SOUTH Devon’s finest railway is on primetime TV this Thursday, August 18.

The SDR at Buckfastleigh is part of a BBC 2 six-part series ‘Full Steam Ahead’ exploring the Victorian Railways. Thursday’s episode, which screens at 8pm, focuses mainly on the SDR company.

The presenters explore the life of the branch line before the Beeching cuts of the 1960s. Historian Ruth Goodman hand-milks a local breed of cow and discovers how the railway came to the rescue when a deadly disease wiped out London cattle.

Her co-presenter archaeologist Peter Ginn gets on the SDR footplate and meets Dave Knowling, a steam-engine driver of 63 years’ experience.

A SDR spokesman said: ‘The film production of ’Full Steam Ahead’ by the BBC presents a great opportunity for us to showcase not only how special our little railway really is but also highlight the part it plays in the bigger scheme of things.

‘The SDR happily provided the production company with unique venues so they could capture the portal to the past that our largely volunteer team strives to create here.’

A spokesman for the BBC said: ‘This series has shown how the Victorian Railways were instrumental in building the modern world. They influenced the first electronic mail system, created mass-produced goods and the consumer society, and gave us our national dish of fish and chips.

‘They also introduced Scotch Whisky to the world, revolutionised our homes by replacing thatch with slate, gave us Greenwich Mean Time and created the seaside holiday.

‘Within only a matter of decades, the nation had been totally transformed – from the food we ate, how we communicated and even the way we spent our leisure time. The railways spurred the industrial revolution and were responsible for speeding up the pace of life, in a way only comparable to the internet today.’