The Seventy Year Train Ride: 500,000 Miles by Rail

By Frank Heppner

THE JOURNEY IS AS IMPORTANT AS THE DESTINATION. What's it like to ride in a train 800 feet below the surface of the ocean? How does it feel to be in the cab of an Acela train burrowing under the East River? Train enthusiast Frank Heppner had his first train ride before he was born, and since then has ridden over 500,000 miles by train on four continents and 28 countries. Along the way, he's traveled in the cab of an engine barreling 115 miles an hour as it approached Boston, ridden white-knuckled on a train with no brakes in the Philippines, and wallowed in luxury on a train with a sauna in Spain. A retired professor of biology at the University of Rhode Island, Heppner was born in San Francisco before WWII. His father was a doctor for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and had a family railroad pass. As soon as he was 16 Heppner used the pass to travel by himself around the western states, and by the time he was 18, had crossed the United States 4 times by train. He took his first train picture in 1954, and "Seventy Year Train Ride" has over 100 of his pictures taken around the globe. His professional travel took him several times around the world, and gave him extraordinary opportunities, like being the engineer on a steam engine powered by sugar cane. A question that continues to intrigue Heppner is, "Why trains?" Why are so many people around the world enthralled with trains and railroads? "Seventy Year Train Ride" examines this question in some detail, and suggests some answers based on very human qualities. He discusses why passenger trains are still relevant almost 200 years after their invention, and how they satisfy some important psychological needs-the journey is as important as the destination.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1798925532
• ISBN13: 9781798925539
• Release Date: March 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"