Widlake in America -
The Great American Railroads
America has the world's largest railway system, a privately owned octopus of 400 separate companies, altogether 25 times the size of British Rail.
No industry ever held its head so high as the great American railroads: they were the foundation of America's industrial society, the password for innovation and the pioneering spirit, and the inspiration of much of America's legend and folk song.
Today the much-sung Wabash,
Rock Island, Rio Grande and Santa Fe still straddle the United States, but the last 30 years have spelt a steady decline. Now the energy crisis promises a new boom, with the railroads busier than ever in their history. But, paradoxically, it's a boom that could be the seed of their destruction, the death-blow to the last great private railway system in the world, as BRIAN WIDLAKE reports.
Camera IAN STONE
Sound JULIAN BALDWIN Film editors
GORDON FORSYTH , MIKE APPELT Producer DAVID LLOYD Editor JOHN DEKKER
(Repeated next Sunday afternoon