It's time someone prominent took a train in America, for, if anything deserves some love and attention here, it is the railroads. Granted, few US trains travel very fast and if you need to get anywhere that isn't a major East Coast city, it would be quicker in a covered wagon. But, with US airports resembling the Fifth Circle of Hell and the roads full of SUV owners rediscovering the joys of $2-a-gallon petrol, rail is far and away the most civilised way of getting around America. And the greenest.