Classic Steam Train Collection - Season 1

First aired: 1/1/2005 8 episodes

← Back to Classic Steam Train Collection

Episodes

1. King for a Day

Aired: 1/1/2005

This is the most comprehensive coverage of a steam rail trip ever made, as cameras at more than 50 locations followed the beautifully restored 6024 “King Edward I” from London to Bristol and back to Didcot. Wearing “The Bristolian” headboard, the King’s progress was followed by cameras at the lineside, on the footplate as well as from the air to capture the sights and sounds of a bygone era. The load behind the 460 class locomotive was over 500 tons and the schedule called for some sharp timings to keep out of the way of high speed trains. The programme includes dramatic footplate commentary on the climb through Box Tunnel to help you enjoy in more detail than ever previously possible, exactly what it was like to ride with the King for a day.

2. Green Arrow Goes West

Aired: 1/1/2005

In what is believed to be the most intensive coverage of a single steam railtour, a team of professional TV cameramen follow “Green Arrow” to the West Country. But it was a railtour that Green Arrow was never scheduled to make. The original plan was to take a Gresley A4 to Plymouth. Filming had already started aboard 60007 “Sir Nigel Gresley” when mechanical faults ruled the engine out. As luck would have it, the only survivor of the V2 class, “Green Arrow”, had just come back from major surgery and she came to the rescue in spectacular fashion. No-one could have imagined the volcanic efforts the big 2-6-2 engine would have to produce, particularly on the infamous Devon banks, in order to reach Plymouth. This brilliant programme reveals the drama of steam traction at its most volcanic.

3. Orient Express Steam

Aired: 1/1/2005

This is the story of the Southern West Country- class 34027 "Taw Valley". She was saved by a single minded Yorkshireman with a romantic streak who rescued it from the scrapyard in 1980 as a birthday gift for his wife. This film is a unique record of 34027 on the Orient Express in Southern England. We join the footplate crew for live action commentary of the engine at work and go behind the scenes with the men who care for the West Country Bulleid

4. Flying Scotsman: A Day in the Life

Aired: 1/1/2005

The ultimate pictorial record of how the world’s most famous express locomotive steamed triumphantly into the Millennium, reborn with far greater power than Sir Nigel Gresley had ever envisaged. It is a story of financial nightmares and engineering excellence and it’s told with the help of three men, her owner, the chief engineer, and the traction inspector who was on the footplate at key moments. A professional TV documentary crew intensively filmed the engine in action during her first year back on the mainline. The result is a unique film, ‘A Day in the Life’ and ‘A Year in the Life’ - the star is “Flying Scotsman”.

5. Clan Line: A Day in the Life

Aired: 1/1/2005

Way back in the 1960s, when steam was on the way out, a group of kids decided they simply weren’t prepared to let the Merchant Navy class die – so they bought one straight out of BR ownership! The Bulleid Merchant Navy Pacific 35028 “Clan Line” wasn’t their first choice, but has since proved a brilliant flagship of the surviving Southerns. With the support of the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society, we see the engine being prepared at Stewarts Lane for a day out in the Garden of England, wearing the Golden Arrow headboard. What makes this film distinctive is that the engine is festooned with numerous cameras, including footplate coverage and footage from the air, with driver Colin Kerswill providing expert guidance of the engine at work.

6. Black Five Green Train

Aired: 1/1/2005

On April 1st 2000, a Black Five answered an SOS from the Mid-Hants Railway to work a Daylight Railtour outing from Alton to Bridgnorth, home of the Severn Valley Railway. Known as the maid of all works, there were 842 Black Fives built and she was certainly the most reliable workhorse of the London Midland Region. Their day out on the mainline included the long drag north from Warwick up Hatton Bank where they had the rare opportunity of working a preserved steam engine flat out. The film takes a look at the engine’s performance on that trip including detailed footplate and lineside coverage as the crew worked to get the most out of the mixed-traffic engine.

7. Castle and Manor on The Torbay Express

Aired: 1/1/2005

This film takes a look at clash between the Bradley Manor and the Earl Bathurst engines for the Torbay Express route between Bristol and Kingswear. See how Castle class locomotive 5051 “Earl Bathurst” copes with a 75-mile an hour dash to the seaside as she stands in for 7802 “Bradley Manor” on the first of a series of Torbay Express excursions between Bristol and Kingswear.

8. Driving and Firing the Western Engines

Aired: 1/1/2005

This film joins the drivers and engineers on the Western Line engines for live sequences of different journeys. Every aspect of driving a steam locomotive is covered. From observing and obeying signals to understanding the dangers of letting speed run away with you, Clive Groome’s easy manor and vast experience makes this definitive footplate guide a must-watch for anyone interested in steam. Clive one of the most experienced enginemen in the country demonstrates how to fire four very different steam locomotives from lighting up in the morning and oiling the machine right through to the disposal of the engine at night.