Great American Railroad Journeys (episodes 1-15) (2016) (BBC Two)

Great American Railroad Journeys is a documentary television series on BBC Two hosted by Michael Portillo, who had done two documentaries series before this, Great British Railway Journeys and Great Continental Railway Journeys throughout Europe. This time, he travels to the United States to take his love of the railways to a new world, discovering things he was not aware of before about the origins of the country. The core of his travels take him from the northeast part of the country to Virginia.

EPISODE 1
"Manhattan: Grand Central to Broadway" 1 February 2016 1.01
Portillo visits the Rockefeller Center, the Financial District, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Midtown Manhattan and Broadway.

EPISODE 2
"Manhattan: Lower East Side to World Trade Center" 2 February 2016 1.02
Portillo's second leg continues his travels across New York City. At the Lower East Side, Portillo receives a history lesson on how a publication on the conditions of immigrants living in tenement buildings shocked Americans, before later discovering how the railroad history of the former High Line has been preserved in its transformation to a park. After heading out to Ellis Island to see the building that millions of immigrants passed through, he ends his second leg with a journey to the World Trade Center, to see how the city is moving on from 9/11 through construction of the future World Trade Center Transportation Hub, influenced by the fateful day.

EPISODE 3
"Brooklyn to Montauk" 3 February 2016 1.03
On his third leg across the US State of New York, Portillo travels along the Long Island Railroad. Starting in Brooklyn, he learns how a American woman helped to finish construction of the world's first steel suspension bridge - Brooklyn Bridge - before visiting Queens to find out more about the work on the East Side Access project. Continuing across the Island, he visits the mansion built for John D. Rockefeller, in a region that used to be visited by the wealthy of New York City, where he also learns how to do the Charleston. His third leg ends at with a visit to the State's first lighthouse - Montauk Point Light - where he learns how close the hamlet of Montauk had been to becoming the gateway for immigrants travelling to America.

EPISODE 4
"New York City to Garrison" 4 February 2016 1.04
Portillo start his journey for the Niagara Falls in earnest, with his fourth leg beginning at Penn Station, New York. Here he learns how the railroads were policed in their early era and about the infamous railroad robbers, Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy) and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh (The Sundance Kid), before finding out how the modern Railroad Police of Amtrak protect trains in the modern era. Stopping at Tarrytown, he discovers more about the writer, Washington Irving, including his dislike of the railroad and his encounter with Charles Dickens, before arriving at his final stop at Garrison, where he listens to a different story regarding Benedict Arnold and why he betrayed his fellow countrymen. He ends his fourth leg with a visit to West Point to see part of the actual chain used in the War of Independence to stop the British Navy, while also learning of how the American Civil War turned Academy students against each other.


EPISODE 5
"Poughkeepsie to Albany" 5 February 2016 1.05
Portillo travels from Poughkeepsie to Albany.


EPISODE 6
"Schenectady to Rochester" 8 February 2016 1.06
Michael Portillo continues his American journey, heading west through New York State. He has a lightbulb moment in Schenectady, when he discovers how Thomas Edison’s General Electric Company also leads the way in modern rail technology.In Utica, he investigates Lock 20 of 57 along the early 19th-century Erie Canal – 325 miles of waterway which connected the Great Lakes with the Atlantic coast via the Hudson River. A yellow brick road beckons Michael to Chittenango, where a Kansas farm girl introduces him to a lion, and a tin man.On a hillside near Palmyra, Michael finds out about a farm boy, Joseph Smith, and his Book of Mormon, from one of the 15 million believers who follow his religion today. Further west in Rochester, Michael discovers the story behind another famous 19th-century name still trading today: George Eastman, who launched mass market photography with his Eastman Kodak company.


EPISODE 7
"Buffalo to Niagara Falls" 9 Febrary 2016 1.07
Michael Portillo braves the awesome power and drenching spray of Niagara Falls on the Maid of the Mist to share what artists, daredevils and millions of tourists have billed as one of the most spectacular experiences on the planet.Reaching Buffalo, he lunches on the city’s famous buffalo wings and discovers it was once the centre of the world’s grain trade. Touring Silo City, Michael learns about the invention which propelled the port of Buffalo into its dominant position – the grain elevator – and how the railroads sealed the deal.Awe-inspiring engineering is revealed at the 12-acre Colonel Ward water-pumping station, the largest construction ever built on the Great Lakes, and capable of delivering 30 million gallons of water per day to the city of Buffalo.

EPISODE 8
"Philadelphia to Atlantic City" 10 Febrary 2016 1.08
Michael Portillo embarks on a new railroad journey following his 1879 Appleton’s guidebook from the city of brotherly love, Philadelphia, south to the first permanent English colonial settlement in North America, Jamestown.

He feasts on a gargantuan Philly cheesesteak, then looks to work off the calories with a run past the city’s famous landmarks in homage to one of Philadelphia’s most famous sons, Rocky Balboa. All pumped up, he heads to Pennsylvania University to tackle the football team under the instruction of its fearsome coach.

In the cradle of American independence, Michael discovers how, in 1776, liberty was proclaimed throughout the land yet millions remained enslaved. Alone in a cell, Michael reflects on the 19th-century Pennsylvania system of incarceration at the Eastern State Penitentiary, before heading to the gambling resort of Atlantic City and its famous boardwalk.

EPISODE 9
"Lancaster to Gettysburg" 11 Febrary 2016 1.09
Michael Portillo hitches a ride with the Amish in a horse-drawn buggy through rich countryside settled in the 18th century by religiously oppressed Europeans. Charmed by their modest way of life, he watches as they sell their beautiful quilts at auction.

In Strasburg, known as Traintown USA, Michael joins the crew of the oldest continuously operated railroad in the United States. After oiling the magnificent engine, he rides on the footplate of the vintage steam locomotive.
His last stop on this leg is Gettysburg, the most famous battlefield of the American Civil War, where, in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made a momentous speech.

EPISODE 10
"Wilmington to Havre de Grace" 12 February 2016 1.10
Armed with his Appleton’s Guide, Michael Portillo reaches a milestone on his American journey: the boundary between the northern and southern states, known as the Mason-Dixon line. He discovers the origins of what became for black Americans the border between slavery and freedom, in an 18th-century English dispute over land.

On the Wilmington and Western Railroad, Michael meets the passenger train Phoebe Snow, created by the railroads at the turn of the 20th century to reassure passengers that clean burning coal wouldn’t make their clothes dirty.Michael uncovers the explosive history of gunpowder production in Delaware, begun by a Frenchman, whose chateau still stands. He then takes a boat trip up the Susquehanna River following the route taken by one of the first English settlers, John Smith.

EPISODE 11
"Baltimore to Fort McHenry" 15 February 2016 1.11
Michael Portillo continues his American rail journey from Philadelphia to Jamestown. In Baltimore, home of the first railroad in the United States – the Baltimore and Ohio – he discovers how the first American steam engine, the Tom Thumb, owed much to pioneering British technology. He investigates race relations in the troubled city, taking a drive downtown with a former drug dealer, now a teacher.

On the city’s beautiful east coast, Michael discovers the impressive star-shaped Fort McHenry and learns how the Star-Spangled Banner national anthem was born. Medics at the city’s Johns Hopkins Hospital show Michael how their institution has grown from its 19th-century foundation by the railroad magnate into a world-leading centre for healthcare. And at the city’s Lexington Market, Michael learns what gives a Maryland crab cake the edge.


EPISODE 12
"Washington DC" 16 February 2016 1.12
Michael arrives in the nation’s capital, Washington DC, centre of political power in the world’s most powerful country. Steered by his Appleton’s Guide of 1879, he admires its fine public buildings, including the largest library in the world, and discovers how the capital was built from scratch after a political compromise between north and south.

At the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Michael meets the man responsible for engraving the portrait of President Abraham Lincoln on the current five-dollar bill and gets his hands on more money than he has ever held in his life.

In the offices of the Washington Post, Michael learns about corruption in the corridors of power and how the newspaper toppled a president. He finishes this leg of his journey in the auditorium of the theatre where, in 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.


EPISODE 13
"Georgetown to Mount Vernon" 17 February 2016 1.13
Armed with his 1879 edition of Appleton’s General Guide to the United States, Michael Portillo continues his American railroad journey. On this leg, Michael soaks up some old-school jazz in Washington’s U Street neighbourhood, where the big band jazz king Duke Ellington was born and began his career. He also grabs a bite at Ben’s Chili Bowl, the legendary diner chosen by President Obama for a snack before his inauguration. He follows his guidebook to the United States Naval Observatory, the nation’s timekeeper, where he discovers how and why the railroads established four time zones across the continent in 1883.

Heading south to Alexandria in Virginia, Michael explores a former slave market and hears how African Americans were bought and sold. He ends this leg in Mount Vernon, the palladian home of the nation’s first president George Washington, where he gets into a spot of bother at an archaeological dig.


EPISODE 14
"Manassas to Richmond" 18 February 2016 1.14
Steered by his 1879 Appleton’s Guide to the United States, Michael Portillo arrives in Manassas, scene of not one, but two, crucial battles during the American Civil War, and the first railroad battles in US history. In Fredericksburg, Virginia, he tries his hand at bottling bourbon corn whisky and learns how it became the nation’s spirit. In Richmond, a plate of ham and eggs with southern grits sets Michael up for a tour of the Virginia State Capitol building, where he learns about the terrible dilemma faced by one of its most famous sons, General Robert E Lee. Charmed by the English heritage of this former colony, Michael puts on his dancing shoes and heads for a cotillion ball, where it seems manners are the name of the game.

EPISODE 15
"Petersburg to Jamestown" 19 February 2016 1.15
The choir of the First Baptist Church in Petersburg, Virginia, is in fine voice as Michael Portillo discovers how, during the 19th century, coded messages were delivered to slaves who hoped to escape via the so-called Underground Railroad.
Michael ploughs his own furrow in a field in colonial Williamsburg, a living history park, where he learns from costumed re-enactors what life was like for both master and slave.

It’s battle stations in Norfolk, home to the United States Atlantic Fleet, where Michael is invited on board the naval ship USS Wisconsin to hear about the first duel fought between iron-clad vessels in 1862, and Britain’s role in it.Michael reaches the end of this American journey in Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, where he finds out about the settlers’ grim struggle for survival led by Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.