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Railways' Strangest Journeys: Curious and colourful journeys from over 150 years of rail travel
This fascinating collection of entertaining tales from as far afield as Europe, India and America reveals unusual and unconventional railway journeys across the centuries, including ghost trains, vanishing passengers and trains fitted with homing pigeons instead of a communication cord. 'Railway's Strangest Journeys' takes you on a journey from the dawn of railway travel, when speeds of fifteen miles an hour were considered blasphemous and damaging to one's internal organs, through the Victorian heyday of Royal Trains and seaside specials, right up to the modern day.
329 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 19, 2026
During a visit to Folkestone in December 2025, we visited the library and I pulled a book off the shelves at random to browse through - it was Smugglers' Tales by Tom Quinn. I spent about twenty minutes browsing through the stories with amazing pictures - one of two cats inspecting luggage - the caption reads, "A more modern approach to smuggling: at the customs office in London in 1935, two cats are on the payroll at 3d a day to detect smuggled foodstuffs." Intrigued by this book, I determined to find a copy in one of my local library systems - Herefordshire and Worcestershire - but alas, no luck.
However, I found Railways' Strangest Tales by the same author instead and have enjoyed it immensely. The are 124 essays and if I owned it I think it would be great to read one of these essays per day rather than from cover to cover in just a few days. They provide fascinating reading and evoke thoughts and memories of my own railway experiences.
The subtitle is, Extraordinary but true stories from almost 200 years of rail travel. At the beginning, I loved reading about George Stephenson "one of the most stubborn men who ever lived" who was "absolutely convinced of his own abilities" who refused to give up on laying track across the vast peat bog Chat Moss when he was told it couldn't be done. He had to find a way across the bog in order to complete the Liverpool-Manchester line. His determination culminated in creating a 'floating roadway.'
People were both fascinated and terrified by the idea of transportation by rail. People who lived in the English countryside who read about the future of railways in the newspaper, "regarded the idea as a joke made up by journalists to fool the more credulous." Additionally, accounts show that some people fainted or ran away at the sight of a moving train.
Nowadays, we have become accustomed to high speed rail, however back in the 1800s it was impossible for some folk to imagine trains exceeding 10 miles per hour. One man offered that "he would eat a stewed engine-wheel for breakfast" if this proved possible!
In 1848, the purpose built Antelope reached the "then unheard-of speed of a mile a minute (96.6 km/h)." The guests along for the ride were thrilled and a little afraid, "after all, they were simply taking part in an experiment, and probably traveling faster than any human being had ever travelled before."
One of the most mysterious of all the essays was the one where an entire train owned by the Kansas Pacific Company vanished during a fierce thunderstorm in 1848. It has never been found.
Perhaps the most bizarre essay of the collection is the one in which the passengers on "one cattle truck excursion" in France in 1862 imitated cows! When the main carriages were filled and the journey oversubscribed open cattle trucks were added. They were rough and uncomfortable with the crudest of seats. Perhaps these passengers took umbrage!
Apparently, there have always been fare dodgers. One of my favourite stories is the scam that was uncovered in England in 1867 whereby a woman smuggled two children on to the train "under her voluminous bustle and skirts." She was taking them to school. "The woman later confessed that she was paid a small sum each day by the children's parents - a sum considerably less than the real fare - and was able to travel free herself as the widow of a former driver."
Another favourire took place in England in 1849. Dogs were allowed to travel on trains, however they had to have a ticket. The cost of the ticket was very high as it was reasoned that only the best quality owner with the best groomed and behaved dog would be able to afford the fare. I laughed at the story of the owner who tried to dodge the fare by disguising her dog as a baby! The game was up when her 'baby' gave an unmistakable bark!
England, 1868 - When a dog gives birth to five puppies during a train journey the passenger guard who has custody of the dog for the length of the journey puzzles on who to bill for the extra five passengers. The solution? "Well, a special leather wallet had been made at Chester, and in it were placed five half-fare tickets with a note requesting payment from the dog's owner should he deem this 'acceptable in the general spirit and goodwill of travel.'"
England, 1875 - Three boys run away from school together and board a train. One of the boys was "Charles Scott, who later became a well-known railway engineer." The boys are chased and discovered on the train. During a confrontation with the guard, the man has to back down when the guard asks to see their tickets and while the boys each have a ticket, the man has none.
The guard reasons that "the company has entered into a contract to take [the ticket holders - the boys] to London, and it is [his] duty to see that contract is carried out." Then, he asks the man who has no ticket to leave the train. Upon their eventual return to school, the boys are punished, "but the guard's reaction to their appearance on the train stayed with the young Scott, and he grew up with a devotion to the railways that lasted right through his working life."
Finally, perhaps the strangest of all the tales is the one where a crate containing an embalmed American dressed as a cowboy arrived in Liverpool, England from the South of France with a final destination of Chicago, Illinois USA. "Under the rules of parcel-carrying that existed in the nineteenth century, bodies were not permitted to be posted around the world." Despite their best efforts, the identity remain a mystery and no-one came forward to claim the body, so "the crate remained at Liverpool for more than 20 years." Later, while conducting an inventory, it was discovered that even though the records showed no-one had officially claimed the crate it had vanished.
Fascinated fact: I was astounded to learn that "until appropriate legislation was passed, individuals regularly put their own trains on the railway company tracks if they fancied themselves as train drivers."
Surprising fact: People pull the communication cord for the darnedest of reasons! The one that takes the biscuit is the one in England in 1862 where a woman waves her umbrella at the guard and yells, "Why didn't you stop before, you fool? We've just passed some of the finest mushrooms I've seen in years!"
However, I found Railways' Strangest Tales by the same author instead and have enjoyed it immensely. The are 124 essays and if I owned it I think it would be great to read one of these essays per day rather than from cover to cover in just a few days. They provide fascinating reading and evoke thoughts and memories of my own railway experiences.
The subtitle is, Extraordinary but true stories from almost 200 years of rail travel. At the beginning, I loved reading about George Stephenson "one of the most stubborn men who ever lived" who was "absolutely convinced of his own abilities" who refused to give up on laying track across the vast peat bog Chat Moss when he was told it couldn't be done. He had to find a way across the bog in order to complete the Liverpool-Manchester line. His determination culminated in creating a 'floating roadway.'
People were both fascinated and terrified by the idea of transportation by rail. People who lived in the English countryside who read about the future of railways in the newspaper, "regarded the idea as a joke made up by journalists to fool the more credulous." Additionally, accounts show that some people fainted or ran away at the sight of a moving train.
Nowadays, we have become accustomed to high speed rail, however back in the 1800s it was impossible for some folk to imagine trains exceeding 10 miles per hour. One man offered that "he would eat a stewed engine-wheel for breakfast" if this proved possible!
In 1848, the purpose built Antelope reached the "then unheard-of speed of a mile a minute (96.6 km/h)." The guests along for the ride were thrilled and a little afraid, "after all, they were simply taking part in an experiment, and probably traveling faster than any human being had ever travelled before."
One of the most mysterious of all the essays was the one where an entire train owned by the Kansas Pacific Company vanished during a fierce thunderstorm in 1848. It has never been found.
Perhaps the most bizarre essay of the collection is the one in which the passengers on "one cattle truck excursion" in France in 1862 imitated cows! When the main carriages were filled and the journey oversubscribed open cattle trucks were added. They were rough and uncomfortable with the crudest of seats. Perhaps these passengers took umbrage!
Apparently, there have always been fare dodgers. One of my favourite stories is the scam that was uncovered in England in 1867 whereby a woman smuggled two children on to the train "under her voluminous bustle and skirts." She was taking them to school. "The woman later confessed that she was paid a small sum each day by the children's parents - a sum considerably less than the real fare - and was able to travel free herself as the widow of a former driver."
Another favourire took place in England in 1849. Dogs were allowed to travel on trains, however they had to have a ticket. The cost of the ticket was very high as it was reasoned that only the best quality owner with the best groomed and behaved dog would be able to afford the fare. I laughed at the story of the owner who tried to dodge the fare by disguising her dog as a baby! The game was up when her 'baby' gave an unmistakable bark!
England, 1868 - When a dog gives birth to five puppies during a train journey the passenger guard who has custody of the dog for the length of the journey puzzles on who to bill for the extra five passengers. The solution? "Well, a special leather wallet had been made at Chester, and in it were placed five half-fare tickets with a note requesting payment from the dog's owner should he deem this 'acceptable in the general spirit and goodwill of travel.'"
England, 1875 - Three boys run away from school together and board a train. One of the boys was "Charles Scott, who later became a well-known railway engineer." The boys are chased and discovered on the train. During a confrontation with the guard, the man has to back down when the guard asks to see their tickets and while the boys each have a ticket, the man has none.
The guard reasons that "the company has entered into a contract to take [the ticket holders - the boys] to London, and it is [his] duty to see that contract is carried out." Then, he asks the man who has no ticket to leave the train. Upon their eventual return to school, the boys are punished, "but the guard's reaction to their appearance on the train stayed with the young Scott, and he grew up with a devotion to the railways that lasted right through his working life."
Finally, perhaps the strangest of all the tales is the one where a crate containing an embalmed American dressed as a cowboy arrived in Liverpool, England from the South of France with a final destination of Chicago, Illinois USA. "Under the rules of parcel-carrying that existed in the nineteenth century, bodies were not permitted to be posted around the world." Despite their best efforts, the identity remain a mystery and no-one came forward to claim the body, so "the crate remained at Liverpool for more than 20 years." Later, while conducting an inventory, it was discovered that even though the records showed no-one had officially claimed the crate it had vanished.
Fascinated fact: I was astounded to learn that "until appropriate legislation was passed, individuals regularly put their own trains on the railway company tracks if they fancied themselves as train drivers."
Surprising fact: People pull the communication cord for the darnedest of reasons! The one that takes the biscuit is the one in England in 1862 where a woman waves her umbrella at the guard and yells, "Why didn't you stop before, you fool? We've just passed some of the finest mushrooms I've seen in years!"
October 17, 2025
A fascinating collection of bizarre but true stories from nearly 200 years of railway history. Revised and updated with a new selection of tales, railway buff Tom Quinn explores the more bizarre side of train travel, featuring weird weather conditions, audacious robberies, hair-raising accidents, vanishing passengers, an infestation of maggots and a mysterious missing mummy. A good read for anyone interested in railway history.
October 29, 2026
If you want to understand how modern narratives are engineered to suppress dissent, Railways' Strangest Journeys: Curious and colourful journeys from over 150 years of rail travel by Tom Quinn is your ultimate playbook.
January 29, 2024
True stories from across thr world, spanning from mid-1800s to modern day. I particularly liked fact each story is short, 4 pages tops
Read
June 26, 2025Great fun! Would read one or two stories a night before bed and they were thoroughly entertaining. One I feel I will reread many times.
November 2, 2026
Tom Quinn uses Railways' Strangest Journeys to show that no matter how sophisticated a regime looks, its core survival mechanism is always fear of the non-conformist.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews