Hi all, I'd like to recommend this show to one and all. I am really enjoying watching it and I have not missed an episode yet. Yesterday they showed Greenwich and this was where a number of ukexpert members had seen Michael Portillo and the film crew working on the show a while back. There are photos from that in the Photo Gallery - click here to see one: http://www.ukexpert.co.uk/photopost/...-portillo.html I like a lot of aspects of this show.. it is in HD on BBC HD and the views of the British countryside and various towns are very neat. I've learnt a lot about many places I haven't been to yet. I've also enjoyed all the industrial visits that are part of the show. For instance to a firm in Melton Mowbray making Stilton.. part of my old job was to show people around a Stilton factory in Melton Mowbray - and this and many other parts of the show have seemed very interesting. If anyone else watches it please consider saying what you think about it here. Also this is a good spot to comment on any other item on TV or in the Media that you want to discuss. All the best, Steve
Steve I have been watching this series as well as the first which was originally shown last year. I have thought it might be interesting to obtain a Bradshaw guide and try a Railway journey of my own. Southern Railways used to publish their own guides and I have collected a few in particular by SPB Mais. The titles include Southern Rambles, Walking at weekends and Lets get out of here. They cost sixpence when first published and I have picked these up on ebay for as little as £2.
John, I haven't bought any guides but I have enjoyed every episode of the series, and like you I watched all the first series too. I'm going to go and sit down ready for tonight's one shortly.. though I have it set to record as well. I find it a very relaxing programme to watch, and interesting in all sorts of ways. The cost of using the railway always puts me off bothering with traveling on it these days. Also if you see something you want to buy, well it isn't the most practical way to get things home... So, if I ever go look at some of the places/things he has shown in the series it may be by car.. which would probably be even better than by train in most ways. I was saying to Andy the other day that I think we should probably try and do something somewhere like the Bluebell line this year.. where we can see and photograph and perhaps ride on some neat steam trains. Andy used to help out there. I would guess the train fares for Michael Portillo and his crew would amount to vast sums if they were having to pay. I do use the underground a fair bit as the costs are reasonable on there.. what isn't is the overcrowding. I have a relative who runs a railway safety and repair company and he is at present out each night with a crew of his men working on the underground while it is closed. Steve
I know the Bluebell used to do lineside passes for photographers, that would be a good day out.
John, I hope Andy will help sort something there this summer. My little Grandson loves Thomas the Tank engine and the last time we did the Bluebell with Andy I seem to remember seeing various trains with Thomas type faces on them... if they are still there I may well bring little Brayden and other family members along to ride and photograph the trains. Andy here is of course a Train Driver by profession and he used to be the ASLEF branch secretary I think it was at Kings Cross, I do miss the fun of seeing him in the papers and on the news... He seemed to work on the Bluebell for some time and his love of trains is shown by his Avatar on here, the only person to have a train here for that I think... Steve
I've been watching Micheal Portillo on the journey from Ayr to Skye this week. I have been on the Fort William to Mallaig line(The Jacobite) a couple of times now and stayed at Glenfinnan. It really is a stunning railway journey and I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in Steam Trains and the stunning location. We travelled from the Kyle of Lochalsh to Skye then from Skye to Mallaig and followed the train to Fort William. After visiting Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis we drove through the magnificent Glencoe and then on to Oban.
John, I love that area and there is video here on ukexpert of the ferry to Skye etc that I took with my kids. I've not used trains much in Scotland though we have had some Scottish meets where members from London went up to Scotland by train and then on to meet locations etc. We used to get some amazing return train fares back then, amounts like £25 ring a bell. There was talk by some of the keenest train folks on here of wandering about in Scotland on trains.. but nobody seemed to take ownership of the idea and actually make it happen so in the end it didn't.. I'd perhaps attend something like that but I don't feel me arranging it would make a great deal of sense. Maybe one day it will get sorted.. Taimur our Plastic Surgeon member in Scotland was going to attend that with his family I remember. I've spent quite a lot of time working in Scotland, and I used to show buyers around some of our factories in Scotland, like one at Lockerbie that was the largest dairy factory in Scotland.. among its many products it used to make butter and cheese portions that were used on aircraft catering etc.. we were quite glad we hadn't put Lockerbie labels/branding on them when the PanAm Jumbo came down there. We did have a Lockerbie cheddar and some folks felt that was done after the crash to cash in on it but of course we used the brand for years before that. Some of the views from the mountains up there that members here have captured are great... and we have someone based at one of the Scottish universities who has done the Munroes and put many of the photos up etc. Steve
...it is sad to note that this programme, great as it is, seems to be getting 'killed' by the actions of the BBC, do you agree? What I am thinking of is that it was on every day at 6:30pm on BBC 2 and also on BBC HD - now BBC2 seems to have dropped it?? I can only see it on the HD channel... which seems to mean that ONLY those with HD TV's can even see it? Anyone else seeing the same thing.. anyone have a clue why the BBC would do something that seems on the face of it totally weird and a total waste of a great series? Steve
