Britains favourite steeplejack & industrial enthusiastic the late Fred Dibnah takes us back to the 18th century when the invention of the steam engine gave an enormous impetus to the development of machinery of all types. He reveals how the steam engine provided the first practical means of generating power from heat to augment the old sources of power (from muscle wind & water) & provided the main source of power for the Industrial Revolution. In Fred Dibnahs Age of Steam Fred: shares his passion for steam & meets some of the characters who devote their lives to finding preserving & restoring steam locomotives traction engines & stationary engines mill workings & pumps. Combined with this will be the stories of central figures of the time including James Watts
- inventor of the steam engine
- & Richard Trevithick who played a key role in the expansion of industrial Britain in the 18th & 19th centuries."