In February 1985 David McGill set off to travel New Zealand rail in guards' vans, with guards as companionable dispensers of local knowledge. A generation later, McGill introduces the leisurely journey by comparing the then Silver Fern trip from Wellington to Auckland with the present-day Overlander. On the latter he enjoys the company of former Railways worker and poet Michael O'Leary. The original 1985 edition of this book was launched at Wellington Railway Station by Richard Prebble, but has now been extensively revised and lavishly illustrated with over 100 photographs. An original Michael O'Leary railway poem introduces each chapter, and his appendix revives dozens of forgotten Maori railway station names in waiata for obsolete rail journeys.