How Britain Worked (2012)

S1E1 Severn Valley Railway

Guy participates in the restoration of a steam locomotive at the Severn Valley Railway, a 16-mile route in Shropshire that has been preserved to reflect its 19th-century charm. He collaborates with a group of volunteers, some as young as 17, to fix the boiler, safety valves, and one of the massive two-ton wheels. Guy also lays track using traditional techniques reminiscent of the rugged 'navvies' who originally built Britain’s railways. He masters the nearly lost craft of Victorian blacksmithing to create a coal shovel from wrought iron and repairs a century-old pocket watch for a train driver with tiny washers. If all goes well, he will have the opportunity to fulfill every boy's dream: becoming a steam train driver.