Great British Train Journeys from Above Season 1 Episode 4
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FunTranscript
00:00Join us on a voyage of discovery.
00:11As we follow the most spectacular steam train journeys in Britain, from above.
00:20We'll showcase these machines in all their glory,
00:24traveling through the most breathtaking landscape the country has to offer.
00:30The North Yorkshire Moors.
00:33The Highlands of Scotland.
00:36The rolling hills of Somerset.
00:39And Snowdonia, known today as Errerie.
00:45Our trains are time travelers.
00:51Transporting us back to the golden age of steam.
00:56To unravel the truth about Britain's great railway revolution.
01:06Sit back.
01:08Soak up the scenery.
01:10And enjoy all the romance and the thrill of a steam train journey.
01:15Like you've never seen it before.
01:27In the time before Britain's great railway revolution, most people did not travel beyond their village.
01:34Because the only way to get around was to walk.
01:43Or, if you were wealthy, to go by horse.
01:47But then George Stevenson invents a new form of transport that changed everything.
02:02The steam railway.
02:03It changed our idea of distance, our understanding of geography, and our conception of time.
02:17And it unleashed a technology revolution.
02:20That the corporate tycoons of today are still pursuing.
02:33To unravel all of this, we are following the West Somerset railway.
02:38From the countryside to the coast, a magnificent steam train is about to tell an extraordinary tale.
02:49Of human ambition and wild vision.
02:54Of grand success and dramatic failure.
02:57It's the story of the greatest tech giant of the age.
03:06And the engineer of this remarkable railway.
03:16Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
03:20The mastermind of the world's first high-speed railway.
03:24And some of the first steamships to conquer the Atlantic.
03:31His iconic structures.
03:34Are often seen as the building blocks.
03:37Of the modern world.
03:41But the real story is very different.
03:46Steaming through Somerset's green and pleasant land.
03:49The train is about to uncover the mystery, the complexity.
03:55And the controversy.
03:58Of the man who was determined to become a great hero.
04:02Of the Victorian age.
04:03Of the Victorian age.
04:21But desperate for fame.
04:23Charismatic.
04:25Convincing.
04:26A maniacal workaholic.
04:27Would Brunel's unique personality.
04:28Would Brunel's unique personality.
04:30Ultimately lead to his demise.
04:32To his demise.
04:51Brunel is revered for the world famous.
04:54Clifton Suspension Bridge.
04:55When it was built.
04:56It was the highest.
04:57And the longest bridge.
04:58In the world.
04:59But the engineering feat.
05:00For which Brunel.
05:01Is best known.
05:02Turns out to be one.
05:03He never completed.
05:04At all.
05:05The single span.
05:06Stretches for over 200 meters.
05:07At a height.
05:08Of 75 meters.
05:09Using the cutting edge technology.
05:10Of the time.
05:11The bridge is suspended from giant metal chains.
05:16Between two towers.
05:17Brunel called it.
05:18My first child.
05:19My first child.
05:20My first child.
05:21But it's a stone.
05:22It's not a stone.
05:23It's a stone.
05:24And it's a stone.
05:25It's a stone.
05:26It's a stone.
05:27It's a stone.
05:28To the stone.
05:29It's a stone.
05:30And the stone.
05:31It's a stone.
05:32Why?
05:33And the stone?
05:34It's a stone.
05:35And now?
05:36The stone.
05:37And now?
05:38and it encapsulates his approach.
05:41Think big and dare to be different.
05:47Brunel had begun his career building a tunnel
05:50and he was a fanatical worker,
05:53sometimes spending up to 36 hours underground in a single stretch.
05:58At the age of 23, with no experience of building bridges,
06:04Brunel decides to enter a competition to design one
06:07to cross the Avon Gorge in Bristol.
06:11After his first design is deemed unsafe,
06:14he uses his charisma and charm to win the jury round.
06:21And despite never being responsible for engineering a bridge,
06:25his design is declared the winner.
06:32But as we shall see, it's not the end of the story.
06:37Meanwhile...
06:44Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
06:47Deep in the heart of Somerset...
06:50Welcome to the West Somerset Railway.
06:53It's early spring
06:55and Bishop's Lydiard Station is a hive of activity.
07:00Here on Platform 2 will be the first departure of the day.
07:07As passengers arrive,
07:09a magnificent locomotive is being shunted into place.
07:18Ready for its journey to uncover the man
07:21behind the engineering masterpieces.
07:24Brunel was an extraordinary character.
07:29A maverick genius whose unbridled ambition
07:34led him to a grand vision.
07:38To shrink the world.
07:40George Stevenson had already created some of the world's first railways.
07:50But Brunel believed he could take them further and faster
07:54than ever before.
08:02Brunel's first railway was the fastest of its day.
08:05And his Great Western Railway
08:09still carries modern high-speed trains.
08:13Brunel's racetrack of iron
08:17broke the world land speed record
08:20and cut the journey time from London to Bristol
08:23from two and a half days
08:25to two and a half hours.
08:27When one of Brunel's contemporaries
08:31expressed concern at the length of the line,
08:34the great engineer replied,
08:36why not make it longer
08:37and have a steamboat go from Bristol to New York
08:41and call it the Great Western?
08:48And that's just what he set out to do.
08:53Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
08:55This is the final call.
08:58But why did a man who was obsessed
09:00with his plan to shrink the world
09:02bother himself with the minutiae
09:04of a rural branch line?
09:08Any passengers wishing to travel on this service,
09:11if you could port the train as soon as possible, please.
09:19The steam train's journey begins.
09:25After he experienced Britain's first railways,
09:34Brunel said,
09:35the time is not far off
09:37when we shall be able to take our coffee and write
09:40while going noiselessly and smoothly
09:42at 45 miles per hour.
09:47Let me try.
09:48It's a typically adventurous
09:56and forward-thinking response.
10:02And when Brunel did try,
10:05the result was spectacular.
10:12As part of the Great Western Railway,
10:29Brunel wanted to extend his line
10:31into the southwest of Britain
10:33to create a vast network of branch lines
10:37that, he wrote, would monopolize all the west.
10:42The West Somerset Railway
10:44was just one part of his master plan.
10:48Today, it starts at Bishop's Lydiard
10:51and travels north.
10:57After meeting the Bristol Channel,
11:00the line runs along the coast
11:02to the harbour at Watchit.
11:04For a thousand years,
11:13Watchit had been engaged
11:15in a battle with its coastal neighbours
11:17to be crowned the principal port
11:19along the Bristol Channel.
11:26By the mid-19th century,
11:29Watchit's entrepreneurs
11:30had failed to secure the funds
11:32for a railway many times.
11:34So they turned to a charismatic charmer
11:37to get the project off the ground.
11:42They believed Brunel's reputation
11:44would be decisive
11:45in raising the capital for a railway.
11:48They hoped it would realise
11:50the lucrative potential
11:52of the local iron ore
11:53and win their age-old battle
11:56with their neighbouring ports.
11:57And on the journey to Watchit,
12:02we'll discover if they were right.
12:11The locomotive steaming into the countryside
12:13is a 20th-century descendant
12:16of the engines of Brunel's day.
12:17And it showcases how he designed
12:22his railways for gentlemen and ladies
12:25as a fast and comfortable mode of transport
12:28for the upper classes.
12:31In order to achieve this,
12:34he built his railway much wider
12:36than ever before
12:37on his so-called broad gauge.
12:40He also chose scenic routes,
12:49so railways could appear
12:50like they're travelling
12:51through the greatest states
12:52surrounding grand country houses.
12:55He carefully planned gradients
13:07to make the route as level
13:09and as straight as possible
13:10for high-speed travel.
13:13And he wanted large, powerful
13:15and fast locomotives
13:17whose large wheels
13:19give a more balanced ride
13:20and large rolling stock
13:22with a low centre of gravity
13:24to make them more stable,
13:26especially at top speed.
13:31On a platform next to the railway
13:34lies this short section
13:36of Brunel's broad gauge track.
13:39The 7 feet and a quarter inches
13:41between the rails
13:42were one and a half times as wide
13:45as the standard gauge.
13:47And the sleepers didn't run
13:48across the track,
13:50but directly underneath the rails.
13:52But the railway no longer runs
13:55on the broad gauge.
13:59And later,
14:00we'll discover what that tells us
14:02about the real
14:03Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
14:06Next,
14:15how did Brunel's quest
14:20to conquer and control
14:21new railway territory
14:23spark the gauge war?
14:26And what would it mean
14:28for the future
14:29of the West Somerset railway?
14:31Deep in Somerset,
14:51We're following a railway
14:59that's taking us back
15:00more than 150 years.
15:09It's a journey
15:11that tells the story
15:12of the railway revolution
15:13and uncovers the mind
15:16of the most celebrated
15:18engineer of his time,
15:21Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
15:22By the 1850s,
15:38Brunel's unwavering ambition
15:40to push the boundaries
15:41of engineering
15:42was landing many of his projects
15:45in financial trouble.
15:46He wrote in his diary,
15:54So many irons
15:55and none of them hot.
15:5920 years on
16:00from winning the competition,
16:02Clifton Suspension Bridge
16:04was still not built
16:05and had stalled
16:07due to a lack of funds.
16:11The Great Western Railway
16:13had gone wildly over budget
16:15from a cost of £300 million
16:17to £700 million
16:20in today's money.
16:22And the fear was
16:24the same lack of concern
16:26for the financial viability
16:27of his projects
16:28would affect
16:29the West Somerset railway.
16:39The train has embarked
16:40on a four-mile climb
16:42towards the summit
16:43of the railway.
16:45It's a place
16:46with a surprising tale
16:48to tell
16:48about the rise to fame
16:50of Britain's greatest pop group.
16:54On the 2nd of March, 1964,
16:57a special charter train
16:59travelled along
17:00this very railway
17:01carrying John, Paul,
17:05George and Ringo.
17:07As Beatlemania swept across Britain,
17:13what happened when the Beatles
17:15reached the high point
17:17of the railway
17:17has gone down
17:19in pop music folklore.
17:21to make the West Somerset railway project credible,
17:37Brunel sought to convince investors
17:39that it could be built
17:41in three years
17:42for a budget
17:42of £12 million
17:44in today's money.
17:45But in practice,
17:51his determination
17:52to stick to his idealistic vision
17:54of a broad-gauge railway
17:56meant that if his rails
17:58were one-and-a-half times as wide,
18:00his embankments were taller,
18:03his cuttings were deeper,
18:04his bridges were wider,
18:06and the railway a financial headache.
18:12In addition,
18:12there was another obstacle,
18:15landowners demanding
18:16excessive sums for their land
18:18before any building work
18:20could begin.
18:33Meanwhile,
18:34the train is approaching
18:35the railway's first station,
18:37Crocombe Heathfield.
18:41And in Crocombe Village nearby,
18:43there's an impressive country manor
18:45that harks back
18:46to a dispute Brunel was having
18:49with a rich local landowner.
18:52Crocombe Court
18:53was the seat of Captain Carew.
18:58Once revered
18:59as one of the finest houses
19:00in Somerset,
19:02its owner, Captain Carew,
19:03had more than enough money
19:05to stand his ground
19:06with Brunel.
19:08Brunel was already
19:09at loggerheads
19:10with the Lethbridges,
19:12who were asking
19:12for £450 per acre,
19:15four times what was considered
19:17to be a normal price.
19:19Captain Carew wanted
19:20over £2,000 for his land.
19:25As the disputes rumbled on
19:27for month after month after month,
19:28construction work could not even begin.
19:41What made life worse for Brunel
19:44was his plan to start building the line
19:46at this long cutting
19:47just outside Crocombe Heathfield Station.
19:50It's a tradition of Victorian railway engineering
19:55that building begins
19:57by digging a cutting
19:58to create the spoil
20:00to build an embankment.
20:02The problem was
20:03Captain Carew owned the land.
20:09Brunel's motto was
20:11never despair,
20:13but this meant he was not prepared
20:15to compromise his vision.
20:22With an act of parliament behind him,
20:25Brunel imposed compulsory purchase orders
20:28on the landowners,
20:29but at a very high cost.
20:34The future of the West Somerset railway
20:37was thrown into jeopardy.
20:39The future of the West Somerset,
20:40the Queen's name
20:41was taken from a place
20:41at the West Somerset.
20:49Passing through Carew's cutting,
20:51the train glides
20:52into Crocombe Heathfield Station.
20:59The Beatles were so popular
21:00that they'd get mobbed everywhere.
21:03So the remote spot
21:05was ideal for filmmakers
21:07to capitalize on their fame
21:08by recording their first movie.
21:15Ringo had come up with the title A Hard Day's Night,
21:19recalling a tough all-night studio session.
21:22And as the film crew had set out to record a fictionalised typical day
21:26in the life of the group, the train stopped here
21:29to record one of the most memorable moments in the film.
21:32A Hard Day's Night succeeded in establishing
21:38the cheeky confidence of the Four Beatles
21:41and helped to boost the massive industry that built up around them.
21:47Within a decade, the Fab Four had sold 21 million records in the UK
21:51and many millions more worldwide.
21:57And their journey on this railway
21:59was a stepping stone to becoming global superstars.
22:15As the train restarts its grand adventure
22:18through the Somerset countryside,
22:21it leaves behind some fascinating remains of Brunel's railway.
22:27This short section of broad-gauge track,
22:32one-and-a-half times as wide as the standard gauge,
22:36illustrates Brunel's determination to be different.
22:39He said,
22:45when I have formed a decided opinion,
22:49no fear of the consequences ever prevents my expressing it.
22:55And the train is about to discover
22:57how his obsession with his broad-gauge vision
23:00led him into a battle with his railway rival,
23:05known as the Gauge War.
23:07It wasn't fought with soldiers and guns,
23:12but iron and steam,
23:15between Brunel and George Stevenson's son, Robert.
23:27Stevenson's four-foot, eight-and-a-half-inch gauge
23:30was based on the width of wagons pulled by horses
23:33in the collieries of northeast England.
23:36Brunel's vision was to have a new gauge for a new technology.
23:45To replace horses with steam.
23:48But he didn't properly consider the consequences
23:55of his gauge's incompatibility
23:57with lines already built elsewhere.
24:02The truth is
24:03that Brunel's jealousy of Stevenson's success
24:06was part of his conviction
24:08to take a radically different approach
24:10to railway engineering.
24:12Brunel himself conceded in his diary
24:19that his weakness was
24:20my self-conceit and love of glory.
24:25So when the steam train reaches the coast,
24:28we'll discover that the gauge wall
24:31had only one winner.
24:39Next?
24:39The train arrives at the Bristol Channel.
24:53As Brunel's pursuit of dozens of engineering projects
24:57catches up with him,
24:58could the West Somerset Railway survive?
25:09In the rolling Somerset countryside,
25:22we're following a steam train
25:28that's taking us into the mind
25:30of the greatest engineer of the railway age,
25:35Isambard Kingdom, Brunel.
25:37But Brunel's ego,
25:42relentless energy,
25:43and inability to delegate
25:45led him to doggedly pursue
25:47dozens of engineering projects.
25:52Overstretched and overworked,
25:54as Brunel's health deteriorated,
25:57there was a catastrophe brewing
26:00for the West Somerset Railway.
26:02The train is heading for the second stop
26:28along the line,
26:29Stagumba Station.
26:30Brunel's competitors placed stations
26:35as close as possible
26:36to the villages and towns they passed
26:38to maximise passenger traffic.
26:43But Brunel was driven by the engineering,
26:47a broad-gauge track
26:48that was as direct and flat as possible.
26:51At Stagumba,
26:57this had a seemingly crazy consequence
27:00that the station is over a mile away
27:04from the village.
27:11Passengers can just make it out
27:13across the valley
27:14with its church and sprawling rooftops.
27:16Brunel sighted Stagumba station
27:23halfway up a hill
27:24to ensure the track
27:26is on the most direct path
27:28to the coast
27:29and follows an even gradient.
27:31leaving Stagumba,
27:38the train plunges downhill
27:40towards the coast.
27:45After years of delays,
27:47hope was on the horizon
27:49and the belief was
27:51that construction
27:51could get back on track.
27:53Brunel's force of personality
27:58meant it was hard to imagine
28:00how the line
28:01could be completed
28:02without him.
28:12As it glides
28:13towards Doniford Holt,
28:18the train reaches
28:20the Bristol Channel.
28:23and turns west
28:26along the coast.
28:35Brunel had always been
28:36a fanatical worker.
28:39Slaving away
28:40on the Great Western Railway,
28:41he said,
28:42I am rarely under 20 hours
28:45a day at it.
28:51He invented a custom-built
28:53horse-drawn carriage
28:54nicknamed the Flying Hearse
28:56so he could work and sleep
28:58on his journeys
28:59between the multifarious projects
29:01he was responsible for
29:02at any one time.
29:05But his relentless commitment
29:07to his work
29:08had a dramatic impact
29:10on his health.
29:11In Bristol,
29:2050 miles up the coast,
29:23Brunel was desperately trying
29:24to keep his most ambitious projects
29:27steaming ahead.
29:32At the centre of these
29:34was the Great Western Railway
29:36and his vision
29:38of providing a route
29:39from London
29:39to New York
29:41for which he had built
29:42one of the first steamships
29:44to conquer the Atlantic.
29:52In Bristol Harbour,
29:54Brunel's steamship,
29:56the SS Great Britain,
29:57was the world's first iron ship
30:00and the largest of her day.
30:04It revolutionised sea transport.
30:09Brunel's iron masterpiece
30:10was also sending passengers
30:13to America.
30:15He had realised his grand vision
30:16to shrink the world.
30:20But just as Brunel
30:22was at the height of his powers,
30:24disaster strikes.
30:25While conducting a site visit
30:30to an even larger steamship
30:31that was due to travel
30:32to Australia,
30:34his most ambitious project ever,
30:40Isambard Kingdom Brunel
30:42had a stroke,
30:44aged just 53.
30:49Not only was his death
30:51a tragedy for his family,
30:53his friends,
30:53and the millions
30:55who had marvelled
30:56at his engineering projects,
30:58it was a potential catastrophe
31:01for the West Somerset Railway.
31:12A key part of the vision
31:15for the line,
31:16and to make it successful,
31:17was to build a new harbour
31:19at Watchit.
31:23without Brunel,
31:27the three-year construction deadline
31:29came and went.
31:31Costs continued to spiral,
31:33and just half the shares were sold.
31:37To save the project,
31:39the directors of the railway
31:41were forced to turn
31:42to another company
31:43to complete the construction
31:44of the line.
31:45Over the centuries,
31:51the harbour had been improved,
31:53but it was unsuitable
31:54for the demands of the railway.
31:58Brunel's plan
31:59was to use breakwaters,
32:01long walls stretching out
32:02into the sea,
32:03to protect the harbour
32:05and its ships.
32:06Before he died,
32:10overworked by too many
32:11engineering projects,
32:14Brunel recommended
32:15the use of wood
32:15as a cost-saving measure.
32:20But would his decision
32:22to use wood,
32:23not stone,
32:24for the breakwaters
32:25stand the test of time?
32:27At first,
32:35all looked well.
32:37With the harbour
32:37finally complete,
32:39the grand opening
32:40of the West Somerset Railway
32:41was celebrated
32:42with a special train
32:44to watch it.
32:47As a local army regiment
32:49provided stirring music,
32:51a great shout of welcome
32:53greeted the train.
32:57Despite the death of Brunel,
33:01all the delays
33:02and mounting costs,
33:05the National Rail Network
33:06had finally penetrated
33:08deepest Somerset.
33:24But Brunel's bold plan
33:26to build a safe haven
33:27for the shipping trade
33:28that was so critical
33:30to the prosperity
33:31of the town
33:32lasted just four decades.
33:35As the 20th century dawned,
33:38a huge storm
33:39battered the harbour.
33:41The western breakwater,
33:42which Brunel had built
33:44from wood
33:44rather than stone,
33:48completely gave way
33:50and the heavy bulks
33:51of timber wreaked havoc.
33:53Just three ships
33:56escaped the destruction.
34:00Unable to fork out
34:021.6 million pounds
34:04in today's money
34:05to finance the repairs,
34:07the harbour was taken over
34:08by the local council,
34:10but it took them
34:10over a century
34:11to pay off the debt.
34:18But the journey
34:20is not over yet.
34:21Reaching out beyond
34:23Watchit station,
34:25the track continues.
34:27The train is about
34:29to discover
34:30if Brunel's railway revolution
34:32would have a more
34:34enduring legacy.
34:35Next,
34:48the last leg.
34:52We discover how
34:53the fashion for railways
34:55has gripped the country.
34:57The wealthy and famous
34:59are trying to jump
35:00on the bandwagon
35:01and have a stake
35:02in the new
35:04technological future.
35:05On Somerset's ancient coastline,
35:25a magnificent steam train
35:31is about to embark
35:33on the final leg
35:34of its grand adventure.
35:43We're about to discover
35:45how railway mania
35:47gripped the country
35:48with the wealthy and famous
35:50trying to jump on
35:51Brunel's bandwagon
35:52and have a stake
35:54and have a stake
35:54in the excitement
35:55of a new
35:56technological age,
35:58just as they do today.
36:00Brunel's original vision
36:21to generate the most money
36:23for the West Somerset railway
36:24was to run it along the coast
36:26to Somerset's first holiday resort
36:29to Somerset's first holiday resort,
36:29Minehead.
36:31But competition from rival railways
36:34forced him to shelve the plan.
36:41After his death,
36:43one of the wealthiest landowners
36:44in Somerset came to the rescue
36:46by raising a bucket load of cash
36:48to deliver Brunel's original plan.
36:53Extending the line from Watchit
36:5510 miles along the coast
36:57to Minehead.
36:58George Luttrell arranged
37:08for the railway
37:08to pass his own
37:10magnificent home.
37:12Dunster Castle is perched
37:14dramatically on top
37:15of a wooded hill
37:16with unbeatable views
37:18of the coastline
37:19and the railway.
37:28On George Luttrell's track,
37:35the steam train
37:36sets out for Minehead.
37:37On George Luttrell's track,
37:38the steam train sets out
37:40for Minehead.
37:41Luttrell hoped his newly inherited railway
38:00would draw in wealthy tourists,
38:07transforming Minehead
38:08into a well-heeled
38:09and prosperous holiday hotspot.
38:11As the train picks up speed,
38:16it plunges down Cleve Hill
38:18and gallops towards George's Castle.
38:34But first,
38:36the train disappears
38:37into the major engineering feature
38:39of the line.
38:41Billbrook Cutting is three-quarters
38:50of a mile long
38:51and 40 feet deep.
38:56It was built by an army
38:58of construction workers
38:59who were known as navigators.
39:01Shortened to navies,
39:04the name reflects
39:05the skilled role they play
39:07in building first the canals
39:09in the 18th and early 19th centuries
39:11and later the railways.
39:15But the job was backbreaking,
39:18dirty and dangerous.
39:21One worker died
39:22when they were run over
39:23by a spoil wagon
39:24and many more were injured
39:26and many more were injured
39:26in this cutting alone.
39:32And without the success
39:33of an experimental German explosive
39:36called lithofractor,
39:38many more workers would have been hurt.
39:42Twelve times as explosive as gunpowder,
39:45it created huge holes
39:47that spared the workers' backs
39:49and their lives.
40:02Heading towards the coast once more,
40:05the train enters a vast,
40:07straight stretch of track
40:08that runs as far as the eye can see.
40:11As a young man toiling away
40:15building his first tunnel,
40:17Brunel wrote in his diary,
40:19be the first engineer
40:21and an example for future ones.
40:25And he hoped his passion,
40:27his energy and his ambition
40:29would inspire generation
40:31after generation of engineers.
40:37But like the harbour back at Watchit,
40:39there was a dramatic sting
40:41in the tail
40:42of Brunel's broad gauge.
40:48Just before Brunel died,
40:51the founding principle
40:52of his railway revolution
40:54was obliterated.
40:56It was impossible
40:57to run a national railway network
40:59with incompatible gauges.
41:02And as nearly nine out of every
41:03ten miles of track
41:05was standard gauge,
41:06the Royal Commission
41:07for Railway Gauges
41:08outlawed any new broad gauge lines.
41:13For Brunel,
41:15it was a bitter pill to swallow.
41:18The Stephensons
41:19had got there first.
41:22The death knell of the broad gauge
41:24came at a staggering cost.
41:29The final bill to convert
41:31the Great Western Railway
41:33back to the standard gauge
41:34was in today's money
41:36over a hundred million pounds.
41:41Brunel's pioneering vision
41:43was a commercial catastrophe.
41:45three miles out from Minehead,
41:56the train is cruising along
41:57the Somerset coastline.
42:00A couple of miles inland,
42:02passengers can spot
42:03George Luttrell's hilltop home,
42:07Dumpster Castle.
42:07Originally built as a medieval fortress
42:17to repel invaders arriving by sea,
42:20George inherited the castle
42:21in the mid-19th century.
42:24In the late 1860s,
42:26he transformed Dunster
42:28into the type of fairy tale castle
42:30the Victorians were fond of,
42:32with two new towers
42:33and battlements
42:34to emphasize the medieval origins.
42:37Luttrell had inherited vast estates
42:48and improved their prosperity,
42:51enabling him to embark
42:52on his prestige project,
42:54the extension
42:56of the West Somerset Railway.
42:58On the final furlong,
43:16the line runs dead straight
43:18across flat coastal marshes
43:20towards Minehead.
43:21Today, the West Somerset Railway
43:26is the longest heritage line
43:28in England.
43:33All 20 glorious miles of it.
43:36On the 16th of July, 1874,
43:45nearly two decades
43:46after Brunel first promoted
43:48the idea of a railway to Minehead,
43:50locals finally had cause
43:52to celebrate.
43:53At 1 p.m., 800 passengers,
44:07led by George Luttrell,
44:09arrived on the first steam train
44:11to reach Minehead.
44:12The train was met on the platform
44:18by hundreds of children
44:20who'd been released from school.
44:24A tradition repeated in the 1960s
44:27when the Beatles came to town.
44:30By the early 20th century,
44:36express trains raced down
44:38from London
44:38and Minehead Station
44:40issued up to 44,000 tickets a year.
44:45Brunel's West Somerset Railway
44:47had proven to be
44:48financially precarious,
44:50but his vision
44:51to take railways further
44:53and faster than ever before
44:55had carried through.
45:00His Great Western Railway
45:02became known as
45:03the Holiday Line
45:04and the seaside
45:06became the destination of choice
45:07for travellers across the country,
45:10transforming countless
45:11coastal villages
45:12and lives.
45:24As the magnificent steam train
45:26rests in Minehead Station,
45:30It's time to take stock
45:32of Britain's railway revolution.
45:36From George Stevenson,
45:38the man who created
45:39the steam railway,
45:43to Isambard Kingdom Brunel,
45:46the man who shrank the world.
45:52Together, the two iron giants
45:55of the railways
45:56inspired the world
45:58to follow in their footsteps.
46:03The technology revolution
46:06had begun
46:07and it is still playing out
46:09today.
46:10the new law
46:21is now
46:23and it is still playing out
46:24in the sky.
46:25This is a place
46:26for everyone
46:27to see on the way.
46:28They live the world
46:29and it is still playing out
46:30for the fact that
46:30there is still not
46:31there is still playing out
46:32in the sky.
46:33Transcription by CastingWords
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