New Program Releases for 2004 Great Scenic Railway Journeys
“Celebrating
175 Years of the American Railroad”
__________________________________________________________ As
you look at the world around us, you may not realize it, but much of how it unfolds
is a direct result of the railroads. From the locations of cities and towns to
the development of local cultures, railroads helped shape it all. Today
the American railroad is slowly disappearing. Over fifty percent of all railroad
track laid in the United States has been abandoned and torn up. For every mile
of track scraped, another link to our past is lost forever. A few railroads have
been saved from this fate and turned into tourist railroads. These tourist railroads
are a link to our past. They take us away from the fast paced world of today and
into a slower paced environment of beauty, moving history, and a passion to preserve
our transportation roots. For 175 years, back to when Americans pressed west to
the frontier, railroads played a key role in both uniting and expanding America.
In July of 2003 our country will celebrate the 175 anniversary of the birth of
the American railroad. “Celebrating 175 Years of the American Railroad”
is the next installment of the Emmy award-winning series, “Great Scenic Railway
Journeys”. This program traces America’s railroad history, tells the
unforgettable stories of 21 tourist railroads, and how these historic trains keep
history alive today. This two-hour special is hosted by Grammy award-winning musician
and storyteller David Holt. David is well known to the Public Television audience
with his many specials and NPR programs. David is host of UNC-TV’s “Folkways”,
NPR’s “Riverwalk,” and Classic Jazz from the Landing, to name a
few. David is a storyteller, and historian dedicated to performing and preserving
traditional American music and folk tales of our past. David has been hosting
Great Scenic Railway Journeys since 1997. In Great Scenic Railway Journeys,
“Celebrating 175 Years of the American Railroad”, David will introduce
viewers to 21 historic and scenic tourist railroads in the United States. We will
also visit the Golden Spike national historic site and see a reenactment where
a single spike connected our country from east to west. From the sand dunes
and cranberry boggs of Cape Cod, across the plushmountain slopes of Appalachia,
along the rolling green and amber hills of the plains, through the desert valleys
and snow peaks of the West, and ending at the last frontier were rails were built
to feed Alaska’s Gold Rush of 1898. The vivid diversity and beauty of these
railways and their history come to life in this program. More than just a tour,
these stories re-live railroads as they defined the spirit of America, linking
a young country with its New Frontier, creating a new industry and re-writing
the history of America’s transportation. David hosts the show from
the famed Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, which boasts the largest indoor collection
of railroad equipment in the United States. Our travels begin across the street
from the museum at the Historic Strasburg Railroad. The Strasburg railroad remains
much the same as it was back in 1832. With its steam engines and refurbished coaches
passengers are transported through the beautiful Amish countryside on the oldest
continuing short line railroad in North America. We venture next into the
Allegheny Mountains of Maryland, home to The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.
Here riders can become a part of moving history as they are transported by the
largest Baldwin 280 steam engine still in existence as it ascends 1300 feet to
Frostburg. Along the way you travel through the 914-foot long brush tunnel and
by bone cave were remains of prehistoric saber tooth cats and mastodons were un-earthed
during the building of the line. In New England we visit four premier lines
beginning with the Cape Cod Central Railroad. Since 1848 the Cape Cod line has
taken vacationers to the sea and now offers a Rail & Sail option where one
ticket combines a train and boat tour of this prestigious destination. We will
get a taste of what dining on the rails is like on their four-star dinner train,
which has been rated the best in the country. Back inland, we’ll puff
through the forests, crystal clear streams, and nostalgic towns along the Connecticut
River on the Essex Steam Train. This journey offers a stop at the river docks
where you board a classic riverboat and venture further upstream where more of
the rich history of this area is unveiled, like Gillette’s castle. The
riches of the East continue to run on the Green Mountain Flyer through the Vermont
countryside crossing rivers and passing by historic covered bridges. It, too,
travels along the banks of the Connecticut River. This line is still a major freight
hauler and passengers regularly see the freight trains passing by the historic
Bellows Falls Station as they await the passenger train. The depot is set on an
island created by the Bellows Falls Canal. It is the oldest charted man-made canal
in the United States. In the neighboring state of New Hampshire the Conway
Scenic Railroad climbs over 1,000 feet to pass through Crawford Notch. Here passengers
can see the beauty of the White Mountains and get a glimpse of Mount Washington.
Most passengers enjoy riding in the railway’s classic dome car, which originally
operated on the Great Northern Railway. Passengers depart from the classic1874
Victorian station where Alexander Graham Bell attempted one of his first telegraph
conversations. From one historic depot to another, we relive history at
the North Creek Depot of the Upper Hudson River Railroad in New York. Here, Vice
President Teddy Roosevelt learned he was to become President after the passing
of President McKinley. This line was built as transportation to what was hoped
to become the “Central Park of the World” in the Adirondack Mountains,
establishing the first railroad built solely to create a tourist industry. The
logging and coal industry developed most of the railroads in West Virginia. Today
the Durbin & Greenbrier Railroad gives passengers a unique look at West Virginia’s
beauty and history through three different excursions along its 130 miles of isolated
mountain wilderness. There are tunnels, waterfalls, rivers, and wildlife to see.
Passengers can even experience riding in a 1920 Edwards motorcar to “Big
Cut”. At 4,066 feet in elevation it is the highest mainline railroad in the
Eastern United States. The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad offers similar
beauty as it treks up and over the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina.
It has the steepest grade of any mainline railroad east of the Mississippi. Passengers
pass through the Cowee tunnel, which is said to be haunted by the convicts who
died building the line. It is also famous for staging the largest full sized train
wreck in movie history, which appears in “The Fugitive. “ Today passengers
ride right by the wreck site and can see the original bus and engines used in
the train wreck. Just 15 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio in the town of Peninsula
lies the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. Nestled along the banks of the Cuyahoga
River in the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park passengers are able to enjoy
26 miles of rivers, forests and wildlife. For thousands of years Indians used
the Cuyahoga River and Valley as a north-south transportation corridor. Later
the Ohio and Erie Canal provided the early settlers a slow, but easy way to move
bulk goods and people. This railroad offers a one- way ticket for those riders
who choose to bike back along the original towpath. The grandeur and elegance
of dining on the rails can be experienced on The Grand Traverse dinner train.
Located on the edge of the Great Lakes, it features a five-course gourmet meal
prepared and cooked entirely on the train. Passengers are transported on restored
Pullman articulated dinning cars that were built in 1940. This Michigan railroad
puts its focus on food from a time when eating on a train was considered a delicacy
Leaving the Great Lakes we head to America’s heartland. Moving west
as the rails did, our next stop takes us to Boone, Iowa. When most people think
of Iowa they picture endless miles of rolling farmland. The Boone and Scenic Valley
Railroad will change that perception when it transports you across the Bass Point
Creek High Bridge, standing 156 feet high and 784 feet long passengers are treated
to breathtaking views of the Des Moines River Valley area. The railway also features
every kind of railway motive power, steam, diesel and electric. Branson,
Missouri is well known for its famous shows and concerts. But there’s one
show in Branson that draws passengers in because it is a moving one. Since 1993
The Branson Scenic Railway has been transporting passengers into the beautiful
Ozark Mountains of southwest Missouri. This hour and forty-five minute journey
take its patrons over some off the highest and longest trestles in the country.
They do it in style, as well, with a collection of vintage railcars and locomotives
from the 1950’s. Visiting the largest state in the Union we stop at
a railway that was built in 1881 by prisoners to ship in raw material from the
area’s rich iron ore deposits and ship out finished goods made within the
state prison in Rusk, Texas. The Texas State Railroad Museum is not your typical
museum. Instead of stationary pieces of railway equipment and displays inside
a building this is a moving museum along 25 miles of track between Rusk and Palestine.
With their large collection of vintage steam engines passengers get a sense if
what steam travel was like as they travel through the heavily timber forests of
southeastern Texas. There is one railroad location we visit where passengers
don’t board a train. Instead, patrons are able to relive the largest railroad
event in history, the joining of the trans continental railway. On May 10, 1869,
tracks came together in Promontory Summit, Utah, the site of today’s Golden
Spike National Historic Site. Though the town is smaller today than it was then,
it is dedicated to the immigrants and Americans who gave so much to open the West
and join our country together. Visitors to the park are able to experience a little
taste of what it was like back then, with live reenactments of the golden spike
ceremony for all to experience. You can even take your car and drive on the original
roadbed. Transporting raw material was a familiar duty for Western railroads,
and the town of Silverton Colorado was booming with precious metals in the 1870
with out a way to get it out of its mountainous area. The Denver & Rio Grande
Railroad decided to build a narrow gauge line in 1879 from Antonito Colorado to
Silverton to meet this need. After the line was abandoned in the early 1970’s,
two sections were saved which gave birth to the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad
on the eastern part of the line, and the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
at the end of the line. The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad transports
passengers from Antonito, Colorado to Chama, New Mexico. The railroad runs on
64 miles of the original line through two national forests in the beautiful San
Juan mountain range. It is the longest narrow gauge railroad in North America,
and with a peak elevation of 10,015 feet, it is also the highest. Trains are pulled
by authentic Rio Grande steam locomotives that originally operated on the line.
The entire railroad is designated a National Historic Site and has over 140 historic
freight and maintenance-of-way cars, some dating back to the nineteenth century. The
Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway operates in Colorado from Durango to
Silverton. On this journey passengers steam through the San Juan National Forest
wilderness area. With it’s beautiful native vegetation, wildlife, and spectacular
mountain scenery, riders can truly experience a trip back in time. One of the
most recognized highlights along the trip is the Highline, a ledge carved out
of granite cliffs high above the rushing Animas River, which lies 400 feet below.
Like the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad, its steam locomotives and cars are original
to the line. “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”,
is the slogan for Arizona’s Verde Canyon Railroad. Considered to be Arizona’s
longest-running nature show, this four-hour scenic ride includes views of Sinagua
Indian ruins, bald and golden eagles, waterfowl, and a 680-foot man-made tunnel.
This historic route built in 1911 for the mining industry travels between two
national forests and along the upper Verde River. Idaho may be known for
its potatoes, but The Thunder Mountain Line is slowly growing in notoriety. This
railway once was a major carrier of mining and lumber products. When the last
lumber mill shut down and the tracks seemed destined to be scraped, its owner
took a chance and changed its cargo from timber to tourism. The railway travels
along the Payette River where you can take a one-way trip up and then white water
raft back down. The railway also boasts having the shortest railroad tunnel in
the nation, only 38 feet. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark expedition discovered
the riches of the Hood River region in regon, better known today as the Columbia
Gorge. The Mount Hood Railroad reveals the beauty of this area as it travels 22
miles from Hood River to the base of the 11,235-foot Mount Hood in Parkdale. Because
of the steep grades for the train to climb the 1700 feet to Parkdale it must use
a switch back to get there. This railway is one of only four in the country that
still uses switchbacks. Another geological giant in the Pacific Northwest
is Mount Shasta standing over 14,162 feet. At the base of this mountain lies the
Shasta Sunset Dinner and Excursion Train. Rated as a five star moving restaurant
passengers enjoy eating in refurbished 1920 dinning cars as they look out over
a beautiful sun set on Mount Shasta.
We end our 175-year celebration of
the American railroad in Alaska. The White Pass & Yukon Route Railway is one
of the most spectacular narrow gauge rail journeys in North America. Vintage diesel
and steam engines depart from the colorful gold rush town of Skagway, Alaska and
transport passengers over White Pass to Lake Bennett, British Columbia. Famous
gold seekers such as Jack London built slap-together boats to navigate the lakes
and rivers to reach Dawson, BC. At Lake Bennett, visitors can wander through the
restored train station and view the old town site where 30,000 stampeders survived
the harsh Canadian winter of 1897-98. The White Pass & Yukon Route was declared
an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1994, an honor bestowed
to such great engineering accomplishments as the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty
and Panama Canal. This railway holds possibly the most colorful history of all
and has the most daily traffic of any scenic railway in the country, carrying
over 350 thousand passengers a year from all over the world. | 
