Passionate about trains, Michael Portillo charts the great British romance with the railways as he retraces four journeys that were first documented in the monthly railway guide, Bradshaw’s Handbook. He sees what’s changed and discovers how our love of the railways all began.

This 4 disc DVD set features 20 episodes covering the 4 different journeys:

• Liverpool to Scarborough
• Preston to Kirkcaldy
• Swindon to Penzance
• Buxton to London

Portillo makes stops on route to visit some of Britain’s most beautiful cities and hidden-away villages, meeting extraordinary people and hearing stories of how their lives have been shaped in some way by the railways. Throughout these monumental journeys, Portillo explores the secret ammunition factory at Gretna, sails the last steam boat on Lake Windermere, learns to talk ‘scouse’ in Liverpool, takes a dip in Bath Spa, cooks a traditional curry in Birmingham, tries his hand at oyster fishing in Cornwall and meets survivors of the Coventry Blitz.