Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

Following in the footsteps of Queen Victoria, Michael uses the railways she often rode from Windsor Castle to her country getaway on the Isle of Wight, from which his journey continues west, to Portland.

Michael visits a station fit for royalty in Windsor, views an engineering triumph built by Brunel to span the Thames at Maidenhead, and tries his hand at collecting the mail 'Victorian style' on a steam-powered travelling post office. Show less