New York City to Garrison Great American Railroad Journeys

I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America...

..with a new travelling companion.

BEEPING

Published in 1879,

my Appletons' General Guide will steer me to everything

that's novel,

beautiful,

memorable or curious in the United States.

-CONGREGATION:

-Amen.

As I cross the continent, I'll discover America's Gilded Age

when powerful tycoons launched a railway boom that tied

the nation together and carved out its future as a superpower.

Today, my guidebook takes me north from New York City through

the Empire State, following the mighty Hudson.

The river has played major roles in American history.

It featured importantly in the war that won

independence for the United States of America.

Its upriver industries brought the country prosperity and power.

And its natural beauty inspired art that helped the new nation to

define itself - so much so that it became known as America's River.

This river takes its name from the Englishman Henry Hudson,

who explored it in 1609.

It flows from the Adirondacks, 300 miles behind me, to here, Manhattan.

Appletons' promises me "some of the most picturesque scenery in America.

"The Hudson has been compared to the Rhine,

"and what it lacks in crumbling ruin and castle-crowned steep, it more

"than makes up for by its greater variety and superior breadth."

What an invitation to follow the course of the mighty Hudson.

On this journey, I'm travelling through New York state.

I began in New York City and Long Island.

Now I'll continue up the Hudson to Poughkeepsie

and the capital of New York state, Albany.

From there, I'll turn west to the Great Lakes,

taking in Rochester and Buffalo,

and finish my journey on the Canadian border at Niagara Falls.

This leg of my journey begins at New York City's Penn Station,

from where I'll head north, upriver,

to Tarrytown and the inspirational setting for some of America's

greatest literature, before continuing to Garrison,

where I cross the river to finish my journey at West Point,

the national military academy.

'Along the way, I will be spooked by a famous American ghost story.'

This sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow!

'Here, a new take on America's greatest turncoat...'

So you think that Benedict Arnold was actually an American

-revolutionary hero?

-He was, absolutely.

'..before learning how the American Civil War divided the nation.'

Not only is father against son and brother against brother,

but it's classmate against classmate.

I'm beginning my journey following Appletons' recommended route through

beautiful upstate New York from the decidedly modern Penn Station.

At the time of my guidebook, there was no railroad station here.

Travellers would have boarded the Hudson River Railroad further

north in Harlem.

If you ever saw a New Yorker standing here crying,

it might be because he was mourning the loss of the old Penn Station.

It was a vast neoclassical building that stood here.

It was easily one of the most beautiful structures in New York.

And in the dreaded 1960s, they tore it down, stone by stone. Why?

Because the railroad was pretty broke

and they did a really good property deal that created this skyscraper

and the Madison Square Gardens, from which we get the boxing matches.

The Penn Central Railroad, which bulldozed Penn Station,

itself collapsed not long after.

And in 1971, train services were taken over by a new national

carrier - Amtrak.

Every day, Amtrak's Penn Station serves over 500,000 people.

With so many users,

this rail company needs its own police department.

The force's police chief is Polly Hanson.

Chief, how many officers do you have now

and across how many states do you operate?

So Amtrak Police are over 500 strong.

We're responsible for over 20,000 employees,

riding and operating trains over 20,000 miles of track,

-serving 500 destinations in 46 states.

-46 states?

I mean, that is a tremendous span for you, isn't it?

What were the origins of railroad policing in the United States?

The history of railroad police really dates back to after

the Civil War.

You had people like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,

Frank and Jesse James, who were getting on trains and robbing them.

And so, the owners of the railroad, very powerful,

important rich men, wanted to keep that wealth.

So they hired people like Allan Pinkerton who,

at the time, was a very innovative investigator

and created his own company.

Scottish-born Allan Pinkerton founded his eponymous detective

agency in 1850 and quickly solved a string of train crimes.

But he met his match when hired to track down one of the most

successful train robbing duos in history -

Robert Leroy Parker, also known as Butch Cassidy,

and his partner in crime, Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, the Sundance Kid.

In 1899, in a single robbery of a Union Pacific train, the pair made

off with 50,000 - the equivalent of nearly 1.5 million today.

Pinkerton agents followed the bandits' trail

and they realised that, before long, they'd be ensnared.

Mr Pinkerton used really innovative investigative techniques

and, of course, today, you take it for granted that you can use DNA and

photographs and send off a cable,

but they didn't have that capability then,

and they still were able to track them

down across the United States, here to New York City,

and then they boarded a ship and went to South America.

In early 1901, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid set

sail from New York City, bound for Buenos Aires.

In 1908, the outlaws reportedly died in a hail of bullets in Bolivia

and quickly became heroes of American popular culture.

Since 9/11, the main focus of the railroad police is counterterrorism,

and officers are a reassuring presence on my train to Tarrytown.

I use the journey to see the work of Allan Pinkerton's modern-day

equivalents - Special Agent Marc Deslandes, Sergeant Robert Smith

and K-9 Officer Jake.

This is one of our explosive detection dogs designed to

seek out and locate potential explosive devices,

either carried on board or somewhere hidden.

Their noses are very good at picking up

and detecting explosive odour

and they can be deployed on moving trains,

on trains that are stationary, we put them to work in our stations,

in and around our stations and in and around our passengers

and the crowds of people that come through.

The connection between animal and officer is important, is it?

It's extremely important. We have a special bond with our dogs.

He gets to come home with me.

He's basically my family,

so we work together and we also live together at home.

I get to feed him, make sure that he's well taken care of.

He's your animal but he is not a pet.

How do you keep the proper distance,

make sure that that is a working animal?

He basically knows when he's working and he knows when he's off duty.

And at work, we're very strict about not allowing other

officers or passengers to pet our dogs.

This way, they can concentrate on doing their jobs.

On this line that hugs the Hudson, Appletons' tells me where to sit.

"Secure a seat on the left-hand side of the cars going north."

It soon becomes clear why.

Just before my stop, crossing the Hudson at one of its widest

points is the Tappan Zee Bridge.

The name comes from one of the area's American Indian tribes,

known as the Tappan, and zee, Dutch for sea - reflecting both

indigenous inhabitants and the first settlers of New York state.

Both groups would inspire the first true American writer who

named New York City "Gotham" and whose characters would later be

brought to life by stars like Johnny Depp.

-TANNOY:

-Please watch the gap between the train and the platform.

I'm making my way to his house - once a site popular with

tourists escaping the city - with the help of my guidebook.

Washington Irving was born into a wealthy Manhattan merchant

family on April 3rd, 1783, at about the same time that the city's

residents learned of the ceasefire that heralded American independence.

And so he was named after the hero of the day - George Washington.

At Irving's home, I'm meeting literary scholar Michael Lord.

Michael, Washington Irving built his house in a lovely spot,

but tell me, what's his place in the American heart, would you say?

I'd say that Washington Irving was the first writer of any

sort in America to gain any respect, especially throughout Europe.

Europeans saw most Americans as perhaps country farmers

without much of an education.

And Irving, I think, changed their minds a little bit.

He achieved that not from this beautiful veranda but from Europe.

In 1815, Irving went to England in an attempt to save

the family business.

I'd say he wrote most of his important works

while he was in Europe.

The Sketchbook Of Geoffrey Crayon

and this is where he introduces us to Rip Van Winkle,

as well as Tales Of The Alhambra.

He is travelling across the continent, picking up little

short stories, lots of information on folktales and legends

and applying them to a new American setting.

So, The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow is a mixture of old German folktales

set here and this is where, I believe, Europeans and Americans

really begin to both take interest in the stories that he is creating.

When he comes back to the United States, then,

does he find that he has become famous?

He is treated almost like royalty when he comes back to New York

in 1832, where he is wined and dined and feted in the city.

He is actually offered to be the Mayor of New York,

which he politely turns down.

He is probably, arguably anyway,

America's largest celebrity at that time.

Hugely successful as an author,

Washington Irving put down roots in Tarrytown, New York, in 1835,

at the cottage he named Sunnyside.

I understand why he built his house on the banks of the Hudson

but why in front of the railway line?

It doesn't make a lot of sense to have that train so close,

but when Irving purchases the land here,

this is 1835 and the railway is 12 years off into the future.

He had no idea that he was going to end up with

tracks in the front of his house.

This is an American romantic who embraces nature

and loves nature and all of a sudden this machine

comes into the garden and he was quite upset about it.

What do we know about how upset he was?

We have several letters attesting to the fact that he was quite

unhappy about this.

We know that in 1847, he writes to a nephew of his, he says,

"If the Garden of Eden were now on Earth,

"they would not hesitate to run a railroad through it."

Wow. He was angry.

Even a couple of years later,

after the railroad actually had come through,

he pens off a note in 1850.

He says, "Excuse me for not answering sooner your kind letter.

"It found me in a terrible state of shattered nerves,

"having been startled out of my sleep by the infernal alarum

"of your railroad steam trumpet."

I must say, while I've been here I have noticed that your engineers,

what we call train drivers, do like to use their horns a lot.

Apparently, Irving felt the same way that you did

because even in the same letter he writes,

"I remain sleepless until daybreak, miserable all the following day.

"It seemed to me almost as if done on purpose."

One of our best-known writers had a phobia of trains,

having been involved in a very nasty railway accident.

Charles Dickens.

He travelled a lot in the United States.

I'm wondering, did he meet Washington Irving?

Dickens travelled here to New York around 1842,

met Irving while he was in New York City.

They wined and dined and they walked around the town

and Irving and Dickens stayed close for the rest of their lives.

And I can rather imagine that when they dined,

they raised their glasses and the toast was, "Down with the train."

I imagine you are right.

Just north of Irving's home is the village

that inspired his most quintessentially American work,

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow.

Its combination of romance and horror made it a bestseller.

And it is still often retold at Halloween.

"And the peculiar character of its inhabitants,

"who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers,

"this sequestered glen has long been known

"by the name of Sleepy Hollow."

It's the ghoulish story of an unlikely hero, Ichabod Crane,

and his mysterious disappearance at the hands of a headless horseman.

"The stories of Brouwer, of Bones, and a whole budget of others,

"were called to mind

"and when they had diligently considered them all

"and compared them with the symptoms of the present case,

"they shook their heads and came to the conclusion

"that Ichabod had been carried off by the Galloping Hessian."

Ooh. Scary stuff!

LAUGHTER

Today my route continues along the eastern bank of the Hudson,

America's River, to Garrison, New York.

In contrast to the tranquil landscape,

Appletons' informs me that this area witnessed many stormy fights

between guerrillas on both sides during the War of Independence.

Because across the water is a site of such strategic importance

that General George Washington described it

as the Gibraltar of the continent.

"West Point,"

says Appletons', "is one of the most attractive places on the river

"and the seat of the National Military Academy,

"which occupies a broad plateau 175 feet above the river.

"The grounds are tastefully laid out, containing fine monuments

"and commanding pleasant views."

For me to obtain my objective, I must cross the mighty Hudson

and scale the heights, which, as any cadet at the academy could

tell you, are perilous manoeuvres.

Fortunately, my guidebook suggests a delightful excursion may be

made by taking the morning boat.

All clear the dock.

So I'm following 19th century travellers to cross

the Hudson in style aboard this paddleboat.

During America's War of Independence, Benedict Arnold,

a man whose conduct was to prove unbecoming

to an officer and a gentleman,

took charge of the military fortifications here.

The story of his plan to betray his countrymen to the British

is inextricably bound to this river.

And at the time of my Appletons',

he lived on in the national consciousness

as America's greatest turncoat.

But crewmember Norman Stellefson has rather a different take.

Benedict Arnold was probably one of the best generals that we had.

The only thing was, he never got credit for anything he did

so he could never get the promotion.

Nevertheless, the under-promoted Arnold distinguished himself

in the fight for American independence,

including at the critical Battle of Saratoga in 1777.

He was shot twice in his leg and it was really bad,

but he looked and he saw that the battle was not going very well,

so he jumped onto a white horse,

went out there

and he actually changed the battle around and then they won the battle.

So you think that Benedict Arnold was actually

an American revolutionary hero?

I'd say he was, absolutely.

With such severe injuries to his leg,

Arnold's combat career was over.

Embittered, in 1780, he was made superintendent of West Point.

He was so disgusted the way they treated him

and everything else that he did pull a lot of stuff that was not legal.

He had a ship of his own and they were bringing stuff in.

They used the army wagons to bring the stuff in and everything.

Any fabulous dancers and everything else. He really lived it up high.

And he liked money.

And when he met British major John Andre,

Arnold's greed got the better of him.

He made plans to surrender West Point in exchange for £20,000.

Andre had to cross the little bridge.

That's when he got stopped and they searched him

and they found the plans in his boot,

but when Benedict Arnold saw what happened to Andre, he said,

"I've got to get out of here."

He jumped on his horse and went down to the British ship, the Vulture,

and got on it and got away.

What do Americans think of Benedict Arnold today?

A lot of people, as soon as they hear Benedict, they go,

"Traitor, traitor."

But they don't really realise what I just told you.

You'd be a traitor, too,

if no matter what you did,

you never got credit for it.

That's terrible.

Pulling in on the starboard side.

West Point has produced

some of the greatest generals in American history.

Today, the United States Military Academy continues to train

commissioned army officers.

OFFICERS SHOUT RESPONSE

I can't hear you.

OFFICERS SHOUT RESPONSE

Alumni and current cadets are known collectively as The Long Gray Line.

Exercise, one, two, three.

With 4,400 cadets in residence,

this bridge becomes pretty busy

when classes are changing.

Amongst these faces there could be future generals,

people who one day will be household names

and, since West Point boasts two former occupants of the White House,

some of them might be a future president.

West Point played a key role in the American War of Independence.

The Hudson passed between the northern and southern colonies.

The revolutionaries had to cross it with munitions and men.

The river also provided a potential invasion route for the British

moving down from Canada.

In the spring of 1778,

the revolutionaries stretched one of the longest and largest chains

ever forged across the river at West Point

and for the remainder of the war,

prevented British ships from sailing upriver.

At the monument to this impenetrable piece of military engineering,

I'm meeting historian Lieutenant Colonel Sherman Fleek.

Here we have the 13 original links of the chain.

The 13 links represent the 13 colonies.

-Each link weighed about 85lb.

-Ooh, let me try that.

-Go ahead.

Whoa!

-Just about.

-So, 65 tonnes, 1,700 feet long.

-And with this you kept the Royal Navy at bay?

-Yes, sir, we did.

With their giant chain in place,

the revolutionaries foiled British ambitions to cut their forces in two.

The Americans secured independence in 1783.

Sherman, when does it become a military academy, then?

So, the Academy was established in 1802

under the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, our third president.

There had been some debate for years

whether we should have a military academy here or not,

which runs counter to the principles and values

of the American Revolution

because of the fear of standing armies.

American attitudes to the military have changed remarkably

since the 18th century.

Today, the armed forces are seen by many Americans

as key to their national identity,

but the Founding Fathers thought back to repression by the British,

associating a standing army with tyranny

and a potential threat to their hard-won liberty.

Who is the guiding spirit who establishes the Military Academy

as it is today?

Without a doubt, the father of the Academy is Sylvanus Thayer.

He became the superintendent in 1817.

He changed everything. He introduced officership, dedication,

duty, responsibility.

He introduced engineering as a strong proponent.

This school was the very first engineering school

in the United States.

With that expertise, West Point graduates

played a key role in the development of America's railroads.

So, by the time of the Civil War,

there was more railroads in the north

than the rest of the world combined.

By 1861, West Pointers had helped to lay

approximately two-thirds of the 31,000 miles of track in America.

At the outbreak of hostilities, with the nation divided,

the American Civil War was set to become

the first railway war in history.

The American Civil War is a watershed event in our history

without a doubt.

It came close to almost destroying this nation.

304 graduates, some of our best people,

went and fought for the Confederacy.

Not only is it father against son and brother against brother,

but it's classmate against classmate

and now all of a sudden they are thrown into this devilish war

where they are fighting each other.

It was heart-rending. It would just tear you apart.

The Civil War imposed a heavy death toll on both sides

and was so divisive that it threatened

the survival of West Point.

One time during the war and twice after the war,

West Point was accused of being a nest of traitors

because of the 304 graduates who fought for the Confederacy.

It was seen by the US Congress that West Point was

a den of treachery, where these graduates that we funded

and paid for. Robert E Lee, 31 years on active duty as a colonel,

all of a sudden, when we needed him, he turned sides against us.

And so they wanted to end West Point.

Congress didn't get its way

and West Point went on to produce

some of the finest military leaders in history.

Generals like Patton,

MacArthur

and Eisenhower.

An Englishman first explored the Hudson

and when, in the following century, a chain from bank to bank

denied passage upstream to the Royal Navy,

the river played an important part in changing the colonies

into the United States.

West Point produced a succession of military heroes,

some of whom had the misfortune to use their war fighting skills

against their classmates in the American Civil War.

Here at this bend in the river,

serenaded by railroad locomotives,

there is no better place

to understand a potted history of America.

'Next time,

'I'll take a different sort of line...'

Whoa!

'..and enjoy beautiful mountain scenery from an American iron horse...'

-Wow.

-Take it west.

'..before tapping into Albany's boozy past.'

-Wow. That is strong.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.