A Train Journey: A pop–up history of rail travel

A Train Journey takes readers on an international journey through the history of trains and brings the locomotives to life in pop-up detail. Created by the world’s leading paper engineer and art director, Gérard Lo Monaco, the adventure begins in 1829 with Robert Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ locomotive, the most advanced of its day, which operated on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Our journey hits new heights to investigate Manhattan’s elevated railroad, whose cars were the first to be manufactured out of stainless steel. Readers will see the trains buzzing and alive among 1900 New York’s distinctive high-rises.

Skipping forward to the 1920s, readers will marvel at what was the most powerful locomotive on the London and North Eastern Railway: the ‘Flying Scotsman’, providing a non-stop daily service from London to Edinburgh. Readers then encounter the glamour of the 1930s and 40s on the infamous Orient Express as it travels between Paris and Istanbul. Finally, the reader is taken on a sprint to the present to see Japan’s Shinkansen ‘Bullet’ and China’s CHR 400 high-speed intercity trains, travelling at an impressive 320 km/hr!

Designed in a beautifully layered pop-up format, with information about each train integrated into the artwork, A Train Journey marvels at, and is a marvel of, engineering over the centuries.

Gerard Lo Monaco is an Argentinian illustrator and paper engineer based in Paris. He has been art director at some of the most prestigious illustrated publishing houses, including Albin Michel and Helium. His pop-up version of The Little Prince has sold over 900,000 copies. His work includes poster designs, album covers and books for children, including contemporary interpretations of Sonia Delaunay and Moby-Dick in pop-up.