Newsletter
The Penguincubator and the Railway Journey
The Express Co-Evolution of Books and Trains // As a child, I dreaded long drives in the family car. I was a bookish kid, but when I tried to read in the backseat of one of a long line of Volkswagens, I was gradually overtaken by a mounting nausea that
My British Railway Nightmare
The Trials of Trying to Buy a Ticket—Any Ticket—After 30 Years of Privatization
Riding the "Mail Rail"
An Excursion on the World's First Driverless Electric Underground Railway
Revolution by Double-Decker
On Riding Dublin's Human Transit-Redesigned Bus Network. // In last week's post, I wrote about the relative lack of rail transit in Dublin, a city with a population of 1.28 million (2.12 million in "Greater Dublin"). Much smaller cities in Europe have
A Ride on the Dublin Metro
Which Doesn't Actually Exist. On the Underachieving Rail System in Ireland's Capital, and Its Rapidly Improving Bus Network.
Quebec City Is Amazing. It Deserves a Tramway.
A "National Capital" Worthy of the Name Deserves More than Buses—and One Funicular
A Euro-Style Rail Trip in North America
Quebec City to Montreal on Via Rail's High-Speed-Lite Train: A Review // I was invited to a book festival in Quebec City this month, and, when the organizers asked me how I wanted to get there from Montreal, I said: By train, bien sûr! The distance between
"To Harlem in Fifteen Minutes!"
How the Subway Transformed New York City (and the World)
Tucker Carlson Loves the Moscow Metro
It's Not the First Time the Great Soviet Subway Has Been Used to Dupe Visiting Chumps
Pssssst...I'm Over Here*
*And Not on Substack, Where the Nazis Are Still Getting Published n.b. This post was originally on Substack; moving it to a more permanent home here. // I’ve spent a few weeks moving my archive of newsletters to a new platform. You can now find my transport dispatches at
Transit for the Human Race
A Review of the Long-Awaited Revised Edition of Public Transport's Bible