On the eve of the 21st anniversary of one of the world's great train journeys, writer Anthony Dennis and photographer Ross Bird boarded the Indian Pacific at Sydney's Central Station. Along its 4,348 kilometre ribbons of steel to Perth, they met not only passengers (including the taciturn Incredible Hulk on steroids who could barely fit inside the train), but the battalion of workers, on and off the rails, who ensure the Indian Pacific's progress. By the end of their vibrant and amusing pilgrimage between two great seaboards they had also encountered Snakeman, the Indian Pacific driver who photographs dangerous reptiles on the Nullarbor on his days off; the millionaire Perth car dealer who has caught the train more often than any other paying passenger; the Royal Flying Doctors who decline to remove the corpses of passengers who have expired in the desert to civilisation; and a far-flung golf course with the world's biggest bunker. Ribbons of steel is more than a book about an extraordinary train; it is an entertaining and off-beat account of a portable slice of Australiana which remains etched in the national psyche.The book explores the history of the train and paints a picture of the remarkable landscapes it passes through.