Just the ticket

Train enthusiast Michael Portillo returns to his first love to explore the fascinating history of our railways

- WORDS: LAURA CARRENO-MÜLLER

Michael Portillo is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the modern railway with a new two-part documentary for BBC Two, 200 Years Of Railways.

The series sees Michael wander down memory lane while also retracing the tracks of history, starting with the Stockton and Darlington line. It's a journey that shines a light on the visionaries who transformed Britain's landscape - and changed the world.

As ever, Michael mixes insight with enthusiasm, unearthing stories behind the locomotives that carried the first passengers and helped lay the foundations for the railway age.

"There were previous railways, some with locomotives, many without, some with horses. Some trains that were pulled by cables from steam engines," Michael says. "In Stockton and Darlington, it was a new concept which was a public utility. Anyone could turn up as the passenger, there were fares and tariffs. It was run with steel locomotion with moving engines.