SLOW TRAIN: A RAILWAY MISCELLANY

Part of a series presenting a nostalgic hymn to an era when life was slower: a meandering ramble through the British countryside by bicycle, automobile and train. The Slow Train celebrates a time when our railway network was more than a permanently delayed omnishambles of overcrowded and overpriced trains. Here are gas-lit rural stations, oil lamps on level crossing gates, enamelled signs, waiting room fires, timetables and luggage labels. Less a clattering, steamy ride into the past than a touchstone for joyous memories of such a vital and well-loved institution, it harks back to a more measured, considered era.