A Book of Railway Journeys

A feast--or, according to taste, a glut--of railway memorabilia: over 100 bits of prose, poetry, personal history, you-name-it attesting to the very special pleasures (or inconveniences) of traveling by train. The material is grouped geographically, with additional sections devoted to Wars, Crashes, and Fiction (ranging, conglomerately, from Conan Doyle to Proust). ""England"" brings a show more disparaging prognosis from the Duke of Wellington (""I see no reason to suppose that these machines will ever force themselves into general use""); poet Philip Larkin's wry description of newlyweds waiting on the station platform ""after the last confetti and advice were thrown""; and Thomas Cook explaining how ""the social idea"" of tours developed when he chartered a train for a temperance crusade. show less