Mark Williams on the Rails

I have loved watching Mark Williams as he presents his history series, "Industrial Revelations" and "...On The Rails." Years ago I watched the series "Connections" with James Burke and found the basic premise to be fine, but that his style of presentation was annoying and tiresome as he tried to inject false enthusiasm into his scripts, and failed. Mark Williams doesn't appear to be trying to be enthusiastic... he IS enthusiastic about his subject matter. And, unlike Burke he actually ties back in all of the little info excursions he takes. And he weaves a complete story that flows from program one to program ten. I was fortunate to have someone record these for me so that I could watch them in one 5-hour sitting.

This series follows the history of the train engine from its first days of dangerous steam power to its future in transportation in this century. While the series mostly concentrates on locomotive history as it pertains to Great Britain, he does devote one entire episode to trains here in the US.

I learned a lot more about our Transcontinental Railroad from that 30-minute program than I ever learned in school. For instance, did you know that the two halves of the railroad didn't meet at first... that they bypassed each other by a hundred feet or so? Watch this and find out why.

Watching Mark present these shows is just plain fun. He obviously enjoys the subject matter and, unlike most "presenters" he gets his hands dirty. He operates steam engines while explaining their function, drives locomotives, stokes coal, oils bearings, and more. And you get the feeling that he understands what he is saying, not just reading a script.

These are worth watching, worth owning (if they ever are released on DVD) and worth recording if the US Discovery Channel brings these Discovery UK programs over here for us to enjoy.