Bucket List Railway Trip

[timnjmorris@gm]

Sorry if this has been covered before. But on our trip recently to top of the Douro Valley line my partner heard me sighing , she thought I was in distress but actually was me just being happy. Any other suggestions? Not interested in any £1000 /day railway experiences, just public trains .

 

[The exile]

I tend to find that the railway experiences that bring out that reaction are ones that I wasn’t really expecting - but the result of serendipitous combinations of circumstances.

 

[Iskra]

Fairly pricey but New York-Emeryville (San Francisco, two trains required) is pretty epic, closer to home the Milan-Sicily sleeper train for the novelty of going on a boat (don't expect Orient Express levels of comfort/service though).

 

[signed]

The usual Bernina Express is definitely a bucket list item. I'll also add the Zugspitze Cog Railway with great views

But if you don't mind hurting your eardrums, the Train Jaune near the French Spanish border, is definitely something I loved when I did it

 

[ac6000cw]

Plenty in the Swiss Alps - the Gotthard Pass route via Göschenen, the Lötschberg route (Spiez to Brig via Kandersteg) - and continuations south into Italy. The MOB route from Zweisimmen to Montreux, the route of the Glacier Express (Zermatt - Brig - Andermatt - Oberalp Pass - Chur - St. Moritz) which can also be done on local trains, pretty much all of the RhB system (in the south eastern region of Switzerland). The list goes on, really - just spend a week or more exploring...

 

[pitdiver]

The only bucket list railway trip for me was on the Deer Stalker. This had the pleasure of completing during the last day's of the Mk3 stock. My wife came with me although she said she wasn't going g owing to enjoy it. In fact she did very much so.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Everyone will have their favourites, but I'd say:
- all the Swiss options, with RhB at the top, plus all the long tunnels old and new
- trains on boats (to Sicily and the Fehmarn ferry (sadly no more)
- Przemysl-Lviv-Kyiv (Ukraine)
- coastal routes (Genoa-Nice, Naples-Sicily, Far North line, Cambrian coast)
- river gorges (Lune, Elbe, Rhine, Douro, Inn, Sava)
- bridges (Conwy, Forth, Tamar, Oresund, Tagus, Friendship (RO/BG), Hohenzollern (Köln)
- scenic heritage lines (notably the two D&RG remnants, Colorado/NM)
- any route with DB's ICE-T
- any fast line into a London terminus
- any Pendolino ride, but particularly Lancaster-Glasgow

 

[Sun Chariot]

- scenic heritage lines (notably the two D&RG remnants, Colorado/NM)

Absolutely agree.

I rode the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in June 2009. Those of you unfamiliar -
- 64 miles of former Denver & Rio Grande narrow gauge line, worked by rugged steam.
- From Chama (New Mexico) to Antonito (Colorado), around the contours of the Southern Rockies; it crosses them at an elevation of 10,015ft.
- it's exquisite and it's very well managed.
Chama can only be reached by road vehicle - I'd come there from Santa Fe. Antonito's pretty lifeless - but it's served by a heritage railroad, to the far more cosmopolitan Alamosa.

I was treated to similarly scenic splendour, in January 2005, riding India's Nilghiri Blue Mountain railway. It's Victorian-era steam, on rack-and-pinion narrow gauge, as steep as 1 in 10, through the tea plantations and the verdant mountainside, to the summit where British Colonials took summer residence.

 

[75A]

i'd reccomend the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth, expensive but very worth doing.

 

[QJ]

The Indian Pacific. Lucky you 75A. I’ve just been to Darwin on the Ghan so I concur the Journeys Beyond trains are an experience worth doing if you can afford it. Not just the actual ticket price but getting there.

Ticked off my bucket list a few weeks ago was the Westlander that runs twice a week between Brisbane and Charleville. It’s not for the person that likes their comfort though. 17 hours each way sat in day coaches with doggy bags for dinner ( sandwich, tangerine, piece of cake, fruit juice and a mini choc bar) Very different from the catering on the IP or the Ghan. Fantastic for the rail enthusiast though. Mind you,I think I was spoiled by QR when I went on it. A total of four locos over the three days plus the added bonus of running around the Exhibition loop in Brisbane twice and unexpectedly traversing the Tennyson line (a link between the Gold Coast line and the Main and Western lines). I felt transported back to the days of my youth spending weekends on overnight trains around GB. I even found things to do in Charleville whilst I was there that were interesting (World War 2 American Airbase Museum anyone?).

I did tick off XPT trips to Dubbo and Brisbane from Sydney too before the expected replacement in the near future of these cousins of the HST. Now there’s an endurance test. 14 hours and being turfed out in Brisbane at 5am. Only one thing to do in the circumstance. Jump back on for the 6am departure back to Sydney.

 

[30907]

Where do I start? I suppose it depends what experiences you want.

An oddity like Wangerooge on the German North Sea coast for its tidal service? An un-touristy tourist railway like the Selketalbahn in the Harz?

Norway (Bergen, Flam despite the tourists...) and Inlandsbanan in Sweden - though it gets monotonous after the umpteenth lake and a few thousand birch trees (I've only done half of it). getting there via all those bridges is a bonus!