Michael Portillo embarks on a new journey guided by his Bradshaw's Handbook from London's Euston station to Leeds. In this first leg, he finds out what happened to the once proud Euston Arch then braves the watery depths under Camden Town to see how goods were transported by rail, road and canal. Clad in his old school blazer, Michael heads north to explore the Harrow of his childhood and remembers the tragic rail disaster of 1952. At the country estate of one of the world's wealthiest banking families in Tring, he discovers an exotic collection in need of special attention before alighting at Cheddington, scene of the Great Train Robbery.