Full Steam Ahead (2016)

Historians Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn bring back to life the golden age of steam and explore how the Victorian railways created modern Britain. The introduction of steam railways in the early 19th century changed Britain in a way no one could have predicted. This episode explores how they created a domestic revolution, changing the way we lived, from the houses we lived in to the food we ate. In the middle of winter, the team arrive at the Ffestiniog Railway in Snowdonia to find out how millions of tons of slate were moved down the mountain. This is the slate that covers roofs in every corner of the country, and all of it was moved by rail. Underground, Alex experiences the brutal conditions faced by miners in Llechwedd quarry who would have endured 12-hour shifts suspended from iron chains. It's an exhilarating ride down the narrow winding track aboard the 'gravity train' with the whole crew hanging on to the brakes all the way. At Foxfields Railway in Staffordshire, built to transport coal to the nearby mainline, Ruth gets on the loco's footplate as it is driven up the steepest railway in Britain. Coal was to change everything in our day-to-day lives, right down to the way we cooked, the shape of our pots and the role of women who had to deal with the tyranny of keeping clothes clean in this dirty industrial world.

Historians Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn visit Beamish in County Durham to examine how railway companies began to develop ways of moving people, rather than just stone, coal and iron, around the country. The comfort of the early passenger wagons are put to the test on one of the earliest steam trains, and Ruth finds out how people were moving further than ever before. Peter and Alex are put through their paces discovering what life was like for the railway navvies, the people that built thousands of miles of iron roads across the country and in all weather conditions. They come face to face with the harsh realities faced by countless workmen. A demand for building railways transcended across other industries, even reviving many. Ruth finds out what impact they had on cottage industries and looks at the role that horsehair played in making the carriages as people-friendly as possible. With the railways opening up plenty of new job roles, Ruth finds out what the role of the guard would have entailed at the Bluebell Line. The team take a flying visit to a refreshment room, using the Railway Travellers Handy Book to guide them through the necessary etiquette. The team also discover the downside of compartment-only carriages, come face to face with a cardsharp and find out what precautions you could take should you go on a long train journey that was yet to include the necessary facilities!

This week, the team find out how the railways transformed the British diet, rescuing a nation that was struggling to feed itself.

It is full steam ahead for historians Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn as they bring back to life the golden age of steam and explore how the Victorian railways created modern Britain. At the National Railway Museum, Alex and Peter help get the most famous locomotive in the world, the Flying Scotsman, into steam. The team take a ride of a lifetime as the loco travels along its original route, connecting the two most important financial capitals of the empire - London and Edinburgh - and Alex finds out what it is like for catering staff with 250 hungry mouths to feed. Peter heads to the Great Central Railway to find out how the railways revolutionised the delivery of mail right across Britain and is put to task on the travelling post office, where time is of the essence. The boys visit the Milton Keynes Museum to find out how the railways facilitated the first ever electrical communication service - instantaneous messaging over a hundred years before the arrival of emails. With the railways opening up many new and interesting titled jobs, Ruth finds out what the role of the wheel-tapper entailed and helps to tyre a wheel with a steel band at the South Devon Railway workshop. In Bristol, Alex discovers how the railways were responsible for bringing the nation into sync, as he visits a clock with not one, but two minute hands! Meanwhile, Peter learns how the railways brought Britain current news, hot off the press, for the first time.