From Sydney to Perth the line goes, two thin ribbons of steel, all the way across from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean on the other side. It crosses most of the history of Australia as well as its geography. Across the Blue Mountains, down into the waterless waste of the New South Wales bush, through the Flinders Ranges into the Nullarbor Plain, where for 500 miles it runs without a curve, the longest straight railway line in the world. 
In the second of seven travel films, playwright and journalist MICHAEL FRAYN traces the Australian dream of a transcontinental railroad, not only on the East-West Indian Pacific, but on the eccentric Ghan train chugging north to Alice Springs at a reckless 17 mph. 

As a boy, Michael Palin spent hours on Sheffield Midland Station train-spotting. It's a habit he never outgrew, and now he fulfils every enthusiast's dream - a journey from one end of Britain to the other, from Euston to Kyle of Lochalsh, along routes steeped in railway history.