Train Beyond the Mountains: Journeys on the Rocky Mountaineer

A captivating blend of memoir, travel, and history profiling one of the world's most famous trains and the dramatic, picturesque route it follows--and sharing a host of fascinating stories along the way.

Rick Antonson has ridden trains in more than thirty countries--but everything he thinks he knows about train travel changes when he boards the Rocky Mountaineer with his ten-year-old grandson, Riley. As they wind over trestles and through tunnels, each mile of track uncovers stories of dynamite and discovery, surveyors and schemers, explorers and visionaries, and the people who helped to build Canada against the odds of geography and politics. Surrounded by a wild landscape that sparks imagination, fellow passengers recount train travels in other countries, get nostalgic for the era of steam locomotives, and consider life's unfinished journeys. Peppered with spirited dialogue, heartrending vignettes, and intriguing anecdotes, Train Beyond the Mountains is travelogue with urgency: to make your travel dreams happen now. As one passenger muses, "The mistake we make is that we think we have time."