Travel for rail enthusiasts

From the dawn of railways, there have been people fascinated with the technology of trains, their design and the engineering feats that made rail travel possible in difficult terrain. Today many people travel far and wide to see or ride specific trains and lines or to visit museums.

Understand
Since their inception, railways have been about more than just transporting goods and people from one place to another. The puffing of the earliest steam locomotives captivated the cities and towns wherever it arrived and today the sheer power of freight trains, the elegance and streamlined sleekness of modern high speed rail or the modern marvels of engineering that are train stations, bridges, tunnels or marshaling yards are a sight to behold and a reason for tourism all in itself. You don't have be an enthusiast listing numbers and dates of train sightings in a book to appreciate the beauty and fascination that is rail travel and everything associated with it. Railroads themselves often were boosters of tourism. After a line had been built, its owners would extol the beauty of the places it served and the speed with which one could get there by rail to attract more riders and some railroad tourism advertisements have become iconic. These days, railroads continue to extol the natural beauty of the landscapes traversed or the cities served even if the speed is nothing to write home about or limit themselves to short snappy "A to B in x amount of time" advertisements when they know they are the fastest option there is.

Stations
Station buildings can be impressive landmarks that are appreciated by architecture buffs as well as railway enthusiasts. They often represent the styles and tastes of their time of origin – spanning over one and a half centuries and include "bourgeois cathedrals" of the late 19th and early 20th century as well as hyper-modern "glass palaces" of the renaissance of rail travel (and railways) since the beginning of the 21st century. One of the most striking examples of the latter is perhaps Berlin in Germany, which was built for the 2006 soccer World Cup, and  in Japan. Unfortunately, stations built in the period from the start of World War II to the end of the 20th century tend to be rather dull affairs, perhaps symbolising the prevailing mindset of the period that rail travel was antiquated, and private car ownership and air travel was the way forward.

Americas






Asia




Heritage lines


See  Heritage railways.

Do

 * Various ghost towns were founded to serve a rail line or died once the train no longer stopped. The rights-of-way of many former rail lines are now t'railways or rail trails suitable for hiking, cycling, horse riding or snowmobiling.
 * Photography and train spotting
 * Front view filming - customary for East Asian rail enthusiasts
 * Ticket collection, especially true for Edmondson railway tickets, where some other heritage railways still use it. Some stations of Taiwan Railways also issue them for souvenir.
 * Visiting ghost stations or hikyō stations (秘境駅) — see also Urbex

Tunnels
As railways operate best on a level surface blasting and drilling through mountains has been part of rail travel almost from the beginning. Linking islands and mainlands across the sea and tunneling at the very base of vast massives have produced tunnels longer than a marathon. The longest tunnels in the world are all invariably electric railway only as ventilation of car exhaust becomes (next to) impossible for tunnels above a certain length.

Mountain railways


Railroads through mountainous terrain are among the most impressive feats of engineering of mankind. Planners and builders were operating at the very edge of the technically possible of their era and sometimes pushing beyond that. Even if you don't care for the engineering, the views from viaducts or bridges alone can make the trip worthwhile all by themselves.

Buy

 * Various items of rail memorabilia (maps, timetables, porcelain china, postcards, books and magazines, lamps and lanterns) are sold at auction or by dealers in antiquities. A few specialised auctions and dealers trade just in "railwayana" or "railroadiana", artefacts of current or former railways worldwide.
 * Model rail cars and track are commonly available in various standard sizes; these vary from simple toys to meticulous scale reproductions of current or historic engines, cars and infrastructure.
 * Heritage and tourist railways often operate a souvenir shop. While many of the items will merely be the rail line's logo printed onto everything from toys to mugs to "train driver's hats", T-shirts and apparel, there may be books of rail history or rail photography, postcards and documentary video for sale.
 * Operating mainline railways (CN, CSX) and passenger carriers (Amtrak, VIA) often have their logos printed on souvenirs, apparel, baggage or model rail rolling stock for sale on a website.
 * Transportation and rail museums are also likely to operate souvenir shops and offer books or documentary for sale.

Eat


In the earliest days of passenger rail, options were limited; one could bring food or try to purchase a meal near the stations. The local selection often was of poor quality; in some cases, trains would leave at the end of a brief rest stop while diners were still waiting to be served. Soon, rail operators were leasing space to restaurateurs in the stations; the Fred Harvey Company established the first restaurant chain in 1875 with ultimately a restaurant every hundred miles throughout the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe system. The next innovation was the inclusion of special dining cars on the train; these became very popular on long-distance runs such as la Compagnie des Wagon-Lits historic Orient Express from Paris to Constantinople.

Much of the cuisine served on trains and at stations is eminently forgettable, either because the same fare can be readily found elsewhere or because the rail operator is merely treating voyageurs as a captive market. There are exceptions; on some heritage and tourist train lines a dinner train is the main event, a slow but scenic short run which provides just enough time to serve an elaborate but expensive meal.

In some cases, historic station buildings have been re-purposed to be full-service restaurants or have been restored to reflect the heyday of a lost era before motorways and drive-through fast food.



There are also a few novelty restaurants where a rail-themed "All Aboard Diner" or "All Aboard Restaurant" brings plates of food to diners aboard a model railway train. These have no historic significance, but are entertaining for small children.

Drink
Historically, the status of beverage service (and alcohol in particular) aboard passenger trains is mixed. Diner cars often did serve beverages, although a patchwork of provincial or state regulation often meant the bar opened or closed every time the train crossed a political boundary. Passengers in sleeper train compartments were sometimes permitted to bring their own food and beverages, while dining cars only allowed items sold on the train and short-line commuter services often prohibited food or drink very restrictively.

A few tourist trains employ enotourism or brewery tour themes; there's a Tequila Train from Guadalajara to the distillery in Jalisco, México and an intercity Napa Wine Train in California's Napa Valley.

At least one former station has been repurposed as a brew pub:


 * The NCO Railway (see Nevada–California–Oregon Railway on Wikipedia) completed a narrow-gauge line from Reno, Nevada north to the California-Oregon border in 1912, only to go broke by 1925. The Southern Pacific Company (now Union Pacific) purchased and re-gauged the line. The (325 East Fourth St, Reno NV) and a vacant Locomotive House and Machine Shop (401 East Fourth St.) still stand, although the tracks and turntable are gone. The Depot was renovated in 2014-2015 and opened as a craft brewery distillery.

Sleep

 * Many grand old hotels were constructed by or for major passenger rail operators; Canadian Pacific (CPR) used to own the Fairmont Hotels chain. Some of these old hotels were landmarks in their own right. Less commonly, a major hotel was built as a mainline wayside station — convenient until the voyager was awakened by noisy freight trains rushing past at all hours. Amtrak still serves a few former Harvey House hotels in places like Needles and Barstow, California; most of these station buildings are now otherwise vacant, or the hotel space has been re-purposed as museums or offices. One exception, Amtrak's "Winslow, AZ (WLO) Platform with Shelter", is the " Lobby"; a rather modest description for an elaborate million-dollar hotel (in 1930) with extensive gardens which opened at 303 East Second Street (Route 66) only to struggle through the Great Depression, close in 1957 as rail passenger traffic declined, then return after an extensive, expensive 1997-era historic restoration. The $120-170/night hotel (+1 928 289-4366) includes a fancy restaurant, an art gallery, a pair of souvenir shops... and an Amtrak train every day. In London, the (in the buildings of the former Midland Hotel), at St Pancras is once again accepting guests, although it's in a 5-star premium price range. In Tokyo, the  is a luxury hotel housed in the 1914 Tokyo Station building.
 * A few motels employ novelty architecture where each room is a decommissioned rail car, usually a distinctive red caboose which once housed crews at the end of North American goods trains.
 * A few motels employ novelty architecture where each room is a decommissioned rail car, usually a distinctive red caboose which once housed crews at the end of North American goods trains.

Stay safe
In some parts of the world, taking pictures of trains or rail infrastructure could cause issues with the authorities. Authorities in the United States may regard too much interest in a railway as possible reconnaissance for terrorist activities, while some railway staff simply treats railfans as troublemakers. On the other hand, some railways have sought to cooperate with railway enthusiasts to be better informed about the state of their track and/or suspicious activities. Some railways have programs which interested people can register for. They also offer safety guidelines more exhaustive than this travel guide.



It is easy to underestimate the speed of an approaching train, and you need to be at safe distance when it passes, also considering the wind it creates – and at stations careless people rushing past. In some railway systems (such as China Railway, and for old cars even Finnish VR), toilets on passenger trains may discharge human waste directly on tracks. Maintaining safe distance when photographing may be necessary also to prevent property loss and unpleasant experiences.

Interfering with railway operations, either intentionally or unintentionally, can pose a risk to yourself as well as many other people traveling on the train itself. Most railway operators (including a number of working museums and heritage lines) prohibit flash photography, as a flash could distract personnel at a critical moment.

Itineraries

 * Empire Builder — linking Chicago's beautiful Union station to Seattle passing through stunning landscapes
 * Orient Express — a luxury rail service of yore traveled today by a luxury tourist train as well as several national railroads requiring multiple changes
 * Trans-Siberian Railway — the longest single railway line in the world
 * Portugal to Singapore by train — the longest train itinerary possible in the world
 * Across Australia by train and Across Canada by train
 * There are several "special" train lines in India, like the three world heritage listed mountain trains and different luxury trains.

Related topics

 * Rail travel
 * Tourist trains
 * Heritage railways
 * Industrial tourism
 * Sleeper trains
 * Urban rail adventures
 * High Speed Rail