Radio Times: Review by:; David Butcher

Towards the end of his latest journey, Tarrant hitches a ride on a mile-and-a-half-long freight train across the Australian outback. That is one long train, and Tarrant spends a long time on it: 24 hours in the cramped cab, making friends with a succession of drivers. But just as Robson Green always managed to keep his enthusiasm for fishing whatever discomfort he was pushed to in Extreme Fishing, so Tarrant’s natural enthusiasm for rails and carriages – and the people who use them – pulls him through.

He’s on the 2,000-mile-long Adelaide to Darwin line, the construction of which took more than 100 years to complete.

About this programme

2/3. Chris crosses Australia from south to north following the original ill-fated route of the 2,000-mile long Adelaide to Darwin railway. After beginning his journey on a luxury modern train, he transfers to one of the line's surviving steam locomotives before hitting the Outback, where he quickly concludes that a 4x4 is a more practical means of travelling. He passes through ghost towns and explores abandoned railway relics before uncovering why most of the southern section of the line eventually had to be abandoned. At Alice Springs he hitches a ride on a freight train headed for Darwin and reaches his final destination after nearly 24 hours in the cramped cab.