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The LNER Encyclopedia
Discussion and reference site for the London North Eastern Railway
I like this series , he actually meets normal sensible British people ( the majority) on his travels . Its not often anyone normal gets on tv these days
In my opinion I think Micael Portillo's "Great Railway Journeys" is good PR for the Rail Industry and puts the industry's role across in a positive manner. The continuity could be a little bettter but I guess there is a tight budget to work to.
Dave Cockle wrote:The continuity could be a little bettter but I guess there is a tight budget to work to.
Right on the continuity; I was surprised to see that he was travelling 'under the wires' on the East Suffolk line! Factual errors too, for example Felixstowe's rise over Harwich/Parkeston Quay was for an entirely different reason than the latter could not cope with the traffic.
I get the sense that this series is becoming even less about the railway and more about those places that weren't even connected or advertised. 'Coast' went the same way.
Dave Cockle wrote:In my opinion I think Micael Portillo's "Great Railway Journeys" is good PR for the Rail Industry and puts the industry's role across in a positive manner. The continuity could be a little bettter but I guess there is a tight budget to work to.
In my opinion, he makes a better tv presenter than a politician and he's genuinely interested in railways. About 1990 we had a special on the North London Line one day from Richmond to Silvertown in connection with laying the foundation stone for London City Airport. We'd only just left Richmond with a 313 and there was a knock on the door. It was Mr P asking if he could ride in the cab with us - we could hardly tell him to clear off, could we?
I think it's generally a decent programme, yes there are faults, but it can appeal to a wide audience. I'm just glad he's changed his clothes through the series - I tuned in sometime the first week and thought I'd got the wrong programme - except for the hat, he was dressing like the Earl of Doncaster...
Old House Publishing have produced a reprint of his Bradshaw. Apparently, Bradshaws were paperbacks and there were four of them covering mainland Britain. Someone, whether for their own convenience or another purpose, bound these together (in a similar concept to how some of us bind monthly magazines into years today) and that is what MP has been using. That's what we have been told, anyway. This modern hardback reprint is a facsimile for 1895 and is [large] pocket size, cost £9.99. I think it's going to be popular, though not with Middleton Press, as they offer something similar for a bit more money...
DVDs of earlier series are now available. They were advertised in a recent railway magazine: either Steam Railway or British Railway Modelling, I'm not sure which.
I find them a nice gentle piece of programming for the early evening, if not taken too seriously.
But do dash to the iplayer for a half hour of Welsh steam railways, from the BBC Wales channel. Nothing terribly "new" but some very nice colour and b+w film of 50/60s steam.
I agree. I watch them more as a travel programme rather than a railway one. I know there are numerous continuity errors but that does not bother me because I am used to those on TV and the series is not aimed at serious enthusiasts.
There seems to have been a slow but steady rise in the "we must point out even the tiniest little error" brigade as far as anything railways is concerned, who are rapidly becoming more annoying than the errors themselves.
sees there's nothing much else on the 'box' railway related best sit back and enjoy it , forgot to say its a repeat
wrong line 
