Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways

In this episode, Chris crosses the Australian Outback on an amazing railway. The 2,000 mile long Adelaide to Darwin railway is commonly known as ‘The Ghan Line’. It is named after the main service that runs on it and the name ‘Ghan’ is said to derive from the Afghan-run camel trains that ferried people and goods across the Outback in the 19th Century. Building the line proved to be a huge engineering challenge that took over 100 years to complete. In his quest to uncover the extraordinary story of this railway, Chris travels from Adelaide to Darwin, following the original ill-fated route of the line. After cruising out of the city on the luxury modern Ghan train, he quickly transfers to one of the lines surviving steam trains before hitting the Outback for real. Dating back to the Afghan days, this remains camel country, but Chris quickly concludes that a modern 4x4 is a more practical means of crossing the Outback.

The broadcaster returns, beginning by travelling across Europe to examine the trains role in the First World War. In Northumberland, he enjoys a ride on a preserved locomotive to find out how important the railways were to Britain for mobilisation of troops and the operation of large training camps around the country. Aboard a holiday train commandeered to transport troops and ammunition, Chris tells the stories of two opposing soldiers, one English and one German, who both took trains to the Somme in 1916.

Chris travels through Turkey, reflecting on the achievements of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - the founder of the republic who oversaw the modernisation of the country and its railways. He begins his journey at Istanbul railway station, the starting point ort he Marmaray rail tunnel, which passes beneath the Bosphorus and was built to withstand earthquakes. He also visits Ankara and the volcanic spires of Cappadocia, before heading deep into the mountains and ending in the remote borderlands city of Kars.