Foreign Policy Magazine

A Train to Nowhere

IN THE TOWN OF PETERBOROUGH, THE SOLE-SURVIVING RELIC of Britain’s doomed venture into hovercraft train travel looms over the entrance to a derelict coal yard.

The RTV 31, a sleek bullet-headed train painted with a now faded Union Jack, has the charm of a sci-fi movie prop—a testament to the expanding imagination of the 1960s and a world with its eyes turned toward outer space. But

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Foreign Policy Magazine

Foreign Policy Magazine14 min read
The True Believer
IT ALL BEGAN IN BEIJING. Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat when he visited in 2011 to pitch his state as a destination for Chinese investment. As India’s ambassador to China at the time, S. Jaishankar was tasked with helping to facilita
Foreign Policy Magazine2 min read
Foreign Policy
Ravi Agrawal EDITOR IN CHIEF EXECUTIVE EDITOR Amelia Lester EXECUTIVE EDITOR, PODCASTS Dan Ephron MANAGING EDITOR Audrey Wilson CREATIVE DIRECTOR Lori Kelley DEPUTY EDITORS Cameron Abadi, James Palmer, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, Stefan Theil, Jennifer W
Foreign Policy Magazine7 min readWorld
The Pentagon’s Big China Bubble
In January, U.S. congressional leaders reached a tentative agreement to appropriate $886 billion for the Defense Department and related work on nuclear weapons at the Energy Department. The central justification for this spending—among the country’s

Related Books & Audiobooks