蜜芽传媒

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the 蜜芽传媒 World Service, all related to trains and journeys which have helped to shape our world.

Our guest Nicky Gardner, travel writer and co-author of Europe by Rail: the Definitive Guide, discusses the origins of train travel.

The first story involved the hijacking of a train in 1950s communist Czechoslovakia which was driven across the border into West Germany.

We also hear about Senator Robert Kennedy's funeral train in 1960s America, and Italy's "happiness train", which took children from the poverty stricken south to wealthier families in the north.

Contributors - Archive interview with Karel Ruml.
Frank Mankiewicz - Robert Kennedy's former press secretary, and Rosey Grier, his former bodyguard.
Bianca D鈥橝niello - a passenger on the 鈥渉appiness train鈥�.
June Cutchins - received gifts from the Gratitude Train.
Tomas Andreas Elejalde - general manager of the Medellin Metro.

(Photo: People stand near railroad tracks as a train carries the body of Robert Kennedy on June 8, 1968. Credit: Steve Northrup/The Washington Post via Getty Images)