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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 4

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Michael Portillo

Alison Kreps

Dave Minchin

FremantleMedia UK

Tom Richardson

Great American Railroad Journeys: Series 4: Skagway to Vancouver

Skagway to Vancouver

BBC Two - Great American Railroad Journeys, Series 4, Skagway to Vancouver

Michael heads for the Chilkoot trail, which the first gold prospectors hiked 100 years ago

Arriving in Skagway by seaplane from railwayless Juneau, Michael Portillo heads for Dyea and the Chilkoot trail, which the first gold prospectors hiked 100 years ago to the Klondike.

Michael Portillo embarks on a second spectacular rail journey through Alaska into Canada on the White Pass and Yukon railway.

Arriving in Skagway by seaplane from railwayless Juneau, Michael heads first for Dyea and the Chilkoot trail, which the first gold prospectors hiked 100 years ago to the Klondike. Among them, he discovers, was author Jack London, whose stories of sled dogs captured the spirit of the gold rush.  

In the puppy pen of a sled dog training camp, a dog musher tells Michael how huskies helped to build Alaska and gives him an insight into how the dogs continue to work and race today. 

Boarding the 52-mile railway, built in 1898, which climbs 2,600 feet before dropping to the head of Canada’s Lake Bennett, Michael looks forward to beautiful scenery on a railway laden with history. At the lake, Michael meets an indigenous guide to hear of the role of First Nations people in the stampede for gold. 

In Carcross, Yukon, Michael helps to carve a totem pole and is invited to shake his tail feathers in a “grouse” dance.

From Vancouver in the south of British Columbia, Michael prepares to trace some 600 miles of the first transcontinental railway route across the Canadian Rockies. He boards the Canadian Pacific Railway Engine 374, which linked the vast nation of Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 1887, to unearth the story behind this grand feat of engineering and the bribery and corruption which brought down a government. And Michael learns that without this railway, there might not be a unified Canada today.

From Vancouver’s Skytrain, Michael explores the nation’s most densely populated city. A taste of the outdoor life in the thousand-acre Stanley Park prompts Michael to head for the home of the Vancouver Giants and Trinity Northwestern University to try an iconic Canadian sport, ice hockey. It is a brave move - but not a glorious one.

Michael is on more familiar territory on set at the Canadian Motion Picture Park, known in the industry as the Hollywood of the north. He discovers the first film made in Canada was created at the time of his guide. Michael directs an Oscar-worthy scene of his own.

Great American Railroad Journeys: Series 4

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Great American Railroad Journeys

Series 4

Skagway to Vancouver

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