Great British Railway Journeys Ep 7/20
Michael Portillo returns to the historic Settle to Carlisle line, a route he helped to save when he was Minister of State for Transport in the Eighties, in the second leg of his second journey from Preston to Kirkcaldy. In Settle, he meets Mark Rand and Peter Horton, who campaigned to keep the line open, to find out what has happened to it since.
From Settle, he travels north to a remarkable feat of Victorian engineering, the Ribblehead Viaduct, one of the largest in Britain. In the Eighties, engineer Tony Feschini was charged with repairing it when it was crumbling away. He tells Michael what life was like for the navvies who originally built the line and the viaduct by hand. Most of them lived in disease-ridden and overcrowded work camps through the harsh Yorkshire winters. In a nearby pub, Michael meets James Rixon, whose ancestors helped to build the viaduct. Before moving on, Michael visits the graveyard where many of the workers, their wives and their children ended up.
That night, Michael sleeps in the old snow huts at the highest railway station in England, Dent. These snow huts – now converted into holiday accommodation – were used by railwaymen sent up to Yorkshire during the winter to shovel snow off the line and keep the trains running. Before leaving Dent, Michael discovers how keeping the line open has stimulated tourism in the area and helped to build local businesses, like the blacksmiths.
In a grand finale, Michael catches one of the regular summer steam trains along the line across the restored Ribblehead viaduct.
5 Responses to “Great British Railway Journeys Ep 7/20”
Comment from fred
Time January 11, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Steam trains over viaducts?? – there must be loads of them every year! I’ve seen steam trains over the impressive Brighton viaduct (heading towards Lewes for Faversham) and the steam-hauled Cathedrals Expresses regularly go over the Balcombe Viaduct near Haywards Heath en route for Hove and the west…
Comment from tricia
Time January 12, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Really enjoyed the settle/carlisle programme, when will this be repeated.
I have done this journey a few times, cant wait to do it again !!!
Comment from fred
Time January 12, 2010 at 11:01 pm
I enjoyed this episode too – but why did they film two different steam trains going over Ribblehead viaduct? Michael was being pulled by LMS Jubilee Class 5690 ‘Leander’ (usually seen at the ELR at Bury, which he could have visited last week) but they also showed a train hauled by a British Railways green loco with windshields – what was that?
Comment from fred
Time January 13, 2010 at 12:39 pm
I believe the other train intercut with Michael’s passage over the viaduct with Leander and presumably filmed from the helicopter was pulled by LMS Royal Scot class 46115 ‘Scots Guardsman’ in BR Brunswick Green
Comment from Thomas Cook
Time January 11, 2010 at 6:58 pm
In this he says when crossing the Ribblehead Viaduct, you cant do this anywhere else in Britain…what about the Jacobite Steam train that crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct, in Glenfinnan, on the Fort William to Mallaig route.
Those who dont know this route, its the Harry Potter Viaduct.
BBC gets it wrong again.