, and the boat would be part of the hiring.

And then eventually, Second World War came along

and the numbers of people that could afford to do this had gone,

and immediately after the war it had its lovely steam plant removed,

it had a TVO engine fitted, and then about ten years later,

it went one step worse and had a diesel engine fitted.

And all this lovely boiler casing and everything was removed.

The whole boat lost its dignity.

And until 1976,

it was just lying derelict because nobody wanted to go out

in an old-fashioned boat like this, the awful 60's and 70's...

old was not wanted.

So it just laid around, empty, no engine, no anything, it was just a hull.

Roger obtained it.

And it took three years almost,

to get the boat back into its original concept.

We had some wonderful times.

-And it is the way to go.

-It is, aye.

-I mean, the modern diesel, is very good but it's not like this, is it?

-FRED IMITATES ENGINE NOISE

I mean, there's really no sound at all. There's no feel, there's no motion, there's nothing.

I believe you've finally mended my gramophone.

Oh, I did, but it isn't a gramophone, it's a phonograph.

It's a 1905 Edison Gem Mark B Phonograph.

And...it's clockwise.

Clockwork, of course.

And it's got a lovely aluminium horn.That's new. This is new.

The cylinder is made of wax, it's also 1905.

It's an Edison Bell cylinder. They were made in this country.

Most cylinders you can get hold of are American, but this is English.

-Mm.

-You know. And we'll see if it'll go.

-CRACKLING

-We'll soon see.

-VOICE ON THE RECORDING:

-'The Old Colonial March, played by the London Regimental Band.'

MUSIC PLAYS

-Do you like it?

-Ah, it's wonderful, yes.

Them lads that recorded that won't be around now, will they?

I doubt it. If they are, they'll be smelly, won't they?!

MUSIC CONTINUES

-MUSIC STOPS

-Now, then, did you like that? There we are.

Now back to work on the engine.

Will the engine doctor be able to cure the problem?

Well, Roger's got his hand-held milling cutter, and we're going to put a champer on the port

so that when the piston is, you know, in its full forward position

steam can come past the end of it.

We think it's a different piston, that's too thick, and it's covering the port up, you know,

when it comes forward. Maybe doing the same going backwards.

Now for the big test. Is the engine going to work any better?

We're now off to Egremont and the last deep iron ore mine in Europe

that still works, and when we get there we shall find out whether our running repair is a success.

The work of the engine doctor seems to have done the trick.

Iron ore production is Cumbria reached its peak in the 1880s

when there were over 300 iron ore shafts.

Back then the industry employed over 5,000 people in Cumbria.

-We've made it!

-Today there's just three and they're at Florence.

We've come up the hill with the brake on again!

-Well, Fred, we've been waiting a couple of hours for you!

-Well...

I'm pleased you've got here. We're ready to go down the pit.

It's a long way from, from, um... Where've we come from? I've forgotten, it's been that long!

I don't know, the last couple of days!

Yeah, but we did get here, that's the main thing.

-It doesn't like hills, this thing.

-All right.

-I hope YOU like hills

-because we've got a cap lamp and a helmet for you.

-Yeah.

-Have you got your incline railway going yet?

-Yes...

The mine is still a commercial operation and the ore they mine here

is used to make pigments for the dye in paints.

Keep your heads and your backs down, lads.

-Oops!

-A bit more than that, Fred!

You know, we were a great big mine industry round here,

-we had between 200 and 300 iron ore mines.

-How many men?

In this pit alone at the start of the Second World War there were about 1,000 men.

-In this one pit?

-Aye. In fact, we've got, we've got 11 shafts here.

And this is, uh, the site of Number Three shaft.

This one was sunk in 1905.

Yeah, when you were sinking this drift out, or a heading like this,

how much powder would you use?

Well, you went for a 5ft advance every shift and you would use 20 to 30lb of explosives.

-Oh, aye.

-And, of course, detonators.

The men worked in companies which would either be twos or threes,

and their daily routine would be for the blast at the end of the shift,

really for to get the fumes clear.

We favoured spraying into the air a mixture of compressed air,

water and castor oil, of all things!

It's a great media for to clear dust.

Castor oil? Keep you regular that, won't it?!

Have you still got that exotic...?

-Oh, they're here!

-They're there!

-Yeah, look at them.

They're in fine growth there, aren't they?

-Don't know if we could harvest them.

-Have you tried any in the pan?

And this is where we come to the ore.

Remember as well, of course, that there were those 200 to 300 mines,

perhaps all owned by different companies,

and all selling to...

different iron works.

And they were vying with each other for quality and price.

It was a very competitive area to be in,

and a competitive industry to be in.

And this isn't a little steam engine down here -

machinery like this in the mine is powered by compressed air.

Right, Fred, well, in here we've got our loader.

It's powered by compressed air.

It has a bucket on the front and it loads into its own body.

And when it's full, we travel it back to the top of the ore pass

and we can tilt the body up, the rear door opens, and we tilt it,

so the load drops into the ore pass.

Marvellous machine, isn't it?

It is that. How old is it?

That's a good question. We first got them at Hill Moor

in '66, I would say.

-So it would be brand new...

-Vintage!

-..in about 1966.

-Vintage vehicle.

All our ore went to be made into pig iron and then steel,

some at Workington

and some down at Millom, which was a one-industry town.

Have a look at this in the roof here.

As good an example of kidney ore as you'll see anywhere in the world.

-Yeah.

-Tremendous ore.

-Magnificent.

All round here, 80% iron.

Almost good enough to make hematite jewellery out of.

But it's a little bit like onion skins.

Thin layers. You need thick layers for to make good jewellery.

We don't get much of it nowadays.

How is it formed, that sort of style?

-I don't think we've solved how it has been formed.

-Nobody knows.

No, I don't think so. It just appears randomly in the body of the ore.

-There's tons of it here.

-There is, but we've got to leave it there for the time being.

Right. Is it back to the surface?

That just finishes Fred's top off.

He likes his brass and copper polished up nicely.

And then later on we're going to get steam up

and shoot off to Workington Steel Works

where all the iron ore from Florence went to.

It was running better,

and it'll have a good trial today when we steam off to Workington.

I've a bit more due yet before he comes because, uh,

he likes it to see it gleaming.

Just wipe the paintwork over and then, uh,

we're ready for off and getting it all dirty again,

ready for polishing tomorrow!

It's running very well, actually.

On reasonable level roads it's all right. It's when you come to a big steep un...

It's like motor cars, you've got to change gear.

Nice to see you here!

We're now injecting.

That means we're putting water in the boiler.

And when it's, uh...

gone up about an inch, we'll set off.

HORN TOOTS I'm ready for a pint and me tea.

Are you stopping in the van tonight?

Yeah, aye, yeah.

-Oh, right, so we're both stopping in the van?

-Yeah, yeah.

I'm not bloody leaving it on its own!

Next morning, it's off to the steel works

to see where the raw material that was mined at Florence

was turned into a product.

The ore mined at the Florence mine came here to Workington Steel Works

where it was converted by Bessemmer converters

into steel to manufacture railway lines.

95% of the UK's railway line were rolled here at Workington.

And I don't think there's a railway in all the world

that's not got "Workington Steel" stamped on the side of its track.

Today, most of it is rolled in this modern computer-controlled rolling mill.

But what Fred was interested in seeing was the old hand rolling mill

which is still used for small, light and narrow gauge railways.

This is the last 24-hour rolling mill in the country now.

-It's pretty ancient!

-It is, uh, very, very old.

This was driven by steam engine

-and this was taken out some years ago.

-Yeah.

-It still works and we still get a good saleable product...

-Oh, yeah.

-..from this mill.

-Was the steam engine at that end?

-Yeah,

-in the drive.

-It's very similar to what I remember from when I were a bit younger in Bolton

-an' all, and, uh...

-Was that all manual operation?

-Yeah, oh, aye.

They used to let me have a go

but it were bloody harder than it looks!

-Can I suggest we go round to the front of the process?

-Aye.

We'll have a look at the slab.

-They come down to this door down this...

-Yeah.

-..this tube.

How long do these lads do before they get a break?

Well, they tend to do about...

He's off NOW, he says!

But they'll have an hour on, half an hour off,

rotate round to an easier job, to try and make sure they're not all on the same job all the time.

They're cutting you bloody short, mate! We had couches in this rolling mill we were at!

-It were right nice, you know!

-If we had them, I'd be asleep by now!

That's coming to the end of its line.

This is the future in the sense that this is the 113lb rail

-that we do for Network Rail.

-Yeah.

-And this is the future

of making sure that we have good consistent, rail manufacturing.

Good for Great Britain!

Great Britain.

It's like a great snake!

Is there not a pub across the road? There were about four bloody pubs!

There's one left.

I think I need a drink of cold water.

-Is he happy now?

-No, he wants a drink of cold water.

Oh, right.

In 1962 the steel industry employed around 5,000 people in Workington.

Now there are just 200 employees.

Most of the old ways of working have gone forever,

but down at a local pub Fred met some of the former workers to find out what it used to be like.

-That mill you saw where they're doing it by hand...

-Yeah.

..we always referred to it as Number Two mill.

We had a rolling mill in Bolton up till 20 year ago.

-Right.

-And it were steam-driven with a vertical steam engine.

Your men had a rougher time - still today.

They had bloody couches and easy chairs. And when they'd done so many passes they all flopped into them!

And they had a propeller off an aeroplane driven with a belt, going round and round, keeping them cool.

Now, we had the Solway Colliery and it closed.

And we lads, we worked in the Bessemer, in the steel-making plant.

And these colliers got a start in the Bessemer shop.

And do you know how long they lasted?

One day! And their reason was, "It's too dangerous here"!

-These are miners working three miles under the sea!

-It's all them sparks!

-It was, Fred, that's right, yeah.

It's quite frightening, really, if you watch it.

If you realise what could happen to you, if owt went wrong.

Oh, you'd be...

Well, I was one of a group who was injured in 1962

when this ladle of iron fell. This shackle had been used which wasn't really supposed to be used.

It was a bit like the straw that broke the camel's back.

It was only a small emergency ladle with four ton in but, of course,

it came down and, oddly enough, I was in charge of the job at the time and, uh,

I got knocked down in the rush.

And you sort of automatically put your hands out to save yourself.

And even though I was... an under manager, if you like,

I'd never been frightened to use a shovel and I'd fairly horny hands,

and I remember the skin started peeling off like blotting paper.

I'd only had my first car three weeks before

and I thought, "Oh, Christ, how am I going to be able to drive the bloody car?"

Bloody hurts, don't it?

One of the first jobs, the boys, when they came in the Bessemer at 14 or 15,

was taking the sample from the pitch side to the laboratory for chemical analysis.

And what they used to do was, there's a bent bit of wire,

maybe about quarter of an inch diameter, and they used to carry it in that, you see.

Well, this little chap George Dickinson - you'll remember George - he wanted a Jimmy Riddle.

So he's standing in behind tin shed at pitch side and he had this bloody thing in his hand

and he happened to catch it, and of course he burnt it.

So he went down to the ambulance station and he said, "Oh, he said I've burnt me pencil."

So they bandaged it up but they didn't leave him a hole at the end!

Who's getting the ale in? We've ran out.

-I'll go. I'll volunteer.

-It's been a warm and thirsty day with the steam machine.

-Do you drive it?

-Eh?

-You don't drive, do you?

-Oh, aye, I drive it.

These two don't know how to do that, they can only steer it.

Keeping them in the dark!

-Who does all the bloody polishing?

-That's your job!

Now there's a long drive ahead

as Fred and Alf head through the Scottish Borders

on their way from West Cumbria to Bo'ness on the Firth of Forth.

They'll be visiting an iron foundry

to find out more about the casting process and the foundryman's trade.

And, while they're in Scotland,

Fred will be driving his engine over the Forth Road Bridge.

Subtitles by Catherine Weston and Duncan Black, BBC Broadcast 2005