PBS TV Railroad Shows Feb 18
 

PBS channel WKOPW (Comcast Cable channel 203 in Oak Ridge) will
broadcast two shows about railroads next Tuesday, the 18^th .

The first one, Railroad Empire, airs several times throughout the day,
at 8:00 am, 2:00 pm and 7:00 pm EST. The other one is American
Experience: Grand Central. It airs at 10:00 am, 6:00 am and 9:00 pm,
also EST.

Railroad Empire:

The transcontinental railroad, begun in 1855 and completed in 1869,
transformed the Golden State from sleepy outpost into one of the world's
most powerful economies. THE RAILROAD EMPIRE explores this vital moment
in California's history and charts its impact on the development of a
nation. Archival photography footage depicts the painstaking process of
constructing this "ribbon of iron" through the Sierra Mountains.
Interviews with historians and railroad experts paint a vivid portrait
of how railroads forever altered the social and political landscape of
the United States. The program also examines the institutionalized
violence and systematic discrimination against Chinese railroad
laborers, the development of unions and Congress' role in the Big Four's
monopoly of California transportation.

Grand Central:

On the morning of January 8, 1902, a southbound commuter train traveling
through a smoky, congested tunnel in New York City's Grand Central Depot
slammed into the rear of another train, instantly killing 17 people, and
injuring 38. A self-taught engineer's innovative response to that crisis
ultimately gave birth to one of America's greatest architectural and
technological monuments -- Grand Central Terminal. When Grand Central
Terminal opened on February 12, 1913, the press heralded it as the
greatest railway terminal in the world. Today, it remains one of New
York and America's most famous spaces, and a living monument to the
nation's great railway age.