The Next Station Stop

Join Peter Caton on his 10,000 mile tour of Britain, discovering what it’s like to travel on our modern railways and contemplating train journeys made over the last fifty years. Inspired by finding a childhood notebook, Peter revisits the locations of family holidays, looking at how the journeys and places have changed, and wondering why his parents chose such unlikely destinations. His travels take him to some of the most beautiful and remote parts of the country and on trains so eccentric that sometimes he wonders if Thomas the Tank Engine is round the corner. Sampling a selection of Inter City routes, he questions whether the pursuit of speed and efficiency has taken away some of the enjoyment of travelling by train, but on sleepers to Cornwall and Scotland finds the romance of rail travel is still alive. He ends with a journey to Italy, with a diversion up a snowy mountain, comparing European train travel with British railways. We read of Peter’s frustrations with missed connections, inflexible computers, annoying passengers and of an encounter with a machine gun-carrying policeman. He writes of his experiences with ‘health and safety’ and ridiculous announcements, and how these combine to give the book its title. Illustrated with 60 colour photographs covering the steam, diesel and electric eras of the last 50 years, The Next Station Stop will appeal to anyone who travels on Britain’s trains.