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I've been on three train trips of over 36 hours in Africa. Dakar Senegal to Bamako Mali; Kigoma to Dar es Salaam Tanzania; and Wadi Halfa to Khartoum Sudan.
All my train trips have been from A to B, except two. I rode the fabulous train Bogota to Girardot, and I rode the narrow gauge Bonavista branch line in Newfoundland, which has a switchback, Both lines now closed for decades.
There are so few trains nowadays, I look for opportunities to use then. The number is down to near zero in South America, but I rode Llay-Llay to Santiago. I rode the last three trains in Nicaragua, which have been gone since 2001.
One of the nicest trains was Bergen to Oslo. I think tho only trains I've been on in this century were Chisinau to Odessa and Bangkok to Cambodia. The Batumi-Tbilisi train is so popular, you have to book days ahead.
In late 1971, I rode the former narrow gauge Trans-Andes train from Los Andes, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina. After that, I rode the former Trans-Pampa express train from Mendoza to Buenos Aires. It was a regular scheduled train, not a luxury tourist train. Argentina used to have an extensive passenger rail system.
In the early 1980s I took a steam train trip from Ansuncion, Paraguay to a nearby city. It was an actual scheduled rail trip, not a tourist train, still using a steam engine.
I also rode a former regular scheduled train from Arica, Chile to La Paz, Bolivia. The highest pass was just under 14,000 feet.
I've been on some tourist trains in the Andes of Peru, Cuzco to Machu Picchu, Cuzco to Lake Titicaca, and Lima to Huancayo. Both of these are still running.
Ecuador used to have a train from Quito to Guayquil. There are still a few short tourist trains left in Ecuador, but none run the full length of the old route.
The Copper Canyon railway in Mexico from Los Mochis, Sinaloa to Chihuahua is still a daily scheduled train, and tickets are relatively inexpensive. That is a great trip in the Spring or Fall.
I highly recommend The Canadian that runs between Toronto and Vancouver. The section that runs through BC is phenomenal.
Did that a couple of times back in the early 60's, both times mid-winter and had a full size cabin courtesy of DoD, daily newspaper stuck in door handle early AM, real silverware and monogrammed china, a blood rose floating in a huge goblet at the dinner table, etc.,
Memory of setting my alarm to get up and go to the dome car in the middle of the night to view the amazing moon-lit snow-covered scenery while going through the Rockies has stayed with me my entire adult life.
Did that a couple of times back in the early 60's, both times mid-winter and had a full size cabin courtesy of DoD, daily newspaper stuck in door handle early AM, real silverware and monogrammed china, a blood rose floating in a huge goblet at the dinner table, etc.,
Memory of setting my alarm to get up and go to the dome car in the middle of the night to view the amazing moon-lit snow-covered scenery while going through the Rockies has stayed with me my entire adult life.
It was quite a trip. Still my favourite. I wish I could have experienced the original route that passed through Regina and Calgary. In the future, I’d like to check out the Rocky Mountaineer.
In Europe there are luxury tourist trains such as de Simplon Express in Italy.In Spain the Transcantabrico or the Andalus,etc etc etc etc-.-
Some of you have traveled on one of these luxury tourist trains ,What were your impressions? .-
You would recommend them ?
Belmond the company that operates the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, own a number of luxury trains which they run in Europe, Asia and South America. The trains also offer fine dining.
They also operate a chain of luxury hotels, and river cruises.
In terms of the UK, the following are interesting luxury and services.
Last edited by Brave New World; 01-27-2019 at 08:31 AM..
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