The best books about train trips provide a fascinating account of a romanticized, old-fashioned method of transport. Authors take readers inside the world of exotic locales and forgotten villages, heart-thumping adventures and the petty annoyances with fellow travelers.There are the creative nonfiction accounts by Paul Thereoux, Agatha Christie's classic mystery "Murder on the Orient Express," Patrick Poivre d'Arvor's collection "First Class: Legendary Train Journeys Around the World," Graham Greene's spy thriller "Orient Express," Jenny Diski's travelogue "Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking Around America with Interruptions," Anita Nair's novel "Ladies Coupe" and Richard Linklater's screenplays for "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset."
Depending upon the genre, books about train travel have certain features. Travelogues by people who have traveled by rail, such as George F. Scheer III's "Booked on the Morning Train: A Journey Through America," tend to provide the nitty-gritty details of handling luggage and running for connections, but they also share the wonder of discovery. Mysteries and spy thrillers, such as Graham Greene's "Orient Express," do away with some of the discovery in favor of focusing on what can go wrong on a train journey, be they power outages or a series of murders. Practical guidebooks, such as those in the "Rough Guide" and "Lonely Planet" series, give the particulars on how, where and when to purchase tickets and take train trips.
The best books on train travel typically do not dwell on the express train route between Boston and Manhattan. The classics of the genre are accounts of rail journeys that take people to the extreme corners of the earth. Voyages on the Golden Pass, the Orient Express, the Patagonia Express, the Alaska Railroad, the Sierra Madre Express, South Africa's Blue Train, the Glacier Express and India's Palace on Wheels are the fodder for fascinating writing.
For those who seek a visual representation of train travel, Michael E. Zega and John E. Gruber have written a coffee table art book, "Travel by Train: The American Railroad Poster, 1870-1950." The authors, both of whom edit or contribute to the magazine "Classic Trains" and "Vintage Rails," have compiled 120 reproductions of posters, photographs and sketches that chronicle the golden era of railway travel. The narrative explores the artists who created the railroad posters and how their work supported the train companies' marketing campaigns.
In 1975, a spirited Paul Thereoux traveled the 28,000-mile intercontinental route from Europe to Asia and wrote about his adventures in the popular book "The Great Railway Bazaar." In 2005, he celebrated the anniversary of his trip by embarking upon the same journey. The result is the ballyhooed sequel, "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star." "Bookmarks" magazine reveals that Thereoux "...polarized critics with his latest travelogue. His sense of adventure, candid descriptions, and evocative prose notwithstanding, some critics took issue with the unbridled narcissism suffusing the narrative." Whether you are on the Thereoux bus or not, the book is worthwhile for its charting of the strange little back alleys of faraway places.
