Michael Palin has travelled round the world In 80 days and then journeyed from North to South Pole - all in the cause of television journalism and entertainment. In contrast, a journey from Londonderry, in the north of Ireland, to Kerry in the south is a less frenetic trip. But it does fulfil Palin's love of travel.... and trains in particular.
"There is something about railways that makes life seem tantalisingly simple," he says. "it's a world In which choices are made for you, courses mapped out, paths already plotted, and the direction Is always forward."
On his journey Palin separates the myth from the reality about Irish rail travel, learns more about his Irish great-grandmother, and discovers that railways - and Ireland's train-spotters - are strictly non-sectarian. From Belfast he catches the "peace train", a service operated jointly by Northern Ireland Railways and Irish Rail, and travels to Dublin. Then it's Cork, the village of Buttevant, and a search for his roots.

For Mark Tully , the BBC's much respected correspondent on the Indian sub-continent, a 1,000-mile trip on the romantic Khyber Mail from Karachi to the Khyber Pass fulfilled a life's ambition. 
Tully's travels bring to an end this series in which well known train lovers undertake memorable journeys. He discovers that in Pakistan, where railways are a legacy of the British Raj and remain the mainstay of the transport system, style is more important than speed. "In an Islamic country nothing is believed to happen without God's help," he says. "But Pakistani railwaymen know that even Allah cannot guarantee that their trains will run on time." 
Tully takes a detour on a steam-hauled goods train, chugs through the Bolan Pass to Quetta, most Islamic of all  Pakistan's cities, and catches the first train for 11 years to go through the Khyber Pass, closed since the Soviet-Afghan war.