Great American Railroad Journeys - Specials (2016)

Michael Portillo crosses the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America with a new travelling companion. Armed with Appleton's General Guide to the United States, published in 1879, Michael begins his American adventure on Manhattan Island. Starting at New York's Grand Central Terminal, he boards the Manhattan subway system, the busiest rail transit system in the US. He learns about Manhattan's iconic skyscrapers, then heads to the Financial District where, over a lobster newberg, he finds out how the dodgy political dealings of the era's most prominent industrialists earned them the nickname 'Robber Barons'. In an urban oasis, Michael finds out how a swampy wasteland was turned into one of the largest and finest parks in the world - Central Park. A celebrity welcome from the resting actors of Broadway awaits him at Ellen's Stardust Diner. In the Lower East Side, Michael is drawn into a scrap with one of the neighbourhood's infamous historic gangs, and he visits the grim tenements where thousands of immigrants lived and worked. Michael then heads by ferry to Ellis Island, the gateway to America for many millions seeking a new life in the new world. He finishes this leg of his journey with a tour of the gleaming new transport hub under construction close to the site of Ground Zero.

From Manhattan, Michael follows his Appleton's General Guide east to Long Island. Beginning in Brooklyn, he hears the moving story behind the construction of the world's first steel suspension bridge high above the East River. Below ground, he investigates the arrival of New York City's first subway and the dangers faced by the men who built it - the sandhogs. At the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Michael discovers the dry dock where warships were built to defend American trade against the British and tastes the modern day moonshine now produced there. Michael follows in the footsteps of thousands of early 20th-century holidaymakers to what was once America's playground, Coney Island. Continuing on the Long Island Railroad to Queens, Michael investigates the site of an ambitious engineering project that will transform New York City's rail network. A model town built by an Irish immigrant who became one of the richest men in America is Michael's next stop before he heads to the island's Gold Coast. There, Michael relives the fun of the roaring twenties at Oheka Castle, a vast private residence once home to a rail tycoon before becoming a weekend retreat for New York City's garbage men. In East Hampton, Michael discovers Home Sweet Home before ending his journey at the Montauk lighthouse on Long Island's easternmost tip.

Michael follows America's iconic River Hudson north through New York State. Beginning at New York City's Penn Station, Michael rides the national rail carrier service Amtrak. He hears from Amtrak's police chief how railroad policing began to tackle the nation's most notorious train robbers, among them Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Upriver at Tarrytown, Michael is spooked by a famous American ghost story, the legend of Sleepy Hollow. On the east bank of the Hudson, he stops at Garrison, where he hears about the greatest turncoat in American history and the many generals trained at West Point, the United States Military Academy. In Poughkeepsie, Michael visits a university built just for women. Now co-educational, as a women's college, Vassar counted Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Meryl Streep among its former students. He discovers the tumultuous history of the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge and follows the train line to the Catskill Mountains, where he bravely admires the scenery from an altogether different type of line, a zip wire. Back on safe ground, he learns how the magnificent landscape inspired artists of the Hudson River School. Arriving in New York's state capital, Albany, he samples a drop of Albany Ale before rubbing shoulders with the state senator.

Michael Portillo braves the awesome power and drenching spray of Niagara Falls in 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. Continuing his American journey heading west through New York State, Michael 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 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 a famous 19th-century name still trading today - George Eastman, who launched mass market photography with his Eastman Kodak company. 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.

Michael Portillo embarks on a new railroad journey, informed by his 1879 Appleton's guidebook, from the City of Brotherly Love 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 a 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 at the Eastern State Penitentiary, Michael reflects on the 19th-century Pennsylvania system of incarceration, before heading to the gambling resort of Atlantic City. Michael hitches a ride with the Amish in a horse-drawn buggy, through rich Pennsylvania countryside. In Traintown USA, he joins the crew of the Strasburg Railroad. After oiling the magnificent engine, he rides on the footplate of the vintage steam locomotive. Next stop is the 'sweetest place on earth', where Michael learns about the world's largest chocolate factory and the town that bears its name. 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.