Riding the rails in the US and Canada

[John Kasaian]

Gas prices are taking the fun out of trips, As an alternative I was thinking of a train trip---Sacramento to Glenwood Springs on the Zephyr, Sacramento to Bellingham on the Coast Starlight, then ferry to BC, or LA to Albuqurque(izat how its speld?) on the Chief. Plenty of picture taking opportunities along the way, but I was wondering about other routes like the Lakeshore Ltd, City of New Orleans, Empire Builder, Surfliner,Vermonter and Texas Star? What about VIA RailCanada routes? Perhaps theres a train not too far from you that'll take you off to unexplored areas while the family SUV rests its tires in the garage?

What train would you take your view camera aboard, and for the sake of other vacation hunters reading this, why?

[Ralph Barker]

Train travel sounds great (as long as you don't smoke). You might check the prices, though. I understand they've gone up substantially in recent times, and it's often less expensive to fly. Not sure about photo ops along the various routes, though. (A Crown or a Speed might be handy.)

On this side of the Rio Grande, some refer to Albuquerque as I'll-be-qwerky. ;-) Give me a shout if you head this way.

[darter]

The Canadian trains are fantastic, particularly the trans-continental ones. Probably a large format camera is not the best choice. You won't be able to shoot on the train or from the train. You would have enough time to shoot at station stops, but that might be kind of limiting. If you stop and stay along the way, you will probably have a hard time renting a car - as agencies are usually located at airports, not train stations. Walking to interesting locations is likely impractical, though backpacking is a possibility. An ideal camera would be a medium format camera that would enable you to shoot scenery from the train, carry a light tripod and shoot at nearby locations. The problem with U.S. trains is that most of the Eastern routes are not very scenic. The best routes are the Zephyr and the coastal Californian trains. There is little to nothing to see on the trains to Florida. Alternatively, if you are rich enough, you can rent a private rail car and shoot from the rear observation platform. That would be a splendid view. I think Timothy O'Sullivan arranged something of that order.

[Ed K.]

The general train system in California has been dismantled. A lot of the Northern California Amtrak routes pass through once in the wee hours, or require various bus rides. Towns that still have their rails often don't have trains anymore. And prices are not cheap either.

The hard part is that we don't have a lot of trains running, no good continuous routes, and well, no reasonable "national rail pass".

If you want a real shocker - check out what it costs to fly these days - as in from Burbank to San Francisco. Whoa - way more increase than the fuel costs.

Of course, the train doesn't sound too bad considering one can sleep on it. California motels are now called "Inns" or "B&B" ( a motel with toast and orange juice served in the morning much of the time ), and prices are very high at the best times of the year. Some places that were 100 - 150 bucks four years ago are in the $300-400 range today, and the typical not too sleezy motel is about $100 bucks a night.

It's a shame that we didn't spend the 2.2 Trillion projected war expenses on a nice national train system with maglev technologies along with some free college tuition for lots of people and spare change on new energy sources, but here we are....

Meanwhile, there are some interesting sounding "side line" railways, such as the Sierra Train that runs toward Yosemite. It would be neat if they could get that running from San Francisco to the park as it did at one time. The trouble is, one usually has to drive to get to these little trains.

For the train, I would look to more advanced countries in Europe, or perhaps Canada. For an extended trip, it might make the airfare worthwhile, however our dollar is so weak. At least one can still get an extended pass.

We looked at costs and timings and decided that although the truck seems expensive and ordinary, it stops before dawn in the right place, costs less than the train or plane, and holds some heavy gear. It sure would be nice to take get a "West Coast Line" pass that would allow flexible boarding along the way so that one could stop a day or two to get some great photos.

Of course, as the US continues its downward spiral, soon instead of buses, we may have the novel mode travel between trains using pack animals. This would at least allow stopping, and hauling of gear...

[MIke Sherck]

My experience recently is that it isn't the cost of gas which makes trips an expense, it is the cost of food and lodging. Camping is my solution, although I'm *really* beginning to wish that I had a van as I get older.

[Wayne]

I'll be sleeping in my van till I'm at least 80, I hope.

I took the Empire Builder across the midwest, the plains, through Glacier NP and on to Seattle and back to Chicago back in spring of 86. I dont think I brought my LF along, I was just starting then. All sorts of desolate photogenic spots (if you like desolate-I do) to explore along that one, though the most scenic landcapes are done after dark (except Glacier was just before dark IIRC). I also took the whatchamacallit and my 4x5 gear from Chicago through quirky to Flagstaff and back in December 95. Again the best scenery was after dark (I do remember a coyote in the pink dawn light of middle Kansas that was impressive), but I presume you are going to get off the train to shoot anyway. Having done those 2 trips, I think its the only way to travel long distance by rail anway, to stop over in towns along the way. Rail travel gets quite old after 24 continuous hours. As far as subject you are limited only by the artificial limitations you set on yourself-even the flattest, smelliest, ugliest or seemingly most boring places have something interesting because its all new. If you are partial only to grand landscapes, then stick to the far west routes.

I think training through eastern Canada would also be quite interesting.

[robert_4927]

If I'm not mistaken, you use to be able to buy a train pass in Canada for a flat fee and ride for up to 30 days or so on any line, any where.

[Capocheny]

Hi John,

Take a peek at this link:

http://www.trainpackages.ca/en_index.html

Apparently, people really, really enjoy the journey from Vancouver to Calgary (through the Rockies) and onwards to Toronto... I've never taken it further than Calgary though.

If you get out to Vancouver... look me up, ok?

Cheers

[robert_4927]

Henry, Some of the best times in my life were spent on the Kispiox River in northern B.C. God I miss that place. Especially in late Sept. and early Oct. Steelhead on the fly. Titties and beer can't come close to matching it. Hazelton B.C. I'm coming home! Where the Steelhead rise to a dry fly. Damn

[Mark Sampson]

John, Walker Evans did a whole series of photographs (published as a feature in Fortune magazine) about the view from the train window. I beleive he used a Rollei, though.

And I do remember drivingthrough the Utah mountains one night, from Salt lake City to Moab. In one of the passes the train tracks parallel the road- and in the darkness a passenger train came the other way, all lit up including the glass-domed observation car. What a romantic sight- I felt like I was witnessing an O. Winston Link photograph.

Of course if you are thinking about using the train to take you places where you then get off and go shooting, that begs the question about how you get around after you step off the train. That's a logistical problem it will take some money to solve. I like riding the train but careful planning will be necessary, and I'm not sure you can save much money.