The Architecture the Railways Built - Season 2
Season 2
Railway historian and architecture enthusiast, Tim Dunn, returns to visit more examples of the stunning architecture that line railway networks in Britain and beyond.
Often getting privileged access, the delightful programme also goes beyond the viaducts and stations, stopping at many other buildings that owe their existence to the railways, including signal boxes, tunnels, pedestrian passages, workshops and hotels.
Episodes
Wemyss Bay
Tim Dunn visits Weymss Bay Station in Inverclyde - and architectural gem on the west coast of Scotland. He also explores the engineering marvel that is Blackfriars station in central London. It is the only station to span the full width of The Thames. The glass station was built on the original railway bridge and even provides half its own energy from its solar roof. There's also a look at Sao Bento station in Porto, Portugal. A beautiful Beaux Arts style station in Porto's old town, with its blue and white-tiled booking hall, it has now become a tourist attraction in its own right.
Royal Albert Bridge
A visit to the Royal Albert Bridge that spans the River Tamar on the border of Devon and Cornwall. Tim Dunn gets a closer look at the phenomenal structure and finds out how it was constructed. Tim also visits Wolverhampton to learn about the history of its train stations, old and new. And there's a look at Gällivare station in Sweden, high in the Arctic Circle, originally built to serve the huge iron ore mines of the frozen north.
Windsor
Tim Dunn is in Windsor to find out how two rail companies fought to be first to get to Queen Victoria. He also explores the stunning Connel Bridge (below) in the Scottish Highlands and looks at how the Nazis supersized a Polish train depot.
Picadilly Line
Tim Dunn is in London exploring the striking stations of the Piccadilly Line's northern extension. Tim also takes a look at Causey Arch in County Durham – which is the oldest single span railway arch in the world. And Tim also finds out about Pilsen station in the Czech Republic.
Lynton
Tim Dunn takes a ride on a funicular railway powered entirely by water. Also, how an abandoned Victorian railway tunnel in Northamptonshire is being transformed into a racetrack and a look at Europe's largest station in Leipzig, Germany.
Barrow Hill
Tim explores the last working roundhouse in the UK, Barrow Hill in Derbyshire. He visits Bath, a city renowned for its Georgian architecture, but it's main railway station, Bath Spa has quite a different feel. Tim also looks at the transformation of Lód? Fabryczna, one of the most modern stations in Poland.
Sheffield
Tim visits Sheffield station, the centre point of the industrial revolution, which has gone through decades of despair and been reinvented for the 21st century. Tim lends a hand to restore the Bennerley Viaduct in the Erewash valley and he also enjoys the marvels of the futuristic Estacio do Oriente in Portugal. This other worldly station was designed for Lisbon's Word Expo by the "starchitect" Santiago Calatrava.
Bristol
Tim Dunn goes behind the scenes at Bristol Temple Meads, a Grade 1 listed station, and is given special access to Brunel's old Tudor station and boardroom.
Huddersfield
Tim gets up in the rafters of Huddersfield's Grade I listed station and examines the station's clock, to see what makes this building tick. He takes a trip to the seaside town of Morecambe to visit the art deco wonder that is the Midland Hotel, and visits Cologne's magnificent Hohenzollern Bridge in Germany.
Wingfield
Tim is given special access to Wingfield, one of the oldest surviving railways in the world. He uncovers the longest brick viaduct in the UK, the Welland Viaduct in Northamptonshire, and visits Sweden, where award-winning new architecture has popped up as part of the ambitious project to link Malmo to the Oresund Bridge.
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