Britain from the Rails: A Window Gazer's Guide (Bradt Rail Guides)

Meet under an iconic station clock. Gather speed as you rattle across junctions and whistle through tunnels―and then everything changes. The train draws to a halt in a Welsh country station, winds through a forest high above a Scottish loch, or rolls across the bogs of bleak Rannoch Moor while wild red deer stand and stare. Britain from the Rails travels to a world far from the endless queues and prodding security of ugly airport terminals. It abandons the cars to their motorway jams and soaring gas prices, and revels instead in the gems of Britain’s historic railway system.

Benedict le Vay is the author of several of Bradt’s Eccentric guides including Eccentric Britain. He says: ‘I've asked for my ashes to be blasted from the chimney of my favourite steam locomotive at my funeral. Hasn't everybody?’