Official Railway Guide

A facsimile edition of the classic 1879 travel guide—often referred to as “Appleton’s Guide”—that inspired the Great American Railroad Journeys PBS television series with Michael Portillo. Appleton’s Railway Guide to the United States & Canada was originally published in two volumes, describing the variety of attractions offered in each North American town or city the train traveler would encounter along the railway system's numerous routes. It was the first tourist guide specifically organized around railway journeys, offering a rare glimpse through the carriage window of a continent lost to history. As with many guidebooks of the era, Appleton Guides became obsolete as routes and destinations became less popular and new guidebooks took their place. Both these volumes became collector’s items due to their rarity, until now. An unprecedented snapshot of North America in the 1870s, Appleton’s Railway Guide is a must-have for any travel and railway enthusiast, historian, and fan of Americana.

Great American Railroad Journeys sees the famous brand of social-history-cum-travelogue venture to the New World. Across multiple programmes and using Appleton's General Guide To The United States & Canada as reference, Michael Portillo now undertakes an epic trip by train from New York and Boston on the East Coast down to the Deep South of Atlanta and New Orleans, then on to Chicago, Colorado, New Mexico and ultimately finishing in San Francisco. This lavishly illustrated official tie-in covers each journey Portillo makes across North America and captures the colour, beauty, history and exhilaration experienced when journeying through this incredible continent. Packed with new maps, as well as originals from Appleton's General Guide, this book explores the construction of rail routes across the continent in the 1800s, as a new nation was built by the immigrant masses. Truly this is a colourful and exciting enterprise, with vignettes of revealing social history displaying the rich tapestry of the peoples who established themselves in this vast new world. Great American Railroad Journeys is a must-have purchase for any fan of this unique and award-winning travel series.

This is the definitive guide to North American train travel, complete with booking procedures, on-board etiquette, maps, floor plans for typical coach and sleeping cars, and more. This new edition reflects all the recent changes at Amtrak, North America's largest passenger rail system.