Series Chronology
The shape of the series at a glance — backstory, the tight early cluster where six drafted books play out across the network in ~two years, and the road forward. For the full detail, see the timeline.
Backstory
years before the main story- ~30 yrs before
The “transition”
The current Conductor takes the Meridian; the old collection — including the gramophone — is dispersed.
- ~15 yrs before
Fixer & Plum arrive
They become fixtures of the open carriages.
- ~11 yrs before
Vashti begins mapping
A private, obsessive project — a decade before Elliot ever arrives.
- ~10.5 yrs before
Maren Toll arrives
Aged 28, on the Meridian — a leak who keeps his memories.
- ~6.5 yrs before
Toll jumps to the Calloway
At a crossing point, fleeing what he has worked out about the Passage.
The Story So Far
the first ~two years — six drafted books across five trains, in the order events happen- Year 0 · autumn
Book One — The Ticketless Man complete
The Meridian · Elliot arrives. The missing gramophone; the ~16-day concert investigation.
- Year 0 · late autumn
Gazette Issue 01
“What the Gramophone Forgot.”
- Year 0 + ~6 months
Book Two — The Broken Circuit complete
The Meridian → the Calloway. The seven-yearly crossing; Toll’s murder; the four-hour clock.
- ~Year 0.5 · concurrent
Book Six — The Eastern Circuit complete
The Vesper (consensus train) · Kit. A rare three-way crossing; a runner sent away, not across.
- ~Year 0.5–2
Book Eight — The Pilgrim’s Blasphemy complete
The Pilgrim (faith train) · Halia/Ada. A wipe that worked, then failed — blasphemer, or miracle?
- ~Year 1
Book Four — The Still Train complete
The Vantage (timetable train) · Elliot. Three weeks stopped; a society, not an engine, coming apart.
- ~Year 1–2
Book Five — The Long Debt complete
The Vigil (fortress train) · Cass. Governance by explicit debt; an arrival who remembers the taking.
- ~Year 2
Book Three — The Living Track complete
The Meridian · Vashti. The slow build; her eleventh mapping loop culminates.
Forward
after Book Three, and further out- ~Year 3
Book Seven — The Last Cartographer stubs
The Meridian · Elliot & Vashti. The first book set after Three: the whole network is found to orbit one unmapped point.
- ~Year 7
The next crossing
The Meridian meets the Calloway again — Mette back in reach; Petris’s seven-year promise pays off.
- centuries
The slow build runs on
Where the big generational time-jumps belong.
Running alongside
- What Powers the Train (Mira) — A side story — parallel and unpinned; reads anywhere in the main-book era.
- The Meridian Gazette — Ongoing — one issue every 14 days throughout.