Slow Trains Around Britain

Notes from a 4,088-Mile Adventure on 143 Rides

By: Tom Chesshyre

Narrated by: David Thorpe

In a small market town in the northeast of England in 1825, something momentous happened: ticket-bearing human beings started moving along wrought-iron tracks on a contraption with engine-powered wheels. The contraption was called a 'train'. What happened in Darlington, along a 26-mile line to Stockton, would kickstart the worldwide railway revolution.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of this groundbreaking event, Tom Chesshyre embarks on a journey around the country that invented trains, taking in many heritage lines maintained by armies of enthusiasts. On a long, circular series of rides beginning and ending in Darlington, Chesshyre enjoys the scenery, seeks out the history, dodges delays (best he can), reports on the current (often shambolic) state of British railways, and lets the rhythm of the clattering tracks reveal what it is about trains - especially wonderful old trains - that we love so much.

©2025 Tom Chesshyre (P)2025 Soundings

Thoroughly Enjoyable

A very relaxed enjoyable account of traveling around Great Britain by train.
I enjoyed his observations from the mundane and ordinary things to the interesting people and over heard conversations.
The narration was very good as well. Not an edge of the seat thriller , or a historical book packed with a lot of facts basically just a snapshot of traveling through Britain in 2024.