Slow Trains Around Britain

Electronic book text

Notes From a 4,088-Mile Adventure on 143 Rides

Join travel writer and train enthusiast Tom Chesshyre as he celebrates 200 years of passenger railways in a zigzagging tour around the UK - the home of the railways - from the Isle of Wight to Snowdonia, Inverness and Penzance

In a small market town in the northeast of England in 1825, something momentous happened: ticket-bearing human beings began moving along wrought-iron tracks on a contraption with wheels powered by engines. The contraption was called a "train". What happened in Darlington, along a 26-mile line to Stockton, would kickstart the railway revolution. Today, 1.3 million miles of tracks crisscross the planet.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of this groundbreaking event, Tom Chesshyre embarks on a journey around the country that invented trains, taking in many heritage lines maintained by armies of enthusiasts. On a series of rides beginning and ending in Darlington on a train-inspired circle, Tom enjoys the scenery, seeks out the history, dodges delays (best he can), and lets the rhythm of the clattering rails help him understand what it is about trains - especially wonderful old trains - that we love so much.