Great American Railroad Journeys

Original version

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Factual: Travel

Michael Portillo crosses the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America.

Michael Portillo crosses the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America, armed with Appleton's General Guide to the United States, published in 1879.

Series 2 (Extended Versions)

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Michael Portillo

John Comerford

Alison Kreps

Great American Railroad Journeys: Series 2 (Extended Versions): Episode 8: Milwaukee to Chicago

Milwaukee to Racine, Wisconsin

Episode 8

Episode 8: Milwaukee to Chicago

Milwaukee to Chicago

BBC Two - Great American Railroad Journeys, Series 2 (Extended Versions), Milwaukee to Chicago

Michael Portillo embarks on a new American rail journey from Milwaukee to Chicago.

Michael Portillo embarks on a new American rail journey from Milwaukee to Chicago. Michael learns how the first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built.

Michael Portillo is in Milwaukee, the cream city on the shore of Lake Michigan and home to an American icon: the Harley Davidson motorcycle. Michael learns how the first machine was built in 1903 and hitches a ride. German gymnastics is Michael's next challenge as he joins the Ladies' Auxiliary Exercise Class at the Turner Hall, a legacy of Milwaukee's 19th-century German settler community. In Racine, Michael discovers a man who knew how to sort the wheat from the chaff and made a business out of it. Michael is blown away by the skyscrapers in Illinois's Windy City, where he discovers how modern Chicago's skyline replaced a largely wooden city, destroyed in a fire shortly before his Appleton's Guide was published. Michael steps up to the plate with the Joliet Slammers, stars of the US national game of baseball, then sings for his supper at a quintessentially American restaurant bearing his name! Downtown at the Moody Church, Michael tracks down a pair of evangelists who toured Britain and the United States by rail at the time of his guide.

Great American Railroad Journeys: Series 2 (Extended Versions)

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Great American Railroad Journeys

Series 2 (Extended Versions)

Episode 8: Milwaukee to Chicago

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