Trains
Gregg Wallace accesses huge factories that use extraordinary engineering processes to make our most iconic vehicle.
When he was a child, Gregg loved playing with toy trainsets. Now he鈥檚 got special access to learn how the ultimate model is made: a huge 187-tonne, five-carriage electric train. At the 84-acre Alstom factory site in Derby, each one takes up to a thousand hours to complete.
Gregg follows every step of the process, from the delivery of vast lengths of aluminium and a 15,000-degree welding operation to the carriages' assembly with a set of enormous cranes. He learns about such parts of the train's design as the dead man's pedal and the importance of electrification - all before getting to drive the newly finished train himself.
Meanwhile, Cherry Healey travels to Scotland to visit the UK鈥檚 last remaining factory that produces aluminium via smelting. She also visits an HS2 construction site to learn how two huge tunnel boring machines are digging ten miles through the hills.
Historian Ruth Goodman is energised by the history of electric trains as she learns that the UK鈥檚 first was a tourist train that is still in use along the Brighton seafront. The technology pioneered in the seaside town went on to be used in underground transportation all over the world.
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The Pigeon Detectives
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AC/DC
Highway To Hell
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Tame Impala
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The Maccabees
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Giles Palmer, Rupert Pope
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Shanks Mansell
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Dizzee Rascal
Holiday
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Romantic Type
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Gregg Wallace |
Presenter | Cherry Healey |
Presenter | Ruth Goodman |
Executive Producer | Lucy Carter |
Executive Producer | Sanjay Singhal |
Series Producer | Michael Rees |
Director | Michael Rees |
Production Company | Voltage TV |
Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.
The fascinating stories behind the production of some of our favourite products.