About this season
Fred Dibnah traces the development of steam power from the earliest experiments in the ancient world to the modern nuclear power station.
Episodes (6)
1. The Early Pioneers
7.0Aired 15 July 2003 • 30 min
A visit to Cornwall illuminates the early history of the steam engine in Britain, which was developed to pump water from the tin mines.
2. The Transport Revolution
7.0Aired 22 July 2003 • 30 min
How the advent of steam power radically changed the way people travelled.
3. Driving the Wheels of Industry
6.0Aired 29 July 2003 • 30 min
The Lancastrian steeplejack’s continuing history of steam power charts the role of steam in Britain’s 18th- and 19th-century industrial expansion, and the use of huge stationary steam engines in mills, collieries and steel works until well into the 20th century.
4. Steam down the Road
6.0Aired 5 August 2003 • 30 min
The Lancastrian steeplejack’s continuing history of steam power looks at experiments in the use of steam for road transport that took place a full century before the invention of the car.
5. Steam on the Water
6.0Aired 12 August 2003 • 30 min
A look at how steam power revolutionised shipping, from the earliest paddle steamers with screw propellers to more modern vessels like the Royal Yacht Britannia.
6. Steam and the Modern Age
6.0Aired 19 August 2003 • 30 min
The Lancastrian steeplejack’s history of steam power concludes with a look at today’s powerful steam turbines that generate electricity and the preservation of our steam heritage in museums.