Victoria Wood rides the Darjeeling Railway

Did anybody see the steam train ride that Victoria Wood took on the Darjeeling Railway on BBC1 Sunday at 8pm?

The 2ft narrow gauge train started off at Calcutta and was followed all the way up to Darjeeling above the clouds. It was amazing how the steam train seemed to meander through the centre of every main road in every town and village that it passed through with no fencing or any form of safety barriers and with cars and pedestrians making their way right alongside. The track seemed very rickety and fragile and exposed however all was well. No sense at all of the yob culture and mindless vandalism that requires excessive safety measures in the UK even for narrow gauge lines. There were two gaurds riding/sat on the front of the loco atop each steam cylinder dressed in standard shirt and shorts and I guess they provided the warnings should anything untowards happen. How would gaurds in the UK feel about sitting in front of the boiler door of a typical steam loco to oversee train safety?

Victoria Wood kept reminding us that the train was built in Manchester in the late 1800's and was still going strong.

Great to watch and an interesting subject for a model narrow gauge layout.

Happy modelling
Gary