(bright music) (narrator) Beneath soaring mountains and through deep glens, over towering viaducts, across historic bridges, and along shimmering shorelines, Britain's railways travel a landscape like no other.

For the teams protecting the network... (pilot) We've got a breathtaking landscape and the trains are our show window.

There's nowhere I'd rather be working.

This is stunning.

(narrator) For the volunteers preserving our steam heritage... (volunteer) It's a unique thing.

You know, it's not just, you know, press a button and it goes.

(narrator) ...and for the engineers safeguarding the track... (engineer) My patch of railway probably has the best views in Britain.

Rain, hail, or shine, you're gonna get a crackin' view of something somewhere.

(narrator) The dramatic landscape and spectacular views... (whistle blows) ...are part of the joy of working -on Britain's scenic railways.

-Absolutely beautiful.

Probably the world's most beautiful railway.

This is gorgeous, and that view is outstanding.

♪ (train whooshing) ♪ (engine chuffing) ♪ (narrator) Britain's railway network is the oldest in the world and its traditions live on through heritage railways.

(whistle blows) Winding its way through the heart of West Yorkshire, a railway opened in 1867 to carry coal to a hundred working mills dotted along the Worth Valley.

♪ Now, visitors flock here to enjoy a unique steam train ride to the sweeping moors, immortalized in the novels of the Brontë sisters.

♪ (announcer) The train now standing at the platform is the 1515 service to Keighley, calling out to Haworth, Oakworth, Ingrow West, and Keighley.

(narrator) The railway relies on a community of more than 500 volunteers.

Damems is one of six stops along the route and is Britain's smallest train station.

Today, trainee Alex is learning the ropes from station master Marcus.

(Marcus) Nuts and bolts in... and there we go, right.

(Alex) I kinda like how small it is.

It's kinda cute and just quaint.

It's like an escape, so you can come here and you're in the past.

You've still got the responsibility of running the railway, but at the same time, it's just peaceful.

I love the old signage, the old lamps.

It's just nice to operate old machinery.

(Marcus) And then, your left hand down home.

Okay.

(Alan) When you enter, like, these old stations, it's just that smell of vintage and heritage.

I just think it's something you don't get anywhere else.

(engine chuffing) (mellow music) ♪ -Got tail up.

-Tail up?

Yep, change of fleets.

♪ (narrator) The railway has a fleet of steam locomotives and diesel engines that must be kept in working order.

In the locomotive yard, preparations are underway for a busy summer season.

Today's activities include maintenance on one of the railway's star attractions.

(Michael) It represents a typical Victorian coach locomotive.

Throughout the country, there were thousands of them built and they kept industry going.

It then of course found fame as the Green Dragon in the Railway Children film.

(narrator) The Green Dragon, Locomotive 957, played a starring role alongside a young Jenny Agutter in the family film classic The Railway Children, which was filmed here in 1970.

♪ That film did wonders for the railway.

Passenger numbers soared.

(steam hissing) Today, we're doing a steam test.

The boiler pressure needs to go up to its full working pressure, which is about 140 pound per square inch.

Make sure all the joints are steam-tight that need to be.

We'll also be setting the safety valves.

Those are for the right pressure.

We'll keep our fingers crossed.

It's a milestone, really.

(wondrous music) (narrator) Inside the train shed, volunteer fireman Tom Kay is working on another of the railway's signature locomotives.

(Tom) This is the oil there that's just gradually worn through.

It's basically like a petrol tank on a car.

This is where your water's stored.

You just gotta keep on top of it.

Quite a...labor of love, I guess?

♪ (narrator) Ivatt number 41241 was painted maroon when it arrived on the Worth Valley Railway in 1967, and a year later, it played a key part in its history.

(Tom) It's the engine that pulled the opening train of the railway.

It opened up the railway to service and back to passengers from being mothballed as a British Railways ceased operation.

(narrator) Built soon after the nationalization of the railways, the engine is one of just four of its class still in service on Britain's railways.

Tom's relationship with his local railway began when he was just a boy.

I started as a volunteer when I was 13.

I've always wanted to be an engineer, and this has fueled my passion, working on these things, and getting your hands mucky, getting stuck in.

I'm happy shoveling coal and throwing spanners around.

On a weekend, there's equal numbers of youngsters to the oldest generations, which is really good to see.

Keeping the railway going, that's what it's all about.

(lively music) ♪ (narrator) On the Green Dragon, the steam pressure is building in readiness to check if the safety valves are working correctly.

(Michael) This project's been on and off for about the last five or six years.

One day a week, so it's taken quite a while.

One of our colleagues is qualified to set safety valves, so it'll make a nice noise.

(narrator) The safety valves are crucial to releasing excess steam pressure, so Mike is feeling the heat.

-Worry beads!

-Not worry beads.

Just warm.

(whistle blows) (narrator) The Green Dragon is blowing off the excess steam, which indicates that the safety valves are working.

But there's a problem.

(man) Whilst the safety valve worked fine, we can't fit those components without making some internal adjustment.

(Michael) So almost there but not quite.

It's quite an atmosphere, these old engines.

It's part of the enjoyment is the challenge of keeping it going.

♪ (narrator) It's a challenge that keeps volunteers like fireman Tom coming back for more.

(Tom) I just think it's about the romance of steam, I guess.

Kids enjoy seeing the steam engine.

They're more friendly than dirty diesels, like there is in Thomas the Tank Engine.

I saw a Flying Scotsman come into York platform, sat on my dad's shoulders watching it roll in, and was just, like, star struck by it all, thinking I'll never be able to do anything like that.

You've just got to pinch yourself sometime.

It's like I've hit my boyhood dream.

♪ (engine chugging) (bright music) (narrator) Scotland's railway travels through breathtaking mountains and valleys that have inspired artists for hundreds of years.

Among them is Leo du Feu, who is traveling today along the Far North Line with his trusty sketchpad.

(Leo) I grew up in a family without a car, and all of our day trips, all of our family holidays were always by train.

So, you know, I probably love it by association, because childhood was great.

(narrator) Leo is an artist and wildlife enthusiast with a passion for sustainable travel.

(Leo) I love the sense of excitement.

I love looking for wildlife out of the window.

I really love sketching from the train.

(lively music) (narrator) Leo's trip today follows the rural Far North Line, which travels 160 miles through the Highlands.

From Inverness, the line follows the Cromarty Firth to Invergordon, then loops inland to Lairg.

It traces the North Sea coastline to Helmsdale and cuts through the Strath of Kildonan and on to the end of the line at Thurso and Wick.

(train chime sounds) (train announcer) We are now approaching Invergordon.

(narrator) This route was traveled by thousands of servicemen during both world wars.

It's a history that is celebrated by a unique public art project.

(Leo) Three very happy-looking soldiers.

One of them is offering his friend his purple foil-wrapped Cadbury's chocolate, and the soldier and his sweetheart saying goodbye.

"This memorial is dedicated to the men and women who traveled and worked on the Jellicoe Express."

(narrator) The Jellicoe Express was a First and Second World War naval train which ran daily between London and Thurso.

Conceived by Sir Admiral John Jellicoe, it took service personnel to and from the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow naval base in Orkney.

(Leo) I'm the only person here on this platform just now.

The only sounds I'm hearing are bird sounds.

Oystercatcher flying over, must be nesting near here.

Maybe on the station roof, with any luck.

But back then, of course, there would have been thousands of soldiers here.

(lively music) It's really nice seeing the comedy within this what is obviously a sad scene.

This little boy here appears to have dressed up like a soldier to wave his dad off wearing a saucepan on his head.

Brilliant.

Just a little boy having fun, making light of what is not really a light situation at all, saluting his dad going off.

(narrator) The Long Goodbye is one of 17 murals dotted around the town, painted by local artists and organized by community group Off the Wall.

-Hi, Sonny.

-Hi, Leo.

(Leo) Thanks for coming along to meet me.

(narrator) Leo is meeting one of the founders, Sonny Rhind.

(Leo) I've just been looking at the murals on the platform, and they're quite happy, quite joyous, and then here, -big change.

-Quite an awesome story that's to do with the 54th Seaforth Highlanders, of which my father was a member.

(narrator) The Seaforth Highlanders was an infantry regiment made up largely of soldiers from the Northern Highlands of Scotland.

(Sonny) This depicts the story of the battle at St. Valery, which was undertaken to take pressure off Dunkirk to help ease the evacuation of the soldiers when they were under attack by the Germans.

Eighty percent of them were lost.

-Oh, gosh.

-So this is depicting the town of St. Valery and the surrender, and then, the long march off to prison.

-My father was-- -This is your father.

(Sonny) Yeah.

He was 26 when he left and came home 32 and considerably thinner than he was.

-Grateful my old man made it.

-Yes, absolutely.

There's a lot of color going on here.

There's obviously the bright red and also the rich greens, and all the soldiers around him are grayed out.

(Sonny) The artist wanted to have the contrast between color and black and white because of the darkness that they were going into.

(bright music) (narrator) The Off the Wall initiative was launched 20 years ago to restore some civic pride when Invergordon's economic prospects were a bit gloomy.

Murals painted on the gable ends of buildings around the town celebrate the local culture and the surrounding landscape.

(Leo) This mural here is totally my sort of thing.

It's nature, and that's absolutely what I'm all about.

It does such a good job of brightening up a town.

(narrator) At Invergordon Museum, chapters in the town's history are captured for posterity.

(Leo) I imagine if all towns had this to go around and see and think more about what has gone on there.

What a credit to Invergordon to have all this.

(narrator) The final mural on Leo's whistle-stop tour celebrates part of the town's musical heritage.

It's really good to be able to step right up to this guy, who, I presume, is life size.

He's almost exactly the same height as me, apart from his bearskin hat.

Jumping right out of the wall at me.

The Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band.

(gentle music) (narrator) During the mid-'60s, the Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band was one of the world's finest and put the town on the musical map.

But Invergordon's proud pipe tradition lives on, and father and son Duncan and Iain McGillivray are on hand to pipe Leo on his way.

♪ (Leo) Hi!

I walk 'round onto the platform and here you are, in full dress and regalia.

Just stepped out of the murals, -it looks like.

-I'd like to start by saying we're not here for every train.

Sorry to all the tourists that are coming here expecting to see pipers on the platform.

(Leo) So you're in full dress and you're both carrying bagpipes, and I'd love to know what your interest is in pipes, how it started.

(Duncan) Well, my father and his two brothers were all pipers, and my father was a very successful competitive piper, and he was taught by John MacDonald, who was piper to King George, and then I had all my boys taught.

(Iain) I was taught by John D. Burgess, who was a very renowned, very high-caliber piper from this town here who was part of the Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band, which was a Grade 1 world-renowned pipe band -back then.

-Yeah, they were legends, and their last member died last Friday and I piped at his funeral.

(bagpipe music) (narrator) Over a hundred years after the Jellicoe Express first rolled into Invergordon Station, the platform is echoing once again to the sound of the pipes.

♪ With the Jellicoe murals looking on and just enough time before his train arrives, Leo captures the moment in his sketchbook.

♪ But as the northbound service glides into Invergordon, it's time for Leo to follow the route of the old Jellicoe Express on his journey to Thurso, accompanied by the magical sound of the pipes.

♪ (lively music) Cutting its way through the Yorkshire Dales and over the Pennines as it heads north, the Settle-Carlisle Railway is a feast for the eyes.

♪ The 72-mile journey crosses 20 viaducts, including a landmark of Victorian railway engineering.

♪ The Ribblehead Viaduct.

(mellow music) Today, at Carlisle Station... -Hello!

Afternoon tea?

-...passengers are boarding the season's first running of the Staycation Express.

This new tourist service offers day-trippers the chance to take in the line's splendid scenery in first-class style, including crossing the spectacular viaduct at Ribblehead.

Completed in 1874 and spanning a quarter of a mile across the valley, the viaduct's 24 magnificent arches carry the railway 104 feet above the moor.

♪ (Tony) Ooh, look at that!

-Enjoy.

-Beautiful.

Excellent, yeah!

(narrator) One of the passengers on today's service knows this stretch of the railway more intimately than most.

Forty-three years ago, when the line was at risk of closure and the viaduct in need of urgent repair, engineer Tony Freschini led the rescue effort.

A hundred years of Yorkshire winters had taken their toll on its masonry.

By the 1980s, the drainage system had failed and the viaduct was crumbling.

The threat of closure was too much for anyone who cared about the viaduct, including Tony and railway author Roger Hardingham.

(Tony) It's the romance of the structure, quite candidly.

I think one has only to come out here and to gaze at the viaduct to see how well it fits into the shape of the valley in size and stature.

A large group of people lived on this site-- lived and died, for that matter.

The efforts of the Victorians, I think, bring people here even today.

(Roger) We wouldn't have a Settle-Carlisle Railway without what you did in 1990.

(Tony) We all had the same aim.

The aim was to save the line.

The task was to find a cost-effective way of repairing it.

(bright music) (narrator) The multi-million pound repair job took Tony and his team four years, working on scaffolding towers alongside the viaduct's vast limestone archways.

(Tony) The first job we did, myself and my colleagues would go up the scaffold and then remove loose stone.

We wanted to try and match, broadly, the appearance of the stones themselves.

We used a fiberglass mold.

It's important to get the edges reasonably correct, because that's what catches your eye.

I always say I try to be an invisible mender.

(narrator) Tony and his committed team hoped that their efforts would preserve the viaduct and be enough to save the line.

(Roger) It was pretty amazing, wasn't it, when the announcement, the 11th of April, 1989, that was the big day that the Minister of Transport said, "We're going to reprieve the Settle-Carlisle."

The local communities up and down the line, they just were jubilant because their railway was secure, -wasn't it?

-Absolutely.

Great news.

♪ I actually got a letter from my MP, 'cause I had lobbied her.

"Congratulations," she said.

So--so I was pleased.

(wondrous music) ♪ (narrator) It's been 30 years since Tony's major restoration of the viaduct.

Network Rail has recently completed further repairs to this 127-year-old structure, preserving it for years to come.

(Tony) Looking at it now, I feel pretty happy that we did well with the available funds.

It's lasted 30 years.

My guarantee is over.

(he laughs) ♪ (bright music) ♪ (narrator) The five-mile journey along the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway offers a unique way of enjoying the beautiful countryside immortalized by local residents Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë.

♪ At Oxenhope Station, preparations are underway for today's steam train service.

Try not to break any of the champagne flutes.

(glasses rattling) ♪ We'll go for a trip now.

(narrator) The Brunch Special will serve pastries and Buck's Fizz to passengers lucky enough to travel in the railway's two 1930s Pullman carriages.

(Rebecca) Beautiful carriage, isn't it?

Really, really is lovely.

The atmosphere when you actually get to eat is even better.

(narrator) The two third-class Pullman cars have been lovingly restored by volunteers.

They emulate a style of opulent travel -from an age gone by.

-They were used for the more well-to-do customers, so they just have that decadent feel, that extra opulence, and we want to deliver that to make customers just really feel like they're special and that it's a very special day out on the railway.

(man) Lovely!

(lively music) (narrator) Keighley & Worth Valley Railway runs up to 10 round trips a day between Oxenhope and Keighley.

(engine chuffing) Today's special is being hauled by Big Jim, a locomotive built in 1945 for the American army war effort in Europe.

♪ But it's the onboard service that is the star attraction of today's journey.

(passenger) May I have one of those, -please?

-Yeah!

There we are.

(narrator) The introduction of umber and cream-colored Pullman carriages to Britain in the 1930s heralded an era of luxury travel.

(passenger) This is extremely comfortable.

Very luxurious seats, and it's bringing back lots of memories of when we used to be on steam trains when I was young.

(glassware clanking) (passenger) This is beautiful.

Everything about it is a treat, yeah, a real treat.

(narrator) One of the passengers enjoying brunch today is a regular visitor to the area.

(Nick) The steam train is always my favorite way to come, just because it's-- it's like the start of an adventure, really.

(narrator) Author and Brontë expert Nick Holland is among the thousands of visitors every year who take a steam ride back in time and enjoy the Yorkshire landscape made famous by literary legends the Brontë sisters.

They lived in the village of Haworth, one of six stops on the line.

(Nick) Haworth itself has become synonymous with the Brontës across the world, people come via the steam train and they want to see where the Brontës lived, they want to see how they lived their lives because it's so amazing.

It's incredible that three sisters from an otherwise inconspicuous family all had this amazing talent.

(lively music) (narrator) On its route to Haworth, the railway skirts windswept heather and wild, open moorland.

♪ (Nick) I think the moors made the Brontës, really.

They were very shy children, and they really bonded together, especially walking across the moors.

(narrator) In 1820, the Brontë sisters moved into the parsonage at Haworth when their father became curate, and the surrounding landscape became an inspiration for their classic works.

(Nick) Well, this is what they call Brontë Country.

Nature, and often the moors, especially in Wuthering Heights, is like a character itself.

It's like a brooding presence that really captures readers' imaginations.

(engine chuffing) (narrator) The sisters traveled by train from Keighley to London to visit their publisher in 1848.

But they were not just passengers on the new railway.

They were visionaries about its future.

(Nick) The Brontës were almost unique in being women who invested in the railways at this time, and it shows their independence and their determination to do what they wanted to do.

I think it represented for them freedom.

It represented for them opportunity in the future.

I think when you step on a steam train today, you can get a taste of the 19th century again.

(narrator) Sadly, the sisters' lives were all cut short by illness before the railway reached Haworth.

But 150 years later, fans from all over the world arrive by steam train -to honor their legacy.

-Even though we're here well into the 21st century, people feel they're back in the 1800s.

(engine chuffing) (dramatic music) ♪ (narrator) Spanning the River Tamar on the border between Devon and Cornwall at Saltash lies the majestic Royal Albert Bridge.

♪ Built in 1859, it stands as a living monument to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of Britain's greatest engineering heroes.

♪ (indistinct chatter) Today, it remains a crucial part of Network Rail's southwest route, carrying up to four trains an hour.

(Craig) It is really, really an amazing experience to get on here on a Sunday morning.

It's got a lovely feel to it, -peaceful and quiet.

-You don't realize it, seeing it from a distance, the structure of it as well.

(soft music) (narrator) Mobile Operations Manager Craig Munday and his team oversee the safekeeping of the railway from Totnes to Penzance.

This is my first time on the bridge, and it is an absolutely amazing structure.

I've been blown away by it to actually see things up close and in detail.

Passing on a train, you don't get to see it like this.

We're immensely proud of it.

It's just a work of art.

(narrator) Before the first train of the day is due, Craig wants to check that everything on the track is in order.

(Craig) Every piece of the bridge has its own challenges, from the metalwork through to the tracks themselves.

We've got timbers that can age and can perish.

It's susceptible to all sorts of issues with the weather, with the tide, with salt.

Corrosion is an issue.

You can start to see the spots coming through there, look.

It's vital that we keep it maintained and that we're in a position to respond if we need to.

This is the only way to get from Cornwall... (feet crunching on gravel) ...into Devon.

(dramatic music) (narrator) Towering a hundred feet above the Tamar, Brunel's unique design stretching over 2,000 feet was considered an engineering triumph.

♪ (Craig) You can see how the bridge was designed with the overhead truss or the main brace, which runs all the way across.

That's supported by this fantastic bowstring design, which plays a fantastic pattern across your train window as you ride across it, and I never tire of it.

From a distance, the lenticular look, the fact that it looks like two eyes looking at you, it looks incredibly graceful.

You can't help look across from the 1859 structure to the 1959 structure next to us, which is a proper suspension bridge.

And the marvel, really, is that with the technology available in the 1800s, that this was built completely self-supported, supporting itself in the two main structures and the box girders that lead you onto it.

Whereas of course this concrete bridge next to us, it's attached at either end to the land.

Brunel's bridge is anything but conventional but just genius.

(narrator) In 2015, the bridge was repainted, taking it back to its original goose gray.

(Craig) Walkways obscured either end of the bridge, and Network Rail engineers suddenly thought that it would be a great idea to be able to expose the raised letters on the bridge and highlight them in white, and it's a great testament to Brunel.

(narrator) As chief engineer of the Great Western Railway, Brunel built over a thousand miles of track.

But the bridge here at Saltash presented him with significant challenges.

(train thundering past) (Craig) Sinking the main piers with the depth of the river, with the bedrock being far beneath the mud, that was amazing in itself.

It must have been an unbelievable sight to have seen the two main spans floated out into the middle of the river and then hoisted into position with massive chains while hundreds of people lined the banks.

That must have been quite a spectacle back in the 1850s.

To think that it was done with minimal technology.

It was a miracle, really.

(narrator) Named after Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, it was to be Brunel's last great achievement.

He was too ill to attend the opening ceremony and died just three months later.

(Craig) I think this is his finest work, without a doubt.

The fact that I'm a Cornishman makes it even more special.

I hope, in a way, he is looking down and thinking what an amazing legacy he's left us.

♪ (mellow music) (narrator) Artist and environmental campaigner Leo du Feu is traveling the Far North Line with his trusty sketchbook.

♪ (Leo) All of these sketches, they are memories, they're diary entries.

I guess they're like souvenirs.

I will write details about the colors, even things like different shades of green I'm seeing, so that later on back in my studio, I can turn them into more finished paintings.

♪ (narrator) In keeping with his passion for trains, Leo's studio is at Burntisland Station in Fife.

He is one of a handful of artists working in repurposed railway buildings on the station platform.

(Leo) When I moved here, it was all boarded up.

It's really great that old buildings like this are being repurposed.

This used to be the ladies' waiting room, if you go far enough back.

It's amazing to wonder what has gone on in this room.

Train coming.

(brakes hissing) I'm actually situated on the station platform, so it's very easy for me to get my sketchbook and nip on the train to make one of my railway days out.

(narrator) The Far North Line runs 160 miles from Inverness to Thurso.

(train announcer) We are now approaching Rogart.

This is a request stop.

(narrator) Leo's next stop is somewhere he last visited many years ago.

(train whistle blows) (Leo) Oh, it's so nice to see all this again, and remembering how close it is to the platform.

(mellow music) (narrator) Four services a day pass through Rogart, but these railway carriages are a permanent feature.

(Kate) When was the last time you came here, -do you remember?

-Almost definitely it was 2005, when I was 21.

I came here with my family.

Thank you very much, Kate.

(narrator) For the past 20 years, Kate and Frank Roach have operated these converted railway carriages as accommodation for holiday-makers, including Leo and his family.

(Leo) One of my strongest memories, we'd been out on an all-day walk and we got back completely drenched and hung up all our wet clothes I'm not quite sure where, and I just remember being inside warm and cozy, having our tea, playing games or reading our books, and all the windows completely steamed up because of all our wet clothes.

-It's great to come back.

-Yes.

Unfortunately, the sun doesn't shine all the time up here.

♪ (narrator) As well as the railway-themed accommodation, Kate's husband Frank has developed the site by buying a shunter and laying down tracks.

(Frank) We try and make things out of what's left here.

We're trying to create a bit of a model railway but it's full size.

I guess our goal here is to make the railway still relevant for the community, and it's a way of bringing people into the village as well who perhaps wouldn't come here otherwise.

♪ (narrator) Continuing his journey, Leo's route heads back towards the coast.

(Leo) These boulder beaches are wonderful.

They're so different from the sandy beaches down where I live in Fife.

(lively music) (narrator) His next stop is the harbor village of Helmsdale, which originally prospered as a result of the herring boom of the 19th century.

(train trundling) (announcement bell chimes) (train announcer) We are now approaching Helmsdale.

(Leo) It's really nice to be back.

Three years ago, I came and stayed here when my wee boy was just a baby, and we stayed in this station building behind us, which is now a self-catering accommodation, and I remember, in that very room there through that window, sitting and painting the view of this bridge.

Such a peaceful, peaceful spot.

This is my dream sort of station.

(wondrous music) ♪ (narrator) A few miles inland, overlooking the Strath of Kildonan, Leo is visiting one of the area's most ancient and enduring sites.

(Leo) Ah, there's the broch right there.

(narrator) Sitting high on the hillside with panoramic views across the valley, Kilphedir Broch is a fortified tower dating back to the Iron Age.

(Leo) Steep climb up here, but look at it.

It's so, so, so worth it.

It is a tumbled broch, but actually, it is remarkably complete.

And this bit right where I'm sitting right now, you can still see the double wall which all brochs had.

Here is my travel watercolor set, which for once is looking remarkably clean.

So, something that I love up here is the colors of the stones which the broch is made of.

All these different lichens with grays, whites, almost luminescent green.

Here is where the railway winds through the valley.

♪ Anyone coming up the valley, when this was a big tower standing here, they could not have failed to be impressed by this broch standing here.

I would so love to know what their lives were and what their hopes and dreams were, and how they spent their days.

And this peacefulness and this sense of massive long-distant time.

It's just totally amazing.

♪ (bright music) (narrator) For a hundred years, a railway carried coal to the woolen mills of West Yorkshire.

Closed in the early '60s, it was rescued by a preservation society.

Pulling the first train on opening day back in 1968 was Ivatt locomotive 41241, its Crimson Lake livery heralding the return of steam to the Worth Valley.

Today, after a six-month overhaul led by volunteer fireman Tom, it's ready to get back to work.

-You all right?

-Yep, here on my side, yeah.

(narrator) But Tom's connection with this engine is more personal than most.

♪ (Tom) It was my dad's favorite engine.

Sadly, he passed away when I was 12, so to carry on his interest gives me a good feeling, actually.

It's nice to think that he's sorta looking down, saying, "Oh yeah, well done, yeah.

Keep crackin' on," like.

(narrator) Working the footplate with Tom today is fellow volunteer Alan, who recently passed out as a qualified driver.

(Alan) Today is my first driving turn.

Been a fireman for a long time, so I've got Tom as my mate.

I've known Tom since he started here when he was a young lad.

He's got a passion for it and he enjoys it.

I remember Tom going out with me when I were a fireman, when he were a cleaner, like.

(narrator) It's time to see if six months' painstaking repairs on the Ivatt have paid off.

(steam hissing) (Tom) Finally gonna have a go at it after all this-- all this work.

See how it performs.

(engine chuffing) ♪ (whistle blows) (engine chuffing) ♪ A lot going on here.

You've gotta be on the ball.

I'm always continually monitoring what's going on.

You're checking your boiler water level, actually, the main important bit, seeing the gauges there.

Making the steam for the driver to use.

♪ (Alan) On a cold day, it's right nice.

-On a hot day... -It's hell on earth.

♪ (narrator) At the end of the line, Alan runs the locomotive around the carriages to pull them backwards on his first turn as a qualified driver.

(whistle blows) (engine slowly chuffing) (Tom) Alan's first day as a driver, yeah.

I've known Alan for many a year.

He's a good mate.

Supply him with beer and a night out, keeps him happy.

(narrator) Tom's driving ambitions are on hold for now.

(Tom) I'm in no rush.

I enjoy firing, and I enjoy doing what I do at the moment.

(blissful music) ♪ (doors clank) That'll keep it happy for a bit.

(whistle blows a jaunty pattern) (narrator) This morning's run on the refurbished Ivatt has gone without a hitch.

(Tom) It's a very proud day.

It's just nice to see it back what it should be doing, pulling trains and being out here for kids to see and keeping steam alive.

(engine slowly chuffs) (mellow music) ♪ (narrator) Artist Leo du Feu is retracing the roots of the Jellicoe Express, traveling through the sheltered valleys and peat bogs known as the Flow Country.

At Forsinard, he's visiting the RSPB nature reserve where Paul Turner is one of the wardens.

(grand music) (Paul) It's such a large, open landscape and people look at it and think that there's just nothing there, but it's the little things that make this large landscape up and you just need to spend a wee bit of time -looking for it.

-Wow.

My goodness.

(Paul) These boardwalks that we've got here are all recycled plastic, and the plastic heats up, and being cold-blooded, they often look for somewhere to warm themselves up.

(Leo) My goodness.

Miniature dragons.

(Paul) We have carnivorous plants in the Flow Country.

These wee plants are really great for us -because they eat midges.

-Incredible.

And they look so, I think, what people would call alien.

But they're not alien, -they're here.

-Exactly, and not as bad as The Day of the Triffids, as people might think.

(narrator) With its layers of peat and interlinked pools, this is the largest and most intact bog system in the world.

(Leo) I can see that peat land is beautiful.

-Is it important?

-Blanket bog's important for carbon capture and potentially mitigating climate change.

It's far more efficient at locking up carbon than woodland or forestry is.

(bright music) ♪ (Leo) A place like this, it just changes so much, moment by moment by moment.

♪ Just thinking about the vastness of this place and how really vitally important these blanket bogs are.

Ahh, it's just such a fantastic and fascinating habitat.

♪ (narrator) The final 30-mile leg of Leo's journey is taking him to Britain's most northerly station at Thurso.

It was the end of the line for the Jellicoe Express and the troops heading to Orkney to join the Grand Fleet.

♪ Leo's final destination offers a clear view across to Orkney.

The Dunnet Head Lighthouse sits atop 300-foot cliffs populated by colonies of seabirds.

It's a dream location for nature lover Leo.

♪ (grunts) Oh my goodness.

What a view.

Totally brilliant.

♪ The steep, steep cliffs below us are covered with seabirds.

Fulmars, Razorbills, puffins.

What an evening to have up here.

(birds squawking faintly) Can I stay here all night?

(narrator) It's a fitting climax to a train journey that has followed the tracks of the Jellicoe Express and now ends overlooking the Orkneys.

(grand music) ♪ (Leo) It's so special to be finishing my journey here at this furthest north point of the mainland and thinking that the soldiers had traveled up on the Jellicoe Express from perhaps the far, far south of Britain all the way up to here, heading across the firth to Scapa Flow to join the fleet and then onwards to who knows what.

So, pretty poignant end to this brilliant trip.

♪ (lively music) ♪ (bright music)