Western Towns & Railroads DVD Set

The Railroads that Tamed the West DVD

Climb aboard for the definitive look at the long struggle to open the West to settlement, commerce and culture by laying rails through the untamed wilderness.

Gold. Silver. Land. Opportunity. But first, you had to get there!

In 1869, one of the greatest building achievements in history the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. But for the stalwart settlers willing to risk it all, the American West was far from conquered. Travel on the thin steel ribbon of the railroad was a dangerous, even deadly, affair. Bandits, renegades and hostile tribes threatened every trip. Millions of acres of territory were virtually unreachable. To exploit these new lands, thousands of miles of new rails would be laid in the late 1800's, opening the west to settlement, commerce, and civilization.

Explore the complete story of the Western railroads through rare photographs, spectacular re-creations and expert interviews. From the early gun battles and political fights to the engineering triumphs that finally mastered a hostile terrain, take an astonishing adventure fueled by ambition and daring!

Western Towns DVD

Discover the remarkable technological ingenuity (and questionable marketing tactics) that helped desolate frontier outposts thrive.

• Probe the legends of the American frontier with an engineer's eye.
• Hosted by Keith Carradine (Deadwood).
• Boom or bust, metropolis or ghost town, success for Old West towns was in the details.

Head back to the open range and the whistle stops of the Old West with this unique series to examine the tales and traditions of the frontier with an engineer's eye.

And those whistle stops really come alive in this fascinating episode of WILD WEST TECH. At first glance, you can't help but wonder, "Why would anyone live here?" and "Did they trick people into moving to this sun-blasted place?" Technological ingenuity played a large part in whether a town thrived and became an iconic landmark of the Old West — Dodge City, Tombstone, Deadwood — or became just another ghost town.

With this revealing episode, understand why certain places were settled, how the towns developed and what their infrastructure — construction, water supply, sanitation, defenses — looked like. And see how a typical town was laid out, where and why they chose to build the saloons, dance halls, general stores, undertakers, cemeteries, and of course, jails and court houses. And then discover how they populated these desolate outposts, how the Wild West advertised to lure homesteaders to the frontier.

Tour the old WESTERN TOWNS and understand the Why and the How of life on the frontier.