on tourist trains ❖
jim wrinn
All Aboard for Nostalgia MORE THAN 600 U.S. TOURIST railroads and museums offer travelers the chance to ride into history, explore the country’s most scenic locations, and get in touch with the men and machines that made America. Scattered across the nation, tourist railroads and museums direct riders and visitors to the nation’s railway heritage. These venues showcase some of the country’s most incredible and unspoiled vistas via steam- or diesel-powered trains. With more than 30 dinner trains, from Rhode Island’s scenic Narragansett Bay to California’s Napa Valley, travelers have the opportunity to ride the rails and dine in splendor with a five-course, gourmet dinner or enjoy a hobo lunch. Museums provide the chance to step into historic buildings, view luxurious private cars or climb on board some of the largest steam locomotives to tackle the Sierra Mountains. Tourist railroads and museums have proliferated over the last 50 years as U.S. railroads scaled back their operations in the automobile age, leaving behind little-used rail lines and a bounty of locomotives and cars for use on these routes. That means that more opportunities than ever are available to take a train trip in more parts of the country. SHORT HOPS, LONG HAULS Trips vary in their mileage and duration. Some, like Arizona’s Grand Canyon Railroad, which provides a hassle-free option to the South Rim for a few hours, are all-day outings. Others, like Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road, which gives riders a trip through the Amish country24 June 2009
side, provide shorter journeys of less than an hour or up to a half day. While many trains are hauled by vintage diesel locomotives, some still find propulsion from one of the 190 or so wood-, coal- or oil-burning steam locomotives still in operation today. Almost all trains use vintage coaches,
Scenic, and Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge railroads are all wondrous for their Rocky Mountain views. Utah’s Promontory Summit, a National Park Service site, where the first transcontinental railroad was joined in 1869 on the northern edge of the Great Salt Lake.
Vintage locomotives transport groups back to the golden age of railroading. but some use open-sided or roofless cars for unobstructed views. In some cases, glass-domed, extra-fare sightseeing cars or luxurious private cars can be booked. Some of the most popular tourist railroads and museums are: New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Cog Railway, which scales the 6,288-foot peak on ladder-like tracks. Pennsylvania’s Railroader’s Memorial Museum in Altoona, one of the best interpretive museums of its kind, in the city where the Pennsylvania Railroad employed more than 10,000 to keep the trains running. West Virginia’s Cass Scenic Railroad, where geared steam locomotives travel to the second highest peak in the state. Minnesota’s North Shore Scenic Railroad, which provides views of Lake Superior and the northwoods. It starts from the excellent Lake Superior Railroad Museum. Colorado’s Georgetown Loop, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic, Rio Grande
Sacramento’s California State Railroad Museum, which tells the story of how railroading shaped the Golden State. California’s Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad near Santa Cruz, where steam trains pierce the redwood forest. Alaska’s White Pass & Yukon, which starts at the sea and climbs into the glacier-covered mountains. Group tour planners with advance reservations are welcome at tourist railroads and museums, and these venues often provide a group discount as well as an exclusive coach or private guided tour. All it takes is a phone call or e-mail to the railroad or museum’s marketing director or visitor services coordinator to set it up. Once that call is made, the tracks await and a railroading adventure is just around the next bend. Jim Wrinn is editor of Trains magazine, the nation’s most popular railroad magazine. It is published by Kalmbach Publishing Co., of Waukesha, Wis. (kalmbach.com). The company’s line of railroad books includes Tourist Trains Guidebook. LeisureGroupTravel.com