New TV series - "Great Alaskan Railroad Journeys" (Portillo)

[robvulpes]

Don't think anyone else has reported this. Starts Monday 7 January BBC2 at 1830 for 30 minutes, and every weeknight that week. Apparently 20 episodes in total.

 

[morrisobrien]

This chap certainly gets around a lot!

 

[Mikey C]

Some great scenery in Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, more places to add to my bucket list!

 

[ac6000cw]

Some great scenery in Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, more places to add to my bucket list!

Yes, it is (in spades) - only problem with Western Canada is that some of the best bits (i.e. along the Canadian Pacific Railway route) can't be reached on 'normal' passenger trains - only if you have deep enough pockets to travel on the 'Rocky Mountaineer' tour trains. Still, it's just as spectacular by road.

BTW - the CPR rail route crosses three mountain ranges between the Pacific coast and the prairies - the coastal one, the Selkirks (via Rogers Pass) and the Rockies (via Kicking Horse Pass), so it's almost a heavenly place to be if you like mountains and lakes...like Switzerland it's lovely but expensive...worth it though

Work train at Field - 1 by ac6044cw, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/22VB2vE] Field_east_departure_2 by ac6044cw, on Flickr[/URL]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/23ZzeuE] Kicking Horse Pass summit 1 by ac6044cw, on Flickr[/URL]

 

[Modron]

A good show, but like a lot of ones presented by 'celebs' it'd be nice if instead they could be presented by an expert or even a student/young person interested in railways.

 

[Mikey C]

A good show, but like a lot of ones presented by 'celebs' it'd be nice if instead they could be presented by an expert or even a student/young person interested in railways.

But then the Portillo shows aren't primarily about railways, but rather about history and geography. I doubt a rail buff would want to present long sections about the history of Canada, the First Nation people etc

Yes, it is (in spades) - only problem with Western Canada is that some of the best bits (i.e. along the Canadian Pacific Railway route) can't be reached on 'normal' passenger trains - only if you have deep enough pockets to travel on the 'Rocky Mountaineer' tour trains. Still, it's just as spectacular by road.

BTW - the CPR rail route crosses three mountain ranges between the Pacific coast and the prairies - the coastal one, the Selkirks (via Rogers Pass) and the Rockies (via Kicking Horse Pass), so it's almost a heavenly place to be if you like mountains and lakes...like Switzerland it's lovely but expensive...worth it though

Work train at Field - 1 by ac6044cw, on Flickr

Field_east_departure_2 by ac6044cw, on Flickr

Kicking Horse Pass summit 1 by ac6044cw, on Flickr

Yes, I hadn't realised that the CP Rocky Mountain railway wasn't part of the national network. Worth saving up for I guess!

 

[ac6000cw]

A good show, but like a lot of ones presented by 'celebs' it'd be nice if instead they could be presented by an expert or even a student/young person interested in railways.

They are basically just normal travelogues, with the 'railway' as a bit of background continuity linking the places, designed to appeal to a wide range of viewing public - I quite like them though.

As a contrast, the 'Railroad Australia' series (recently on Quest in the UK) are very much about the 'railway' stuff - but I think the interest of a cab ride on a heavy-haul train climbing a near 3% gradient in the rain at 3 mph would be completely lost on 99.99% of the population (especially as the screaming of the controlled wheelslip was very subdued on the soundtrack...it's **** loud if you're standing trackside)

 

[AY1975]

As a contrast, the 'Railroad Australia' series (recently on Quest in the UK) are very much about the 'railway' stuff - but I think the interest of a cab ride on a heavy-haul train climbing a near 3% gradient in the rain at 3 mph would be completely lost on 99.99% of the population (especially as the screaming of the controlled wheelslip was very subdued on the soundtrack...it's **** loud if you're standing trackside)

I know this is getting off topic, but I thought I heard that Portillo was in Australia last year filming an Australian railway series. If that is what you are referring to, then that explains why it passed me by - I had just presumed it would be on BBC like all his other series! Unfortunately I don't think I can get Quest, unless you can access it via the internet.

Again off topic, and this potentially warrants a separate thread, but he's also recently done a Canadian railroad series on the BBC.

 

[Modron]

If you have Sky then you can get Quest.

Not sure if you can with Virgin/BT etc.

Anyway, back on topic...

 

[Mikey C]

If you have Sky then you can get Quest.

Not sure if you can with Virgin/BT etc.

Anyway, back on topic...

Quest is on Freeview and Freesat, indeed in HD as well (The EFL football highlights are on Quest)

 

[ac6000cw]

Yes, I hadn't realised that the CP Rocky Mountain railway wasn't part of the national network. Worth saving up for I guess!

Well... the first time we went to Western Canada, we looked into riding on the Rocky Mountaineer, but gulped at the cost for just 2 days of train riding... In the end we decided to spend not a huge amount more on a 7 day cruise from Vancouver to Seward, Alaska instead (including a ride on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad from Skagway to White Pass - a major highlight of the whole trip for me), preceded by a one-way self drive trip Calgary-Banff-Lake Louise-(Icefields Parkway)-Jasper-(Yellowhead Pass)-Kamloops-Ashcroft-Lytton-Hope-Vancouver.

 

[Mikey C]

Well... the first time we went to Western Canada, we looked into riding on the Rocky Mountaineer, but gulped at the cost for just 2 days of train riding... In the end we decided to spend not a huge amount more on a 7 day cruise from Vancouver to Seward, Alaska instead (including a ride on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad from Skagway to White Pass - a major highlight of the whole trip for me), preceded by a one-way self drive trip Calgary-Banff-Lake Louise-(Icefields Parkway)-Jasper-(Yellowhead Pass)-Kamloops-Ashcroft-Lytton-Hope-Vancouver.

That White Pass and Yakon railway looked stunning as well, it seems to be a popular inclusion on many tour itineraries

 

[ac6000cw]

That White Pass and Yakon railway looked stunning as well, it seems to be a popular inclusion on many tour itineraries

It is - although the railway was originally built to open up the interior for mineral extraction, eventually all the mines closed and it had to re-invent itself as a tourist railway to survive. Basically, the cruise ships provide virtually all its business. It's quite a serious operation - 4% gradients in places, and when it's busy some trains have to be triple-headed. Some of the cruise ships would dwarf the one (we traveled on) in the picture below, so you can imagine how busy it must get when there is more than one in port.

P1000649 by ac6044cw, on Flickr

P1000629 by ac6044cw, on Flickr

P1000621 by ac6044cw, on Flickr

P1000644 by ac6044cw, on Flickr

Some of those GE 'shovelnose' diesel locos are 65 years old, but most have been thoroughly rebuilt with modern Cummins QSK45L V12 diesel engines over the last 10 years, in place of the original Alco units. The pair in the photos above and video below are rebuilt versions.

My rather wet, misty, cloudy trip on the line:

 

[Mikey C]

Great, thanks