Now I find myself drawn to the railways once again. The glamour was gone, and I was all too ready to criticise the lateness, the absence of the refreshment trolley or the failure of the air conditioning. The train got me there, or got me there late. As a politician I visited most places to campaign, cut a ribbon or make a speech. On at least one occasion it took 13 hours, and the service was known, to our sardonic amusement even then, as the Starlight Special.Īfter childhood, trains became mere tools for me. My parents were not well off, so we took the overnight train without sleeper reservations, travelling second class, sitting upright, sustained by Lucozade and peanut butter sandwiches. Then there was the annual excursion to my mother’s hometown of Kirkcaldy. The tunnel beneath the Boniface Downs would fill with the pungent stench of steam locomotive just before we pulled into Ventnor. My eldest brother, Charles, would take me on the ‘Belmont Rattler’, and I remember the panting engine, the smoke and my excitement.įor summer holidays we would go to the Isle of Wight by electric train from Waterloo, but from Ryde we would pick up the steam service along the island’s east coast. There was a tank engine-hauled service from Belmont to Harrow and Wealdstone, close to where I grew up. There were still some steam trains around for me. Like most people, I thought travel an adventure when I was a child, and most of those adventures were by train.
JOURNEY 9: BORDER LINES - From London to HastingsĪbout the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo) JOURNEY 8: COAST TO COAST - From Brighton to Cromer JOURNEY 7: RAILWAYS MADE FOR TRADE - From Newcastle to Melton Mowbray JOURNEY 6: THE TAMING OF THE HIGHLANDS - From Ayr to Skye JOURNEY 5: THE MAIL TRAIN - From Ledbury to Holyhead
JOURNEY 4: OPENING UP VICTORIAN BRITAIN - From Preston to Edinburgh JOURNEY 3: BRINGING BEER DOWN SOUTH - From Buxton to London JOURNEY 2: THE HOLIDAY LINE - From Swindon to Penzance JOURNEY 1: COTTONOPOLIS AND THE RAILWAYS - From Liverpool to Scarborough
And as fond staples of childhood experiences they evoke deep, memorable feelings of nostalgia, of holidays and home.Great British Train Journeys is a passionate, charming and insightful look at Britain from a window seat: a compelling read for all who look forward to travelling by train.Ĭover (#u1369a6d1-ba3b-5be0-98e8-05b36d066b19) Iconic in their design they have both made a distinctive impact on Britain’s landscape and opened it up to millions of people who, through train journeys alone, became acquainted with wonderful new places and sights.
Symbols of progress and change, they tell of remarkable breakthroughs in technology, industry and travel. TEXT ONLY EBThe Sunday Times BestsellerA glorious insight into Britain over the last 150 years - its history, landscape and people - from the window of Britain’s many and magnificent railway journeys.Inspired by George Bradshaw, a 19th-century cartographer who mapped Britain’s railways as they sprung up around him, Charlie Bunce and Michael Portillo take a journey along nine classic British railway routes and surround themselves with the history, the charm and the people at the heart of the railways.More than just a practical mode of transport, Britain’s railways are richly representative and evocative of British society and how it has developed over the last 150 years.
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