In an effort to get away from railways I have been reading books. These include Tom Chesshyre's 'Slow Trains Around Britain. You may recall I have already mentioned one or two of Tom's books before, there was 'Ticket to Ride,' a trip around the world by train, a good book well worth a read. Then the 'Tales From the Fast Trains,' which was not worth reading, mostly because it spent more time on his girlfriends wine bar addiction than railways. 'Slow Trains' has no women attached though a great many decent women do comment in various places, and the book is well worth a read I say.
The idea was simple, with 200 years of railways being celebrated begin at the beginning and travel around the country by rail. This he does, starting in the North East where the first train ran, carrying coal, in 1825. Tom then travels by rail across the north, then the west, coming down via Wales, stopping off at heritage lines, museums and 'Weatherspoons' along the way. He ventures down to the South West, meeting Brunel's wonderful railway, or at the least the modern version, and along the coast of England. He then journeys up the East Coast almost, but not quite back to the beginning. From Doncaster, he returns to Euston where he catches the 'Caledonian Sleeper,' to Aberdeen. Tom then attempts to take in all ScotRail's offerings, returning down the West Coast to Glasgow. Then back to Edinburgh and back to the beginning at Shildon where railways began.
During the journey, of around 4,088 miles, we stop off at many places to meet a description of the local town or area. This gives us few unexpected sights, a description of hotel's and B&Bs, 'Weatherspoons' and various pubs. I must ask however, what sort of man enters a pub and asks for a pint of water and soda? This reflects the 'Metropolitan Elite' attitude of the writer which comes through occasionally.
I was somewhat surprised, especially after his previous books, as to how little the author knew about railways. He constantly referred to them as 'Trains,' rarely railways. His knowledge of them was surprisingly low. There again he would be born before Thatcher destroyed the UK while we grew up with railways around us. So I suppose it is understandable.
All in all it is a book well worth a read. He covers a lot of ground, 143 railway journeys, visits many out of the way towns, and cogitates on how the world changed since railways began. There is much to cogitate upon in this book, and some hotels to avoid. Well worth a read I say.
