Tom Langdon, a weary and cash-strapped journalist, is banned from flying when a particularly thorough airport security search causes him to lose his cool. Now, he must take the train if he has any chance of arriving in Los Angeles in time for Christmas with his girlfriend. To finance the trip, he sells a story about a train ride taken during the Christmas season.

In the words of Alexander McCall Smith: 'You feel the rocking of the train, you hear the sound of its wheels on the rails; you are in the world rather than suspended somewhere above it. And sometimes there are conversations to be had, which is what the overarching story in this collection is all about. It is a simple device: people brought together entertain one another with tales of what happened to them on trains. It takes place on a journey I frequently...

Discover a whole new way of looking at trains, from the old steam engines found in amusement parks and zoos to super-speeders in Japan that travel at 361 miles per hour. Also see the world's longest freight train, stretching on for a whopping 4.6 miles and futuristic railways in the sky.

Rydr is on a train heading east, leaving California, where her gramma can't take care of her anymore, and traveling to Chicago to live with an unknown relative. She brings with her a suitcase, memories both happy and sad, and a box containing something very important. As Rydr meets her fellow passengers and learns their stories, her own past begins to emerge. And as much as Rydr may want to forget about her life in California, on the train she finds...

Pete the cat and the bad banana. Pete the Cat bites into a bad banana and vows never to eat bananas again, even though he generally likes the fruit. Go, Pete, go! A groovy Pete the Cat adaptation of "The Tortoise and the Hare" finds a bike-riding Pete accepting a challenge from Turtle, who has a new racing car with cool gadgets. Sir Pete the brave. When a dragon kidnaps Lady Callie, Sir Pete the Brave must come to her rescue. Rock on, mom and dad!...