Ticket to Ride: Around the World on 49 Unusual Train Journeys

We love trains and train travel in this house so a really good book

Tom Chesshyre is one of my absolute favourite travel writers, and as we also share a passion for rail travel, I was sure that this book would be a sure fire winner. Sadly, that it not the case, and this is the first of his books that I have read over a period of a week, rather than tearing through from cover to cover. On reflection, some of the writing feels somewhat 'tired', and lacks his characteristic bounce. There are still sections of sparkling, sharply observed prose, but in between, the content can seem somewhat lacklustre, as though he's describing just another train journey. Most of Chesshyre's books are written in stand alone chapters, which often works to his advantage, and make them very readable. However, in this case, there are so few linkages between the chapters that it almost feels as though he's ticking down the list of '49 unusual train journeys' towards completion of his draft. Because he's written wonderfully well about rail travel before, there's also a sense that the subject matter is a little stale, and including a 'grab bag' chapter towards the end which contains a random selection of short railway stories seems a little sloppy. There are still flashes of sheer brilliance. The insurrection he unwittingly provokes on the Ghan across Australia and his account of a boozy weekend with an old college chum in Bordeaux stand out, and his opening and closing chapters (on trainspotting in Crewe and travelling the iconic West Coast railways of Scotland) show what he is capable of. I struggled with giving this a star rating. I have decided to give it 4 stars because it is still a great read compared to virtually any other travel author, and will also appeal to rail enthusiasts. I am looking forward to Tom returning to form with his next offering. Being a great fan of 'How Low Can You Go' (about the opeing up of new travel destinations in Europe due to the rise of the low cost air carriers), may I suggest that he consider a book on the 'opening up' of new tourist destinations in Asia as a result of the proliferation of low cost regional airlines such as AirAsia?

Excellent read

There are two types of people - those who love the adventure and romance of train travel and those who'd rather take the car. If you fall in the former group then you can't fail to enjoy this marvellous book. Tom Chesshyre takes us round the world on a number of trains - and not always the obvious ones (although he does a few of those too). He is an entertaining writer and his tales about the places he visits, the trains he travels in and the people he meets on them are all equally interesting and enjoyable. I particularly liked the chapters on Kosovo and Macedonia & Turkey and Iran. Towards the end he adds a chapter of highlights and anecdotes from previous train trips too - this chapter is rather bitty compared to the rest of the book, but it would be churlish to complain about too many trains in a volume such as this. By the end of his travels, Tom is closer to understanding the fascination of trains and the nature of the train sp... sorry, rail enthusiast. He's considerably closer to becoming one too - don't be too surprised if you spot him at the end of a platform with a thermos and a notebook one day. If you count watching that nice Mr Portillo tootle around clutching his trusty Bradshaw's as one of your guilty pleasures (and I do), then this one is most definitely for you.

Tom Chesshyre in a series of first rate travel books has developed a distinctive and engaging style, taking his readers along for the journey with insight, fine description, wit and and a nose for those out-of-the-way corners that most travellers never stumble on. His latest book, 'Ticket to Ride' has as its theme humanity's enduring love affair with trains and their resurgence, despite fast and cheap air travel, in this age of high speed and green awareness. He straddles the globe - across the US, Australia, Asia: in India and Sri Lanka and nearer to home in Scotland, on a heritage steam line and beyond the Channel Tunnel - and catches up with the ultimate train enthusiasts on Crewe Junction platform and on a train buffs excursion to Kosovo. In all he travels over 22,000 miles on his 49 journeys. It is never less than fun to be on board with him: as Chesshyre points out, rail travel is the great way to meet all sorts and conditions of people - and he knows how to draw the best out of them. This writer goes from strength to strength,

The author takes us on a fascinating journey around the world on some famous (and not so) rail journeys. While he documents the trains involved and some of the railway history, chiefly it is a book of fascinating anecdotes about the people and places along the way. A study of people who prefer trains to planes. Great read. Highly recommended

“Among rail enthusiasts… it is not just the train that is of interest. It is anything and everything train related.” Until Tom Chesshyre set out on his mission, he could not imagine the variety of rail enthusiasts he would encounter during his 49 train journeys around the world. “There is a clear, though unofficial, pecking order among rail enthusiasts,” he observes, “a hierarchy based on railway knowledge: rail cred if you like.” The author discovers a wide range of train lovers or ferroequinologists: ‘track bashers’ cover tracks in detail, while ‘haulage bashers’ focus on traction and ‘number crunchers’ simply record the numbers of locomotives (and sometimes coaches too). Meanwhile, he notes, ‘footplate riders’ like to travel in the cabs of locomotives. He also learns that rail enthusiasts are called ‘gricers’ or ‘trainspotters’ in Britain; ‘gunzels’ in Australia; and ‘foamers’ in the United States – because they are said to foam at the mouth when they see an interesting train! “Just about everywhere you go across the globe – if you discount Africa (because of its many political troubles) and the polar caps (because they are mainly populated by penguins and polar bears) – it’s an exciting time for trains.” The author travels far and wide to collect material for this book, though he does not travel continuously like Paul Theroux did for writing ‘The Great Railway Bazaar’. Instead, Tom zig-zags across countries and continents, interacting with fellow passengers and gathering a variety of experiences. He is pleasantly surprised to find his train being welcomed with traditional dance performances in Iran, but he is politely interrogated in North Korea and he has to endure much hostility from fellow passengers in Australia. This book describes an eclectic mix of train journeys in different parts of the world, including iconic long-distance trains like the Venice Simplon Orient Express, the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Beijing and the Indian Pacific Express across Australia. In Switzerland, he rides Bernina Express, which he considers “the best train in Europe.” In India, Chesshyre travels on the so-called toy train from Kalka to Shimla; followed by the Rajdhani Express from Pathankot to New Delhi, which he describes as “a filthy red, white and blue train”. He also experiences a number of short distance trains, including the undersea line connecting Asia with Europe in Istanbul, the Maglev in Shanghai and the 10-mile-long Kent & East Sussex Railway operated by volunteers in his home country. Apart from the trains themselves, the author also touches upon railway personnel, rolling stock, stations, and even railway museums located in the places he visited. Tom Chesshyre does not claim to be a rail enthusiast, though by the end of the book – having experienced wheel tapping in China and having discovered hoops with attached tokens in India – he considers himself a “casual train lover”. While he understands the 2-8-2 wheel arrangement on steam locomotives, he is sadly mistaken when he says that “DE stands for diesel electric, which means it can be powered by either form of power.” In fact, a diesel electric locomotive is equipped with a diesel engine which generates electricity to power traction motors coupled to the wheels. To conclude this review, here is another quote from the author, “There’s a world outside the window and a whole separate world within.” This book successfully describes both kinds of worlds.

The premise is great - chronicles of epic train journeys - but the treatment is marred by Chesshyre's tone which is often one of juvenile incomprehension and pique. For example, it is not surprising to me that on a train journey through China, other passengers will speak in Chinese languages and that English will be rare and possibly rough (we wouldn't expect British train staff and passengers to be fluent in Mandarin, would we?). And yet Chesshyre, whose métier is supposed to be that of the sympathetic, attentive travel writer, indulges in cheap mockery of what Chiense sounds like to his incomprehending ears, and relating with suppressed guffaws the "funny" English translations of Chinese signs. Much of his text is taken up withbemused condescension at his fellow-travelers - overweight Americans, tipsy Australians, poorly-dressed rail enthusiasts, suspicious Teutons...A little of this comedy-of-life is inevitable in a journey, but Chesshyre chose to take epic and historic rail journeys through some of the most amazing landscapes on earth - surely he could find more to write about than too-small berths and flatulent train conductors?

Witty, engaging read.

This is a delightful collection of memoirs about long and short rail journeys undertaken by the author, including one to North Korea. He has covered every continent except Africa. Written in a quintessential English style ( reminding me of Eric Newby), it is both entertaining and informative. It is rather expensive , but since I love train journeys, I did not mind.