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.

All this week he crosses the Irish sea to discover the rich railway history of both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, following the unfurling 19th century expansion of the tracks from Dublin to Londonderry.

Today Michael observes the amazing engineering feat involved in building the railway along Dublin's treacherous East coast, explores 19th century crime and punishment in a Victorian jail, and finds out how the lions of Dublin Zoo changed the fortunes of the railways. Show less