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.\n\nIn 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\nSweetwater Dam.
Source: BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 9. Chicago To Champaign, Illinois
16-09-2024
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 5. Santa Fe, New Mexico, To The Grand Canyon
09-09-2024
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 4. La Junta To Colorado Springs
05-09-2024
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 2. Sedalia To St Joseph, Missouri
04-09-2024
BBC 2
Series 2 Reversions: 1. St Louis To Jefferson City, Missouri
02-09-2024
BBC 2
Series 4: 9. Portage La Prairie To Saskatoon
Steered by his 1899 Appleton’s Guide, Michael Portillo strikes west across Manitoba into the province of Saskatchewan. High above the prairie at Riding Mountain, Michael d ...
10-10-2022
BBC 2
Series 3: 10. Toronto
Michael Portillo's railway journey across eastern Canada concludes in the nation's largest metropolis, Toronto. He begins his Toronto tour at Union Station. Now busier than the ...
22-11-2022
BBC 2
Series 3: 12. Sacramento To Napa Valley
Continuing his epic Californian rail journey, Michael Portillo begins this leg at the very spot that triggered the 1848 gold rush. He finds out how California's mineral treasure ...
24-11-2022
BBC 2
Series 3: 13. San Francisco To Sausalito, California
Armed with his trusty Appleton's Guide, Michael Portillo's rail journey through California takes him to the commercial metropolis of San Francisco. Riding through the vibrant st ...
28-11-2022
BBC 2
Alaska And Canada: 1. Ninilchik To Spencer Whistlestop
Michael Portillo heads for the Last Frontier of the United States armed with his 1899 Appleton's Guide-Book to Alaska. Written by an intrepid 19th-century female explorer, the b ...
24-07-2023
BBC 2
Series 4: 4. Vancouver Island To Kamloops
Michael Portillo explores British Columbia, steered by his Appleton’s Guide to Canada, published in 1899. He discovers how two superpowers nearly came to war over a pig an ...
22-09-2022
BBC 2
Series 3: 8. Montreal To Ottawa
Steered by his Appleton's guidebook Michael Portillo's train journey continues in Canada's Quebec province. \n\nVenturing into the wooded hills of Vaudreuil, Michael explores a ...
17-11-2022
BBC 2
Series 3: 16. Santa Clara To Santa Cruz
Michael Portillo's thousand-mile rail journey through California continues south toward Santa Clara in the heart of Silicon Valley and ends in the surf of Santa Cruz. In a high- ...
01-12-2022
BBC 2
Series 3: 17. Monterey To Santa Barbara
Steered by his late-19th-century Appleton's guidebook, Michael Portillo continues his railroad travels through southern California aboard the Coast Starlight service. In the his ...
05-12-2022
BBC 2