Full Steam Ahead

How affordable rail transport brought freedom to working-class Victorians

The team discover how the combination of increased leisure time and affordable rail transport brought a new kind of freedom for working-class Victorians. Ruth Goodman travels along the south Devon coast from Paignton to Kingswear, where she helps prepare a paddle steamer for a journey up the River Dart, while at Swanage, Peter Ginn finds out what it was like to work on the excursion trains and the impact mass tourism had on the area