The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figure from the arts or media, would make a journey by train, usually through a country or to a destination to which they had a personal connection.

Having spent between five weeks to a month on the train, Watson used field recordings of the journey for his 2011 album El Tren Fantasma.

The first series detailed four railway journeys following an 1840 Bradshaw's Guide, split into a run of 20 separate episodes.

It follows railway journeys in mainland Europe, following a 1913 Bradshaw's guide to European rail travel.

All seven of the 1980 Series 1 programs, including Palin's Confessions of a Train Spotter, were released in 1986 in cooperation with the BBC on VHS tapes by Pentrex, a California railroad video company.