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Lunatic Express? It is 1897, in the last few years of Victoria’s reign at the height of the Empire, the year of the Diamond Jubilee, a period marred by unrest in Africa. The Kenya Colony is an exotic, exciting world of hate, passion, loyalty and violence into which a Railroad is thrust. Back home the British Parliament was upset by cost overruns, the fact that it would never return the enormous investment, and the wild nature of the line – shaky looking wooden trestle bridges over enormous chasms, man-eating lions pulling railway workers out of carriages at night. The tabloid term, 'Lunatic Express,' seemed to fit.

About the Characters: A brave young woman, Alice McConnell, confronted by what the Africans called "the iron snake," runs up against the railroad's “big business” approach as she tries to help villagers take their first steps into the modern era. A woman of spirit, she later helps the government fend off an attempt by German agents to wrest control of the colony.

The Honorable Geoffrey Brian Scofield Stanford, presumptive fifth Baron of Manchester, friend of the north country African cattle people, married, living separately from his free-wheeling wife, falls in love with Alice. He likes to be called "Brian" and swears to Heaven he'll change. He intends to become the ideal husband and helpmate, but can he?

The Shimmers, Albert, Elise, and their adopted son, Franz, agents provocateurs funded by private interests in Berlin, set out early in the game to feed on the discontent that must follow as the Iron Snake makes its way across Kenya. The Africans, Kimani, Jakoby, Muthuri, Karegi, and Syonduku are all affected by the conflict as the might and power of the Industrial Age comes face to face with rural Africa.

The cast also includes a disparate bunch of army men, railway officers, fortune seekers, missionaries, settlers, and big game hunters, including Roger Newcome and J. O. Porter who arrive in the exotic, steamy port of Mombasa and are soon involved in a series of adventures including fighting off man-eating lions, carving out settlements, building the railroad and the future city of Nairobi, all in the face of resistance from the original owners of the land, the local African tribes....