Keeping the War Moving
Michael Portillo examines the role of the railways in World War I, experiencing the miniature trains that kept supplies flowing to the front line.
World War I was a railway war. Michael Portillo finds out how the railways helped to precipitate a mechanised war, shaped how it was fought, conveyed millions to the trenches and bore witness to its end. He takes to historic tracks to rediscover the locomotives and wagons of the war that was supposed to end all war and hears the stories of the gallant men and women who used them in life and in death.
Michael travels through Britain and northern France uncovering railway stories from the Great War. He gets hands-on experience of the miniature tracks and trains that kept supplies flowing to the front line and visits North Eastern Railway headquarters in York to find out about the Great War's forgotten railway leader. He hears the story of the Bath railway poet, and pays homage at the site of Britain's deadliest train crash in Quintinshill. Finally, Michael crosses the Channel to discover how the railways fed millions of men in the trenches from a depot in Abancourt.
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Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Michael Portillo |
Executive Producer | John Comerford |
Series Producer | Alison Kreps |
Director | Tom Richardson |
Broadcasts
- Wed 6 Aug 2014 18:30
- Sat 9 Aug 2014 11:00
- Wed 20 Aug 2014 10:00
- Tue 14 Apr 2015 19:30
- Wed 15 Apr 2015 01:00
- Wed 5 Aug 2015 12:30
- Sat 16 Sep 2017 10:30
- Wed 7 Feb 2018 19:30
- Wed 7 Nov 2018 14:1591热爆 Two except Scotland
- Wed 13 Feb 2019 19:30
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