Episode 6 of Man's Greatest Achievements takes a look at the wonderful and magical engineering wonder that is trains. From great train robberies with notorious characters, to the Orient Express, episode 6 takes you on a truly magical journey, the journey of trains. 4 More than any other technical design or social institution, the railway stands for modernity. No competing form of transport, no subsequent technological innovation, no other industry has wrought or facilitated change on the scale that has been brought about by the invention and adoption of the railway. Of all the technological advances of the 19th century, few captured the imagination like the railway locomotive. The Orient Express: The grande dame of indulgent rail travel is the famous Orient Express. At its peak, steaming across pre - war Europe, the original Orient Express inspired more thrillers than any other train in the world - from Graham Greene to Agatha Christie, novelists told of its legendary high - living and low deeds. Grand Train Robbery: On August the 8th, 1963, Britain's most famous robbery took place on the Royal Mail train, the Glasgow to London travelling post office. The operation to steal millions of pounds in used, unmarked bills was planned with precision and carried out with unparalled daring. Usually the train only carried about 300,000 pounds. But because it had been a Bank Holiday weekend in Scotland, the coffers had swelled to about 2.3 million pounds . In 1964, 13 men were sent to jail for a total of 307 years for carrying out Britain's notorious Great Train Robbery. But just four months later, Charlie Wilson broke out in an escape as daring as the robbery itself. A gang of men on the outside stole a builder's ladder to scale the walls of the mental hospital that lay next to the prison and freed Wilson and three other prisoners from their cells using a master key. It took police three years to track Wilson down to his hiding place in Canada. Come along on the dramatic, exciting and daring experiences of train travel in Episode 6 for a family friendly fun experience!
