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00:01Trains. I've always loved them. Big, small, steam, diesel.
00:07Where did that love come from?
00:10When I was six years old, I stood on this very spot.
00:13And what I saw that day, I'd never forgotten.
00:16It made me the envy of every boy in school.
00:19Because coming across that bridge was a train.
00:22And that train was being driven by my dad.
00:26Ever since then, I've always wanted to get the view he had.
00:30The one that no-one else gets. The driver's view.
00:35So I'm off on a train lover's odyssey.
00:42Riding the footplates of Britain and Europe.
00:45Oh, that's great.
00:47When you were growing up, did you always want to be an engine driver?
00:50Yes, it's a dream when I was a child.
00:54Some will be huge.
00:56Oh, some of them went in, others...
00:59A little more modest.
01:00I'll meet some wonderful people
01:02dedicated to this majestic form of transport.
01:09Already I'm beginning to feel like a train driver.
01:12And have fun off the train too,
01:14along some of the world's most beautiful lines.
01:17Well, I wasn't expecting to be doing this.
01:20Join me for a ride with a viewpoint that only an engine driver gets.
01:31This time I'm in Wales, making the journey from country to coast.
01:38Oh, we're quite high up there, aren't we?
01:39Oh, I don't like a look at that.
01:41Oh, dear.
01:42I take the controls of the world's first heritage railway...
01:46Down?
01:47Yeah.
01:48..with mixed results.
01:50Oh, bit fierce.
01:51Oh, sorry.
01:52I then hop onto the main line on what could be a commuter's version of heaven,
01:57a line without signals.
01:59I always like the fact when you wonder what's around the corner, you know?
02:02Sheep, Norman.
02:03Yes, sir.
02:04And enjoy the grandest views from a scaled-down locomotive by the sea.
02:10Now, we have another one into the tunnel here.
02:12All right.
02:14Oh, I do love tunnels.
02:20My first driver's eye view will be from the footplate of the Earl.
02:29A two-foot, six-inch gauge locomotive built in 1902
02:32and the pride of the Welsh Pool and Clan Viya line.
02:37Hello.
02:38Hello.
02:39Do you want to have permission to come on board?
02:41Of course you do.
02:41I'll be sharing the cab with the driver, Simon, and the fireman, Charles.
02:47Unlike my dad, who always wore his uniform at work,
02:50I'm late and will have to ride in civvies.
02:53Would you like to take your hat off?
02:54Yes, I don't think I'm quite properly dressed.
02:57Put it in there.
02:58You've got a clean hand.
02:59Yes, I have at the moment.
03:00OK, fantastic. Thank you.
03:02Brilliant.
03:02I'm starting at Clan Viya, Caio Aignon.
03:06Chuffing down to Welshpool, where I will join the main line
03:09at Dovey Junction for a spot of Osprey watching.
03:14Then it's off to Tallachlin to meet a friend of Thomas the Tank Engine.
03:19Before heading to Barmouth to ride a super small saddle tank
03:22on the Fairbourn line.
03:25Then it's on to Harlech Castle.
03:29Before my final destination, the magical Port Merion.
03:37OK, so what do I need to know and what do I need to be aware of?
03:41OK, so everything in front of me is hot.
03:43Yes.
03:43This is exceptionally hot.
03:45That pipe is hot.
03:47And keep it handy despite that.
03:48Right.
03:49We should be about ready to go.
03:52The Earl will be taking me on the eight-mile journey
03:54along the Welshpool and Clan Viya Light Railway.
04:03That's a loud enough whistle.
04:04Oh, it's not the loud of the whistle on the other side.
04:09The Earl is a narrow gauge steam locomotive built over 120 years ago
04:14for use on this very line.
04:18Despite it being a small engine, it's strenuous work for the crew.
04:24I've been a driver for about 15 years now.
04:26I was a fireman for seven years before that.
04:30Right.
04:30Which do you prefer, to be the fireman or the driver?
04:33It is far, far more romantic to be the driver,
04:35but it's much more challenging to be the fireman.
04:40It's not difficult to see why.
04:42Even for an engine of this size,
04:44Charles the fireman may be shoveling up to 40 to 80 pounds of coal per mile.
04:51The engine has to respond to what the fireman does.
04:55Right.
04:56And on a railway like ours, which is not flat,
05:00it's a real challenge to know when to put the coal on,
05:03when to put the walk on to maintain steam pressure.
05:05It's one of the main challenges at the railway of the gradient.
05:09Right.
05:13And you've got a bend to the right here and a bend to the left,
05:17so that's why we've reduced our speed to this.
05:19Absolutely. Five miles well.
05:21I suppose that's the key advantage of the narrow gauge
05:23is that the corner is much tighter.
05:26Tighter corners, steeper gradient, and it's much cheaper.
05:31The narrower the gauge, the more economic it was
05:34to construct a line to serve rural communities.
05:42And what's the steepest gradient on this line?
05:45The steepest gradient is about 1 in 24.
05:48And you can hear the engine putting the effort in now.
05:51And the engine is really starting to work.
05:53Yeah.
05:54And then we go up and we go down again.
05:57Any normal railway would have had all that leveled out.
06:00Yes.
06:01And it's interesting, even to my sort of untrained ear,
06:04even if I wasn't seeing, I could hear when we were going up the grade,
06:08didn't I, when we'd have planned out.
06:10This line opened in 1903,
06:13serving the busy agricultural industries and local market town.
06:32And it's not hard to guess what type of livestock was mainly transported.
06:37I see the sheep are well used here, they're not even bothering to...
06:41The sheep don't mind at all.
06:45With lorry transport becoming more popular,
06:48local businesses turned to the roads, resulting in the line's closure in 1956.
06:54Nearly a decade later, it was saved and preserved as a heritage railway.
07:01It's a nice place to have a treat out.
07:03Oh, it's a fantastic treat out.
07:12So we're coming into the station now, and it's beautiful having the smoke coming towards me.
07:18The smell of the coal-fired steam, the heat coming out of the firebox here.
07:22It's all a sort of hugely sensory experience.
07:24I think I can see the guard walking towards us.
07:27He's now stopped, because I've pointed him out.
07:30This means there's a problem, as the guard is very much in charge of this train.
07:35We're no longer able to run steam engines on the railway today.
07:39So we've been asked to run the engine around, return to Lamba,
07:42and pick up the diesel engine for the rest of the station.
07:45OK, I'll probably remember.
07:49We're in a rather unusual situation here.
07:50We should be carrying further along the line, but yesterday this engine accidentally set a field on fire.
07:57There was a large lump of coal came out of the top, still alight, land in the field,
08:02and luckily it was put out quite quickly.
08:06But the fire brigade have asked the railway not to go any further down the line with steam until we
08:11get some rain,
08:12which, being wells, should only be a few minutes away.
08:16So what we would do is go back, go back the way we came, put a diesel engine onto this,
08:20and then carry on to Welshport.
08:24Well, I can't say I was expecting this, but we are now heading right back to where we began.
08:31But the good news is I get to ride on another train, and this time with a different loco.
08:47I'm in the beautiful valleys of North Wales, where my first train ride has suffered a setback.
08:54We're no longer able to run steam engines on the railway today.
08:58Due to a field fire caused yesterday by embers from the Earl,
09:01we are now heading back to where we began.
09:04Klan Vyar Caio Aignon.
09:07But it means I get an extra trip along this amazing railway.
09:11Wonderful, isn't it, just to see the sort of, this steam engine running since 1903.
09:17Not continuously, but it's still in incredible condition.
09:22When you see them up close like this, you just realise what a magnificent invention they are.
09:33As we head back, the scorched field is visible.
09:37This is one of the perils of running steam-powered engines during a drought.
09:42Which is why I'm swapping to a diesel locomotive.
09:46So now we are about to head off in the right direction once again.
10:05Every driver I've spoken to talks about how each steam locomotive has its own character.
10:10Can you say the same about diesel engines or are they all weighing much over much?
10:14Within reason, as long as they are behaving, they're the same every day.
10:18The steam engine is different every day.
10:21And at least Charles the fireman is getting a much deserved rest.
10:29Simon, pleasure to meet you, thank you so much indeed.
10:32And Charles, try not to work too hard on the way back.
10:35I'll do that first.
10:36Finally, we've arrived at the end of the line, Welshpool.
10:40The market town where livestock transported on this line was bought and sold.
10:50The market here predates the 13th century and incredibly, it's still running today.
10:55But using lorries for transport instead of trains.
11:02Oh, hi Sean, how are you?
11:03I'm here to meet Sian, the sheep farmer.
11:08Her flock from the Welshpool valleys are some of the half a million sheep sold at this market every year.
11:18Well, the first thing I notice as we walk in here is the sound of sheep.
11:21Oh, yes.
11:21It's about 8,000 here today, sheep.
11:248,000?
11:24Yeah.
11:25Are there different categories of sheep that are being sold today?
11:27Yeah, so here we've got spring lambs, so these would have been born this year.
11:31Right.
11:32And then further on, there's some old ewes.
11:35So they're ewes that get sold if they've got bad teeth or they're just old.
11:39The old sheep with bad teeth, what happens to them?
11:42They'll go for different sorts.
11:43They might go for your don of kebabs or, yeah, all that different stuff.
11:46So that would be a reason why no don of kebab ever has any teeth?
11:49Yeah, probably.
11:51One, two, three, four.
11:54Eight, four, four.
11:56As you may have noticed, these farmers don't hang about when it comes to buying and selling sheep.
12:04I think you need to have a go.
12:05Well, I don't want to sort of muck up the whole system.
12:10It looks quite complicated, doesn't it?
12:12It does.
12:12And I can't see anybody bidding, but you tell me that they are.
12:16Yeah, yeah, they are.
12:18We watch them now slowly.
12:19OK.
12:20So he's just lifted a finger.
12:21And then he's just twitched his lip.
12:23So then he'll write down how much it went for and who's it sold to.
12:26Yes, right.
12:27I'd love to tell you that I noticed who was successfully bidding,
12:31but the curious mixture of subtlety and speed left me somewhat bemused.
12:37Still, it remains the largest sheep market in Western Europe.
12:42Would farming chickens be easier?
12:45Oh, no, I hate chickens.
12:46Oh, do you?
12:46Oh, my Lord, no.
12:48Absolutely not.
12:49What is it about chickens you don't like?
12:51Oh, it's the feathers and the flapping and all that.
12:52No, thank you.
12:53Oh, my God.
12:53Oh, my God.
12:54Oh, my God.
12:57As we're on a timetable, it's time to head to Welshpool station.
13:05I'm going to be travelling west on the Cambrian Line with a slight detour to get to the small
13:10station of Dovey Junction.
13:14i'm told it offers breathtaking views which is lucky because today i have a driver's eye view
13:22i'm not traveling with the passengers today i'm traveling with the driver with a bit of luck
13:29oh hello there hi paul how are you i'm good you're johnny are you i'm johnny yeah
13:35i'm up front with driver johnny who is going to show me the high-tech features of this class
13:40158 express sprinter this is this is a great view you have here isn't it it's a lovely view
13:47beautiful part of the world to be here drawing it despite the nice views being a driver wasn't
13:53top of johnny's career choices to be honest i hadn't ridden on a train until i'm 18 19 years old
14:01oh really what's that my parents drove everywhere
14:06the cambrian line connects shrewsbury to aberystwyth and profeli in wales
14:13and the trains can seat 113 passengers
14:23if there's rain on the screen here paul the riper control is on your right there
14:27oh i see turn up okay
14:34right so how fast are you going now 130 kph sorry 80 mile an hour
14:3980 80 right the class 158 units were built in the early 90s and are powered by diesel as
14:47this line is not electrified
14:50and once i worked out how to use the wipers the visibility is fantastic
14:57on a clear day the cambrian line is famous for its views of the coast and countryside
15:02and it's still very beautiful even on a rainy day
15:07so you can see with this foliage the way it's sort of hanging over the train
15:11yes we're going to hit that it's like the train is creating this own little tunnel
15:15yes exactly yes and i always like the fact when you're turning a corner and you just wonder
15:19what's around the corner you know it's something like a sheep normally
15:26although the cambrian line is a remote and rural line it's actually one of the most sophisticated
15:30in the whole of britain and one thing you won't see out of the window are track side signals
15:35as they are all in the cab
15:40so this is newtown this is newtown yeah so that's my signal so i can tell from my screen
15:48i i know i've got some authority pass that's why i need to tell the guard i'll give him two
15:52on the buzzer right he now now knows that i can proceed right okay okay yeah the system
15:58which operates from a hub in aberrisswith acts like air traffic control for trains all the
16:04information johnny would have got from the signals is fed directly to his cab instead
16:10so i've got any authority now paul yeah just under two kilometers away so i've i've dropped my speed
16:15down because it's uh we're coming to a passing loop right yes passing on the train
16:20so my red signal now there's a train there waiting
16:27hasn't yet given me no thought to proceed there's the other train yeah do the drivers wave
16:33there you go yeah yeah yeah yeah we all get on let's go give them a little wave now
16:49and what was that noise telling you so that's telling me my maximum speed i i can travel at
16:58this is 80 o'clock an hour right but if i was to go over by three three kph it
17:04would warm me right
17:06um if if i was to just let it go and it went to 85 kph it would put the
17:11brake in oh really yeah
17:14it would intervene so when you're at home and the microwave goes do you suddenly jump
17:16switch off switch off yeah it's certainly a far better and brighter view than my dad would ever
17:24have got on the district line
17:28as far as driving trains um i couldn't think of a better job
17:32no that's good because you know they say don't they if you if you if you love your job you
17:37never
17:37do a day's work in your life it's not really work is it yeah
17:41this is a lovely old station it isn't it it's got all the character yeah so is this where we're
17:47getting off this is my concept yeah fantastic no problem yeah thank you so much it's fine
17:56cheers lovely yeah i'm spending the time in it it's good just after mccunclef the line splits
18:04johnny will drive south towards aberystwyth while i'm taking the line north stopping off at
18:09dovey junction home to a very special family
18:17not here very dark sir thank you thank you well i'm off to meet a couple now who've flown a
18:24very
18:24long way to meet me and um i better not keep them waiting
18:38janine panett is part of the dovey osprey project a conservation initiative focused on supporting
18:44these once endangered birds
18:48what do you think our chances are of seeing some osprey today oh we'll have to wait and see if
18:53anybody's at home or if they're all hiding down by the river fingers crossed okay they are incredibly
18:59difficult to spot due to low numbers and being seasonal migrant birds but a lot easier to find
19:05if you have one of these this is our 360 observatory right so at the moment we have mum and
19:16two of our
19:17brood of three the two on the side are actually only three months old right so they grow very
19:22quickly very quickly fish is a good diet to have and so that's their main diet is it fish a
19:29hundred
19:29percent fish yet extremely rare for them to get anything else and at this stage of the season the
19:34youngsters are still completely dependent on the parents at this point the nature reserve is nestled
19:39by the river dovey making it a safe haven for the birds but 50 years ago it was a very
19:46different story
19:47then they were facing extinction what was the reason for the dwinded numbers sadly like a lot
19:54of things it was direct human persecution um egg collecting was a very big thing in the victorian era
20:00here in the uk um so people would take whole clutches of eggs um and with only one breathing
20:06attempt every year that sort of pressure on the population just meant the numbers dwindled and
20:11dwindled collecting eggs seems to be a particularly banal boring hobby why did people collect eggs
20:18it was just one of those strange quirks that people did as much as they collected stamps it was
20:23just a thing to have a whole collection thanks to nature reserves like this there are now around
20:28300 breeding pairs of ospreys in the uk they only spend the summer months here with us well we have
20:38nice long daylight hours for them to fish in um but they're already disappointed with the weather today
20:45yeah when they look at it out here but don't feel too sorry for them yeah because in another month's
20:51time while we're all freezing and cold and eat our christmas dinners they'll be sitting on a beach
20:55somewhere compared to the ospreys trip to africa and back my next journey from dubby junction north to
21:03turwin is only 20 miles but it will take me to the home of the world's first heritage railway
21:21my journey through wells started on the tiny welsh pool and clan via railway before joining the big
21:28boys on the cambrian line this is this is a great view you have here isn't it it's a lovely
21:33view uh
21:34beautiful part of the world to be drawing it but now i'm dropping down a gauge with a visit to
21:38the
21:39wonderful tallaclyn railway but they're not going to give me a free ride i'll have to work for it
21:46hello there are you bill i am hello i'm paul hello nice to meet you nice to meet you i
21:51hear you're going
21:51to help us with uh with prepping the engine yes anything i can do to help yeah all right well
21:55i've
21:56got some overalls for you oh okay that's good news you want to get changed yeah all right i will
22:00uh
22:00thanks very much okay catch up with you all right this line is a narrow gauge railway originally built for
22:05the slate trade in the 1860s and once i get changed i'll be up front with bill the driver
22:14phil instant transformation excellent right let's put you to work then great the overalls look very
22:18clean will they still look clean at the end of this journey no i suppose i could have guessed that
22:24dolgoch is the railway's number two locomotive and was built in 1866
22:31so what do you want me to do right paul if you take the bung out okay and i'll
22:38that's it just let it drop yeah and then if you put the hose in i'll turn the tap on
22:43okay
22:44hold on hang on okay right that's it all right yeah oh this is how you learn i suppose isn't
22:52it
22:53okay okay that's full all right surprisingly thirsty she is one of eight remaining engines
23:01left in the world that were built by the cumbrian engineering company fletcher jennings
23:09all right so we've got to put in the coal now right so coal goes in the bunker which is
23:13here okay yes oh
23:22all right hello that looks pretty full to me yeah probably a bit more for luck i think oh okay
23:26yep whoa you make it look it's lighter when you're holding it
23:37right there we are well he did warn me it would get messy
23:41and so bill is there anything i can do can i play can i blow the whistle already yes you
23:45can when
23:45we go yeah yeah fantastic
23:52remarkably the line can trace its origins back to the american civil war in the 1860s
23:59at that time the supply of cotton from america has become an erratic
24:02so many british businessmen started looking for alternative ventures including welsh slate
24:31the train weighs over 10 tons and isn't going to break any speed records it only travels about 15 miles
24:39but when you're carrying slate and puffing through scenery like this why would you want to go faster
24:46i just want to point out every time you hear the trains whistle that's me pulling the whistle
24:50i wouldn't want you to think i'm just sitting here doing nothing
24:56despite the quarry closing in 1946 the railway survived it's been run by volunteers like bill ever since
25:04and it's known as the world's first heritage railway
25:09volunteers come from from everywhere uh they they come from england wales scotland uh
25:17uh internationally some from america japan uh denmark netherlands they come from all over right so this is an
25:27internationally famous railway it is yes
25:31the railway runs six steam and four diesel engines dolko may be one of the oldest but she's a clear
25:40favorite amongst the volunteers when you're driving her she's got a lot of history some drivers love her some
25:49drivers not so much yeah but um it's would you be would she be described as 10 for me
25:55uh for some drivers yes but no no she's just a joy to drive
26:03this is a magnificent experience though isn't you can't beat a steam railway locomotive
26:07there aren't many experiences you can have that date from the 1860s
26:11i suppose you could have a glass of napoleon brandy that was from there from that era but uh
26:15you don't get the same smell and the same sensation or indeed the whistling
26:20so we're coming up to a bridge i think i'm going back
26:22go back in in case they need me to whistle again see you shortly
26:29the line is over seven miles long and at certain points it may not be for those with a nervous
26:35disposition
26:40oh they're quite high aren't they don't we oh i don't like to look at that
26:46and then this is dolgoff falls
26:55so this is the old mineral extension originally all the passengers would finish their journey
26:59up going and this is the bit up to the quarry very nice and then another whistle
27:09when children see this when young kids see this they must be rather amazed
27:13because they've been sort of like well used to trains as we know them today but to see a steve
27:18locomotive
27:19are they are they still as fascinated by it as children of uh previous generations were
27:24yes i think so um we still get a lot of children traveling on the railway
27:29um reverend reverend audrey who wrote the thomas tank engine books he used to volunteer here
27:36oh really yes the author of the railway series which included the much beloved characters of thomas
27:42percy and james was the reverend wilbert audrey who was a regular visitor here in the 1950s
27:48later becoming a volunteer guard some of audrey's books were inspired by his experiences of working
27:55on the railway in fact if you think the character renhaus looks familiar it was based on none other
28:02than dolgoch
28:07i suppose i would say that one thing is it's quite a jerky journey isn't it and would the passengers
28:13be
28:14feeling that as well back in the carriages hopefully not this engine's got a a particular type of motion
28:19uh-huh and it lends itself to a bit of what that kind of motion right oh man one little
28:27whistle again
28:27one long whistle one long whistle coming i'll be getting good at the whistling yeah
28:36very good very good what we're doing now is we're we're slowing down for set points
28:40but just out of sight uh-huh so that's that's spot on well done you have done this before yeah
28:47well you
28:50of course whistling is one thing but i couldn't come all this way to the world's
28:54oldest heritage railway without having a go at driving an engine myself
29:01you see in between the two tracks there's two sort of whiteboards whiteboard descend and white
29:08along the far end uh-huh we've got to get the train to stop in between there right yeah okay
29:12down yeah
29:17oh oh it's all right it's your first attempt yeah yeah well thanks very much that was a great
29:25experience i'm sorry about the rather abrupt stop at the end that's all right we stopped uh before we
29:29needed to yeah so that's good yeah about five seconds before we needed to but i noticed the time
29:34table we were five seconds behind so we're now spot on so bill thank you very much indeed thank you
29:39so much great great pleasure thank you i really enjoyed that narrow gauge railways remain one of
29:45wells greatest inspirations and exports throughout the commonwealth they helped shape both the farming
29:53and mining industries
29:58having just left teleclin i'm now moving 20 minutes down the road to the fairborn railway
30:05i can't help noticing that this narrow gauge railway is slightly more narrow
30:11i think i'm here to help you drive you are would you like to come and join me on the
30:14footplate not
30:15that you need any help i'm sure but uh mind your head coming in there okay thank you rather low
30:19yeah great
30:21the fairborn railway was originally a horse-drawn tramway built in 1895 to transport construction
30:29materials later it became a steam railway carrying passengers along the beach
30:36i'll be riding up front with jenny who is busy multitasking
30:41you are combining both job as fireman and driver that's right yeah we have to do everything
30:46yes do you enjoy it oh yeah it's just something about steam engines isn't it yeah they've got a
30:52timeless appeal uh i can't help but noticing um that we're facing that way but we're going to be
30:57going that way that's right sadly we don't have any way of turning the engines round at either end
31:01you don't have a turn we don't have a turntable okay all right well uh so we're due to go
31:05we are
31:06ready to do to go yeah control do you have permission to depart fairborn over all those are satisfying
31:14noises aren't they the steam break coming off lovely isn't it yeah and away we go we'll be making the
31:22two-mile journey from the village of fairborn to the mouth of the maldak estuary to catch a connecting
31:28boat to travel on to barmouth this is a very narrow gauge train but it's more than capable of hauling
31:38dozens of passengers so what is the gauge that we're running on now this is 12 and a quarter inch
31:47right this game and the uh full size version would be two foot gauge two foot so what's the name
31:53of this
31:53one this is sherpa so what's her temperament like she's very easy going she's a good girl
32:02sherpa began her working life in the french countryside and back then she was called france
32:10the loco is a half-sized replica of a darjeeling and himalaya narrow gauge engine in india that was
32:16used in the tea plantations so if you had a cup of tea in the 1950s your leaves may well
32:22have been
32:22transported by a train like this when the french line closed she sat rusting in the shed for decades
32:31until she was brought over to fairborn and began a new life as sherpa some passengers ahead waiting
32:38to get on the train and jenny's very well aware of those so she's adjusting the regulator now just
32:43to slow us down the top speed that we're allowed to do on this is eight miles an hour but
32:48uh it feels
32:49it's going faster at times you're traveling with us yeah
33:04people are fascinated by steam railways aren't they they're they're they're one of those things
33:08that's like a living breathing animal aren't they so yeah yeah that's right
33:16the railway is now run by a charity with volunteers looking after 22 and a half thousand visitors
33:22every year
33:30so this is what we call the end of a section right yes and then this oh no i've seen
33:36this system before
33:37yes yes this is the token for the section that we've just been traveling through that means that
33:41you cannot proceed unless you have that token correct yeah so in order to go into the next section
33:47we need the other token which is on the engine with the other train crew at the moment right
33:51we'll they will give this one to them so they can come in this bit of track yeah and they'll
33:55give us
33:55the one that they've got so that we can go into their bit of track so it's it's essentially it's
33:58a
33:58foolproof system really isn't it exactly that's it if nobody if you haven't got the the staff yeah for the
34:04line
34:05you're not allowed on yeah yeah so this is where you've got to hand the token over that's right
34:13so i'll give this one to the other train and they'll give me the one that they've got yeah thank
34:18you
34:20thank you and this is called a passing loop isn't it that's right yeah it's the tunnel here all right
34:28and then there'll be another one as we come out the other end
34:52it's quite amazing that an engine of this size can pull a train carrying so many passengers
35:12and there we are so this is the end of the line this is the end of the line
35:15security control train arrived at barma's ferry over
35:19well jenny thank you very much indeed that's been an absolute pleasure you're very welcome thank
35:23oh well i have shaken your hand oh no it's all right all right i'm okay all right
35:29as i watch the train depart i need to work out how to get across the water and back onto
35:35the main line
35:48as i've reached the end of this particular line on my journey around wells i'm forced to take to the
35:54water
35:59i've arrived here at barmuff harbour on the fairborn miniature railway the bridge you can see behind
36:06me is the main line railway if i'd come on that i would have gone straight into barmuff harbour but
36:10as
36:10it is i'm going to have to catch the ferry and just to prove that that's a bridge that trains
36:14go over
36:14there's a train going over the bridge hi there hello you take me to barmuff
36:44the welsh railways were born because of the riches buried in its earth coal and slate
36:5330 minutes up the line from barmuff set in the valleys are the clan via slate caverns
37:05what a beautiful view big open countryside wonderful fresh air open sky unfortunately where i'm going
37:13now is the complete opposite
37:24yes absolutely i don't often wish i was shorter but i think uh this might be one of those rare
37:29occasions
37:30in life where i wish i was five foot two my guide is the man who owns this cavern rob
37:35owen
37:37oh wow wow look at that that's quite a size isn't it that was opened up in 1873 when they
37:44started the
37:44mine right it worked from 1873 to 1906. why did it close in 1906? it's because all the goods later's
37:51gone it's been worked out right it's all been dug out by hand right through to to the gates where
37:57we
37:57came in right okay incredible industrialization meant to move away from agricultural living to urban city
38:04dwelling creating an unprecedented building boom this resulted in a huge demand for slate
38:11by 1898 the workforce in the welsh mines was around 17 000 producing half a million tons of slate a
38:18year
38:22you see working down here what it wasn't a place for the faint-hearted no and of course integral to
38:28the slate industry were the railways both large and small see where the old railway track used to run
38:35paul all right yes before men on the winch at the top pulling the trucks up each one weighing about
38:41a
38:41ton wow then it was taken from here outside where it was made into roofing slates and then taken by
38:48horse where it was shipped out the world slates has gone all over the world
38:55well as impressive as slate is i'm making a quick detour to look at something that's made of sandstone
39:03harlek castle just up the road was built in the 13th century by king edward i
39:08and witnessed some of the most epic battles in welsh history
39:13took about eight years to build as uh roughly uh and apparently for the princely sum of eight
39:20thousand pounds wow yes that's when eight thousand pounds was eight thousand indeed yes
39:25in world war ii the castle became home to a special military unit the crack commandos of x troop
39:33and local historian charles wristbrook is going to tell me all about it
39:38an ex troop comprised mainly or almost exclusively of german and austrian jews who'd escaped
39:46from germany a lot of them came back to britain they were allowed to join the pioneer corps which
39:52was a labor corps uh with digging trenches you know all very valuable work but they thought that
39:59uh they should do more than that knowing the german land and the language made these mainly jewish
40:05escapees the perfect troops to fight behind enemy lines
40:15one of their training regimes was to run from here to snowden and uh scale it come back
40:24which is about 20 miles away and then climb up the walls of harlot castle without the home guard
40:30knowing that they were doing it which they did successfully it's said they trained harder than any
40:37other unit in the british army and were named x troop by churchill himself
40:44their first mission was in 1942 as part of a raid to steal the top secret enigma machine
40:51so is x troop one of the sort of was it one of the sort of secret stories of the
40:56war that only
40:56we only found out about much later yes yeah very much so and i believe uh some of their uh
41:02exploits
41:03are still uh hidden by the official secrets they're regarded as the um the finest commando group of
41:13any nation during the second world war
41:19there's nothing secret about my final destination it attracts visitors from all over the world
41:27and for this ride i'm being really spoilt just behind this uh brick wall there is the most
41:33magnificent view any moment now you are gonna there we are i promise you have a magnificent view and there
41:38it is that's the one look at that distant mountains shrouded in mist magical mystical misty mountains that's
41:49alliteration for you as we say a temporary goodbye to the sea we move inland for the half-hour loop
41:57up to port mary
42:03the view suddenly changed constructed during the 19th century this line has been a vital route for both
42:09passenger and freight linking north wales to the rest of the united kingdom
42:19i'm going off at the next station in minfo which is the nearest stop to the mysterious village
42:25that is port merion
42:38port merion is full of surprising details at every twist and turn
42:43it's like stepping into a 3d picture book fantastic and colorful
42:50are you my week i am hello i'm paul welcome to port merion paul oh well thank you very much
42:54what a pleasure to be here well thank you for coming to see us my rick jones works in port
42:59merion
42:59and is quite an expert on its history so i know he will be the perfect person to give me
43:04a tour
43:07oh it's a wonderful place isn't it oh it is it's a bit unusual um it was the brainchild of
43:11one person an architect so cluff williams ellis who had a burning ambition to build the village to
43:16chauffeur's architecture and the two driving forces were it had to be fun and had to work with nature
43:23port merion fills mediterranean although many of the buildings are from other locations in the uk
43:29and were repurposed here
43:41colonnade here is a lovely one that was that's a 1760 building that was in bristol
43:46and it was bomb damage during the second world war we took it down and rebuilt it here as our
43:49natural stage and the dome he said to have a village without a dome would have a dome deficiency
43:55but what i love about the dome is the square white frontage which is an old fireplace that came from
43:59a
44:00mansion house and got it here and realized it was much too big to go inside the dome so we
44:04put it on the
44:04outside instead he had that freedom because the planning academy thought of at that time yes no planning
44:09permission needed no which is great yeah his love of working with architecture and working with nature
44:14i think you'll see it it goes through the whole place and there's some fantastic rooms here so maybe
44:19i should show you um one of my favorites oh yes by all means yes lead the way yes
44:28the hotel has long been popular with the great and the good keen to soak up the special atmosphere of
44:34port
44:38merriam so this is where george haderson stayed right 50th birthday party yeah he he uh he was a big
44:44fan of the place of all the beatles he came back often yes you know he was quite spiritual and
44:49he
44:50understood the club's idea of working with nature so he loved that idea well i i can i can see
44:54why
44:55he would favor this room so this wasn't his first choice he wanted to stay watch house which is still
44:59the most one one of the popular rooms here it's the white one right on the cliff edge and they
45:04went
45:04to look at it and the security weren't keen they thought possibly with the festivities or 50th birthday
45:08party he may drink too much and fall off the cliff edge which they thought would not be a good
45:12idea
45:14myrig wants to show me another room with a george harrison connection and being a huge beetles fan i can't
45:20wait to see it so this is our mirror room oh i can see why it's called that yes indeed
45:27yeah do you recognize
45:28it at all um oh i recognize this view um wasn't this used in the beatles anthology series when
45:36he interviewed george harrison it was indeed and this is where he sat oh right in one of these chairs
45:41with the arms we don't know which one yes but um but the chair was in that position it was
45:45indeed
45:45yeah oh i think i've got to sit in it haven't i i wonder if i can conjure up the
45:49spirit of george by
45:49sitting here i first joined the beatles in 1958 if i'd known what it was going to be like i
45:57wouldn't have bothered oh what happened then oh that was a bit worrying but without being too
46:06sentimental about it port merion feels like the perfect place to end my trip
46:12the old buildings being restored and rejuvenated and still feeling new and exciting much like many
46:19the railway lines i've had the pleasure of traveling on
46:27i've always known wales to be a proud nation and that's been true of everyone i've met this week
46:32but even when the sun isn't shining there's still a wild majestic beauty which makes wales such a
46:37distinctive part of the united kingdom
46:41so
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