Veteran journalist James McCommons just completed a narrative, non-fiction book: "Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service."

McCommons spent a year on America's trains, talking to the people who ride and work the rails across much of the Amtrak system. Readers meet the historians, railroad executives, transportation officials, politicians, government regulators, railroad lobbyists, and passenger-rail advocates who are rallying around a simple question: Why has the greatest railroad nation in the world turned its back on the very form of transportation that made modern life and mobility possible?

Organized around these rail journeys, "Waiting on a Train" is equal parts travel narrative, personal memoir, and investigative journalism. "Waiting on a Train" is now available on Amazon.com.

Listen to this 2 minute audio excerpt from "Waiting on a Train." James highlights his early morning experience on the Empire Builder while traveling from Chicago to Seattle.


Click the arrow to begin playback.

"The bustle in the RV park outside of Williams, Ariz., began at daybreak -- kids skidding bikes inches from our tent, parents in pajamas flipping pancakes, and everyone slamming doors and packing gear for an early start to the canyon.

We, too, were on a Great American road trip, touring the interior West, stopping at national parks and camping next to the interstates, where we fell asleep each night hearing the hum of the all-night trucks..."

[read more from The Oregonian article at OregonLive.com]

"I shook awake my 9-year-old, the son who always rises for fishing, watches anything on the Science Channel and was anticipating the next day seeing the most well-preserved meteorite impact crater on Earth.

'There are shooting stars out,' I whispered. 'Lots of them.' He followed me into the darkness. Every minute or so, a streak of white arced across the sky..." [read more/download article]

"James McCommons isn't a starry-eyed romantic about railroads. He's not a dreamer who envisions Maglev trains racing from city to city at 300 mph or more. But he does think that passenger rail service — that unwanted stepchild of American transportation — is a vital part of America's future.

"So he spent a year riding the rails of this country studying how that might be done. Then the veteran journalist wrote a book describing the grim reality of life aboard today's American trains and outlining a vision for how they might be restored to respectability — if not their former glory..." [read more/download article]

"At Brussels' Midi/Zuid station, we switched to the Eurostar for London. The Eurostar might have had problems last winter with stalled trains deep inside the Chunnel, but on this night, it did not disappoint. The staff, in snappy gray outfits, immediately brought wine and bottled water and then served a full dinner on china plates. We read foreign newspapers, sipped cappuccinos and felt as if we had returned to the golden age of passenger railroading.

But even those streamliner trains were never this swift. The train can reach 186 mph. A blast of air rocked our car when we entered the Eurotunnel, which runs 26 miles beneath the English Channel. A bit of pressure in the ears was relieved by a big yawn. It was like flying...." [read more/download article]

Side Feature: Plan your train trip through Europe

"Waiting on a Train" won a ForeWord Book of the Year Silver Award (Social Science category). The winners were announced May 25 in New York City at Book Expo America, the publishing industry’s largest annual event.

ForeWord's Book of the Year Awards program was designed to discover distinctive books from independent publishers across a number of genres.

Among the Library Journal's Best Books of 2009 is "Waiting on a Train." Social sciences editor Margaret Heilbrun chose "Waiting on a Train" as a dynamic work written at a promising moment for America's passenger rail and its future.

"In joining the author on his 2008 rail travels around the country—that is, where passenger rail still survives—readers get a fine, accessible history of American passenger and freight rail service; a travel memoir with authentically rendered portraits; and a prescription for the future of American railroads. With the country seemingly poised on the threshold of major new commitments to a mythic component of our continental history, this is crucial reading."

See all the best book selections here or read Library Journal's original review of "Waiting on a Train" here.

An excerpt from James McCommons "Waiting on a Train" appears this month in ColdType's "The Reader." You can read the offering by clicking the cover above or visit ColdType's website for their current issue.