Courtesy Amtrak
Amtrak's Coast Starlight offers spectacular views, including the Santa Barbara coastline of California on its way from Los Angeles to Seattle.

Courtesy Rocky Mountaineer Railtours
Passengers aboard a Rocky Mountaineer Railtours train take advantage of the rail cars' scenery-friendly design to view the Canadian Rockies.

Courtesy Amtrak
Dining is part of the experience on Amtrak's Coast Starlight run. Gourmet meals prepared by master chefs are served in the dining car. The menus feature regional specialties.

Elegance Rediscovered

Pleasures of train travel return to delight new generations of travelers

BETSY MODEL, FOR THE OLYMPIAN

It's easy to dream on a train, even in daylight with your eyes wide open and the sound of steel wheels on steel rails clattering beneath you. As your car rocks gently back and forth, lulling you into relaxation, it's easy to dream of settlers coming west, of Agatha Christie mysteries, of dinner in the diner, of '30s and '40s movies that were set aboard passenger trains.

Great -- even glamorous -- passenger trains with names like Empire Builder and Super Chief and California Zephyr carried people west in the 20th century to visit -- and settle.

But with the advent of the airliner and the interstate highway system the glamour faded, and train travel went into a steep decline. Only the formation of Amtrak in 1971 kept long-distance passenger trains from disappearing forever in this country.

The private railroads continued to haul freight, but travelers who wanted to get where they were going quickly took the plane, or in some cases, drove.

Still, those who had grown up taking trains to get across the country knew something that later generations didn't: There's simply no better way to see the country -- really see it -- than to travel across it on a passenger train.

No other means of transportation allows you -- unencumbered by a steering wheel or a behemoth SUV on your back bumper -- to gaze at migrating whales while slipping north into British Columbia or to train binoculars on Cascade peaks while cruising south into California.

During the past decade, Americans and Canadians have begun to realize there's more to train travel than transportation. Whole generations are discovering the sheer joy of riding the train, and railroads have responded with new services and accommodations for every taste and budget.

Rail travel can be done safely as a solo, romantically as a duo or with fun and style as a family.

There are trains that offer the amenities of cruise ships on land and views of the United States and Canada that can't be seen any other way. There are tourist trains and dinner trains that let you experience the joy of rail travel for a few hours.

There are trains equipped with everything from toys and children's play stations to baby grand pianos and hotel-like cocktail lounges. You can snack on chips and sodas or indulge in fine cuisine accompanied by local and imported wines.

There are coaches with huge windows, sleeping cars with cozy bedrooms and showers, double-decker cars and off-limits-to-cellular-phones cars.

Passengers can travel luxuriously or economically, be left alone or surrounded by others. And, while some passengers choose to sit quietly and read or sleep, most find the views outside the window simply too amazing to ignore.

For Olympia resident Carolyn von Gohren and her husband, Roger, losing a bit of sleep to watch the sun rise in the Canadian Rockies was just part of fulfilling a 35-year-old dream.

Roger, who had taken a train across Canada in 1965 while returning to graduate school, wanted to repeat the experience and share it with Carolyn.

"We viewed the most magnificent scenery we had ever seen," said Carolyn, "including Mount Robson, which we were told was visible only 14 days a year. What's more, there (were) snow and ice as far as we could see on the plains.

"Seeing a huge full moon, low on the horizon, and the sun rising as we sat in the club car at the train's end was such a thrill. There were few passengers up at that hour and it seemed like quite a luxury to witness the day begin and see how the landscape changed as it became lighter.

"All of the trees were covered with ice, which added to the magnificence."

If you're tired of missing that kind of experience because you're sandwiched between strangers at 30,000 feet, we'll share some opportunities for you to come back down to earth and really see all the great things you've been missing. Work the romance of the rails into your summer travel plans -- take the train.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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