My family and I are just finishing our holiday in England. During some of the evenings, my wife & I were watching a British TV series on (European) DVDs.

Believe it or not, we have found a train TV series that we both enjoy! It's called "Great British Railway Journeys," hosted by Michael Portillo. (See <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xblg3">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xblg3</a><!-- m -->).

Basically, Portillo travels around Britain on a modern train visiting & discussing the history of the towns, cities and regions on his route. Occasionally, you might see him helping the fireman behind a steam loco but more often he is chatting with the locals about their countryside or unique history. He also explains a fair bit how railways shaped the history of Britain and how almost everything from Victorian times onward was dependent on the railways.

I'll have to see if we can get it in Canada -- I seem to recall that PBS or the History Channel might have run this in the past? I'd be curious to see if others have seen this program and if we might be able to get it in Toronto. I've checked amazon.ca and they only seem to have to book version.

Rob...Congrats to you & the Missus on the serendipitous discovery. Hope the holiday was otherwise delightful, too. Do you think "BBC America" might have that series? The service is on my cable and I believe on sat-tv...and possibly internet. It shows lots of "Dr. Who" & "Top Gear" here - but other, more esoteric stuff also. That program would likely go on my schedule (or coveted DVR, whenever/if ever). Bob C.

I watched many of these when they were run on TV. They are pretty good, not as 'lite' as much rail related TV.
On thing to watch for is the cut scenes showing trains from the air often don't match the journey being made, and there are various other train related continuity errors.