Underneath the streets of London an army of more than ten thousand engineers is building a brand-new subterranean railway: Crossrail, costing almost £15 billion. The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway s1e1, BBC 2014
Much of the old infrastructure remains in place today. The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway s1e2
Tunnelling under the Thames has been a Great British obsession for many years. ibid.
The most ambitious railway in Britain for a generation: Crossrail. A new subterranean train line connecting Heathrow Airport in the west to the booming city in the east. The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway s1e3
The biggest engineering project in Europe. ibid.
This is a drone’s eye view of an extraordinary endeavour almost entirely hidden from sight. While shoppers and city workers pound London’s pavements above, this secret army of more than ten thousand workers is pulverising the rock and clay right beneath their feet. They’re building Crossrail: a brand-new underground railway costing almost £15 billion. It’s one of the most ambitious rail projects in Britain since the time of Brunel. The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway s2e1, BBC 2017
120 kilometres of new railway will link to the rest of the Tube. ibid.
100 million hours of labour: it’s finally possible to experience a driver-eye’s view of the new £15 billion railway. The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway s2e2
The new railway will pass right across London. ibid.
I have been branded with folly and madness for attempting what the world calls impossibilities. Even the great engineer Mr James Watt said that I deserve hanging for bringing into use the high-pressure engine. Richard Trevithick
The parties adjourned to the hotel. And comforted their hearts with a roast goose and proper drinks. Richard Trevithick
From his earliest years Fred Dibnah, the Bolton steeplejack, hero-worshipped the men who worked up factory chimneys. He loved the cotton industry, the mills and the steam engines, the noise, the smoke and the pride. Fred Dibnah, A Year With Fred s1e1: Monuments of the Dark Ages, BBC 1987
‘Everybody’s like trying to rip everybody else off.’ ibid. Fred
Fred has spent much of his life with steam engines. The restoration of this roller from a wreck took 14 years of resolute work in which he pressed on through domestic upheavals and public outcry. ibid.
These characters down here you know they’ll like live in the romantic world of long ago. This steam-engine business is really a form of escapism. And it’s like little lads who never grew up. I can’t complain. ’Cause I’m one meself. It’s like an excuse to dress yourself up with a red neckerchief on and a flat cap. Really they’re like romantics trying to escape from modern life in a way. You know. But I think if you really could go back to Victorian times it weren’t that romantic. Fred Dibnah, Life With Fred e1: Part of the Dales on Film, BBC 1994
Nice and tranquil I suppose ... [laughs and glances at punts on river] ... I much prefer a steamboat meself. It’s very nice here in Cambridge. I like it very much. It strikes me as it’s a quite a laid-back existence here being an academic or a student. I can’t say that the life would have suited me, you know. I prefer more of a practical approach to life. ibid. Fred
Men like Brunel. Who built the first steam-ships. ibid.
This 1912 Aveling and Porter steamroller which has taken him fourteen years to build. The Fred Dibnah Story e1: Beginnings, BBC 1996
Steeplejacking is a bit of a spasmodic job. So you can play with your steam-engine instead. It’s a bit like being very rich. You can just have a day off when you like. ibid.
Cockerill’s design was a straight steal which took the rollers from the Arkwright Water Frame and the clasp and carriage from the Spinning Jenny. He was the first man to successfully make a spinning machine that spun short-fibred wool ... He called it The Mule. ibid.
By 1813 William Cockerill’s manufacturing empire employed fifty blacksmiths and fifteen hundred wool workers. ibid.
By 1830 Cockerill was the largest integrated company in Europe. Maybe even the world. ibid.
I work in the shed sometimes to one o’clock in the morning. The Fred Dibnah Story e2: A Sort of Fame
Apart from his work on the chimneys and spires Fred Dibnah has devoted his life to steam. Over a period of 20 years he rebuilt one steam engine and got well on the way with another … The workshop now had the capacity to restore whole fleets of steam engines. The Fred Dibnah Story s3: Departures
For Alison the pleasure of steam rallies was beginning to wear thin. ibid.
Abandoned by his wife and daughters, Fred Dibnah the Bolton steeplejack passed the long and lonely evenings in his newly completed steam workshop. (Steam & Engineering) The Fred Dibnah Story s4: Alone
Looking back on it, Fred Dibnah the Bolton steeplejack reckoned the time after his divorce the worst in his life. The Fred Dibnah Story e5: Alone: A Reformed Character
And then Sue arrived, a social worker … ‘He was going to Halifax to talk to the Fred Dibnah Appreciation Society.’ ibid. Sue
They married and in 1987 their first son was born. ibid.
If you only do a half hour in the shed, it’s a little bit nearer ... A bit of shouting off Susie, you know. The Fred Dibhah Story s6: Approaching Sixty
Fred expanded the collection of ancient industrial tackle in his workshop. ibid.
This really is the latest masterpiece in weather-cock manufacturing. They get bigger and better every time, you know, and of course the price goes up. We’ve got these up to now about £2,000. Putting the chimneys aside I could go on making these till I’m ninety-five. ibid.
Why I’ve created all this lot here in me back garden – It’s part of a vain attempt to hang on to childhood memories I suppose. Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age e1: Wind, Water and Steam, BBC 1999
Engines in steam – there used to be loads of engines like this where I come from. Every coal mine and every spinning wheel had one. But alas they’ve all gone now. ibid.
Up until the 18th century all we had were these things – watermills and windmills. And then this came along … this beautiful little steam train. ibid.
The very first steam engines weren’t very smooth either. ibid.
The beam engine became the work-horse of the industrial revolution. ibid.
When we’ve finished with the boiler we always have to blow it down: this is to get rid of the sediment which forms in the bottom. Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age e2: Mills & Factories
Arkwright built himself a factory in Derbyshire powered by water to house these machines. And he is really regarded as the father of the factory system. ibid.
It were really coal and iron that started the industrial revolution. Iron to make the boilers similar to this one, and coal of course to burn on them to make the steam to drive all the machinery. Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age e3: Iron & Steel
There are still some coal mines around where you can see what it was like to be a miner. Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age e4: Mining, BBC 1999
The cage would go down as much as 3,000 feet. ibid.
A strong sense of comradeship developed. ibid.
In 1947 there were nearly three quarters of a million miners in this country. ibid.
National Railway Museum in York: the world’s greatest collection of locomotives … Stephenson’s Rocket: that’s the original inside the museum. Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age s5: Railways
It was Robert Stephenson’s father George who is credited as being the father of the railways. ibid.
At the beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign they were already building some fairly large and substantial steam engines, and it were about this period when they built the first iron ships. Fred Dibnah’s Industrial Age s6: Ship & Engineering
The first steam-powered iron ship was the SS Great Britain. ibid.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel: My hero. ibid.
The Victorian age was an age when Britain led the world in making and inventing things; an age when engineering achievement was seen as a symbol of national greatness. Everything was getting bigger and faster. Everything was on a grand scale. Fred Dibnah’s Victorian Heroes s1e1, BBC 2001