Fred was best known for felling chimneys: but that was the job he liked least. His real interest was in restoring them and keeping them standing. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steel and Stone e6: Preserving Our Past
That wonderful smell, and fog, and coal, and black oil everywhere. To me it were quite romantic. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steel and Stone e7: All Steamed Up
It’s all very sad really that it’s practically all gone. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steel and Stone e8: Riches Beneath the Earth
It was the growth in iron production that led to the great increase in the demand for coal. ibid.
It is really a bit unusual to have a pit-head gear in your back garden ... I’ve got this plan to actually build a replica coal mine in me garden. ibid.
Real mining men. ibid.
For Fred the greatest of the Victorian engineers was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steel and Stone e9: Changing the Landscape
The canals were like the arteries of the Industrial Revolution. They helped to provide cheaper goods and raw materials. ibid.
By the middle of the nineteenth century we were constructing some magnificent spinning mills with beautiful chimney stacks. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steal and Stone s1e10: Great British Builders
With this business of jettying, they actually protrude over the wall ... There’s nothing in between me and the moat, only these floorboards ... You can get a room maybe as much as eight or nine feet bigger than you would inside the actual stone walls. ibid.
The thing that distinguishes these great Norman cathedrals from the Saxon buildings they replaced is the sheer size and scale of them. ibid.
Three tiers of arches! And all quite slender really. ibid.
All for the glory of God. ibid.
This love of fine craftsmanship led us to a greater appreciation of the skills of craftsman of the past, and of the work of craftsmen and women today who carry on the traditions. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steal and Stone s1e11: Masters of Their Trade
‘Fred will have opened the eyes of lots of people to the joy of craftsmanship, and the small-scale perfection people put into things.’ ibid. John Yates, English Heritage
Fred Dibnah’s real heroes were the ordinary workers and labourers of the people like him who got their hands dirty. From the labourers and stone masons who built great medieval castles and cathedrals to twentieth century coal miners, mill workers and steel workers. He will always be remembered for the respect he had for all those people who made their living for making things. Wherever Fred went it was always the workers he related to. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steal and Stone s1e12: A Good Day’s Work
They’re magnificent on a moon-lit night. Fred Dibnah’s Railway Collection e5: The Great Days of Steam, BBC 2008
I always wanted to be an engine driver. ibid.
I wish I’d have lived then. ibid.
And this is probably the most famous locomotive from that time – built at Doncaster – The Flying Scotsman. ibid.
1926 – Mallard left Grantham heading towards Peterborough ... A hundred and twenty-six miles per hour. ibid.
The skills of building a mainline locomotive have almost died. But here in Darlington they are keeping the skills alive. ibid.
It makes you wonder if they’d carried on with the development of the steam locomotive what could have happened. ibid.
The speeds increased and train loads grew heavier. Locomotives grew in size and in the 1920s the Great Western Railway locomotives were amongst the most advanced. By the 1930s famous streamlined locomotives like Mallard were being built. Fred Dibnah’s Railway Collection e6: Railway Preservation e6
In 1955 the first Diesel locomotive – Deltic – was built, and singled the end of the line for the steam locomotive. ibid.
All these lovely old engines started to rust away in scrapyards. ibid.
The Railway Preservation Movement was born. ibid.