Your ticket to some of the most thrilling, high-octane train rides in history is here!

Extreme Trains host Matt Brown, a real-life railroad conductor from NewEngland, brings his infectious passion for these monster machines to rail journeys across the United States.

Matt reveals the incredible inner workings and past lives of the amazing locomotives that haul huge loads across America and deliver passengers to their destinations.

The series shows the huge part these trains have played in shaping American history and how vital trains are to American life today.

Feel the force of railroads in history, and see how railroading is about more than machines, cargo and challenging terrain.

Packed with cool technology, the series shows how the super-fast passenger trains get up to speeds of 150 mph.

It celebrates the achievements of the men and women who work on the railroads, often doing tough gritty jobs in extreme conditions justto keep America moving.

And it's packed with great history, from circus trains to holdups and train wrecks to coal trains and high-speed passenger trains.

From the demolition of Penn Station, to the first train robbers and how the Nazis tried to blow up the rails in World War II, to thehuman blood, sweat and tears of the stokers, engineers, and bathroomcleaners that keep the industry moving, tag along with Matt on one of history's most exciting rides.

Episodes are as follows:

Amtrak's Empire Builder

The Amtrak Acela is the fastest train in America, with speeds reaching 150 mph.

Running from Washington, DC to Boston, this passenger train is ahigh-tech wonder that runs on lines dating to the Great Depression.

The train is powered by high-voltage overhead electrical wires.

Matt meets the workers who are just inches from possible electrocution on a daily basis.

The production team for Extreme Trains had to pass a special training course before they were allowed to film there.

This episode also looks at historic Penn Station and why it had to be demolished in order to save the railroads.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Freight Train

Going from the port of Los Angeles to Dallas/Fort Worth, this high-priority freight train, one of Matt's long time favourites, brings goods from the Far East to stores across the US.

In this episode Matt endures the searing heat of the Mojave desert, gets drenched in New Mexico rainstorms and rides through an earthquake-proof trench that runs the length of downtown LA.

The episode also covers the first train robbers in the US.

The Norfolk Southern Coal Train

Matt joins the coal train hauling a priceless cargo of coal through Pennsylvania from mine to power plant.

Getting the train, which weighs 1,400 tons when full, over the Allegheny mountains can be quite a challenge.

Matt pitches in with the crew as they load up the train and learns how the Nazis tried to blow the tracks during World War II.

The Ringling Bros. Circus Train

All aboard the longest privately owned train in the world - the circus train from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey!

PT Barnum's circus train started in the 1870s, and the US military used circus loading techniques in World War I.

Matt and the circus race against the clock to dismantle tonnes of equipment and get it on the rails.

As they travel from Baltimore to the Washington, DC, corridor inthe dead of night, Matt discovers the less glamorous side to the greatest show on earth.

The Union Pacific Refrigeration Train

Union Pacific's refrigeration train is simply the coolest.

On its cross-country trip from Wallula, Washington, toSchenectady, New York, it employs hi-tech mobile refrigerationtechnology to keep its produce intact and fresh.

Even the railcars themselves are loaded inside a cooled facility so as not to break the cold chain for this delicate cargo.

Also in this episode: how trains and trucks battled for business in the 1950s.

The Union Pacific Steam Train

The Union Pacific's famous 844 steam locomotive, built in 1944, is the longest-running steam train in America. It still runs on UP's mainlinestoday.

Matt rides the 844 on its annual outing, taking 750 rail fans fromDenver to the biggest rodeo in the world in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

This train is so popular that traffic jams form along the tracks when it runs, as people "chase the train."

The Union Pacific Transcontinental Train

Matt rides the busiest freight line of anywhere, Union Pacific's Omahato Sacramento, on a route that crosses the world's longest rail causeway.

It goes through the world's largest rail yard and over the fearsome Donner Pass, where Matt and the train crews must free the tracks fromhuge blocks of ice.

The episode also explores the building of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.

Produced by - History Channel
Running time - 480 Minutes
DVD only