Just came across this. New England Railroad. Runs from Portland, Maine to Montreal, Canada. Seems to be seriously luxurious if not particularly tasteful. Nonetheless, I would not say no to a free ticket!
http://www.newenglandrailroad.com/
http://host186.ipowerweb.com/~newengla/page2.html
Seems that this is actually a mock up and the train is not yet running. Any other info?
New England Railroad
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Steve Appleton
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Kevin Wilson-Smith
The New England Railroad (not to be confused with the New England Central Railroad) is a tour company as opposed to a true railway i.e. like Rovis. Tey operate in Maine, Vermont and somewherer lese - maybe New Hampshire.
Anyway, they are also similar to Rovos in that they are going to be using Heritage power (F! series) + refurbished coaches in the 50"s era style. I can remember little else, but I have some current books at home on American/Canadian Heritage Operations and will have a scratch through these at the weekend.
A railroad called the New England Railroad did exist, but it packed up in the late sixties.
Gretaer confusion is created by the fact that there is frequent reference to New England Railroads, but this in in the sense of railroads in New England (the geographical area referred to above)!
Anyway, they are also similar to Rovos in that they are going to be using Heritage power (F! series) + refurbished coaches in the 50"s era style. I can remember little else, but I have some current books at home on American/Canadian Heritage Operations and will have a scratch through these at the weekend.
A railroad called the New England Railroad did exist, but it packed up in the late sixties.
Gretaer confusion is created by the fact that there is frequent reference to New England Railroads, but this in in the sense of railroads in New England (the geographical area referred to above)!
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John Ashworth
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I travelled on Amtrak from New York to Toronto in the autumn (or fall, as they say across the pond) of 1999. That was a superb trip. For much of the journey the railway runs right alongside the Hudson River in a deep gorge. Peter Stow showed some good photos of it during his last presentation at the Transvaal Museum. Upstate New York is very pretty, and very rural. The railway then crosses a gorge just downstream from Niagara Falls, if I remember rightly. The train stops for customs and immigration formalities which are done on the train.
From there I travelled on Canada's VIA rail from Toronto to Vancouver. It takes 72 hours and stops at almost as many stations, many of them small request halts. At one point the train manager was in my car and I heard him speaking to the engineer on his radio saying, "Can you stop at mile 49.5, and try and spot the baggage car opposite the garage with the green door?". Talk about door to door service!
It took about a day to get through beautiful Ontario - forests, hills and lakes. There are many hunting and fishing lodges that are completely inaccessible by road during the winter and the railway is their lifeline. Then another day or so travelling across the flat wheat plains. Then the Rockies - magnificent. I've also been through the US Rockies a few times on the Amtrak train from Seattle to Minneapolis - can't remember what it's called. There is a steam train up in the Canadian Rockies, somewhere around Kamloops, I think. Then down to the coastal plain and Vancouver.
I didn't get a sleeper but I found that the normal seats recline almost as much as in airline business class and have foot rests, so it was easy to sleep. There was a dome observation car - I spent plenty of time up there.
I was using a ticket that allowed me to travel as much as I wanted by rail in the USA and Canada for one month - can't remember now how much it cost but at the time I thought it was very reasonable. I used it to travel from Vancouver to Seattle but unfortunately some of the timetabled trains are actually Amtrak-operated buses and I ended up on one of those. Then Seattle to Spokane, WA, on Amtrak (a real train this time), and back again a week or so later to pick up a flight to UK from Seattle.
Passenger rail in north America is limited, but I've always found it to be very enjoyable, with spectacular scenery in places.
From there I travelled on Canada's VIA rail from Toronto to Vancouver. It takes 72 hours and stops at almost as many stations, many of them small request halts. At one point the train manager was in my car and I heard him speaking to the engineer on his radio saying, "Can you stop at mile 49.5, and try and spot the baggage car opposite the garage with the green door?". Talk about door to door service!
It took about a day to get through beautiful Ontario - forests, hills and lakes. There are many hunting and fishing lodges that are completely inaccessible by road during the winter and the railway is their lifeline. Then another day or so travelling across the flat wheat plains. Then the Rockies - magnificent. I've also been through the US Rockies a few times on the Amtrak train from Seattle to Minneapolis - can't remember what it's called. There is a steam train up in the Canadian Rockies, somewhere around Kamloops, I think. Then down to the coastal plain and Vancouver.
I didn't get a sleeper but I found that the normal seats recline almost as much as in airline business class and have foot rests, so it was easy to sleep. There was a dome observation car - I spent plenty of time up there.
I was using a ticket that allowed me to travel as much as I wanted by rail in the USA and Canada for one month - can't remember now how much it cost but at the time I thought it was very reasonable. I used it to travel from Vancouver to Seattle but unfortunately some of the timetabled trains are actually Amtrak-operated buses and I ended up on one of those. Then Seattle to Spokane, WA, on Amtrak (a real train this time), and back again a week or so later to pick up a flight to UK from Seattle.
Passenger rail in north America is limited, but I've always found it to be very enjoyable, with spectacular scenery in places.