| ‘Beautiful Helena’through countryside | Music | 00:00 |
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| BEVAN: This is ‘Beautiful Helena’, | 00:20 |
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| a grand dame of engineering that’s 71 years old. She’s part of what’s believed to be the last steam train commuter network in Europe. | 00:23 |
| Train at station/Through countryside | Music | 00:35 |
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| BEVAN: These industrial dinosaurs faced extinction at the end of the Cold War. | 00:45 |
| Howard leans out of train | Then, out of nowhere – well, actually out of Britain – came Howard Jones. | 00:52 |
| Boiler room of train. Tilt up to Howard leaning out of train | HOWARD: I just thought it was a good opportunity. They, at that time, in’ 97 needed funding from wherever, it was a way to help save it, and everybody was happy with the plan, and it’s not really looked back. | 00:59 |
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| Music | 01:11 |
| Howard with train crew | BEVAN: In the mid-1990s, Howard Jones was looking for a new lease of life. He found what he was looking for – throwing Wolsztyn’s steam engines a lifeline as well. | 01:23 |
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| Music | 01:35 |
| Workers at depot | BEVAN: Howard Jones knew where to get the money to save the trains -- from steam enthusiasts like him. So he struck a unique deal with Polish railways – he’d set up a society to restore the engines, and help fund the network. In return, they’d allow steam buffs from all over the world into the cabin. And not just to watch. | 01:40 |
| Interior of boiler/ Diane shovelling coal | They could pay to get their hands dirty. DIANE: Amazing experience! | 02:08 |
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| Where else in the world can you do this? Absolutely wonderful! | 02:17 |
| John driving train | BEVAN: Diane and John Foxley from Seaford in England have a steam-driven relationship. | 02:21 |
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| DIANE: We’ve been married for 38 years | 02:30 |
| John and Diane | and it’s all been a true passion of shared steam, no joking, no kidding, definitely. | 02:33 |
| John and Diane in cabin | BEVAN: This is the third time the Foxleys have paid about 3 thousand dollars to spend a week doing this. They not only help keep the fire burning, but – under the watchful eyes of the Polish crews – they actually drive the trains. | 02:43 |
| Diane driving locomotive | DIANE: I’m English and I’m here driving a locomotive with a whole lot of passengers behind. I can’t do that in England. I sometimes have to pinch myself to realise I’m doing it, because it’s just amazing, wonderful. | 03:00 |
| Bevan with passengers | BEVAN: In the carriages, some passengers aren’t aware whose hands are often on the levers. | 03:25 |
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| Bevan: There is a British tourist driving, what do you think about that? Woman: Oh that is a very strange feeling now, but it is OK. | 03:31 |
| Josef on station | BEVAN: Not that everyone is happy to see tourists up front. JOSEF: Locomotives should be driven by Poles. | 03:47 |
| Josef | And maybe some of our Polish people are angry because those other drivers can make the trains late. | 04:03 |
| Josef closes station | BEVAN: For 25 years, Josef Gromnicki has been based at Rakoniewice station, a few stops from Wolsztyn. | 04:13 |
| Josef and Bevan walk to stationmaster’s residence | Bevan: A big walk to home? Josef: My home. BEVAN: This station is more than his workplace. It’s the focus of his life. | 04:24 |
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| Bevan: So this is your house, and this is your job just here. Josef: Yes. I’ve been watching them for 30 years. | 04:33 |
| Train pulls out of station | Music | 04:40 |
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| BEVAN: So while he may not like having foreign steam buffs driving the trains, this third-generation railway man appreciates what their money has done. | 04:45 |
| Josef watches train pull out | JOSEF: For me personally those locomotives saved my job. This line was to be closed in 1994 or 1995. Thanks to the fact that it’s working, and Beautiful Helene was re-built, it all started moving anew. BEVAN: It’s probably better that Josef doesn’t see this. | 04:58 |
| Bevan at locomotive | Music | 05:22 |
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| BEVAN: I’m to be in the driver’s seat for the 1717 to Wroclaw. | 05:30 |
| Bevan in cabin with Howard | Howard: Have you ever driven a steam train before? Bevan: No, I have not. Howard: Do you know anything about railways? Bevan: I know you go in one straight line and you try not to come off the rails. Howard: Yeah, that’s the basic idea. | 05:35 |
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| BEVAN: There’s a quick lesson in train driving… as Howard Jones attempts to turn me into Casey Jones. | 05:43 |
| Bevan in driver’s seat | Music | 05:58 |
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| Bevan: That’s the easy bit. | 06:15 |
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| Bevan: How do I feel? It’s extraordinary. Thirty minutes ago I was a journalist. Now I’m a steam engine driver. | 06:29 |
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| Music | 06:36 |
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| Bevan: Ready for some brake action. Howard: Remember, we don’t want to disturb the passengers. | 06:41 |
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| Bevan: Please, oh gods of steam, make it right just for another 200 metres. | 06:50 |
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| Music | 06:58 |
| Bevan out of train at station | Bevan: I look upon this and I can’t believe there were actual passengers in here, passengers who paid. And instead of me being in there, where I would normally be, I was in there. It was an extraordinary experience and one that is apparently unique in the world… amazing. | 07:05 |
| Train through countryside | Music | 07:28 |
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| HOWARD: This is the real thing. It is steam locos doing what they are designed to do. And it’s really the comparison I always make; it’s the difference between seeing a lion in the zoo, or going to Africa. And this is the last Africa for the steam train. | 07:35 |
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| Music | 07:50 |
| Credits: | Reporter: Scott Bevan Producer: Trevor Bormann Camera: Ron Ekkel Editor: Bryan Milliss | 08:10 |