Full Steam Ahead

How the railways transformed the British diet

The historians reveal how the railways transformed the British diet, rescuing a nation that was struggling to feed itself. Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn discover how the mass transportation of livestock gave birth to the traditional British roast, and Ruth Goodman is in Whitby, which became a thriving fishing town thanks to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway supplying its kippers. Plus, Hampshire's watercress line, which brought nutritional salad to the masses, and how the use of steam-powered engines revolutionised production at Britain's oldest brewery