IT WOULD HAVE TO BE PART OF THEIR RELIGIOUS PROGRAMMING:

Something Understood (BBC Radio 4, 27/03/2011)

'Trains are made for meditation', John Betjeman wrote, celebrating slow travel back in 1940. He was only one of many poets, writers and musicians who have found inspiration in rail travel. Hypnotised by the rhythm of the train, they find a freedom to think and to dream, inspired by the unfolding landscape outside.

Mark Tully chooses the best train poetry and music and talks to the Chaplain of St Pancras Station, Jonathan Barker, about his work on the station. With music by Glenn Miller, Anton Dvorak, Villa Lobos and Baron Samedi.

Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus production for BBC Radio 4.
Readings

Reading 1: Extract from The Art of Travel, by Alain de Botton. Published by Penguin, 2003.

Reading 2 :“In the Train” by Antonio Machado, translated by A S Kline. Available on the website http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Spanish/Machado.htm, used by kind permission of A S Kline.

Reading 3: Extract from “Back to the Railway Carriage”, by John Betjeman, from Trains and Buttered Toast. Published by John Murray, 2006.

Reading 4: “On a Train” by Wendy Cope, from If I Don’t Know. Published by Faber and Faber, 2001. This recording is taken from Poetry Archive, www.poetryarchive.com.

Reading 5: Reading from “The Spiritual Railway”, a Memorial in Ely Cathedral.
Music played

Glenn Miller Glenn Miller — Chatanooga Choo Choo

Performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra.
Glenn Miller – 34 Greatest Hits, Odessa Mama Records, B000UTHRE
Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos — The Little Train of the Caipira

Performed by Leopold Stokowski and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Classic Records, B003TRMLOE
Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger — Pacific 231

Performed by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands.
Deutsche Grammophon, B00000E535
Baron Samedi — Night Mail
Wanderland, ElevenEleven Records, B004IY4REE
Acker Bilk — Gospel Train
Boaters, Bowlers and Bow Ties, Decca (UMO, B002CPD59Y
Antonin Dvorak Antonin Dvorak — Symphony no 7 (1st Movement)

Performed by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
Warner Classics, B00000F1RK

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