This is what the very first American passenger train on steam power.
on a tip visual history

In 1830 in Maryland between cities Baltimore and Ohio The first passenger trains in the United States began to run.
This photograph (taken well after 1830) is a reconstruction of a trial run with the Tom Thumb locomotive.
The speed varied from 5 to 18 miles per hour.

The history of the US railroad dates back to 1815, when Colonel John Stevens received the so-called. railroad charter to build the New Jersey Railroad Company, which would later become part of the Pennsylvania railway(Pennsylvania Railroad). By that time, developed land transport at the same time convenient, fast, and cheap did not exist. Therefore, the development of railways was a progressive solution.

The first short railroads powered by steam for industrial use appeared in the United States in the late 1820s. Build railways was no big deal. Much worse was the case with locomotives. Then in 1826, the same Stevens designed and conducted the first tests of his steam locomotive "Steam Wagon" (which was called "a steam-powered horse carriage" - a steam horse with a wagon). For testing, D. Stevens designed a circular track on his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey. The tests were successful.

Further in 1829, Hortario Allen, being the chief engineer of the shipping company Delaware & Hudson (Delaware & Hudson), successfully tested a simple, from the point of view of engineering, English locomotive, called the Stourbridge Lion between Honeysdale and Carbonvale, in Pennsylvania.

These three events (the charter and 2 steam locomotives) served as the starting point for the development of railroads in the United States, which began to fully begin in the late 20s of the 19th century.

Unfortunately, the first American steam locomotive has not been preserved, but in the Museum of the Baltimore Railroad you can see a similar locomotive from 1832 with the cheerful name "Grasshopper":

For passenger traffic in the same year, Tom Thumb steam locomotives were designed, built by the American Peter Cooper ( Peter Cooper ) and "The Best Friend Of Charleston" built by the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company at West Point Foudry in New York.

Therefore, the railways began to compete directly with shipping.

However, the public considered the steam engines "Sons of the Devil" and that traveling on them, except for a "concussion", leads to nothing.

In this illustration: "A locomotive like a devil."

But their advantage over the ships was undeniable. A striking example is the experiment, or rather the competition, between a steam locomotive and a steamboat. The conditions of the competition were incredibly simple: go through a certain path as quickly as possible. For this, a route was chosen between the towns of Cincinnati and St. Louis (Cincinnati and St. Louis). The water distance was 702 miles and was covered by the steamer in 3 days. The steam locomotive spent only 16 hours, and the distance he had to go was only 339 miles!

Railway track construction.

After this event, the intensive development of railways in the United States began: by 1838, there was a railway connection in 5 of the 6 states of New England, and the extreme limits of the distribution of the railway network were determined by the borders of the states of Kentucky and Indiana. The development of agriculture led to a rapid growth in the construction of railways. Since the farms worked for the market from the very beginning, modern means of communication were necessary for the export of their products. By 1840, the length of the tracks was already 2755 miles! And before starting civil war, in 1860, and at all, more than 30,000 miles!

Since 1846, one of the largest and oldest railroads in the United States, the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was located in the northeastern part of the United States, began work. The first route passed between the cities of Philadelphia and Harrisburg, which was built by 1854.

1869 - first transcontinental road.

In the 50 years since (1865-1916) the development of the railways has taken on a grandiose scale: the railway network has increased from 35,000 to 254,000 miles! By 1916, almost 100% of domestic transportation (passenger and freight) was carried out by rail.

Railroad construction had important implications for the United States. First, an infrastructure was created that finally linked the domestic market into a single whole. Secondly, railway construction contributed to the rise of metallurgy and transport engineering. This was especially evident when cast-iron rails began to be replaced with steel ones. Railroad construction was such a great demand for rails that, despite huge growth metallurgy and high import duties, until the 90s, steel rails were still partially imported from England. An important result of railway construction was the accumulation of capital by joint-stock companies that took contracts for the construction of transcontinental roads.

Railroad development in the United States by 1916

During World War I, the US federal government took control of the railroad industry. From this point on, we can assume that the golden age of railroads in the United States begins to end. By 1920, the railways were again transferred to private hands, but they were returned in a dilapidated state and needed a radical reconstruction and significant improvement.
In 1920, the Transportation Act was passed by the federal government, the last step in federal regulation. The "Golden Age" in US railroad construction is over.

But really, you won’t immediately think about it, but passenger rail traffic in the USA is very poorly developed. Well, Europe is there, what are the distances there, but in the USA it would still be decent to go where.

What happened to passenger rail traffic in the US? A state that calls itself a world superpower and was once a real kingdom of busy steel highways, after the Second World War, in fact, consciously destroyed the mass transportation of people by rail. The grandiose railway stations built in the golden era of rail were mercilessly demolished, reconstructed and simply abandoned. The legendary and often fantastic looking transcontinental trains that had been part of the Americana, the material culture of the country for decades, were simply thrown into the dustbin of history.

Why did it happen?

It would not be an exaggeration to say that, to a large extent, the United States has to thank rail transport for its current role as a superpower. Passenger traffic on the country's oldest railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was opened back in May 1830, and this was an event that once and for all turned Americans' ideas about their state and about themselves.

The development of steel lines proceeded like an avalanche. Thanks to them, the products of factories, factories and farms began to be promptly delivered to ocean ports for export, bringing US money and prosperity to industry and agriculture. People quickly forgot about the Spartan conditions of stagecoaches and began to travel in comfort. Railroads have dramatically shortened distances in a vast country, providing unprecedented mobility for its population, and with it the path to the very American dream. The railroads and the seekers of happiness who came along them really conquered the Wild West, it was they who made the States truly United.

Golden age

By 1916, the last peaceful year for America, total length railways of the country has reached a fantastic 409 thousand kilometers. For comparison: in the same year, the length of all similar highways Russian Empire slightly exceeded 70 thousand kilometers. In the USSR - a real railway empire - at the peak of its development, the length of tracks, including access enterprises, was 220 thousand kilometers, and in China, which launched a grandiose railway construction, now the road network of this kind has only exceeded 120 thousand kilometers and should increase by 2050 " only twice.

A hundred years ago, the United States, especially its eastern half, found itself entangled in a dense rail network. Of course, she was far from optimal. There were many competing private operators in the country, whose railways often duplicated each other. Moreover, the rail boom has generated phenomenal speculation in this area. Cornelius Vanderbilt, JP Morgan and Jay Gould made their millions on the railroads, the current billions, and, of course, this method of enrichment could not but attract swindlers and adventurers of various calibers.

Periodically, the boom turned into a bubble that burst. Uncontrolled building for the sake of building, the failure of the lending banks, and speculation in railroad shares were the immediate causes of the stock market crashes of 1873 and 1893, but despite this, the American rail network continued to expand, reaching its peak before the First World War.

The railroads actually ensured the transformation of the United States into a powerful industrial power, thanks to them hundreds of millions of acres of valuable land in the center of the country were introduced into agricultural circulation, which, in turn, ensured a decrease in food prices and other goods and contributed to the influx of destitute immigrants from the Old Sveta. Railways were at the forefront of progress, they were not just a symbol of the country, but also an important stimulus for the development of science and technology, modern business methods were born in their office buildings. The railroads made America America.

IN major cities across the country at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, rail operators built grandiose stations - real palaces, the equivalents of European castles, transport temples. For an ordinary citizen, visiting them became a real event. Once inside these gigantic buildings, a worker and a farmer, a newspaper peddler and a laundress, an official and a clerk, a writer and a gangster felt their involvement in the real sacrament - the beginning (or end) of the Journey. The future of American railroads seemed bright, but it was only a mirage. Clouds were already swirling on the horizon, and each of them was in the form of a Ford Model T, descended from the assembly lines of Henry Ford.

For about 70 years, until about 1920, railroads remained practically the only means of intercity communication in the United States. With the start of mass production of cars, the advent of buses and the construction of the first highways, the popularity of traveling by train began to gradually decline. The process was slow and at first not too noticeable, especially since in the 1930s, American railroad companies began to introduce completely new types of rolling stock and travel format. Streamline, an art style offshoot of Art Deco, came into vogue, characterized by streamlined silhouettes, a fast-paced aerodynamic image associated with something ultra-modern, even fantastic.

The steam locomotives of archaic forms were replaced by futuristic locomotives, trimmed with shiny polished metal and rather reminiscent of the first rockets. The famous trains California Zephyr, Texas Zephyr, Super Chief, Flying Yankee, Rock Island Rocket rushed faster and faster along the roads of the country, in the very names of which their main advantage was encrypted in every way - speed. Speed ​​and comfort. The luxurious trains, in addition to sleeping cars that provided unprecedented comfort, had restaurants, lounges, and even special cars with panoramic windows that allowed passengers to enjoy the surrounding nature without interrupting social conversation over a cocktail. It was a triumph of industrial design, probably highest point development of the country's railways and their own swan song.

End of an era

During the Second World War, steel lines received the last impetus for development. Gasoline became a strategic commodity, its supply was limited, and people again moved to trains. However, with the end of the war and the beginning of rapid economic growth in the United States, railroads increasingly faded into the background. Streamline trains by inertia enjoyed a certain popularity for about a decade, especially over long distances, but mass traffic steadily fell. By 1946, in the States, 45% went on a flight fewer trains than in 1929, and further the process of outflow of passengers only worsened. Along with the number of passengers, the income of private railway operators also fell, their debts grew, the first bankruptcies began, and the state was eliminated from subsidizing rail transportation. He has new favorites.

Traditionally in the US, the railroad has been a private business. Its successful development was interrupted more than once by crises, but the rail magnates, losing one or the other of their colleagues, all the time got out and continued to earn money on their own. The rail network was excellent, perhaps even overdeveloped, and the federal government concentrated its efforts on other infrastructure projects. In 1956, the United States begins a large-scale construction of a system of interstate highways, the so-called "interstates" - a project that stretched over 35 years and cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. President Eisenhower, who commanded the Allied armies in Europe during World War II, was very impressed by the Nazi autobahns in Germany, and he set about creating a similar network of expressways in his country. In addition to defense value, they were supposed to provide ordinary and increasingly motorized Americans with the opportunity to quickly, safely and independent travel across the USA.

It was a heavy, but far from the only blow that marked the beginning of the complete defeat of the passenger rail traffic in America. At the same time, she entered her new, reactive, era civil Aviation. The federal government subsidized its development and the fundamental reduction in the cost of domestic flights, including through the construction of airports, not only in large, but also in medium and even small cities and settlements. The last point was very important. After some time, it turned out that it was possible to fly to literally any town in the entire vast country (or its immediate environs).

Born of the "free market" and made billions of dollars of private railroad companies suddenly faced with his own grin. Deprived of state support, preoccupied with competition with each other, they were unable to keep tariffs at a competitive level with road and air transportation. It turned out to be simply more convenient and cheaper for a conditional farmer in Nebraska, who earned money and wished to rest somewhere in Florida, to get to the place of vacation by his own car along the highway or by it to get to the nearest airport and in a few hours, albeit with transfers, to be by the warm blue sea.

Railroad companies found themselves in a no-win situation with vast infrastructure, often redundant highways, rapidly falling passenger traffic and revenues, and equally rapidly rising debts. Faced with complete indifference from the state, they were forced to start cutting costs: huge railway stations-palaces in city centers in the absence of customers became an unbearable burden, which they began to get rid of. In New York, in the 1960s, the monumental Pennsylvania Station, which occupied several blocks, was ruthlessly demolished, which shocked contemporaries. The famous Grand Central in the same New York was saved only by a miracle.

Their counterparts in other large cities met a different fate: some (like Union Stations in Washington or Los Angeles), still retaining a more or less active movement of long-distance and suburban trains, continued to work as intended, others (as in Cincinnati or St. Louis) eventually repurposed for other functions - museums or shopping and entertainment. Giant complexes in Detroit and Buffalo were much less fortunate - they were simply abandoned.

Here we discussed in the world

Trains were canceled en masse, due to the infrastructure crisis, many of the remaining trains were running with increasing delays from inconvenient stations on the outskirts of the city, routes were closed, and with them thousands of stations. Passengers simply stopped relying on the railroad as a reliable means by which they could get to their desired destination. Rail transport was no longer associated with progress, something modern, corresponding to the spirit of the space age.

Jet aircraft took its place and own car, which gave Americans, traditionally individualistic in spirit, a welcome sense of independence, and the infrastructure designed by Eisenhower, with interstates literally dotted with motels and eateries, provided the necessary space in order to realize this independence.

The final blow to private passenger rail companies came in September 1967 when the US Postal Service pulled them out. Mailing fees allowed carriers to keep many of their remaining flights on the verge of profitability, and the departure of such an important customer triggered another wave of massive route eliminations.

In 1968, in a desperate attempt to save the nation's two largest surviving railroad companies, the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central - united, but it turned out that they united only their own problems. Bankruptcy followed in 1970, but by that time the American federal government had woken up. The aviation and automobile lobbies, of course, retained their influence, but even with the Nixon administration fully taking into account its interests, it became clear that the future, and the near future, threatened with the complete collapse of the country's railway system, which was fraught with unpredictable consequences. In May 1971, with the formation of Amtrak, what was left of the passenger rail service was effectively nationalized.

This was the end of the American railroad dream. In a decade and a half, what had been created for the previous 120 years was actually destroyed. Of the 409 thousand kilometers of tracks that existed in 1916, now only 220 thousand remain. The US railroad network is still the largest in the world, but 80% of them are missing passenger traffic. Amtrak now carries more than 30 million passengers a year, twice as many as in 1972 (its first full year activities). It would seem that progress is evident, however, a third of this traffic falls on the small but very busy Northeast Corridor - speed line between Boston and Washington via New York and Philadelphia. Another 5.6 million people move short distances within California.

On miraculously preserved trains long distance accounts for less than half of all Amtrak passenger traffic: they are very expensive and not very convenient. Over the past 60 years, American railroads have made an amazing journey back from a means of transportation to luxury, popular only with tourists.

In the USA, they have lost the habit of using a piece of iron, and it will be very difficult to accustom the country to it again. The average American will never understand a multi-day trip across the country in a coupe, much less in a reserved seat, with the obligatory chicken wrapped in foil, boiled eggs and a bottle of whiskey. The future of local rail transport is only for renewal suburban traffic and possible high-speed highways. A high-speed line in California, which should link San Francisco and Silicon Valley with Los Angeles and Anaheim, is already under construction, but so far its experience shows only one thing: new China with its thousands of kilometers of freeways every year in the US is impossible. Railway romance will be revived there for a long time and very, very expensive.

And what was it for and

The use of electricity as an energy source for train traction was first demonstrated at an industrial exhibition in Berlin in 1879, where a model of an electric railway was presented. A train consisting of a 2.2 kW locomotive and three wagons, each of which could accommodate up to 6 passengers, was moving along a section less than 300 m long at a speed of 7 km/h. The creators of a new type of traction were the famous German scientist, inventor and industrialist Ernst Werner von Siemens (Werner von Siemens, 1816-1892) and engineer Halske.

The electric line and train demonstrated at the exhibition became an instant sensation. For 4 months, the train transported about 90,000 visitors to the exhibition. DC electricity with a voltage of 150 V was supplied to the electric locomotive along a contact rail located between the rails, the rails along which the train moved served as a return wire. Thrust was controlled by a water rheostat.

A copy of the first Siemens and Halske electric locomotive (1879) in the German Railway Museum. in Nuremberg.
Photo: Oleg Nazarov, 2010.

Swiss engineer Rene Thury (1860-1938) in 1884 built an experimental mountain rack road in the suburbs of Montreux. Movement along the site to a mountain hotel with a slope of 30‰, 300 m long, was carried out by a two-axle locomotive, which could also carry 4 passengers.

First trams

The expansion of the use of electric traction at the first stage encountered serious resistance from officials due to a lack of understanding or often unwillingness to change anything.

Ernst Werner von Siemens, because of this distrust, had to build a demonstration model of an electric tram at his own expense. The world's first permanent electric tram line opened in Berlin in the spring of 1881.

In the United States, the appearance of electric traction is associated with the name of the inventor Franklin J. Sparga (1857-1934), who is called in America the "father of electric traction". In 1880, F. Sparg received a patent for a current collection system from a contact wire with a contact wheel on a current collector, using which in 1887 the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, the first electric tram system in the United States, was built in Richmond (Virginia). Here, on February 2, 1888, for the first time, it was demonstrated that it was possible to seamlessly operate tram lines with slopes up to 10‰, which was previously impossible with horse traction.

Electric tram in Richmond (USA) based on the Franklin Sparga system. Postcard from 1923.
Source: Wikipedia.

Russian engineer-inventor Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky (1845-1898) in 1874 begins to conduct experiments with the use of electricity. In 1875, in St. Petersburg, on a section of the Sestroretsk railway, he conducted experiments with electric cars, for which about one verst of the track was electrified. In his design, the rails were connected to a Graham generator. Both rails were isolated from the ground, one of them was a direct conductor, and the other was a return conductor.

On the basis of his experiments, in 1880, at his own expense, he modernized one city horse-drawn double-decker tram in St. Petersburg for electric traction, and on September 3, an unusual public transport begins to transport residents of St. Petersburg, despite the open protests of the owners of horse-drawn trams. A wagon weighing 7 tons could carry up to 40 passengers at a speed of 12-14 km/h. Pirotsky's experiments continued for several days until the end of September 1880, after which he proposed to replace all the horse cars in St. Petersburg with electric trams. , for its implementation for a long time there were no funds. And only in 1892, when electric trams had already successfully conquered European cities, they appeared on the streets of St. Petersburg.

Engineer F.B. Bespalov, in the pamphlet "Economical Economic Railway" published in 1894, substantiated the principle of managing several wagons in a train from one post - perhaps for the first time in the world. This is the key principle of managing multi-section rolling stock.

The first electric locomotives

For the first time in industrial use, a section of an electric railway approximately 2 km long was launched in 1879 at a textile factory in the French city of Breuil.

In the UK, the first line to be electrified at 500 V direct current using a contact rail was the 5.6 km underground passenger City & South London Railway, opened in 1890. Messrs Mather & Platt and Siemens Bros supplied 16 electric locomotives for it, each equipped with 2 gearless traction motors with a capacity of 36.7 kW. In fact, it was the first subway in the world.

The first section of the main electric railroad, 11.2 km long, was opened in 1895 in the USA between Baltimore and Ohio (Baltimore Belt Line) with a voltage in the contact network of 675 V DC. The line consisted of an open section 6.4 km long and an underground section within the city. Electric locomotives for it were supplied by General Electric.

The first experimental electric locomotive in Europe for main lines was created by the Hungarian engineer Kalman Kando in 1894. The electric locomotive was powered by a three-phase high voltage network of 3300 V with a frequency of 15 Hz and was equipped with an asynchronous traction motor. A new electrical machine, invented by Kando, was used as a converter - a phase shifter. K. Kando has the same meaning for European engineers as F. Sparg for Americans, therefore, in European countries K. Kando (1869-1931) is considered the "father of electric traction".

Electric locomotives designed by K. Cando were used in Italy to organize traffic on a full-fledged railway route (before that they were used only on certain sections of roads). Energy was supplied to the electric locomotive through two contact wires, rails were used as the third phase.

Electric locomotive Kalman Kando (Hungary) for Italy.

Trains in the United States are used by a small percentage of the population, many trains and railways in the United States are not in the best condition. Why did it happen? Because the politicians decided that all this is nonsense - to travel by trains. What are cars and planes for?

By the way, about airplanes. I'm going to fly home in the summer, but my direct flight Houston-Moscow was cancelled. I am now, as they say, in the "active search" for sites with good offers(for the price to be up to $1300 round-trip and not to fly for a day at least). So far I have found a website aviapoisk.kz air tickets with good prices, and a couple more. Where do you buy tickets? Help, good people, who than you can! Can be money 😀

Now, back to trains.

Rail transportation in the United States is handled by Amtrak, which carries about 30 million passengers a year (out of 11 million on the Washington-Boston line). There is also a minor company Alaska Railroad, which operates only in Alaska.

On the Washington-Boston line high-speed train"Asela Express", capable of accelerating to 240 km / h, but its average speed about 110 km / h (because there are three different sections with different voltages on the railway section). This is 50 km/h less than our Russian Sapsan. Railroads in the United States have been very poorly funded over the past decades.

Why are railroads unpopular in the US?

Passenger traffic is usually measured in passenger-kilometres. For comparison: in Europe, passengers travel by rail over 1000 passenger-kilometers per year, and in the USA - only 80!

Here is a map of US railroad tracks:

Railways in the USA are almost 3 times longer than Russian ones, but 80% of them have not been used since 1960.

Causes:

1. Outside the most populated cities, population density is low, making transportation unprofitable;
2. Trains are forced to be delayed, because. they depend on goods carried by the same trains, and passengers do not like delays;
3. Air travel in the US is affordable and convenient, airlines are afraid of competition from high-speed trains and lower their prices, people travel by air 20 times more often than by train;
4. Traveling by train is more expensive and slower than driving.

US railway stations

Basically, the stations here are small and unattractive, because. were built after the 1940s (when no one cared about the development of railway transport). Those built before the 1940s have either been demolished, refurbished or abandoned. For example, abandoned Train Station in Detroit:

Or in Buffalo:

And here is a functioning station in the US capital - Washington:

Types of wagons in the USA

In US trains, as well as Russian trains, there are seated and compartment cars. reserved seat cars there is no. Unlike Russian trains, passengers in seated cars are not allowed to walk on compartments. I think this is a plus.

The seating cars are comfortable, each passenger has his own socket. All seats are located in the direction of travel. The trains are almost 100% full of passengers.

A compartment for two people (without their own toilet and shower) is almost 3 times more expensive than ordinary seated cars. The same coupe for four (two adults + two children) is 3 times more expensive than a coupe for two.

The more expensive coupe has its own shower, toilet and sink, as well as air conditioning. The price includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some trains provide free wifi (at low speed) and the opportunity to sit in a quiet car (a quiet car where you are supposed to behave accordingly).

Boarding the train

American cars do not have numbers. The conductor decides which seat to put the passenger in and either writes the seat number on the ticket or gives the passenger a tag with his number. The conductor, as a rule, is one for two cars. And the driver here often works without assistants. People are waiting for their turn to board, just like in the USSR. 🙂

After landing, a tag with three letters is attached above the passenger, which designates his final station. For example, for Houston it is HOS, for New York it is NYP, for Los Angeles it is LAX. The place here cannot be spontaneously changed.

Train schedule

Because there are very few trains, even between some million-plus cities, trains can only run twice a day. And there are areas where trains run only 3 times a week. However, the Washington-Boston "high-speed" train runs frequently (almost every hour).

How much are train tickets to the USA?

• New York - Washington (distance 365 km, 3 hours 30 minutes) - from 49$;
• Washington - Boston (distance 703 km, 7 hours 45 minutes on the road) - from 79$;
• San Diego - Los Angeles (distance 188 km, 3 hours on the way) - from 37$;
• San Francisco - Los Angeles (distance 615 km, 4 hours 30 minutes) - from 59$;
• Houston - El Paso (distance 1190 km, 19 hours 30 minutes on the road) - from 82$.

If you are a tourist, then you can buy unlimited passes for 15, 30 or 45 days.

Ticket prices:

for 15 days - $459 (adult), $229.5 (child from 2 to 12 years old);
for 30 days: $689 (adult), $344.5 (child);
for 45 days: $899 (adult), $449.5 (child).

There is also the opportunity to save with Amtrak SmartFares (up to 30% off) every week from Tuesday to Friday.

California Pass (possibility to travel 7 days in a period equal to 21 days). The pass is limited to 4 one way trips. Travel at any time of the day is used as a whole day of the given seven. The price is $159 for adults, $79.5 for children (from 2 to 12 years old).

Railroads in the USA. Development prospects

In August 2016, Amtrak received $2.45 billion from the US Department of Transportation. With this money, new stations will be built, trains and railway tracks will be upgraded, more than 20 high-speed trains (speeds up to 306 km / h) will be launched, mainly in the Northeast Corridor (New York - Trenton).

May our trains be the most trainable in the world!

Oksana Bryant was with you, see you on the air!

Wow, almost a verse turned out. I must be talented! 🙂

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Whether you are going to trip around the world or want to take a short cross-country tour, we invite you to take a look at American trains and ride these ten unforgettable American rail routes.

And so, let's go!

Photo: pinterest.com

The 12-hour Denali Star train route spans 564 kilometers from Anchorage to Fairbanks in Alaska and covers many top attractions, including the isolated area of ​​Talkeetna and the highlight of the route - national park Denali national park). Travelers on this route will pass through the Hurricane Gulch, a gorge of the Nenana River, see with their own eyes the double-headed Mount Denali and other interesting corners that dot the stunning landscape of Alaska.

Please note that due to the long travel time, many passengers do not master the entire route in one trip. Therefore, you can take the popular Anchorage route to Denali, and/or split the trip into several stages with an overnight stay in Denali or Talkeetna.

(Mount Hood Railroad)

Photo: Nikolas/realfoodtraveler.com

The Mount Hood Railroad in Oregon is located 10 km east of Portland and extends 35.5 km from the Hood River to Parkdale. It offers its tourists round-trip trips via Odell, the company's most popular route, as well as special "lunch trips". During the holiday season, you can book a trip on the Polar Express, during which you will visit Santa Claus on your way to the North Pole. During the trip, tourists are spoiled with various delicacies and offered luxurious pajamas.

Among other things, the Mount Hood Railroad puts on various theatrical performances such as Europe's Favorite.

(Grand Canyon Railway)

Photo: travelzoo.com

One of the most impressive US landmarks is also home to one of the most famous trains. It starts in Williams, Arizona and ends in Grand Canyon National Park. You will overcome the route, 105 km long, in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The historic train made its first trip in 1901 and has since taken thousands of tourists across the famous Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona.

During the high season, the train departs twice a day - at 9:30 and 10:30. For the rest of the year, 9:30 am is your only chance to travel this route.

(Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway)

Photo: FloridaStock/Shutterstock.com

Since its opening in 1882, the Durango and Silverton Railway continues to dazzle and delight travelers from all over the world to this day. The historic train travels 72.5 km between Silverton and Durango, Colorado, along the Animas River, and the curved rails keep travelers in limbo. It's a one-of-a-kind way to see the unspoilt Colorado landscapes.

Tourists can choose the Skyway Tour, which ends on a charter bus, or the Silverton Train Tour, a nine-hour round trip.

Photo: adirondackrr.com

Traveling along a scenic route between the city of Utica and the village of Lake Placid, New York, the train makes additional stops at Tendara and Saranac Lake. Tourists are offered a variety of specialized tours, including the Beer & Wine Train, the Rail & Cruise package, and even holiday rides. And don't forget the Fall Foliage tours, which offer travelers breathtaking views of the Adirondack mountain range.

(Great Smoky Mountains Railroad)

Photo: Nick Breedlove

Running through western North Carolina, this 85km scenic and historic railroad originates in Bryson and boasts two tunnels and 25 bridges. Tourists are offered a choice of two excursions - one through the wooded gorge of Nantahala, and the other along the Takaseji River, as well as special thematic excursions. Each of the rides will feature a range of breathtaking views, including mountains, wildlife, wild flowers and a variety of scenic views.

For adventurous tourists, the company offers a special Zip & Rail package that includes a round trip train ride, lunch and a tour of 13 cable cars, as well as 8 "sky bridges" overlooking the Great Smoky Mountains and Fontana Lake.

Photo: telegraph.co.uk

If you think West Coast Route 101 is extraordinarily scenic, you should take the Amtrak Coast Starlight route. The coastal route extends from Seattle to Los Angeles, passing through Santa Barbara, the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento and Portland. Tourists embarking on the 35-hour trip enjoy front-row seats with views of the sparkling waters, cliffs, cliffs, ocean, and various West Coast cities.

In partnership with the National Park Service, Coast Starlight offers two Trails & Rails programs, each offering the opportunity to travel by train, exploring national historic parks and trails.

Photo: Pi.1415926535/Wikimedia Commons

Covering everything from city to country, Amtrak's Ethan Allen Express, which travels between New York and Rutland, Vermont, gives locals a chance to escape traffic, the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy relaxing holiday. With a five-and-a-half-hour ride on the Express, which brings visitors to the picturesque Hudson River Valley every day, passengers have the opportunity to see firsthand the magical scenery of foliage and beautiful mountains.

(Cape Cod Central Railroad)

Photo: John Kittredge/capetrain.com

This railroad is open to tourists from May to October and stretches from the village of Hyannis (Massachusetts) to the Cape Cod Canal. This route is an unforgettable experience with themed trains, luxury dinner trains, coastal sightseeing trains, Rails & Ales Oktoberfest (beer trains), Vines & Views Wine Tasting Train (various wine tasting train) and Colonial train Lunch Train (train with luxury lunches). Most trips will take around two to three hours and will see everything from forested areas to beaches.

In order to give an authentic traditional atmosphere, some trains, including the Cape Cod Dinner Train, require tourists to follow a special dress code.

Empire Builder Train

(Empire Builder)

Photo: amtrakvacations.com

This train can easily be called the "Great American Train" as it covers most of the country, passing through several states, landmarks and cities. The route stretches from Chicago to Seattle and passes through the plains of North Dakota, the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and natural landscapes national park Glacier (English Glacier National Park). The journey takes 46 hours and follows many routes first explored by early American pioneers.

Amtrak offers Superliner sleeper train travel that will make this long route extraordinarily convenient.