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Documentary
This series looks at the iconic trains that have done the most to change history. Each train is an engineering marvel, each one a leap forward in the history of trains and railways. But more than this, these are the trains that made the modern world. These are the trains that…
The stories behind the most important trains in history and their impact on the world, beginning with a look at the first locomotives during the Industrial Revolution.
The railroads ended slavery in the USA, but trains can be agents of oppression too. The British Empire built railways to rule the world, enabling it to control the empire.
The steam train reached its zenith in the Old World, and in the New World, trains like the Burlington Zephyr were part of the race for modernity
Advanced freight trains can haul the weight of 170 Boeing 747s across thousands of miles. The freight train is the leviathan that keeps the world on track.
As travelling between cities became easier, crossing them was impossible. The solution was steam train that ran under the city - the London Underground.
China is the champion of high-speed rail and 75 million people now live within an hour's commute of Shanghai - more than the entire population of the UK.
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Chris Barrie's Massive Speed follows on from the series Massive Engines and Massive Machines , both of which were also presented by petrolhead Chris (of Red Dwarf fame). In Massive Speed Chris turns his attention to the evolution of machines designed purely to achieve maximum speed. He travels the world searching for the most thrilling, speed-packed machines he can find and introduces audiences to huge engined bikes, planes, trucks and boats that battle it out in power races. Whether it's crossing an otherwise impenetrable snow drift, desert or swamp at the speed of an Olympic sprinter or cutting through the atmosphere at six times the speed of sound, Chris tells the stories of the greatest achievements of speed design and engineering. In each episode Chris follows the evolution of a specific genre of machine by testing them and reveals both the classsic stories and secret histories that surround each of them.
