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 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.
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 is 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.
This time, the team find out how the railways transformed the British diet, rescuing a nation that was struggling to feed itself. Putting theory into practice, Alex and Peter load a flock of sheep onto a train, discovering how the mass transportation of livestock by rail transformed the quality and quantity of meat available to Victorian consumers. This new capability gave birth to the traditional British roast.
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.
In this episode, the team head to the South Devon Railway to explore the life of the branch line before the 1960s Beeching cuts. Ruth discovers how the railways came to the rescue when a deadly disease wiped out almost the entire stock of London cattle.
In the final episode, the team find out how the combination of increased leisure time and affordable rail transport brought a new kind of freedom for working-class Victorians. Ruth travels along the beautiful south Devon coast before enjoying a Victorian shopping spree in the capital while Peter finds out what it was like to work on the excursion trains and the impact tourism had on the area.
