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Great American Railroad Journeys

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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.

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Great American Railroad Journeys: Series 1

Michael Portillo

John Comerford

Alison Kreps

Boundless Productions

Great American Railroad Journeys: Series 1: Episode 10: Wilmington to Havre de Grace

Episode 10

Episode 10: Wilmington to Havre de Grace

Series 1

Wilmington to Havre de Grace

BBC Two - Great American Railroad Journeys, Series 1, Wilmington to Havre de Grace

Michael Portillo reaches a milestone on his American journey: the Mason-Dixon line.

Michael Portillo rides the railroads of America. Michael reaches a milestone on his American journey: the Mason-Dixon line.

Armed with his Appleton's Guide, Michael Portillo reaches a milestone on his American journey: the boundary between the northern and southern states, known as the Mason-Dixon line. He discovers the origins of what became for black Americans the border between slavery and freedom, in an 18th-century English dispute over land.

On the Wilmington and Western Railroad, Michael meets the passenger train Phoebe Snow, created by the railroads at the turn of the 20th century to reassure passengers that clean burning coal wouldn't make their clothes dirty.

Michael uncovers the explosive history of gunpowder production in Delaware, begun by a Frenchman, whose chateau still stands. He then takes a boat trip up the Susquehanna River following the route taken by one of the first English settlers, John Smith.

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Great American Railroad Journeys

Series 1

Episode 10: Wilmington to Havre de Grace

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