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00:00Now, I'm not a guy who lives in the past.
00:03Indeed, I embrace the present with some enthusiasm.
00:06I love my electric toothbrush.
00:09I like my personal computer.
00:12Where would I be without Nurse McKenzie's patent electronic virility accelerator?
00:17Having said that, is there a heart so base that doesn't flutter, nay, thunder
00:23at the mere sight, sound and smell of these beauties
00:26and break a little in the certain knowledge that we will never see their like again?
00:35From the look of them, you'd be forgiven for thinking
00:37that the development of the steam locomotive was driven purely by aesthetic judgment,
00:42possibly with some old vicar at the helm giving his thoughts on the pitch of the whistle.
00:46But it was not so.
00:47The heyday of steam was possibly the most dynamic period in the history of engineering,
00:51and those lovely old engines were driven by hard cash as much as coal.
00:55But it all started so very innocently.
01:06Of course, it was a slower pace of life in those days.
01:10It would have to be.
01:13You can't just leap onto a steam-driven boat, start her up and whiz off.
01:18There's a good hour's work before you get steam up and away.
01:25But hey, people didn't have neighbours to watch today.
01:27Oh, listen to that.
01:31Yes siree, Bob.
01:32It'll be only hours before we're away.
01:40At the time when James Watt realised that more could be done with steam
01:44than boiling a kettle and making a cup of tea,
01:47the only power available was horse power, muscle power and wind power.
01:52Inefficient, very footery and not very dependable.
01:56Crossing the big oceans in those days was very time-consuming
01:59and very frightening a lot of the time.
02:02However, with a rapidly expanding empire,
02:05the scene was set for steam to just go steaming in and clean up.
02:09This is as simple as a steam engine ever gets.
02:33It's literally a big kettle with a fire under it
02:38that turns the water into steam, which is basically a gas.
02:42Comes through the little piston, turns the shaft,
02:45makes the propeller go round.
02:53It was in 1815 that sailors on the Clyde
02:55first heard the chuffing of a steamship
02:57as she clattered past their doomed craft.
03:00And as they peered out from under their canvas,
03:02it must have seemed that sail would go out of business overnight.
03:05But actually, it wasn't quite as simple as that.
03:09Bye!
03:11Marvel, why don't you, at the wonderful hot thing between my legs.
03:16After a bit of marvelling, they started to laugh.
03:19All that steam may look nice, but it's no way to run a business.
03:23The little engine was incredibly inefficient
03:25and simply ran out of steam before it got anywhere near the horizon.
03:28Yes, well, you see, I'm embarrassed now.
03:33Your main problem with this kind of engine, really, is that...
03:36I mean, to get this...
03:37We're on the Bonny Banks, Oloch-le-Monde.
03:40To get from this end to that end,
03:42you would probably have to refill the boiler about three or four times
03:44and stock up the fire about five or six times.
03:48And really, to go any distance in this boat,
03:50there'd be room for the engine, moi,
03:52and enough coal and water to get you there.
03:55So, if Auntie Betty had a wee scoot along Loch Lomond,
03:59you'd have to say, no.
04:03And so, when the single-cylinder steam engine
04:05took to the water in 1815,
04:07it really didn't create much of a splash at all.
04:10But with all the taps, pipes, coal and water,
04:12it was no match commercially for the sailing ship,
04:15who, of course, were running on fresh air.
04:17Also, they needed constant attention
04:19or things could get somewhat embarrassing in the boiler department.
04:23It's a little bit worrying, of course,
04:24because if there's no water,
04:27it's more of a bomb than a boiler, really.
04:31Interestingly enough.
04:35Why are you all drifting away from me?
04:37Why is the camera...
04:39Boys?
04:41No, boys.
04:42I mean, I can fix it.
04:43I mean, it won't...
04:44When I say it could turn from a boiler to a bomb,
04:47I mean, it's possible, it's not.
04:51You'll come and get me, though, wouldn't you?
04:53Boys.
04:57Help!
05:01Jinx.
05:03Well, there you have it.
05:05It's a lovely little thing,
05:06the single-cylinder steam engine,
05:08but not, I'm afraid, very efficient.
05:10And here's why.
05:11See, what happens is this.
05:17There's your cylinder,
05:19and there's your piston.
05:23Right?
05:26Steam comes in here,
05:27in the inlet valve,
05:29and the pressure
05:31pushes the piston down, of course.
05:35That's how the whole thing works.
05:38Like that.
05:39Pressure, pressure, pressure.
05:40Then, when it comes back up,
05:42of course,
05:43having done its work,
05:44it comes back up to the top.
05:47And what happens then, of course,
05:49is that the steam is forced out here.
05:53It then goes straight up the lum,
05:56and out to the atmosphere.
05:58So, it is completely wasted.
06:01So,
06:02necessity being the mother of invention,
06:04this is what they came up with.
06:06Why not have three cylinders?
06:08Start off with a tiny wee cylinder
06:10that takes the very high pressure.
06:11It does its business.
06:12It comes out.
06:14It goes on to a medium-sized piston.
06:16It has to be slightly bigger
06:17because it's expanding.
06:18That's why it's called
06:19the triple expansion engine.
06:21One, two, triple.
06:22It then goes out of this one,
06:24the medium-sized one,
06:25into the enormous one
06:27and pushes that one down
06:28so that you've not wasted any steam.
06:30Now, this is a massive breakthrough
06:32because although those little
06:34single-cylinder babies
06:35could chuff up and down the lakeside
06:36with the parasols
06:37and they're awfully fun,
06:39you really needed something
06:40with this kind of reliability
06:41and something that didn't waste the steam
06:44if you were going to cross the Atlantic.
06:46It was probably the most important engine
06:48of its time.
06:52And it wasn't really a can of beans
06:54that drove it.
06:56I was just being symbolic there, you know.
07:03Here we are on the SS Shield Hall.
07:07It's the largest triple expansion
07:10screw-driven coaster running in the world.
07:13It was great big filthy buggers like this
07:21that really got the Empire on the move.
07:23With its two thumping great
07:25800-horsepower triple expansion
07:27Lovenitz engines,
07:28this was a baby that could go places.
07:30But despite her heroic looks,
07:33the SS Shield Hall's place
07:34was firmly at the bottom end
07:36of the Empire.
07:37It was built and went through 1954
07:44to a 1920s design
07:45because the diesels
07:46were always breaking down.
07:48It was built to carry
07:49what's known as treated waste,
07:52which, well,
07:53basically jobbies to you would be.
07:56And they used to take them out
07:57to the Clyde and just drop them,
07:59which is why in LARG
08:00they have sealed windows.
08:01And there you have it.
08:03There's your triple expansion engine.
08:11Transmultifying,
08:12whatever the word is,
08:13it's completely mesmeric.
08:14I'm surprised people don't fall in
08:15and get crushed to that.
08:20The steam comes into the tiny wee piston
08:23at enormous pressure.
08:26Pushes the piston down,
08:27the piston comes up,
08:28the steam escapes
08:31into this medium-sized piston.
08:35It's not under as much pressure,
08:36but it's expanded.
08:38So the fact that it's
08:40a medium-sized piston
08:41means that you still get
08:42the same amount of effort
08:43out of it.
08:44The steam pushes the piston down,
08:45the piston comes back up,
08:47transfers the steam along
08:49to our huge piston.
08:51By this time,
08:52you're down to about
08:53eight pounds a square inch,
08:54but because it's over
08:55such a huge area
08:56and it's expanding,
08:58you get the same amount
08:58of force.
09:00It's not often
09:01in the world of engineering
09:02that a picture so graphically
09:05tells the story.
09:06You've got a high pressure,
09:07a medium pressure,
09:08and a low pressure.
09:10You can see that's 75.
09:13There you're sitting at about 18,
09:15and that's at about eight.
09:16Now, the reason there's
09:17a vacuum on this side
09:18is that the last drop of steam
09:20has been sucked out the end,
09:22sent upstairs,
09:23and condensed back into water.
09:25The triple expansion engine
09:30was the one that finally
09:31blew away the sailing ship.
09:33Suddenly, it was possible
09:34to set off knowing
09:35what day you would arrive,
09:37whether that meant
09:38Danone or Durban.
09:39It was also possible
09:40to make the journey economically,
09:41allowing plenty of room
09:42on board for steam locomotives
09:44so you could travel inland
09:45once you reach
09:46the continent of your choice.
09:48It was a truly brilliant idea.
09:49What I really love
09:52about ideas like this
09:53is that when you see them,
09:55you imagine that
09:56left in a desert island
09:57with 20,000 pages
09:58of white paper and a pencil,
09:59you would come up
10:00with it yourself.
10:01And that's the sort
10:03of nonsensical illusion
10:04that keeps us interested
10:05in the scenery,
10:06because, of course,
10:07that wouldn't happen, really.
10:09They've just told me
10:10a very physical engineering
10:12secret about this ship,
10:14where you can get hot water
10:15to make a cup of tea.
10:16Well, you've got to get
10:27your priorities right,
10:28haven't you?
10:31By the time the triple expansion
10:34steam engine was at its peak,
10:35it could carry one tonne
10:36of cargo one mile
10:37on the equivalent energy
10:39released from burning
10:40one sheet of Victorian
10:41writing paper.
10:42Now, that's what I call
10:43engineering.
10:44Well, there you go, then.
10:46Last sight of land
10:49before you hit the Cape.
10:52Picture it.
10:53A couple of big,
10:54beautiful North British
10:55steam locomotives
10:56welded to your necks.
10:57Down below,
10:58two big triple expansion
10:59engines,
11:01whizzing round the old screws
11:02and frothing the sea.
11:04200 pounds a square inch
11:05in the boilers.
11:07Good old steam.
11:12Ha!
11:13No sugar, McTavish!
11:14How many times?
11:16When Cecil Rhodes became
11:41prime minister of the Cape Colony
11:43in 1890,
11:45his dream was to build a railway
11:46from the Cape to Cairo,
11:48running like a British vein
11:49through the African veldt.
11:51It's a truly heroic notion,
11:53if for some slightly dubious reasons,
11:55but there's one thing for sure,
11:57it couldn't have happened
11:58without steam.
12:00There is a certain sort
12:02of Scotsman,
12:02and I naturally
12:03am not one of them,
12:04who, after a couple of drinks,
12:06will claim that James Watt
12:07invented the steam engine,
12:08and you're doing pretty well
12:10if you can get away with it.
12:12However,
12:13Watt's engine
12:13was not designed to move.
12:15If you're talking about
12:16locomotives,
12:17locomotion,
12:18you're talking about
12:19Trevithick
12:19and then Stevenson,
12:21of course.
12:21The layout is
12:22very, very basic,
12:24but it works beautifully,
12:25and it never really changed,
12:27except they just got
12:28a teensy-weensy bit
12:30larger.
12:30This is what you can do
12:47with a triple-expansion engine.
12:48You can drag these monsters
12:50all the way from Manchester,
12:51where they were built,
12:52to open up a continent.
12:54I bet old Stevenson
12:55didn't imagine that happening.
13:00This is a Bar Peacock Garret.
13:04It's a very rare
13:05and beautiful engine.
13:06You'll notice
13:06something's gone,
13:08apparently, horribly wrong
13:09with the layout of the wheels.
13:11This is a 4-6-4-4-6-4.
13:14The reason for this
13:15is the traction it gives you.
13:17It gives you
13:17a fantastic cooling power,
13:19and also,
13:20the two big bogies
13:21are articulated,
13:23so it can go around
13:23windy little cracks,
13:25of which there are many
13:26in Africa.
13:30These big British beasts
13:33are still in daily use,
13:35here at the amusingly named
13:36Wanky Colliery,
13:38along with several
13:39other old British locals,
13:40shunting thousands
13:41of tons of coal
13:42up and down
13:42the horseshoe curve,
13:44from the mine
13:44to the local plant.
13:46But despite their
13:47Jurassic appearance,
13:48they're actually
13:48not all that old.
13:51It's funny to look
13:51at things like this
13:52and realise I used
13:53to go to school
13:53with things like this,
13:54and yet now it seems
13:55like something out
13:56of a completely different era.
13:57It's like a dinosaur, really.
13:58I mean, a very attractive
14:01dinosaur, of course.
14:02The kind of dinosaur
14:02you'd like to take to dinner
14:04and buy an expensive croc
14:05and hope that someday
14:07after a week or two
14:07it would gaze at you
14:08that wonderful
14:09please I love you
14:10take me way,
14:11or am I talking
14:13about something else?
14:15No, it's a train.
14:16It's definitely,
14:16well, it's not a train,
14:17it's a locomotive.
14:18You must never, ever
14:19call it a train.
14:20Guys in anoraks
14:21will beat you to death
14:22on the spot.
14:24There is complete logic
14:25to these engines
14:26surviving out here.
14:27Firstly, there's no
14:28shortage of coal in Zimbabwe.
14:30Secondly, they build
14:31all their own spare parts.
14:33So no waiting
14:34for the second post
14:35to bring that vital
14:36piston from Germany.
14:37And thirdly,
14:38in a country this size
14:39no one is that concerned
14:40about a bit of black smoke.
14:41careful.
14:43Careful.
14:43Careful.
14:43Careful.
14:43Careful.
14:43Careful.
14:44Careful.
14:45Careful.
14:46Careful.
14:46Careful.
14:47Careful.
14:47Careful.
14:48Careful.
14:48Careful.
14:49Careful.
14:49Careful.
14:50Careful.
14:50Careful.
14:51Careful.
14:51Careful.
14:52Careful.
14:52Careful.
14:53Careful.
14:53Careful.
14:54Careful.
14:54Careful.
14:55Careful.
14:55Careful.
14:56Careful.
14:56Careful.
14:57Careful.
14:57Careful.
14:58Careful.
14:58Careful.
14:59Careful.
14:59Careful.
15:00Ah, this is the best view in the world, Mike.
15:30Oh, my God.
15:35Although it looks complicated, the steam locomotive is essentially quite simple.
15:40It's exactly the same layout as the tiny single-cylinder boat.
15:44Fire, boiler, steam, piston.
15:47Only the boiler has to be long and thin, otherwise you wouldn't get through the tunnels.
15:51And driving it is fairly straightforward.
15:54The really important thing is that your water level, if that gets very low, you're really deep doo-doo.
15:59Your pressure, the state of your fire.
16:04There's a brake over there.
16:05And this is the regulator.
16:07The regulator is just a huge valve that lets steam into the pressure.
16:11Steamies to the left of them, steamies to the right of them.
16:26Steamies to the right of them.
16:30Oh, what a time they had.
16:41Despite the fact that these engines are in daily use, their numbers have dwindled since the heyday of the Empire.
16:51The steam sheds at Bulawayo used to service hundreds of locos, but now it's dropped to around a dozen.
16:57The main problem is keeping these beasts going.
17:01Since no one manufactures them anymore, new parts are hard to come by, which makes maintenance a highly regular task.
17:08This is how you reinsert a piston in a steam engine.
17:16All pretty straightforward, if you happen to be built by Elspeth.
17:19What a way!
17:21Yeah, it's always that.
17:41There's always the one near us, there's no bloody room in it, is there?
17:44You're lucky my mother's not here, she'll be sprinting down the workshop.
17:58My God, they're back, she'd be screaming.
18:06It was delightfully straightforward putting the loco back together again, like some huge Meccano set.
18:13But for these engineers, it's nothing special.
18:16There are guys here who've worked on trains all their lives and never sully their hands on a diesel.
18:21I declare this piston rod connected.
18:33But while all this Mancunian metal was all well and good, there was something sorely missing.
18:38Many of the engines that once worked in Zimbabwe came from Glasgow.
18:42And yet, there'd be precious little sign of anything Scottish.
18:45I needn't have worried.
18:47Engine number 190 was built by the North British Company in the Queen's Park Works in Glasgow.
18:56She was one of a consignment of 20 engines ordered by the Rhodesian Railways Company to work the main line service between Bulawayo and the Victoria Falls.
19:05And she arrived somewhat majestically in Africa on a triple expansion engine steamer in April 1926.
19:12The reason the steam locomotive never developed in quite the same technical way as the ship's engine was that there was really no need.
19:22Once you're on dry land, your problems evaporate.
19:25You simply build your watering and coaling stations as and when you need them and apply some of the local talent to do the work.
19:31So, with full tanks and bunkers and a good head of steam in the boiler, we were off for one of the enduring landmarks of the Empire, the Victoria Falls Bridge.
19:51The Empire, the Empire, the Empire, the Empire, the Empire of the Empire, that we were on the tide that we can see the moon走行 be in the pretty high.
20:10And I think the Eins, the Empire, that we can see the moonlights at the 14th century.
20:44Engine 190 has a good few miles under her wheels, and things aren't quite as reliable as they used to be.
20:51With less than 50 miles to go to the falls, the engineers noticed that one of the axle boxes was running hot.
20:57On any other service, they'd simply arrange for a bus transfer, but here they get on with the job.
21:03What they needed to do was to raise the middle axle, knock in some steel wedges, and ease the weight off the bearing.
21:10But how? You don't want to know.
21:14They're putting sand down to make sure it doesn't slip, does it work?
21:25You could live a hundred years and not see a running repair like this.
21:40I wasn't sure whether we were privileged or in mortal danger.
21:43But we were back in business and heading full steam ahead for the falls.
21:47We were back in business.
21:49Woo-hoo!
22:21It's a bittersweet moment, this great lump of Scottish metal on an English bridge over a waterfall named after a British monarch in the middle of someone else's country.
22:31But whatever the politics, you don't need to be embarrassed by the engineering.
22:35Being here doesn't half make you appreciate the ingenuity of the mechanical mind.
22:39Set it a task and soon enough it comes up with a solution.
22:43The fact that the steam engine still runs in these parts proves what an enduring idea it was.
22:48It is a testament to an age when things were built to last, an idea as sensible as it is romantic.
23:18You know, it's like a woman really, you've got to look after them all the time, you want to keep the pressure going in the relationship, they've got to be tended to every five minutes.
23:33In fact, if this engine was a lady, I'd marry it.
23:39I'm not really Jeremy Clarkson, I was just pretending.
23:41Okay.
23:41All right.
23:42Let's go.
23:44hydrosonimus.com
23:45Listen to myself.
23:45I don't care.
23:46Amen.
23:47Christy Podcast.
23:47Host���ator.
23:47D Washington.
23:48Mighty kingdom.
23:48Have you ever beenlerin?
23:49Or Barcelona.
23:50You haють.
23:51You ha Baldwin.
23:52Lindholmilioti.
23:54So that's something we're going to do for you.
23:55Would you like?
23:57Still not even toappy.
23:58Do you want me to be as public negó派 glading as the seasoned ещё?
24:01You need to focus on the quis constitution and how it looks.
24:02It's alright.
24:02So that's a little bit good for you to touch on the Geoff and that everyone else.
24:08You've become a fool of your Marge piece in theCheck and in your heart.
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