As an avid reader and collector of both travel and train books this was a wonderful addition to my collection, The is the first of the series (the second, of course, being More Great Railway Journeys, BBC Penguin). This series collates the travel narratives of various contributors drawn from a wide reach and – because it is based on a BBC Television series – they are all noted personalities in their own field. This first book includes Clive Anderson, an English barrister, author and comedy writer, and Natalia Makorova the internationally acclaimed ballerina. Also included are several ‘professional’ travelers and authors - Michael Palin, Mark Tully and the South African author Rian Malan. Each contributor offers the reader a great individual chapter on vastly different railways systems, countries and cultures.

These little books, from the British Broadcasting service (BBC) could lead a new travel narrative reader into further additions to their catalogues and indeed, into an obsession with the genre. It is a great place to be …..

Chapt 1 – Mark Tully - for more on Indian and Pakistan Railways the authors own No Full Stops in India, or Paul Theroux’s The Imperial Way : By Rail from Peshawar to Chittagong.
Chapt 2 – Lisa St Aubin de Teran - for more on South American rail, Theroux again with his The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas.
Chapt 3 – Clive Anderson- for more on China perhaps Simon Winchester’s book, The River at the Center of the World.
Chapt 4 - Natalia Makorova - for more on Russia and perhaps as a little antidote for her rather endearing if sugary view of her ‘Mother Russia’, Eric Newby’s expose of the real Soviet Train System, Big Red Train Ride or on a kinder note perhaps Mary Morris on traveling in the opposite direction, Wall to Wall: From Beijing to Berlin by Rail.
Chapt 5 – Michael Palin - for more on Ireland with a similar wit and personal quest, Pete McCarthy’s McCarthy's Bar
Chapt 6 – Rian Malan - for more on South Africa, although this author can not easily be bettered on his native land, perhaps H V Morton’s In Search of South Africa.