New England Passenger Trains
Riding the rails is as thrilling today as it was way back when. Here are Yankee’s picks for New England’s best passenger trips (check Web sites for seasonal schedules): 1. After a 36-year absence, passenger rail service has returned to Maine. Amtrak’s Downeaster connects Boston and Portland along a 114-mile rail corridor. 800-872-7245; amtrakdowneaster.com 2. […]
Riding the rails is as thrilling today as it was way back when. Here are Yankee’s picks for New England’s best passenger trips (check Web sites for seasonal schedules):
1. After a 36-year absence, passenger rail service has returned to Maine. Amtrak’s Downeaster connects Boston and Portland along a 114-mile rail corridor. 800-872-7245; amtrakdowneaster.com
2. Maine Eastern Railroad chugs past a landscape of lobster boats, tidewater villages, lighthouses, and ocean and is consistently voted a top attraction in the state. 866-637-2457; maineeasternrailroad.com
3. Vermont’s Green Mountain Railroad operates three vintage trains: the Green Mountain Flyer (Bellows Falls to Chester Depot); the White River Flyer (White River Junction to Thetford), and the Champlain Valley Flyer (Burlington to Charlotte). All three take in stunning views. 800-707-3530, 802-463-3069; rails-vt.com
4. Conway Scenic Railroad’s Notch Train takes passengers on a five-hour tour of New Hampshire’s dramatic White Mountains as it chugs through Crawford Notch. Shorter trips are also offered on the Valley Train. 800-232-5251, 603-356-5251; conwayscenic.com
5. The Hobo Scenic Railroad makes 80-minute trips along New Hampshire’s Pemigewasset River. The Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad skirts the state’s largest lake in a two-hour trip. 603-745-2135; foliagetrains.com
6. For 140 years, the Mount Washington Cog Railway–the second-steepest mountain-climbing train in the world and the only one built entirely on a trestle–has taken passengers 3.1 miles to the top of New England’s tallest peak. 800-922-8825, 603-278-5404; thecog.com
7. The Railroad Museum of New England features the Naugatuck Railroad’s one-and-a-quarter-hour ride aboard a 1920s-era coach through the unspoiled Mattatuck Forest. Bonus: Tours depart from the historic 1881 train station in Thomaston. 860-283-7245; rmne.org/trainrides.htm
8. Plus one more great destination: If you love model trains, you’ll fine the motherlode at the Hartmann Model Railroad complex in Intervale, New Hampshire, a fine jaunt for train enthusiasts. 603-356-9922; hartmannrr.com
READ MORE:Yankee Classics about trains:
Cog Railway
Train Conductor
Polar Express Train
Polly Bannister
Polly was a Yankee editor and a favorite of readers for more than 20 years. She is continually inspired by New England’s beautiful and diverse landscape — from cranberry bogs, sandy beaches, and granite-topped mountains to thriving cities, white clapboard houses on village greens, and red-brick mill towns.
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