Tom: I'm on a train, with no brakes, going backwards.
And not just any train,
this is Stephenson's Rocket,
which was built in--
when was it, Chris?
Chris: 1829.
--1829. Well it's not the original,
that's in the Science Museum.
This is a replica from 150 years later,
that is in the National Railway Museum in York,
but for all intents and purposes this is Stephanson's Rocket
and it has no brakes.
Chris, tell them why, tell them something they might now know(!)
Okay. When this was built, proper brakes really hadn't been invented,
you had an handbrake for when you were stood still,
and we also on this loco have modern brakes,
because that's the law!
But we try not to use them,
we try to be authentic.
So, the way we'll brake is literally--
well we're going backwards at the moment--
so we'll stick it in forwards gear.
That will put steam into the cylinders on the opposite side
and bring us gradually to a nice slow halt,
then we'll just saunter off in the opposite direction.
Now, it seems like that would damage it, it seems like
because on a regular gear box when you hit that and put it--
there we go--
into reverse, it feels like that should mesh the gears wrongly,
but that's not what's happening here,
it's just injecting steam the other way.
That's exactly right.
The cylinder moves backwards and forwards like this.
We just put the steam into the direction that the cylinder wants to move.
It tries to compress the steam
and that resistance slows the loco down.
And so we comes steadily to a stop, like here,
and then once we hit that,
it just starts going the other way.
Hopefully!
That is wonderful!
That is how you stop Stephenson's Rocket,
that is a train with no brakes and that--
thank you to Chris, Charlie and the National Railway Museum--
is something you might not have known!
[Closed captions by MM. Translating these subtitles? Add your name here!]