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.

Series 3

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Michael Portillo

Dave Minchin

Alison Kreps

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Great American Railroad Journeys: Series 3: Episode 20: La Jolla to San Diego

Episode 20

Episode 20: La Jolla to San Diego

La Jolla to San Diego

BBC Two - Great American Railroad Journeys, Series 3, La Jolla to San Diego

Clad in khaki boiler suit and dark glasses, Michael joins the US Navy Pacific Fleet.

Clad in khaki boiler suit and dark glasses, Michael Portillo joins the US Navy Pacific Fleet, birthplace of the elite flying academy Top Gun.

Michael Portillo is nearing the end of his thousand-mile rail journey from Reno, Nevada, to San Diego in southern California. In this final leg, clad in khaki boiler suit and sporting dark glasses, he joins the US Navy Pacific Fleet, birthplace of the elite flying academy Top Gun. Aboard the Pacific Surfliner, he arrives first in the coastal town of La Jolla, where he takes to the water in a kayak to explore the extraordinary 75-million-year-old caves.

In San Diego, he picks up the trail of the industrialist and property speculator John D Spreckels, who made the city boom in the 19th century and built a pavilion to house the largest outdoor pipe organ in the world. Michael is offered the chance to play it. Appleton's recommends a trip to a huge structure, completed in 1888, on which San Diegans have depended for water for 130 years - the
Sweetwater Dam.

Great American Railroad Journeys: Series 3

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Michael Portillo embarks on a rail journey from Boston, Massachusetts, to Toronto, Ontario

Armed with his 19th-century Appleton's guidebook to the United States and Canada, Michael Portillo embarks on a 1,100-mile railroad journey from Boston, Massachusetts, to Toronto, Ontario.

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Great American Railroad Journeys

Series 3

Episode 20: La Jolla to San Diego

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