Five of the best train reads

Slow Train to Milan

Lisa St Aubin De Teran

The bohemian tale of a teenage girl who scraps her university plans to meet up with a party of exiled South American guerrillas. Before long she's married and travelling across Europe on the eponymous slow train. Winner of the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize.

Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie

Another dose of Belgian detection starring Hercule Poirot. While Poirot is busy entertaining his fellow passengers, and snow is beginning to hem the train in, the inevitable happens.

The Great Railway Bazaar

Paul Theroux

Furthering his childhood enchantment with trains, Theroux sets out to travel from London to Tokyo by any means possible, as long as it involves rail.

Brief Encounter

Noel Coward

Originally a one-act play named Still Life, with a little help from Sheridan Morley, it later became the screenplay for David Lean's classic movie. The result is a syrupy, unconsummated post-war romance, with "that meeting" in a train station.

...And for the children:

Thomas and the Tiger

Christopher Awdry

Continuing where his father(Reverend W Awdry, the creator of the Tank Engine characters) left off. Awdry has Thomas transporting the animals to a new wildlife park. When the tigers escape, Thomas thinks he knows where to find them.