I've never actually been 'away' as I have browsed and read posts to the forum from time to time. I've not posted much in recent weeks for a couple of reasons...... one reason being that January is one of the two most hectic months for me job-wise.
The other reason being that what recreational internet time I have had in the past 6-weeks has been consumed in researching and planning our family vacation in June. 2014 will be the biggest and best yet. Air transportation has been purchased, tickets for a concert we will see have arrived in the mail, hotels have been reserved, and now I have about 5 weeks until I can complete the travel arrangements by buying rail passes and making the requisite rail reservations..... something the Europeans do not do until 90 days out.
As excited as I am about all of this, I will do my best to keep my mind on 'things Amtrak' and make pertinant contributions to the forum again!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Welcome back, our posts have been somewhat scarce in your absence. If I recall, Germany and Switzerland? is on the horizon for you. You don't even have to work at train watching and riding over there. Just show up at a station.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Primarily Germany and Switzerland but with a couple of sidetrips...... one to Salzburg, Austria and the other to Turin, Italy by way of Brenner Pass going and Chambery in southeastern France returning. The itinerary calls for a couple or three ICE rides, a 3-hour hop on a TGV, and an assortment of other trains including a couple of 'locals' on Switzerland's Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn...... the same folks who give you the Glacier Express. One of our hotels is actually adjacent to the train station in Cologne where I'm hoping for a view of the bridge over the Rhine River from our room!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Allow me to note that my first 'Auto Train' journey was not December 27, 1972 NB on the private varietal, but rather through the Gotthard Tunnel on SBB/FSS during August 1960 on 'the family Grand Tour'. Here, passengers simply remained inside their autos for the journey.
Since there is now a vehicular tunnel, this service is reportedly discontinued. The one thing I distinctly recall was that to the North at Göschenen, how Germanic everything was, but upon unloading at Airolo, how Italian.
The only other time I have been through Gotthard was during 1971 traveling Milan to Luzern - and next day a steam vessel sailing on the Wiervaldstrasse (aka Lake Lucerne) to Burgenstock - a resort that I can't imagine is much less than EU500 a night nowadays.
Posts: 9976 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Gil -- if I recall my high school and college German correctly, I believe the German name of Lake Lucerne is Vierwaldstaedtersee, or Vierwaldstaedter See ("Lake of 4 Cities")
You got it close though!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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No - the Bernina Express did not make the final cut for the itinerary. Were it just myself going I would do nothing but ride trains for two straight weeks but there are other interests to consider.
A tourist operation on the original Furka Pass line which Jim Wrinn at Trains Magazine has called 'Europe's Cumbres & Toltec'.
This line became surplus when the Furka Base Tunnel opened in 1982. GBN, there is an auto ferry operation currently in place through that tunnel.
I'll add that we will be spending two nights above the Gotthard tunnel in Andermatt. Went with my 'People Magazine' instincts and selected a hotel which is still somewhat proud of the fact that Sean Connery stayed there in 1964 while filming an automobile chase scene for the movie 'Goldfinger' at the nearby Furka Pass! Perhaps GBN we will be surprised in a good way with the choice.
Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Always good to "see" you, David! I've been away a lot myself. . . Your trip sounds spectacular. I traveled around Switzerland by trains years ago, though I knew very little about them back then. I remember getting off the train and wandering around Thun, a neat little place, and then getting back on. Also liked Geneva and Lausanne (took boat to Chillon) and the bears in Bern (I hear that tourist attraction is quite tarted up now from what it was back then). Hit a lot of rain in Lucerne and Interlachen (it was April, not June) and snow when I went up Pilatus. I was also in Zurich but saw next to nothing there--just visited friends. Did not get to the Italian part of Switzerland but I'm sure it's beautiful--I was on the Italian side of the border there, in Como etc., on another trip.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Kind of "off topic," but, speaking of foreign trains, did anyone else see the feature on the Trans-Siberian Express a couple days ago during the NBC Olympics coverage?
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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The Trans-Siberian Express also plays a starring role in the 2008 mystery/suspense film Transsiberian. The train and the scenery are the best features of the film, however Woody Harrelson handles the role of the train foamer/husband with an embarrassing amount of authenticity.
Posts: 831 | From: Seattle | Registered: Jan 2011
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