Walking Britain's Lost Railways

Rob Bell revisits lines decommissioned in the 1960s and celebrates the new life that has been created from their remains.

North Devon
Rob Bell discovers the now-abandoned lines that unlocked the wild coastline of north Devon. He begins by following the dramatic Barnstaple and Ilfracombe Railway, which once built, proved an instant success, eventually carrying the glamorous Atlantic Coast Express service, direct from London Waterloo. He crosses to the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, which traverses the wild terrain of Exmoor up to the cliff-top village of Lynton. Rob follows the adventurous, narrow-gauge route, discovering the extraordinary tale of the line's construction and the very short section that has been fully restored.

Highlands
Rob Bell follows the Callander and Oban Railway, an epic 70-mile route from Scotland's Lowlands to its glorious west coast. Setting off from Callander, he recalls the 14 years of determination it took to build this railway and how, with the help of local hero Rob Roy, it changed Victorian perceptions of the Highlands. No longer a distant land of fearsome Clans, the mountains, lochs and valleys were now a romantic and accessible destination of choice. Spectacles on the line include Glen Ogle, Loch Tay and an impressive terminus still evident at Oban.

Cotswolds
Starting out from the Regency splendour of Cheltenham, Rob Bell crosses the Cotswolds, following the 46-mile route of the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway. The line passes many quarries, all producing the famous Cotswold stone - some now abandoned and some still supplying stone to sites like Hampton Court. With numerous hills to negotiate, this railway was never an express route, but it did open up this landscape to visitors for the first time. From the late 1800s, tourists piled in by rail to explore picture postcard villages like Bourton-on-the-Water, establishing a new local 'industry'.

East Midlands
Rob Bell follows traces the course of the Great Central Railway, the final great line of the Victorian era and the last main line built before the Channel Tunnel rail link more than a century later. Starting near Nottingham, Rob is taken aback by the scale of demolition and excavation needed to build this line through the city. Around Loughborough, Rob catches up with the major project that is now rebuilding bridges and 500 yards of track in order to link two heritage lines and restore a 20-mile section of the old route. He also visits Leicester Central station - once derelict but now set for a new life as a bowling alley