Great British Railway Journeys Ep 11/20
Michael Portillo begins his third journey, which takes him along Brunel’s Great Western Railway (GWR) from Swindon to Penzance, as he continues to discover what remains of George Bradshaw’s – the man who transformed travel in the UK – Britain.
In Bradshaw’s time, Swindon was the headquarters of the GWR and had one of the largest railway works in Britain. Michael visits the railway village in Swindon to meet Ron Glass and Mary Starley who both used to work for GWR. They tell Michael about TRIP – the annual railway worker’s holidays – during which they were given free travel on the trains to the seaside. It was the beginning of mass tourism and kick-started the development of seaside resorts in Devon and Cornwall.
Michael then travels on to Bath where he meets Dr Roger Rolls and finds out how the railways transformed this town. Once a preserve of the rich, the famous hot baths became accessible to everyone when the railways arrived. Michael finds out about the spa’s history and takes a dip himself before spending the night in the Royal Crescent, in the former home of the Duke of York.
His last stop is Bristol, where Michael tries his hand at blowing blue glass, with James Adlington. Bristol’s blue glass was world-famous in Bradshaw’s time and is one of the local industries mentioned in the guide. Although most of the industry is long gone, James has revived one small workshop to make the glass in the traditional way.
Finally, Michael travels by boat through the Bristol docks with ferryman Tom Axon to hear about Brunel’s plans for the first passenger steamship service to America. Their journey ends at the SS Great Britain, still in the docks at Bristol.
Comment from Jon Cortis
Time January 18, 2010 at 10:53 pm
So the journey went through Box Tunnel to Bath. Why not mention that most of Bath used the limestone that came from Box Hill. Supposedly Brunel also had the tunnel built so on his birthday as the sun rose it shone from the East end to the West