My favorite train ride was the Cumbres/Toltec in Southern Colorado, which I took about four years ago. Steam powered all the way, with absolutely gorgeous scenery! Does anyone else have any experiences they would like to share? Jim
i just love train rides, monteguy, and thank you so much for this thread. must head to work now, but perhaps i can scout up some old pics of our wonderful journey up the Frasier River Gorge...
When I was 12 and a paper boy I got 5 new customers and won a steam train ride from Toronto to Ottawa to see the Queen open parliament...rode down, got off, sat in bleachers, waved to the Queen, got back on the train, had a box lunch and 20 minutes later every kid on the train was throwing up uncontrolably....
Had a nice ride at Dolly World......
My folks got stranded in Vancover BC during the last Pilot's strike...they took the train home took 5 days but it was the best trips they ever had...straight over the Rockies....
I left a message for Lori from work to ask if she had the Fraiser River pics, but she doesn't. Turns out Scout was just a few months old at the time and she "had her hands busy."
Will flip through my box of snapshots (you know, the kind on glossy paper?) to see what I can see. I also have some video footage from the Verde Canyon scenic trip, perhaps I can edit a bit of this starting Friday.
Anyway, love the trains, whenever and wherever. Our last was on the Starliner up the SoCal coast to San Luis Obispio. About 70% goes right along the ocean shore....
My wife and I rode trains from Paris to Venice, to Florence, to Rome, this past summer. It is much more comfortable than flying, and the countries were beautiful. I would love to spend a summer seeing more of Europe by train. If only there was a train to get us across the ocean, the plane ride was a test of our endurance. We might have to try "cruising" over there next time. !0-12 hours on an airplane is a long, long time.
Lori and I want to do Europe again after retirement. By "again" I mean we were both there more than once in the 1970's, but this will be our first time making the tour together.
Of course we'll buy a Eurail (sp?) Pass before leaving. Probably a few other passes as well.
As for the flight, if I can possibly afford the lie-down chairs, I'll pay.
I am a former locomotive engineer and absolutely loved operating those magnificent machines. Unfortunately due to health, out of the blue my heart dropped to 30 bpm. I had to go to the hospital and in turn had to get a pacemaker in 2007. This action permanently removed me from the job that I so loved. At least I can say that I got to be a part of those magnificent machines for five years!!! ;D In high school, I was an exchange student to Germany and traveled through Europe on the Eurorail Pass. That was so fun. Words cannot do it justice for the experience of riding or operating a train for sure!!! ;D
Actually, my longest train ride was at a theme park here in Florida, around the perimeter of the animal zoo! However, I have been on several ferry rides across more challenging waters, like the Chesapeake Bay. We had often thought that the Canadian Rockies train trip would be nice.
Being a city kid, my father didn't have a car when I was small. We commuted to my maternal grandparents home on the train almost every weekend. My mother used to say I flirted with every man on the train from the conductor to the drunk in the corner. With a mother who was a coal cracker, I spent lots of time waving at the engineer and coalman on the little train that moved the coal cars from the mine to the siding. I loved the chug, chug, chug of the steam engine and the clickity clack of the wheels. I tried to share that experience with my own chilidren several times over the years, but always failed. Somehow the ride several miles up the track, followed by backing down to the station again just wasn't the same. On the plus side, I've almost always lived within hearing of a train line. Even today, the sound of the whistle as the freight nears a crossing makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
I have always wanted to take a train ride through the Rockies (Canadian or American) in one of those glass domed cars I've seen in pictures in magazines. When I was a kid in Western PA about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, we used to ride one of the commuter trains to Pittsbugh to go shopping. I thought it was great fun - especially at Christmas.
