All language subtitles for The Worlds Most Scenic Railway Journeys S06E04 1080p WEB DL H264 BTN_track3_[eng]

Join us as we escape on a nostalgic
journey through the Peak District

to discover a lost era of Britain,

aboard a steam locomotive
that defined its age...

The Royal Scot.

You really feel it go at 75.

You get thrown about.
It's good fun.

It's a voyage that straddles two of
Britain's greatest railway cities,

Crewe and York,

and between these historic gems,

the jewel of the English
countryside -

Charlotte Bronte country...

..and the Derbyshire Peak District.

What a day to be out.

Aboard our world-class steam train,

we pass the places
where legends were born...

..and the forgotten corners
of Britain

where the locals
still reign supreme.

Called it the Willy
Wonka Chocolate Factory.

We meet the people who strive
to keep the magic of steam alive...

The railways are so much
more than just trains.

They made the country
what it is today.

..before we arrive in York,

once the centre of Northeast
England's railway network,

and today, home to
the National Railway Museum.

This is no ordinary railway journey.

This is one of the most scenic
railway journeys in the world...

The Peak District.

In the heart of northern England -

the Peaks.

Their gentle, undulating valleys

crowned by spectacular
gritstone escarpments,

have inspired writers, travellers

and lovers of nature
for generations.

What more charming way to travel
through it than aboard a train

as iconic as the landscape itself?

Now, awaiting passengers
at Crewe station.

The Royal Scot.

Built in 1927,

46100 was the first of 70
Royal Scot class locomotives

commissioned by the London Midland
Scottish Railway

to haul express trains
from London to Scotland.

Today, Phil's hand
is on the regulator.

The train brake's over here.

You've got your reverser,
which enables the loco to go

backwards and forwards.

Steam brake, which is for
the locomotive only.

And this is the regulator.

This controls how much steam goes
from the boiler into the chest.

It's similar to an accelerator
in your car.

We can get up to 75mph.

That will be the maximum
speed for today.

You'll really feel it go at 75.

You get thrown about a bit
on the foot plate,

but it's good fun.

And the fun couldn't be classier.

Nine elegant Pullman carriages,

all dating back to the 1950s.

WHISTLE BLOWS

STEAM HISSES

At 8:31am,
our grand nobleman of the railways

glides out of Crewe -
the city where railways were born.

The first leg of our five hour
journey takes us whizzing

through Cheshire, where we pass
through the last remnants

of Britain's ancient peat bogs.

From here, we enter Derbyshire
and the Peak District National Park

to travel through the stunning
Hope Valley where farmers

are rewilding the land and Charlotte
Bronte drew inspiration.

And then on to arrive at our
historic destination, York.

During this luxury
private steam trip,

passengers get to enjoy
first class silver service

that echoes a bygone golden era
of travel.

We have all the crystalware, even
the glassware is taking us back

to that time of elegance.

It's all about taking guests
back to the time

when things were done slowly.

Slowly, that is,

except for the flow
of champagne bellinis.

ALL: Cheers.

THEY LAUGH

This is lovely, isn't it?
Nice.

I'm not quite sure what's in it,
but it's very nice.

I think you don't care, really,
do you? No, I don't!

Cheers!

It's great to see some
familiar faces -

seen guests coming again,

and also some new faces
that we haven't seen before.

So, it's very, very special.

Half an hour into the journey,

the Royal Scot's pistons are firing
in true time-honoured style.

TRAIN HORN BLOWS

Originally numbered 6100,

it was designed by Sir Henry Fowler

for the London Midland
Scottish Railway.

At 63 foot long and 85 tonnes,

this locomotive could haul
passengers from London to Glasgow

in just over seven hours,

and was capable of speeds
of over 100mph.

For railway aficionado
Peter Watkinson,

the Royal Scot is one of
the greatest trains in the world.

It was chosen to travel
across to America in 1933

for exhibition in Chicago,

and whilst it was over there,

it took actually a full train
of LMS carriages with it

and it travelled all around North
America and across the Rockies.

The Royal Scot travelled over 11,000
miles across the United States

and Canada, enthralling passengers
who had never seen or heard

a British locomotive.

Today it's on the main line,
doing what it should do,

hauling trains throughout Britain.

An hour into our journey, we join
one of the oldest train routes

in the world - the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway.

The line was the vision

of pioneering engineer
George Stephenson...

Creator of the first passenger
railway in history.

But here at Chat Moss, Stephenson
faced an almost impossible task

of crossing a 7,000-year-old
peat bog

formed at the end
of the last Ice Age.

Nothing would stand in Stephenson's
way, so he constructed a raised

embankment, supported on pontoons
of timber and heather,

lending the name "the floating
railway" to the line.

Today, the last remnants
of the marshland can still be seen

from the train window.

Passionate about its windswept,
permeable natural beauty

is local conservationist David...

..along with his fellow bog
enthusiasts from the Wildlife Trust

who are protecting
this ancient peat land.

It's the glory of the place.

I come here, I just.

You just lose yourself.
This mindfulness people speak about.

I didn't realise we had mindfulness
- the Moss is mindfulness.

Just...
I'll go quiet and just look.

Feel the wind -
it's trying to blow me over.

It's an element. It wants me to
actually fall in the mire.

It doesn't particularly care
about me, but I care about it.

David has been coming here
for over 60 years

and he may be onto something...

Lowland peat bogs like this once
covered thousands of square miles

of Britain before a staggering 99%
of them were damaged

through farm drainage
and peat extraction.

These local volunteers are
on a mission to rescue the last 1%.

So, you can see,
still plenty of water in there.

Such a good water store
to prevent flooding.

Bit of rain
and it springs back to life

cos it can actually hold 20
times its own weight in water.

This is what a bog should look like.

There's actually about 30 different
species of plant in here.

If you look a bit closer at a bog,

there's a whole world
waiting to be discovered.

Discovering these wonders
as well as nurturing them

is starting to pay off.

Numerous bird species, insects
and butterflies are returning...

..and this carbon friendly peat
wilderness

continues to be cared for
by nature lovers like David.

Destined to be forever at his best

knee deep in Cheshire's
most famous bog.

It's the beauty of nature,

this wonderful, windswept landscape.

You go home refreshed.
You go home happily tired.

That cup of tea tastes
better than any cup of tea

you could possibly have when
you first get in the house,

because even on a day like today,

there's great joy in the place.

While our passengers
soak up the views...

..Executive Chef Nick and his team

prepare the first carbohydrates
of the day.

We're just starting
Breakfast Service.

We've got 111 diners on board today.

They have a choice of
a full English breakfast

or smoked salmon
on a toasted English muffin

with caviar and scrambled eggs.

I'm going to sprinkle chives now.

And some fresh pea shoots.

The motion of the train
is really difficult.

We have to make sure that everything
is quite well secured

so we don't lose any ingredients
kind of flying about or anything.

The chef is keen that the menu
reflects the regional flavours

that lie along the route.

The menus that I write for the train
trips are meticulously planned

in advance to incorporate
ingredients and dishes

depending on where we are
in the country.

So, for example, today's menu

is using ham that is braised
for nine hours,

that comes from the Vale of Edale
that we're travelling

through on the journey today.

Thank you.

Well, that was an amazing breakfast.

That was a good start.

The smoked salmon, caviar,
are absolutely spot on.

Soon our train reaches
the picturesque border

with Derbyshire...

..where we are about to enter
one of Britain's most famous

and magnificent national parks.

We're two and a half hours into one
of Britain's most classic railway

journeys, puffing our way
through northeast England

towards the Peak District

aboard the Royal Scot -

a steam lover's dream.

He still has a train set now.
It's up in the loft.

Goes there for hours.
THEY LAUGH

Loves every minute.

It's one of those iconic journeys

and it's recalling the heady
days of steam.

It's just nice -
a nice pace of life.

A slower pace of life.

On the next leg of our journey,

we travel across Marple Viaduct

to be greeted by views

of the magnificent Peak District
National Park,

and then continue on past
Derwent Reservoir -

historic home of the legendary
Dambusters.

As we approach the border
of Cheshire and Derbyshire

and past the village of Romiley,

the railway line runs
close alongside

an even older transport
route for over ten miles...

The Peak Forest Canal.

During the 18th century,

Britain's canals were the motorways
of the Industrial Revolution.

The Peak Forest Canal was used

to transport quarried stone
to Manchester

and wool to the burgeoning cotton
mills of the north.

Today, the canal may not be the
bustling superhighway

that it once was,

but life at 4mph, to some,

is the only way to admire
the landscape.

Especially for canal boat dweller
and artist Steve.

I love the Peak District Canal
because it's so quiet

and so picturesque.

The system's 2,000 miles long

and it's a conservation corridor
the whole way along it.

You get such amazing wildlife

from deer to kingfishers.

All sorts of incredible birds,
like sea birds even following you,

and fishing behind the boat,
which is incredible.

So, yeah, it broadens your horizons.

But for Steve, the waterway
is so much more

than just a pleasant ride.

It's also pulsating with history.

His 72 foot diesel powered canal
boat "Prince" was built in 1931

as a working vessel to shunt goods
like coal up and down the country.

It's one of the rare few
of its type surviving.

All right, Steve. You good?
Yeah, good, thanks.

He's converted it into his home,

but like many
of the original canal boats,

it was designed with a deep hull

to haul heavy goods up and down the
country, including coal.

With a long boat like Prince,

you have to learn a few little
tricks to get them to go

where you need them to.

The Peak Forest Canal terminates
at Bugsworth Basin.

Built in 1796, it became
Britain's busiest inland port.

Limestone from local quarries
was loaded from tram carts here,

then shipped along the waterways
to coast and country.

When you even scratch the surface
of that history,

it's just incredible.

The engineering works
to bring that product

down into Bugsworth Basin

and then trans-ship it
to other boats

and send it off around the north -
it's just epic.

And all of this in the
late 17, early 1800s.

As the railways spread
across Britain,

the canals fell into decline.

Bugsworth Basin closed in 1920,

though it later re-emerged
as a local beauty spot.

Close by at Marple Viaduct,

these two great transport routes
of both water and rail

run side by side.

The aqueduct from the great era
of canals built in 1800...

..and the railway viaduct
built 65 years later.

Passengers get to see them both

as the Royal Scot majestically
glides over and past

the twin bridges
that defined progress in their day.

Our train journey continues on east,

crossing over into Derbyshire.

HORN BLOWS

We're actually now passing
through Cowburn tunnel itself.

This is two and a half miles
long, this tunnel,

and this is the deepest
tunnel in England.

HORN BLOWS

On the other side, passengers
are greeted by one of the most

glorious sights in the country -

the Peak District National Park.

It came into existence after public
gatherings during the 1930s

that demanded the right to roam.

The Kinder Scout mass trespass,

as it became known,

led to the creation of Britain's
first national park.

Tremendously popular, this area
with climbers and walkers,

fabulous area to travel to,

and is one of the country's
most popular national parks.

Out for a bit of adventure today
is local mountaineer Paul,

keen to show his son Ben one
of his favourite climbs in an area

known as the Dark Peak.

We talk about the Dark Peak
being the area where there's

gritstone and the White
Peak being the limestone,

the lighter coloured rock, and
that's what distinguishes the two.

Why don't we go and have
a look at the slab?

Yeah, that sounds good.

Right in the heart of the Dark
Peak is a rock escarpment

called Stanage Edge,

quite a challenge
for inexperienced climbers,

though not, of course,
if your dad is a top mountaineer.

You could do a lead climb,
couldn't you, Ben? Yes.

It's good to get out on a day
like this.

I always enjoy coming here

and climbing the routes.

Of course, Paul -
he's not worried in the slightest.

Might be good putting the shoes on.

It's an absolute pleasure to come
out with Ben and to teach him some

of the skills that have sort
of enhanced my life.

We share this interest
which is amazing.

Amazing.

Let's have a look at your knot.
Looks good.

OK.
OK, I think we're ready to climb.

So, climb when you're ready, Ben.
OK. Climbing.

See the traverse sign there, Ben,

you'll be able to get some
good cams in.

OK.
So make sure it's well protected.

Ben's using what we call
a camming device,

which is something
he's putting into the rock,

so if he falls off, that will stop
him from falling too far.

So now what he'll do is he'll clip
the rope into that

and that will protect
the next section.

That's a good piece, is it, Ben?

Yeah, really good.

Many of the world's top
mountaineers have trained here

among the thousands
of different climbing routes

in the Peaks.

The weathered sandstone is covered
in vertical joints and fractures

that make it good for climbers

and is sometimes
called "crack climbing."

Yeah, that's great.

He's got to the top,
done really well.

At the top, the breathtaking views

that all park visitors
come here to see.

555 square miles

of spectacular Peaks' wilderness.

How was that, Ben?

It was good. Bit cold once
I got to the top,

but I was still really enjoyed it.
Good.

Well done. Good effort.
Thank you.

That's a really step up
in your leading. Yeah.

What a day to be out.

It's just relaxing
and the food's great.

It's a different era,

which I remember.

It's not just the luxury Pullman
carriages that date back

to a lost era of travel.

The landscapes outside
are also steeped in history.

Along the route, we actually
pass the Derwent Reservoir.

Now, this has become very famous
since the Second World War

because 617 Squadron
did training exercises

and they were known as
the Dambusters.

Immortalised in the 1955 film,

617 Squadron was set up
by veteran pilot Guy Gibson

during the Second World War.

His mission was to train young,
inexperienced pilots to drop

a revolutionary new bouncing bomb

on strategic dams in Nazi Germany's
Ruhr Industrial Belt.

Only six miles to the north
of the railway tracks,

Derwent Reservoir,
where the Dambusters trained,

still graces the landscape.

Today, it's a tranquil beauty spot.

PLANE ROARS

Other than the occasional
fly-past of a Lancaster bomber,

as during the 70th anniversary
commemorations.

But in 1943 it was alive with the
roar of countless training runs

by low flying bombers
for a full six weeks.

According to local historian
Robert,

Derwent was the perfect
training ground for the Dambusters.

The countryside around Derwent
Valley approximates to that

around the German dams.

And the dams also have two towers,

just like their German counterparts.

They'd come in low over the hills,

settle down to 60 feet,

get the speed right at 220mph.

The bomb aimer would hold
the sight to his eye,

he'd line up against the tower,

waiting for the moment at which he
would press the release button.

EXPLOSION

On the 16th of May 1943,

19 Lancasters and 133 airmen

set off under moonlight to target
three dams in the Ruhr Valley.

Two of the three target dams
were hit.

We attended from the power station,

standing on the bank,
rather like we are now,

looking at the face of the dam.

And gradually he saw
small cracks appearing

and jets of water spraying out

through those cracks,
glinting in the moonlight.

It must have been a terrifying
sight for him.

The Mohne Dam alone emptied
130 million tonnes of water

as a 25 foot high tidal wave
surged down the valley,

damaging over 100 factories

and destroying vital
Nazi infrastructure.

Today, a memorial still stands
at the Derwent Dam

to honour the loss of 1,500 Germans,
many of them civilians,

and 53 British airmen.

We remember not only the courage
and the skill of the air crews

and the engineering ingenuity
of the bouncing bomb...

..but we also remember
those who lost their lives

in the dam busting operation.

By mid-morning, our train is halfway
along its five hour journey

through the Peaks,

but for blossoming romantics aboard,

Derbyshire's rolling landscapes

are still only just
beginning to unfold.

HORN BLOWS

We're on the Crewe to York
steam train -

a stunning journey
through the Peak District

aboard one of the world's
most classic trains, the Royal Scot.

A fabulous way of travel compared
to modern trains, which are cramped.

Plastic seats. Plastic tables.

Plastic cups. Plastic coffee.

It's the whole experience
of enjoying a comfortable train.

The scenery as we travel along
the UK network is wonderful.

Still within the Peak District
National Park,

we pass Hope Station
and its rolling limestone valleys

and then picturesque Hathersage

that inspired the acclaimed
author Charlotte Bronte,

to eventually join the East Coast
mainline via Sheffield.

The railway follows the contours
of the Hope Valley

that lends its name to the line.

The geology here is in stark
contrast to the exposed Dark Peak.

These more sheltered limestone hills
are rich and fertile,

a landscape that has been exploited
and shaped by farmers

since ancient times.

One family living here for centuries
is Geoff's, and he himself

still remembers when steam
locomotives passed

through the valley.

The Hope Valley line runs
through my farm.

When I was a kid, we used
to go up to Hope Station,

which is just there - they used to
let us ride on the good trains.

Jumped in all the carriages.

When Geoff isn't jumping
goods wagons,

he's busy driving his own instead.

But he's no ordinary farmer.

He's gained a local reputation
of being something of an inventor...

Pull the lever and the bags drop
off onto the floor, like that.

We can't really drop it because
I can't lift it back up again.

..often seen with his strange
machines up on the moor.

Over the years,
I've built harvesters.

This is after 30 years
of developing them,

I've landed up with this
particular machine.

Geoff has invented these machines

to help revive the heather that once
covered this area.

It's said to be rarer than
rainforest and home to a rich

variety of flora and fauna.

Choking it out has been bracken,

ever on the rampage.

Solid bracken.

It dies off in the winter.

It's not a very good carbon plant.

It carries very, very few
insects or wildlife.

There's hardly anything living.
It's just dead material.

This is where Geoff's strange
machines have come up trumps.

Allowing him to rewild the landscape

with the heather that he loves,

using inventions

that he's also rather fond of.

We designed it so it just takes
the heather seed off the plant

and leaves the plant intact
so we don't damage the plant.

After harvesting, he moves
on to his next contraption -

this one designed to extract
the tiny heather seeds.

That is what I'm after.

That is the pure seed.

It's just like pepper dust.

Geoff's next contraption, however,

got scientists so excited

they awarded him a university degree
for his discoveries.

My son came across and he'd not
seen what I've been doing.

He called it the Willy Wonka
Chocolate Factory!

Geoff blows smoke over spring water
that is fed through a radiator,

which then condenses to form
what he calls

concentrated liquid smoke.

Smells like kippers.

I think they do actually
put this sort of liquid

onto kippers nowadays.

They don't smoke them -
they use the liquid.

But what that does, when it gets
into contact with the heather seed,

it breaks the dormancy,

so that it germinates,

because in natural processes,

a lot of species will germinate
when they've been through a fire.

Plus, it stops all the microbes
in the soil eating the seed.

Thanks to Geoff's passion
and enthusiasm...

..which has even earned him
the nickname the Heather Doctor,

the moorland is once again rich
in its natural plant cover

and Hope Valley is truly
living up to its name.

I seeded all the hill,
right the way round,

right the way round the village.

And it took a fair few years
for the heather to establish,

but then three quarters
around the village went purple.

I even got remarks
from the local villagers,

they said, "Oh, it must be
a good year for heather this year."

All you have to do is watch
the scenery,

sit ere, talk, eat and drink.

It's very difficult!
It's a hard life!

Passing the newly planted heather,

our train continues along
the Hope Valley Line.

Chuffing past Hathersage,

a village with a surprising link
to literary folklore.

It was here that Charlotte Bronte
found inspiration

for what became one of the classics
of Victorian English literature -

Jane Eyre.

Local tour guide Ellen believes
she knows the exact sources

of particular people and places
that turn up in the novel.

"I turned in direction of the sound
of the chimes of the clock,

"and there, among the romantic hills

"I saw a hamlet and a spire.

"All of the valley at my right
was full of pasture fields."

Bronte was 30 years old when
she visited Hathersage in 1846,

here on a three week visit to spend
time with an old school friend.

The village made such a lasting
impression on the author

that hardly a part of it doesn't
appear somewhere in the book,

including North Lees Hall.

In the book she called it
Thornfields,

and thorn is an anagram of north,

and Lees is the old ancient
Saxon word for field.

"I looked up and surveyed
the front of the mansion.

"It was three storeys high,
of proportions not vast,

"though considerable.

"A gentleman's manor house,
not a nobleman's seat.

"Battlements around the top
gave it a picturesque look."

Further clues to the sources
of Charlotte's inspiration

can be found in the local hotel,

once the coaching inn
where Charlotte stayed...

..and the village church.

There's "Eyre" written right in
the middle of the back wall.

One detail, however,
during Bronte's stay here

didn't make the novel -

when the church vicar made
a failed marriage bid

to the unimpressed author.

We hear from her diaries
that she turned him down

because he was "a boring
sententious pig."

Unfortunately, "the pig" was
Charlotte's friend's brother,

but after that little faux pas,

peace between them was restored.

Charlotte even decorated
the vicarage when someone finally

said "yes" to the bore.

In a further twist,

Charlotte's own family invested
in the Northern Railways,

but the railway never passed
through Hathersage

till after Jane Eyre was published.

Soon after leaving Hope Valley,

we pass through Totley Tunnel,
second longest in the country.

HORN BLARES

The Royal Scot dashes
north through Yorkshire...

..heading towards
the county capital,

one of northern England's
most treasured historic cities

steeped in railway history.

We're heading north for the final
stretch of our five hour journey

through the Peaks,

pulled by our noble steed of iron,
the Royal Scot.

And as the locomotive crew
shovel coal...

..the service team oil the
passengers with still more Bellinis.

I travelled from Ilkley in Yorkshire

to Leeds to Manchester

to go to York,

to come back to Manchester,

to go back to Leeds,

and back to Ilkley.

With my son's help putting
me on the train.

I haven't been on
a steam train before.

With the arrival in York looming,

our well-fed passengers are already
planning the afternoon's forays.

When we get to York, we hope
to have a very long walk

around the city, walk off some
of the excess

that we've enjoyed this morning.

It's a time to catch up. Relax.

Have a day out.

Where are we going then?
I don't know!

SHE LAUGHS

We've got a little bit
of shopping to do.

And we want to go
into the cathedral.

Finally, we arrive at one
of the most adored cities

of the north - York.

The station is a fitting end
to our journey.

Even during Victorian times,

it was considered
a monument of engineering,

worthy of the city's role

as the centre of north-eastern
England's railway network.

Thank you. See you later.

It's the perfect gateway
for exploring

the grand old medieval city of York.

For railway enthusiasts,

the city's greatest attraction lies
only feet away from the station

in an old Victorian train shed.

Anthony is Senior Curator
of the National Railway Museum.

It still gives a great atmosphere
to the cavern that this must

have been and gives rise
to the name that so many

called locomotive sheds -
"cathedrals of steam."

If railways were indeed a religion,

this cathedral would impress,

with over 80 locomotives, carriages
and wagons and 11,000 objects,

including some of the fastest,

like Japan's bullet train.

And some of the most elegant
ever built,

like the Royal Train, the Gladstone.

The collection also includes

some of the oldest locomotives
in the world.

One of Anthony's favourites
is a replica of Stephenson's Rocket.

It's assembled with carriages
of the period, as well.

The first class looking like a
stagecoach with three carriage

bodies on top of a single chassis.

These carriages, this locomotive,
would have worked across Chat Moss

at the opening of the Liverpool
Manchester Railway.

Within the hallways of this treasure
trove of railway history

are its incredible archives.

Even the Royal Scot's own story
can be found here with posters,

route maps and brochures,

dating back to when it ran
from Euston to Glasgow.

And its legendary journey

across North America in the 1930s.

The route that it took,
the crowds coming to see it.

Look at that there.

The contrast between Royal Scot
and the Broadway Limited,

the US loco against the UK loco.

The railways are so much
more than just trains.

They're about people,
communities, places, travel.

Railways created the industrial
heartlands of Britain.

They brought people closer together.

They created networks and they made
the country what it is today.

And today, what a glorious journey
passengers have enjoyed.

Passing famous landmarks at Marple,

crossing the windswept Peaks

and their secret treasure trove
of British heritage.

All aboard one of the world's
most adored steam trains,

a glistening iron horse

that is still very much
alive and kicking -

the Royal Scot.