Travel back in time to the golden age of the Great Western Railway. Savour the sights, sounds, and smells of steam as you explore this 21-acre living museum with trains dating from Victorian times to the 1960s. Take unlimited rides behind an engine built for the famous Great Western Railway, explore the original 1932 engine shed, and see magnificently preserved locomotives - you can even climb onto the footplates of some! See surviving track from Brunel’s broad gauge, discover painstakingly restored buildings, carriages, and wagons and learn more about the development of railways and how they changed everyday lives.
My son loves trains 🚆🚂🚃🚄🚅🚇🚈🚉🚝🚞🛤🚋🚊 especially diesel railcars like that one he thinks they are highly underrated rail transportation vehicles and that Siemens, Progress Rail, or any other company that builds railroad equipment should build clones of these and that they should be run on lines that are not used anymore or at least don't get passenger service.
My son is special needs and he really likes track inspection vehicles like that one he thinks they are highly underrated pieces of railroad equipment and all should be preserved, restored, and put back into service inspecting tracks, transporting maintenance crews, and giving tourists rides. Here in the United States 🇺🇸 those types of vehicles are known as: speeders, motorcars, gang cars, or crew cars.
An astonishing accomplishment to recreate a working broad gauge locomotive and carriages. Also incredible to think of what was to follow on from this comparatively humble beginning
my Dad took a photo of me standing on her footplate during a visit a few years back possibly while everyone was having lunch. would have loved to have had a ride behind her. got a mug with a picture of fire fly on it
A question: What looks like the reversing lever seems to be in neutral position, yet the exhaust sounds like it is in full forward ? (see 1:05) I tried to look up if the replica has the original gab valve gear or the later Gooch gear, but couldn't find it.
Clearly, we need to reintroduce broad gauge and extend it to Penzance. How much easier and sooner it would have been to achieve 300+ mph trains, if, by 1929, every line in GB was 7’0”1/4 (84.25”). They were huge! The Victorian artists don’t quite get it right with standard gauge scenes.
I have a question about the Steam Multiple Unit system: Are you able to use it to control multiple steam engines or steam railmotors? (Such as allowing a single driver and two firemen to drive a double-headed consist, or by coupling multiple powered railmotors to permit longer trains (such as two of these two car sets))
I get really tired of misleading titles that make is sound like a locomotive is retired permanently when they are just going in for routine service, STOP DOING THAT.
Re. comments about broad gauge engines and coaches not using the gauge to it`s possible extent. This is certainly true, although it has to be said that they were certainly wider than the other gauge stock at the time. It depends which way you look at it, surely. With the standard of track laying at the time, the ride would have been better and speeds achieved higher. Looking at a modern scenario, think how large the locomotives could have been if built to the same scale as, say, a King class, or a Princess Coronation - let alone some of the large goods engines we have had. Coaches could easily become double deck types - crumbs we had those anyway under Bulleid and America certainly has them still on 4` 8,1/2. With the 7`gauge, these would be really spacious - and less trains would be needed for a given number of passengers. Other adjustments would be needed - but if Broad Gauge had developed from the beginning, these factors would have been sorted out - built in from the start. Certainly, the locomotives of today - or should I say - up to the sixties - but not forgetting Tornado and other projects, could have, as has been pointed out by commentators before, dwarfed the machines of other countries with all that extra space for boiler, firebox with auto-stoking, cylinders and valve motion etc etc. Even America with it`s huge Mallets and Russia wouldn`t have had a look in! Dream on Bev! But, if I could be transported back - it would be nice to spend a little while on the Broad Gauge just to see the difference experienced between the two.
Well, she is small and so is this GWR marvel, so I think that's a splendid idea! BTW, maybe you could make her an ex-GWR like this engine and have her work on Duck's branchline!
@@matteomarmiroli1713 It was a brand new locomotive with a brand new boiler just a few years before; the amount of work needed to overhaul it should be relatively minor, but it hasn’t done. I don’t think the steam railmotor has been returned to service either, and that also has a new boiler.
Broad Gauge was technically better dan the narrow gauge which we now know as "normal". Brunel favoured his broad gauge en Stephenson his narrow gauge. In the end the Stephenson gauge won the battle of the gauges purely because they could lay more tracks than broad gauge. So in 1892 the last broad gauge kilometers were converted to Stephenson gauge.
ive seen other videos of broad gauge track and had no idea of scale . i now have something to compare with fire fly. i hope her restoration went well and is back in service .
I used to love wandering round the shed at Didcot in the mid-'80s where this engine was awaiting overhaul. Then it was overhauled. And here it is being overhauled again. I feel old.
A wonderfully philanthropic billionaire needs to fund the building of a broad gauge heritage railway. Maybe in Devon or Cornwall, or nearer to London, somewhere where magnificent beasts like this can roam in the wild one again instead of living in cages.
I wish broad gauge caught on instead of standard, imagine how massive trains would be on broad gauge? Imagine a scaled up Big Boy meant for broad gauge.
You may notice that Brunel gage trains were only slightly wider than the tracks. Stephenson ("standard") gage trains are up to ten feet wide, over twice the track gage (1435 mm/56.5") or the wheel track (about 1500 mm/59").
You Will Be Remembered, Old Steam Locomotive. I Promise, Because We'll Celebrate the Memorial Anniversary of You, Our Beloved Steam Locomotive. (Sigh). <:'-((
It's a shame that this is the only safe haven place for working broad gauge locomotives, if it still existed in to the 21st century we may even have broad gauge diesel and electric locomotives - this was one of brunels best engineering feet and he will always be remembered r.i.p Isambard kingdom Brunel 😥
