This review originally appeared on my blog at www.gimmethatbook.com.

I picked up this book while on vacation in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, during a visit to the Railroad Museum of PA. My father was a freight conductor for Penn Central/Conrail for 40 years, and I always loved spending time with him as we visited Waverly Yard in Newark, NJ where he worked. I took unsanctioned rides with him in the engine many times, and we were always given the best treatment when we visited other railroad yards or took touristy train trips out of state. All he had to do was show his union card and we were instant VIPs!

TRAIN is full of tiny bits of information that will make you stop and think. The creation of multiple railways was key to the growth of the United States. Fresh fruit, meat, equipment, and of course, passengers, were able to move effortlessly from one side of the country to another. People were frightened of trains initially, as they were behemoths, making otherworldly sights and sounds as the steam puffed out of their smokestacks, the boilers devoured their coal, and giant pistons pumped up and down, turning the wheels around and around.

When crowds gathered in 1825 to watch the debut of the world’s first real railroad – the Stockton & Darlington of northern Britain – the correspondent from the Morning Herald reported that multiple spectators “fled in affright” from the locomotive and others looked at the train with a “vacant stare” as if in a trance.

I loved this book for all its bits of trivia and history. One of my favorite snippets was the section in the chapter Bound for Glory that noted the multiple songs that have been written either with a train mentioned in the lyrics or having a beat that mimics the hypnotic “click-clack” one hears while on board. Artists such as Kenny Rogers, Berlin, Gladys Knight, Sheena Easton, and Soul Asylum all reference trains in their lyrics. And who can forget the Doobie Brothers classic “Long Train Running”?

Zoellner also goes into detail about how railroads have been running at a deficit for years, what happens when someone commits suicide by train, how Disneyland was created out of the animator’s obsession with trains, and the excruciating monotony during the ride on the Trans-Siberian railway.

The Trans-Siberian is 5,772 miles long and spans eight time zones. As you will find out, it is not the romantic journey that the name invokes. History and literature are cited in the chapter Blood on the Tracks, and it is quite a dark chapter.

The author’s writing style is both simple and grandiose at times, as rarely used words (such as echt or obsequious) pop up where a simpler synonym could be used. This is not a terrible thing. I absolutely love reading books that force me to look up definitions, thus expanding my vocabulary. It is a rare book that does this, as my vocabulary is quite comprehensive, and I thoroughly love adding words to my collection.

Zoellner’s love for trains shines through in every sentence and it’s quite heartwarming for a train lover like me. I’m so glad I stumbled upon this wonderful book during my vacation. The feelings invoked within me were poignant, as my father is no longer with me, and I miss him. TRAIN gave me the opportunity to revisit memories while learning new things about these magnificent machines that we both held very dear. ( )

Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World -- From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief by Tom Zoellner is an account of the author’s travel on some of the historic rail lines from across the globe. Zoellner earned his B.A. in History and English from Lawrence University and his M.A. from Dartmouth. He has reported for several newspapers and has published several nonfiction books on a variety of subjects: from uranium to diamonds. He has also been a speechwriter for Gabrielle Giffords which prompted him to write A Safeway in Arizona: What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us About the Grand Canyon State and Life in America after the tragic shooting in 2011.

Train starts in England as Zoellner rides across the country visiting places of interest from the world’s first railway, to where the steam engine was invented, improved, and eventually made into a train. He ties aspects of the region, coal for example, from the dangerous work in the mines to Thatcher’s effective shutdown of coal mining when breaking the miners union in 1984. England is the heart of railroad history. Trains were needed to move raw materials to factories and finished goods back to port. In India, the railroads claim to be the biggest employer in the world, not true, but nonetheless and very impressive sized employer. The British brought railroads to India for their economic benefit, but in the long run the railways united the formerly fragmented Indian people and perhaps helped India on its way to independence.

Some countries see rail as the future. China’s centralized government is spending an incredible sum of money building a rail infrastructure. People will need to move in the future and a train is far more efficient energy-wise and far more affordable for the people than automobiles. Peru is in a financial do or die railroad project. Trains, although costing more initially, will move the country’s raw materials far more efficiently than an army of trucks. China is also exporting its rail building expertise throughout the world, including the United States.

I once heard a commentator say that the United States has a rail system that would embarrass Bulgaria; I don’t think he was lying. Zoellner covers the rise and tragic fall of the American rail system from settling the west and unifying the country to state governments refusing to allow high speed rail to be built in their states. As someone who prefers to travel by train, anywhere that is too far to bicycle to, I see the same sad system. Amtrak estimated that over 95% of Americans have never been on a train.

Perhaps the most unexpected thing in the book is the Tran-Siberian Railroad. Zoellner is quick to explain that this is not the Orient Express. In fact, when he tells Russian passengers that he plans to ride all the way to Vladivostok, they look at him in horror. Why would anyone want to travel voluntarily across Siberia is a mystery to a Russian. For days on end the landscape is unchanging. Russians ride the Trans-Siberian Railroad only because they have to. It is more of an engineering marvel for the Czar Nicholas II to brag about to his European counterparts than it was ever for comfortable train travel.

Train is an exciting look at some of the world’s historic and greatest railways. Zoellner adds history and ancillary stories to the these important railways. It is not just trains, but politics that create and kill railways. It is also about planning the future infrastructure of rising nations and watching the failure of up until now successful nations. Railways were and still are a sign of power and pride in many nations. Zoellner’s first hand accounts, interviews, and related history make this a great book. ( )

If you love trains and/or are fascinated about them, you'll enjoy this book that reviews a brief history of the development of trains in Europe, South America, India, China, Russia, and the U.S. Some great discussion of the collapse of trains (for passenger travel) in the U.S., the weak support for Amtrak, and the lack of development of high-speed train travel -- unlike in other countries in which governments have made huge investments in bullet trains. A fun and informative ride... err, read. ( )

A very pleasant re-reading of a charmer of a book. It felt like the author and I - the reader - were undertaking the journeys together. Great, readable prose- this is what books are supposed to do!

Do find it and enjoy it!

Some interesting highlights but nothing astounding. ( )