Now that's a novel idea

Soon rail passengers may be able to buy short stories from vending machines. It's a neat way of preserving the tradition of railway reading.

Passengers caught up in the recent rail chaos may have craved a copy of War and Peace rather than a flimsy paperback to see them through their delayed journey.

But for those with nothing to do but gaze out of the window, help could soon be at hand.

Enjoying a relaxing read on London's Tube

A pioneering idea has been launched on London's Underground to dispense short stories through vending machines.

The first Travelman vending machine was unveiled on Monday at South Kensington Tube station.

For £1 it will dispense a story by Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which folds out in the style of a map.

Travelman's creators plan to extend the range of titles available, and to roll the scheme out across the country, so that one day the vending machines may be as commonplace as those that now keep passengers in chocolate and chewing gum.

But while it sounds like a revolutionary idea, the railways and popular reading are two things that grew up together.

"Do they have Murder on the Orient Express?"

The link dates back more than 150 years, when WH Smith - today one of the biggest High Street booksellers - set up its first bookstall, at London's Euston station.

In those days novels tended to be published in no fewer than three weighty tomes.

They were designed to be enjoyed around the fireplace, not squeezed into hand luggage.

Yellow pages

But William Henry Smith was no fool and soon after setting up shop in 1848, he soon promoting the cheap, lightweight novels, known as "yellowbacks".

And to make sure travellers wouldn't be forced to stop reading by the mere fact there was no lighting on board, his station bookstalls sold candles small enough to clip on to a lapel.

Historian Chris Rule says reading played an important part in the passenger rail boom of the mid-19th century.

One of the old "yellowbacks"

"In the home other things have taken over such as television and radio, but reading remains a great past-time on the railway," says Mr Rule.

Chartered health psychologist Dr Tony Cassidy, of Coventry University, says for typically reserved British travellers, reading is a way of "establishing control".

It gives passengers control over the time you are forced to spend on board and control over your interactions with other travellers, he says.

Personal space

"It is a way of avoiding eye contact, in fact all contact, verbal or non-verbal.

"By reading or listening to a personal stereo, we are sending all sorts of cues that indicate we are not available.

All aboard the Hogwarts Express

"Then we can decide if we make eye contact or when people can talk to us."

It is a way of coping with the stress of being thrown into close proximity with people we don't know.

But it also has an intellectual spin off. If it wasn't for the daily train journey, many people would probably never read anything tougher than the TV guide.

"Since moving closer to work I am reading less and I don't compensate by reading more at home - reading was an integral part of the journey," says Mr Rule.

If nothing else, maybe the rail chaos of recent weeks will have reacquainted us with the art of reading.