Michael Portillo: Great British Railway Journeys – #58 – #13/25 – S03E13 – Lydney to Newport

Michael Portillo – Great British Railway Journeys – this is a great series. .

Portillo’s enthusiasm is infectious and fun.

This Episode

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw’s Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us and what remains of Bradshaw’s Britain, in a series of five epic journeys.

All this week he is travelling west, from Oxford in the heart of England, through the Malvern Hills and into Wales, taking in the unique Victorian heritage of the South Wales coastline.

Today Michael discovers Britain’s hidden micro-mines within the Forest of Dean, sees why the Victorians fell for the romantic ruins of Tintern Abbey and uncovers the railway engineering behind the industrial icon that is Newport Transporter Bridge.