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Off the Tracks: A Meditation on Train Journeys in a Time of No Travel
Train travel is having a renaissance. Grand old routes that had been canceled, or were moldering in neglect, have been refurbished as destinations in themselves. The Rocky Mountaineer, the Orient Express, and the Trans-Siberian Railroad run again in all their glory. Pamela Mulloy has always loved train travel. Whether returning to the Maritimes every year with her daughter on the Ocean, or taking her family across Europe to Poland, trains have been a linchpin of her life. As COVID locked us down, Mulloy began an imaginary journey that recalled the trips she has taken, as well as those of others. Whether it was Mary Wollstonecraft traveling alone to Sweden in the late 1700s, or the incident that had Charles Dickens forever fearful of trains, or the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt trapped in her carriage in a midwestern blizzard in the 1890s, or Sir John A. Macdonald’s wife daring to cross the Rockies tied to the cowcatcher at the front of the train, the stories explore the odd mix of adventure and contemplation that travel permits. Thoughtful, observant, and fun, Off the Tracks is the perfect blend of research and personal experience that, like a good train ride, will whisk you into another world.
192 pages, Paperback
Published April 30, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
April 14, 2024
This was a wonderfully gentle wander via the clickety clack of the train on track throughout North America and Europe.
It doesn't just include the author's own extensive travels both solo and with friends or family but also delves into the interesting history of railways and those who have travelled on it.
I found the historical anecdotal evidence the most interesting, including men who apparently went mad because of the speed of the new transport or the idea that women's internal organs would expel themselves from their bodies plus several other quite crazy ideas. But then it was all new back in the 1850s.
However the one story that stood out the most was when Charles Dickens and his mistress were in an accident. He inadvertently left the manuscript of Our Mutual Friend on board and had to risk going back into the dangerous wreckage to save it. And all I could think was, oh it would have saved me hours of my life that I'll never get back if he'd just left it there. Sorry Charles.
On the Tracks thankfully was a jolly interesting book. I listened to Jennifer Wigmore read the audio version and she had a lovely delivery. Pamela Molloy has written a beautiful, sometimes touching, interesting memoir interlaced with history. Very enjoyable.
Thanks to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for the advance review copy.
It doesn't just include the author's own extensive travels both solo and with friends or family but also delves into the interesting history of railways and those who have travelled on it.
I found the historical anecdotal evidence the most interesting, including men who apparently went mad because of the speed of the new transport or the idea that women's internal organs would expel themselves from their bodies plus several other quite crazy ideas. But then it was all new back in the 1850s.
However the one story that stood out the most was when Charles Dickens and his mistress were in an accident. He inadvertently left the manuscript of Our Mutual Friend on board and had to risk going back into the dangerous wreckage to save it. And all I could think was, oh it would have saved me hours of my life that I'll never get back if he'd just left it there. Sorry Charles.
On the Tracks thankfully was a jolly interesting book. I listened to Jennifer Wigmore read the audio version and she had a lovely delivery. Pamela Molloy has written a beautiful, sometimes touching, interesting memoir interlaced with history. Very enjoyable.
Thanks to Netgalley and ECW Press Audio for the advance review copy.
April 6, 2024
Off the Tracks by Pamela Mulloy
This was a fun book about the authors personal train travel, plus those of famous people and their experiences with that type of Travel. It is an easy read with a lot of information and fun facts about trains, and the people that ride them.
Well researched and well told, I really enjoyed her writing and how she put it together.
I would like to thank NetGalley and ECW Press for a copy of this book
This was a fun book about the authors personal train travel, plus those of famous people and their experiences with that type of Travel. It is an easy read with a lot of information and fun facts about trains, and the people that ride them.
Well researched and well told, I really enjoyed her writing and how she put it together.
I would like to thank NetGalley and ECW Press for a copy of this book
May 17, 2025
Off the Tracks by Pamela Mulloy is a thoughtful and beautifully written meditation on the meaning of travel—particularly train travel—during a time when physical movement was restricted. Blending memoir, history, and cultural commentary, the book reflects on the experience of "travel without traveling," shaped in part by the stillness of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Focusing on rail journeys across Europe and North America, Mulloy explores both the outer landscapes trains pass through and the inner landscapes they stir within us. The book is as much about the emotional and psychological journeys of the traveler as it is about the destinations themselves. One of its compelling themes is how women often write about travel differently—paying equal attention to internal experience and external encounters.
Mulloy also delves into the early history of rail travel, including fascinating insights such as the initial fear of the train's impact on the human body, concerns over safety, and even the way plants spread along railway lines thanks to the trains themselves. These historical threads enrich the personal reflections and lend the book a quiet, contemplative depth.
Part memoir, part cultural history, Off the Tracks is a nostalgic and insightful exploration of movement, memory, and what it means to journey—both outwardly and within.
Focusing on rail journeys across Europe and North America, Mulloy explores both the outer landscapes trains pass through and the inner landscapes they stir within us. The book is as much about the emotional and psychological journeys of the traveler as it is about the destinations themselves. One of its compelling themes is how women often write about travel differently—paying equal attention to internal experience and external encounters.
Mulloy also delves into the early history of rail travel, including fascinating insights such as the initial fear of the train's impact on the human body, concerns over safety, and even the way plants spread along railway lines thanks to the trains themselves. These historical threads enrich the personal reflections and lend the book a quiet, contemplative depth.
Part memoir, part cultural history, Off the Tracks is a nostalgic and insightful exploration of movement, memory, and what it means to journey—both outwardly and within.
September 21, 2024
An articulate account of what’s to love about trains and train travel, and a wonderful meditation in travel in general. The author draws on her own experiences but also those of train travelers from the past.
February 11, 2024
This is a great browse book about train travel. I enjoy train travel so it's something I enjoy reading, as I am sure train enthusiasts will enjoy. The author writes, not only of her own train travels, but also includes historical notes about train travel. It would make a great gift book for those soon to go train! Cou;d even see myself reading while traveling! Also a good browse in winter- it's not very long book. maybe enjoy a bit daily over an afternoon while planning your next vacation!
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my review.
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for my review.
July 2, 2024
Written primarily during lockdown, this is a lovely ode to the beauty of train travel. I love to travel by train and it's rare to see that enjoyment captured so well by someone else.
July 25, 2024
What do you do when a pandemic shuts down travel? You travel through your memoirs.
And if you happen to be a writer, you turn that into a meditation.
Thus begins the inspiration for a book about something even more specific- travel by train. Something Mulloy uses to weave into an interesting and meaningful exposition on the history of train travel, using her time living in Europe, the States and Canada as a guide.
She is passionate about travel, and that shines here. She is equally passionate about train travel, at least her memories of it. It is the pandemic lens that gives this book that added depth, using this period of time when much of the world stopped moving to explore the idea of trains, once a symbol of narrowed time, space and speed in a world that found itself on the precipice of a whole new way of life, evolving into what is now deemed slow travel.
I found the way she helps bring this past to life to be fascinating and gripping. Considering how the emergence of train travel brought with it an entire epidemic health problems, including mental health, anxiety and depression, becomes a powerful parallel for our present time, where the world is moving forward at a rate that has no true historical precedence. Even with that uniqueness there is worth in looking at how such history can help us understand the relationship between the pace of our lives and our connection to it, including amd perhaps most explicitly to space, or place, and time.
To travel by train in its heyday was a matter of status and efficiency, emboldened naturally by the gradual emergence of class distinctions. To travel by train today, it's re-emergence as a trend in Europe being an exception, is a matter of nostalgia and privilege. In its heyday it was about collapsing the space between us, now it is about sensing and experiencing what feels like the great divide. It is about purposefully slowing down and experiencing the countryside rather than a function of commute.
In its re-emergence in Europe as functional commute, something that has been far easier there than in north america given the present infrastructure and lack of stigma, there is a sense in which that functionality is binding itself to that old sense of speed and pace. The battle is much greater in north america where we lack the infrastructure and where the stigma is a lot more pronounced. Part of what I loved about this book too is that she gives us a window into the distinct Canadian challenge, where the only real infrastructure we have is in Ontario and Quebec.
Here's an interesting fact. In Europe where trains were seen as commuter vehicles, stations were built outside of the city in the interests of protecting city infrastructure and city life. In North America stations were built directly in the city center, with cities literally being built around them and the train being instrumental to the establishment of cities and their growth. Thus when train travel went out of fashion, that infrastructure was ready made to be replaced by roadways, with cities now being marked by cars and car usage in ways that European cities are not.
I chose to read this book slowly, as it is intended to have a meditative quality. I found this quite enriching, leaving plenty of room for reflection and note taking. I think it is well worth the investment, and one of my new favorite travel books. It MI also inspire you to take to the time to travel through your memories as well, even as fast paced travel reemerged from the pandemic with a bang.
And if you happen to be a writer, you turn that into a meditation.
Thus begins the inspiration for a book about something even more specific- travel by train. Something Mulloy uses to weave into an interesting and meaningful exposition on the history of train travel, using her time living in Europe, the States and Canada as a guide.
She is passionate about travel, and that shines here. She is equally passionate about train travel, at least her memories of it. It is the pandemic lens that gives this book that added depth, using this period of time when much of the world stopped moving to explore the idea of trains, once a symbol of narrowed time, space and speed in a world that found itself on the precipice of a whole new way of life, evolving into what is now deemed slow travel.
I found the way she helps bring this past to life to be fascinating and gripping. Considering how the emergence of train travel brought with it an entire epidemic health problems, including mental health, anxiety and depression, becomes a powerful parallel for our present time, where the world is moving forward at a rate that has no true historical precedence. Even with that uniqueness there is worth in looking at how such history can help us understand the relationship between the pace of our lives and our connection to it, including amd perhaps most explicitly to space, or place, and time.
To travel by train in its heyday was a matter of status and efficiency, emboldened naturally by the gradual emergence of class distinctions. To travel by train today, it's re-emergence as a trend in Europe being an exception, is a matter of nostalgia and privilege. In its heyday it was about collapsing the space between us, now it is about sensing and experiencing what feels like the great divide. It is about purposefully slowing down and experiencing the countryside rather than a function of commute.
In its re-emergence in Europe as functional commute, something that has been far easier there than in north america given the present infrastructure and lack of stigma, there is a sense in which that functionality is binding itself to that old sense of speed and pace. The battle is much greater in north america where we lack the infrastructure and where the stigma is a lot more pronounced. Part of what I loved about this book too is that she gives us a window into the distinct Canadian challenge, where the only real infrastructure we have is in Ontario and Quebec.
Here's an interesting fact. In Europe where trains were seen as commuter vehicles, stations were built outside of the city in the interests of protecting city infrastructure and city life. In North America stations were built directly in the city center, with cities literally being built around them and the train being instrumental to the establishment of cities and their growth. Thus when train travel went out of fashion, that infrastructure was ready made to be replaced by roadways, with cities now being marked by cars and car usage in ways that European cities are not.
I chose to read this book slowly, as it is intended to have a meditative quality. I found this quite enriching, leaving plenty of room for reflection and note taking. I think it is well worth the investment, and one of my new favorite travel books. It MI also inspire you to take to the time to travel through your memories as well, even as fast paced travel reemerged from the pandemic with a bang.
April 1, 2024
‘In the time of pandemic slowness, when we were considering the condition of the entire planet, when we couldn’t travel anywhere, I decided to go back in time, to think of the social history of train journeys, not only in longing, but also to understand what it is that we gain in movement, in travel.’
I read this book as I was preparing for a seven-hour train journey and thinking of a journey my husband and I are booked on in 2025: The Indian Pacific travelling across Australia, between Sydney and Perth. I have not undertaken any of the journeys Pamela Mulloy has, but I can relate to her love of train travel. My first long train journey was the overnight train from Melbourne to Sydney in 1970. Both cities were unknown to me then.
‘Why does our memory sift through events and leave so many holes?’
In this book, under COVD-19 lockdown, Ms Mulloy remembers her own journeys. She also mentions journeys by others: the train crash which made Charles Dickens fearful of train travel, Sarah Bernhardt being trapped in a blizzard in the Midwest in the 1890s. And I remember train trips in Tasmania in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the state still had a passenger train service.
There is something about train travel: more relaxing than flying, less stressful than driving.
As Ms Mulloy wrote:
‘Memories can be underrated but that was largely what we had under lockdown. The lived experience of going away, of travelling was not possible, but this time offered a rare period of extended reflection, not just of where I had been but how each trip had shaped me.’
For most of the travel I missed during the COVID-19 pandemic, trains are not an option. And yet there is something about train journeys which beckons. There are a few long journeys I can undertake within Australia, and I hope to complete them all.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
I read this book as I was preparing for a seven-hour train journey and thinking of a journey my husband and I are booked on in 2025: The Indian Pacific travelling across Australia, between Sydney and Perth. I have not undertaken any of the journeys Pamela Mulloy has, but I can relate to her love of train travel. My first long train journey was the overnight train from Melbourne to Sydney in 1970. Both cities were unknown to me then.
‘Why does our memory sift through events and leave so many holes?’
In this book, under COVD-19 lockdown, Ms Mulloy remembers her own journeys. She also mentions journeys by others: the train crash which made Charles Dickens fearful of train travel, Sarah Bernhardt being trapped in a blizzard in the Midwest in the 1890s. And I remember train trips in Tasmania in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the state still had a passenger train service.
There is something about train travel: more relaxing than flying, less stressful than driving.
As Ms Mulloy wrote:
‘Memories can be underrated but that was largely what we had under lockdown. The lived experience of going away, of travelling was not possible, but this time offered a rare period of extended reflection, not just of where I had been but how each trip had shaped me.’
For most of the travel I missed during the COVID-19 pandemic, trains are not an option. And yet there is something about train journeys which beckons. There are a few long journeys I can undertake within Australia, and I hope to complete them all.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and ECW Press for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
June 25, 2024
“Off the Tracks, A Meditation on Train Journeys in a Time of No Travel” by Pamela Mulloy is actually what the title describes: a wide-ranging discussion on what travel has meant to the author, on the historical aspects of train travel, and on the joy to be found in taking a slower journey. During the forced inactivity of the pandemic, we revisit the simple pleasure in taking a journey, something most of us had begun to take for granted until we were forced to give it up.
The book is a collection of essays, musings and meditations on train travel, which can be broken out into three main categories: historical stories on the subject of train travel, the author’s personal travel reminisces, and finally general philosophical thoughts on the subject of travel.
The historical vignettes about the growth and acceptance of traveling by rail were the most interesting parts, Ms. Mulloy tells us about Charles Dickens surviving a horrendous train crash, how Sarah Bernhardt spent her time stranded in a Michigan snowstorm, how the high rate of speed was going to affect the organs of delicate women.
Ms. Mulloy also tells us about her own experiences traveling by rail, a frequent trip across Canada to visit her family out east, but also her own experiences as a young adult having adventures around Europe (I too have stories from my rail travels in Poland!).
And finally we get a bit of philosophy about what travel means, why we travel, how travel changes us, and how this pandemic has changed what travel means, how we should enjoy the experiences that we have taken for granted.
These three streams are interwoven throughout the book, with varying degrees of success. Some of the philosophy feels a bit dated as we make our way out of the shutdown, but the stories and history are an amusing diversion while one gets back to moving around the globe.
I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from ECW Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
The book is a collection of essays, musings and meditations on train travel, which can be broken out into three main categories: historical stories on the subject of train travel, the author’s personal travel reminisces, and finally general philosophical thoughts on the subject of travel.
The historical vignettes about the growth and acceptance of traveling by rail were the most interesting parts, Ms. Mulloy tells us about Charles Dickens surviving a horrendous train crash, how Sarah Bernhardt spent her time stranded in a Michigan snowstorm, how the high rate of speed was going to affect the organs of delicate women.
Ms. Mulloy also tells us about her own experiences traveling by rail, a frequent trip across Canada to visit her family out east, but also her own experiences as a young adult having adventures around Europe (I too have stories from my rail travels in Poland!).
And finally we get a bit of philosophy about what travel means, why we travel, how travel changes us, and how this pandemic has changed what travel means, how we should enjoy the experiences that we have taken for granted.
These three streams are interwoven throughout the book, with varying degrees of success. Some of the philosophy feels a bit dated as we make our way out of the shutdown, but the stories and history are an amusing diversion while one gets back to moving around the globe.
I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from ECW Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
April 2, 2024
I’m a pretty easy sell when it comes to travel narrative and travel reflections. This one was kind of a mixed bag.
Mulloy does really well with the historical material included in the book, as well as with her musings on the cultural perception of train travel and the way it has changed and evolved.
I was less thrilled with the personal content, of which there is too much, and which veers into subtle but pointed sanctimony too often for my taste. The self righteousness of travelers who are not in a hurry is always very dismissive of those who don’t have the luxury not to be, and there’s a fair amount of that in this book that didn’t need to be there.
I didn’t much care for the pandemic-focused aspects of this either, mostly because they aren’t really anything unique and I think we’re still a bit too close to it to be reliving it in memoir-ish fashion without a more original perspective.
The writing itself is lovely and I really enjoyed the overall sentiment of the book. It’s appropriately pretty short, and it felt like the author did well in selecting what made it into a book on a subject that is probably best presented in a tighter, more concise manner than many of its ilk.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Mulloy does really well with the historical material included in the book, as well as with her musings on the cultural perception of train travel and the way it has changed and evolved.
I was less thrilled with the personal content, of which there is too much, and which veers into subtle but pointed sanctimony too often for my taste. The self righteousness of travelers who are not in a hurry is always very dismissive of those who don’t have the luxury not to be, and there’s a fair amount of that in this book that didn’t need to be there.
I didn’t much care for the pandemic-focused aspects of this either, mostly because they aren’t really anything unique and I think we’re still a bit too close to it to be reliving it in memoir-ish fashion without a more original perspective.
The writing itself is lovely and I really enjoyed the overall sentiment of the book. It’s appropriately pretty short, and it felt like the author did well in selecting what made it into a book on a subject that is probably best presented in a tighter, more concise manner than many of its ilk.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
March 28, 2024
In this short book, writer Pamela Mulloy reflects on a life of traveling, especially on trains. Essays and memoirs are not genres that I usually read but, since I enjoy both taking trips and trains, I wanted to know what she had to say. I’m so glad I did! Her remarkable experiences really show how much the world has changed, even before the lockdown years that shall not be named. The audiobook is narrated by Jennifer Wigmore in a colloquial, easygoing style that sounds like having a conversation with a good friend. The stories she tells are very compelling, and she rounds them by adding the historical context and even some fun trivia. Now that trains are making a comeback, it is a good time to learn more about this irreplaceable form of travel.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#ECW Press Audio.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#ECW Press Audio.
April 22, 2024
Off the Tracks by Pamela Mulloy is a fascinating book about train travel, its history, environmental connections and resurgence with a particular emphasis on the recent covid pandemic. The author describes her passion for ritual travel, especially with her daughter. My travels often take me to repeat places as well and trains are my preferred mode, utterly mesmerizing and relaxing.
My favourite aspects of this book are train travel in the past (madmen, crinolines, accidents, compartment invention, safety, effects of speed) and nostalgia. Sharing confined spaces with strangers can be disconcerting at times but give me trains over airplanes any day.
Whether you are an armchair traveler or enjoy train adventures, you will learn from Off the Tracks.
My sincere thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this engrossing book.
My favourite aspects of this book are train travel in the past (madmen, crinolines, accidents, compartment invention, safety, effects of speed) and nostalgia. Sharing confined spaces with strangers can be disconcerting at times but give me trains over airplanes any day.
Whether you are an armchair traveler or enjoy train adventures, you will learn from Off the Tracks.
My sincere thank you to ECW Press and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this engrossing book.
February 19, 2024
Discover the locations in the novel here
Oh I loved this!
An author who loves and appreciates all the nuances about train travel and the beauty of it. She looks at her native Canada and the birth of the pacific railway there - full of stories! Then she weaves in her own personal love of train travel and what lockdown meant when it stopped. Good idea to weave in famous train stories such as The Orient Express as well as real life incidents such as when Charles Dickens had an accident in Kent when on a train.
A very interesting read!
August 24, 2024
A thoroughly enjoyable romp in what I think must be the very best mode of transport, being lulled to sleep by the soft clackety-clack of the train as it gently meanders along the tracks is my idea of heaven.
I love the inclusion of the historical anecdotes, which add a particular level of interest, including a few jaw-dropping revelations about some rather odd beliefs, such as women's organs leaving their bodies when travelling by rail and men going mad. What peculiar ideas people had back then! (And Charles Dickens is a favourite author of mine).
A great way to spend a long, rainy weekend.
I love the inclusion of the historical anecdotes, which add a particular level of interest, including a few jaw-dropping revelations about some rather odd beliefs, such as women's organs leaving their bodies when travelling by rail and men going mad. What peculiar ideas people had back then! (And Charles Dickens is a favourite author of mine).
A great way to spend a long, rainy weekend.
January 27, 2026
extremely pleasant read. kind of strange because mulloy is dragging you back into lockdown, but escaping with her to france and poland and germany is wonderful. she also does a good job of inserting the history of travel and trains into her stories. i don’t know what i would’ve done if I hadn’t learned of the existence of horse-powered ferries. mulloy makes it clear that humans do not get to travel without having some impact on the world around us and it is an activity we can very easily lose access to. our imagination can take us across the globe, but it’s never quite the same as the actual thing.
April 5, 2024
This book has a little bit of everything - lots of interesting historical stories about train travel, some personal stories about the author's memorable train journeys, and some reflections during the Covid lockdown about what travel means to us at a time when we couldn't travel. To me, the historical parts were the most engaging - clearly the author did her research, and I learned a lot! I thought the concept was a good one, but the structure didn't really hold together well. Still, I enjoyed listening to this for a quick virtual getaway!
December 1, 2024
As someone who developed a train obsession during the pandemic I thought Mulloy's book would be the perfect read for me. Conceived of and written during the many lockdowns the book weaves together historical info on trains together with memories of Mulloy's own trip.
But while the historical information is intriguing Mulloy's own observations about her journeys don't successfully transmit a sense of magic and nostalgia and I often found myself wondering what was the point of bringing up X trip.
It's a perfectly fine book but not one I'm likely to remember or think of after.
But while the historical information is intriguing Mulloy's own observations about her journeys don't successfully transmit a sense of magic and nostalgia and I often found myself wondering what was the point of bringing up X trip.
It's a perfectly fine book but not one I'm likely to remember or think of after.
June 11, 2024
I you love (or even simply enjoy) train travel, this is a book for you. Mulloy reflects on the trip not taken during the pandemic, recalling previous train trips. What made this particularly rewarding is the additional facts and information about train travel in general, including its emergence as the more 'efficient' way to travel. As a lover of train travel I lost myself on the rails and took in the experience.
July 4, 2024
This essay collection was written during the early days of the pandemic by a seasoned train traveler pining for trips that had been cancelled. I enjoyed Mulloy’s writing, but found the book to be a bit disjointed in terms of when the various stories of her own past travels were taking place. I loved her research on the history of train travel, but I wish there had been a bit more structure to her personal stories.
September 18, 2024
I enjoyed the meditative quality of this book. It really embodied the experience of the end of the pandemic very succinctly. I’m someone who always wanted to travel extensively. Sadly, I likely will never get the chance. Just as the author indulges in “armchair” traveling, I can experience double armchair traveling through the reading of this book. It is also just the right length, which is a fete not easily achieved.
August 30, 2024
This was an interesting reflection on train travel. There were personal anecdotes but also historical tidbits that were fun. I do think some of the book was a bit dull and it was hard to stay interested. I probably wouldn’t recommend this to someone not interested in train travel or interested in history, but at least the book is pretty short!
August 31, 2024
A lyrical, thoughtful non-travelogue, self-consciously of and among women's travelogues and it's own place in the conversation. A meditation marred by a sort of insistence on its place in a COVID-literature corpus. Beautifully written with interesting history mixed well with autobiographical vignettes. And adventure worth the accompanying the author.
March 30, 2024
I really enjoy the adventure of train travel and OffThe Tracks was a wonderful guide to the world of train travel.Pamela Mulloy shares her train travels and also shares travels of people in history like the actress Sarah Bernhardt,An interesting read that I will be recommending.#netgalley #ecw
April 10, 2024
The author reflects on memorable train journeys in her life as well as the train travel adventures and happenings of famous people in the past. An enjoyable and fun mix. Thank you to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
May 2, 2024
The author reflects on her own train travels over the years while stuck in COVID lockdown. In doing so, Mulloy also does some research on the history of train travel and some famous train journeys. Entertaining, informative, and interesting.
Read
September 6, 2024This is hard to pin down or rate. It is part memoir, travel journal, historical narrative, stream of consciousness, and period piece from the start of Covid. It was interesting but you have to be in the right mind set to enjoy the book.
July 22, 2025
Nice to listen to while traveling. Creative subject matter for the author to write while she (and all of us) were restricted from traveling. Of course, I especially enjoyed the bits of history she intertwined throughout the novel, "Tycoons and Explorers."
January 27, 2026
The author is Canadian from a city near where I live so this was an interesting book for me to read. I am attending an event at a local library next week with this author discussing her book.
This book details the author's love of train travel, whether it is the annual train rides with her daughter to visit family in the Maritimes or family trips in Europe or Poland. When covid hit in 2020 and we were unable to travel, the author went on an imaginary train journey based on her past trips as well as past trips in history.
After I finished reading this book, I know I will be planning a train journey in my future.
This book details the author's love of train travel, whether it is the annual train rides with her daughter to visit family in the Maritimes or family trips in Europe or Poland. When covid hit in 2020 and we were unable to travel, the author went on an imaginary train journey based on her past trips as well as past trips in history.
After I finished reading this book, I know I will be planning a train journey in my future.
July 1, 2024
Lots of fun reading about the history of train travel and the author's personal travel.
July 5, 2024
It's not quite a travelogue...but it's not quite a memoir. This is an easy read, but it would be more interesting if it picked a single identity and stuck with it throughout the book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews