Setting out to travel on every mile of railway in Great Britain, two eccentric pensioners were sure to have the odyssey of a lifetime. Surreal and poignant by turns, Stuart Campbell's extremely witty account of the trip takes stock of the people they meet and the unwanted adventures that befall them. Looking back three centuries, Campbell also shares the story of Daniel Defoe—a classic writer, but also a soldier, businessman, and spy—who completed his own bizarre railroad journey.