AGES OF STEAM – 5 DVD SET
In Great Britain the Victorians built the vast bulk of the country’s railway system and   constructed steam locomotives to work them: many different designs were created, with many different results. The final form of the steam locomotive was seen in the designs introduced in the early years of the 20th Century: from there on development was in detail and power. Using footage from the last quarter of a century, this series looks at the way this final form was refined by some of the most famous engineers of their time, right up to the last steam locomotives built for main line service in the country.

The Golden Age - Victorian and Edwardian Locomotives

The Victorian engineers were artists as much as engineers and their locomotives were as beautiful to look at as they were efficient at moving the goods and passengers around the country. However, even by the end of the 19th Century few large locomotives had been built: the first decade of the 20th Century would see what was known as the ‘Golden Age’ of the Railways when locomotive size would double and the railways would reach their zenith. We follow this development from the little 0-4-0 Victorian engines - both passenger and goods as well as industrial designs - through to the large passenger and goods engines which set the scene for the way the railways helped underpin the War Effort.
 

The Jazz Age - Locomotives of the 20s

Following the Great War the railways of Great Britain firstly had to renew war damage and then had to re-group, forming four large companies from 1923, known as the "Big 4". We follow the progress of locomotive design as each of the "Big 4" developed its own style - although no-one would notice any change on the Great Western! The Southern Railway's management was intent on electrification so most of its new locomotives were just developments of its constituents' designs, whilst on the LMS pre-grouping rivalry simply continued as did the pre-grouping designs - with one or two notable exceptions. Only on the cash-strapped LNER was there any real development - it was fortunate to have acquired the great Nigel Gresley to create a modern steam fleet.


The Streamline Age - Locomotives of the Great Depression

The 1930s were the years of depression, and this had a marked effect on Britain's railways. However, renewals of locomotive fleets were becoming urgent, so there was considerable change in the steam locomotive fleets, many of which would be the final designs of their types. The Great western renewed on an almost like-for-like basis, although there were some notable advances, whilst the Southern Railway saw some interesting machines such as the "Schools" class, the most powerful 4-4-0s in Europe. Both the northern rivals, the LMS and LNER saw great advances in steam machines, the former at last breaking out of its post-grouping slump and the latter producing some of the greatest steam locomotives of all - the immortal A4 streamliners.
 
 
 
 
The Austerity Age - The last Private Locomotives

The Second World War virtually brought steam locomotive development to a halt in Great Britain - the watchword became "Austerity", as engineers tried to produce simpler and cheaper designs. 
 
Everywhere except on the Southern Railway, where the mercurial Oliver Bulleid produced some of the most complicated and expensive steam locomotives ever to work on Britain's railways. Elsewhere the GWR continued on its own course, whilst the LMS produced a series of efficient smaller types to work almost anywhere. Gresley's sewing-machine engineering was swept aside by Thompson's simple designs on the LNER and even the Government got in on the act by specifying special "Austerity" designs for the use of the WD or War Department.
 

The Standard Age - Standard Locomotives

Following WW2 the railways were somewhat worn out and run down, as was the steam locomotive fleet. The idealistic new Labour Government was committed to nationalising the railways and thus produced a homogeneous railway system for the first time in Great Britain's history. But there was no money for investment in the new technology of electrification or diesel locomotives which was taking place elsewhere in Europe and the USA, so steam designs were continued from the "Big 4" days and a new range of Standard locomotives was produced for construction in the 1950s. However, there was to be one final steam "fling" as the reconstruction of the controversial Bulleid Pacifics of the Southern produced what was to be effectively the last main line steam type of all.
 
PUBLISHED   NOVEMBER 2025