Whether the action’s in first class, economy, or racing along the roof, there’s nothing quite like a book that takes you on a train journey to remember. These captivating novels will whisk you away on unforgettable rail-bound adventures.
The whistle blows: time for you to climb into the carriage, stow your bag in the overhead rack, and settle in your seat as the train trundles out of the station.
Catch your breath and take the chance to note your fellow passengers. Opposite you, the respectable country lawyer – although is that a racing slip in his front pocket? To your left, a glamorous woman looks at her watch and chews her lip. Who, you wonder, is she on her way to meet?
And you – what are you doing here? Is it the destination that’s important to you or the journey? Something en route might grab your attention – a view from the window, perhaps. Or maybe there’s adventure to be had in this very carriage, with its flickering lamps and condensation beading the windows…
Why trains make the perfect setting for fiction
You don’t have to be a railway fanatic to appreciate the appeal of a novel set on a train. There’s something about this mode of transport that lends itself to the weaving of a fictional tale. Even the romance of sea travel can’t beat a railway ride in fiction. But why is it that readers love the puff of steam or the squeal of brakes? Why, indeed, do people continue to be enthralled by such a journey, when services these days, beset by track works and power cuts, can often be more of an ordeal than a romance?
If you’re keen to find some answers, then join me on a metal-bellied ride along the line as we sink into the enjoyment to be had from a railway-set read.
Nostalgia train journeys & the books they inspired
Susan Heads is a book blogger who runs The Book Trail, a website that celebrates fictional travel, including railway journeys. Recalling her childhood, she says: ‘Family holidays always seemed to involve places near to railways where I could watch the trains and imagine myself on them. Where were they going, who was on them, and where were they from? A small box on wheels whizzing through the countryside really grabbed my imagination.’ She’s a particular fan of historical novels set on trains: ‘It’s that kind of magic, of days gone by… the smell and the noise, all of that.’
One of her favourites in the genre is the bestselling The Railway Detective series of Inspector Colbeck crime novels, all set in or around railways during the mid-19th century. ‘I absolutely love them,’ she says. ‘They have a really old-fashioned charm.’ The author, Edward Marston, was born into a railway family – his father and uncle were both engine drivers during the age of steam, and he lived close to a network of lines. As he says: ‘Trains are part of my DNA.’ It’s why his books are set from 1851 onwards. ‘Railways transformed the Victorian age in a way that was unimaginable beforehand.’
It’s the true democracy of the train, an era that’s lasted for more than 170 years, that ensures its relatability. ‘You don’t know who you’re going to meet on a train and what kind of people there’ll be,’ says Susan. Edward adds: ‘A train journey is the ideal place for an encounter with a stranger… When people are in transit, they behave differently.’
Random encounters & literary tension
Unlike most other forms of public transport, here, the deck of passengers is shuffled and replaced at regular intervals, leading to new combinations of personalities, and the potential for drama therein. That’s the initial “What if..?” spark that lights Edward’s favourite rail-set novel, Patricia Highsmith’s 1950 debut, Strangers on a Train, which was turned into a film by Alfred Hitchcock.
‘Two men meet for the first time and discover that they have a similar problem – how to dispose of someone they believe deserves to die,’ says Edward. ‘The answer is simple. Why doesn’t each of them kill the person chosen by their new friend?’ Indeed. For it’s only in the train’s lucky dip of random humanity that these men can meet and make murderous small talk, disguised by the rumbling undertow of wheels and steam.
Crime, mystery & moments on the move
Railways and crime fiction seem made for each other. Susan agrees, especially in a genre she classifies as ‘cosy crime’. ‘It’s the unknown, and the closed environment,’ she says. ‘You’re effectively trapped with people from all walks of life… it’s a moving microcosm of the world.’ Trains are simultaneously open and closed: there is freedom, but also restriction, and if there’s a crime, there are only a handful of suspects to choose from. Think Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, where Hercule Poirot investigates an overnight killing on a sleeper train crossing Europe, and any one of 13 people could be responsible. It’s a neat idea, but the plotting is helped by the setting – snowbound Yugoslavia and a luxury carriage, along with jewels, furs, and extravagant accents. ‘I love the golden-age aspect of steam travel,’ says Susan, ‘when everyone was dressed in their finery and porters helped you with your luggage.’
In novels such as these, you, too, can experience the time when a first-class ticket was the last word in luxury. There can be romance on a train and secret assignations. It’s no surprise that many of Ian Fleming’s 007 novels put his dashing hero James Bond on a train. In addition, a martini at the cherry-wood bar before chasing a villain across the roof for a tunnel-bound climax cues its reader with yet another appeal. Because the glamour of old-fashioned travel is also made for adventure – and often for the young at heart, too.
Many children’s books, even modern ones, feature escapades on steam trains, the most famous of them being the Hogwarts Express in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. The author has an elaborate backstory for the journey to Hogwarts School taking place on such a vehicle, but surely the truth – apart from the fact that she conjured up the idea itself on a (naturally) delayed rail journey – lies in the idea of adventure.
The thrill of the unknown
There is something ineffably exciting about boarding a train and not knowing quite where you’ll end up, which is Harry’s experience as he leaves platform 9¾ for the first time. And the reader, too, embarks on a journey into the unknown – combine that with old-fashioned travel, and a thrilling read is guaranteed.
‘Steam trains have a magic that sets them apart from diesel trains,’ says Edward Marston. ‘It’s why there are so many heritage railways, kept alive by the dedication of enthusiasts.’ It’s this magic, perhaps, that keeps us enthralled by such novels. It’s hard to see how a book would work were it set in the modern era. And yet, if there’s not much wonder in the world of the daily commute, there’s escape, nonetheless. For the modern and historical traveller alike, the train is a liminal zone, an area outside of normal life. In this in-between space, the possibilities for drama bloom.
Fictional train journeys for readers of all ages
It’s this space that powers the drama behind mega seller The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins, where alcoholic Rachel speculates upon the lives of the golden couple she sees from her train window. Suspended between two locations, her desire to discover more about them propels this psychological thriller of truth, memory, and the hidden lives of others. ‘The train’s an insight into the world as a frozen moment in time,’ says Susan. ‘It’s a metaphor for chance, for fate.’
The enduring appeal of trains in fiction
So, whether you love the train for its adventure and glamour, yearn for the days of gritty engines and uniformed porters, or enjoy being suspended, like its inhabitants, in a space between stations, then climb aboard at the whistle’s blow. Enjoy the luxury of first class, or jostle with suited commuters on the slow train to the city.
Either way, keep your wits about you, for there are stories waiting to be discovered before journey’s end.
Books that capture the magic of train travel
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878)
A gripping, still-pertinent tale of a restless, unhappily married woman, this classic of Russian literature doesn’t honour the golden age of steam so much as toss it under the engine. Tolstoy uses the new, popular railway system as a metaphor in the way a contemporary author might depict the internet – to suggest that modern life is too fast, too capitalist, and too in thrall to the latest fashions. The high-speed locomotive encapsulates all that, and its existence seals its characters’ fates.
Stamboul Train by Graham Greene (1932)
Another Orient Express-set story to rival Agatha Christie’s, this, the second of Greene’s novels, brings together a cast of characters – each one with their own secrets – aboard a train bound for Constantinople. A simmering unease travels beneath the surface of each page as we head into the unknown along with the passengers: ‘But through the human silence the tumblers tingled on the table, the wheels thudded along the iron track, the windows shook, and sparks flickered like match heads through the darkness.’
The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White (1936)
After a holiday in a ‘remote corner of Europe’, and heading home on a train bound for Trieste, English socialite Iris chats to an older lady in her carriage. After falling asleep, Iris awakes to find the lady missing – and, furthermore, everyone on the train insists she never existed. This thriller by an author who – although little remembered today – was a bestseller in her time, tracks Iris’s determination to uncover the truth about Miss Froy. It’s another classic that Hitchcock turned into a film, The Lady Vanishes.
Snowpiercer by Jacques Lob and illustrator Jean-Marc Rochette (1982)
Fancy a post-apocalyptic French graphic novel set on a 1,001-carriage train containing the remnants of humanity travelling through a never-ending winter? If so, Le Transperceneige – first published in 1982 but not translated into English until 2014 – might light your engine. Described as one of the greatest sci-fi comics ever created, it has a prequel and several sequels (by different writers) and has also been made into a film and a TV series.
Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka (2010)
A hyper-frenetic, action-packed Japanese thriller featuring over-the-top violence, Thomas the Tank Engine, and the search for a suitcase full of cash, this multi-assassin fest is set aboard the fastest train in the world. You might love it or hate it, but you won’t forget it. Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock star in the 2022 film adaptation.
