Page 69 - 2014 Travel Guide to California

COAST STARLIGHT, right; Amtrak
sightseer lounge car, opposite;
Pacific Surfliner, San Diego
station, opposite left.
your taste, Amtrak’s Southwest Chief con-
nects LA with Chicago via the Mojave and
the Sunset limited, Amtrak’s most southern
route, connects LA with New Orleans via
Tucson, San Antonio and Houston.
Three other popular train routes are
operated by Amtrak. The Capital Corridor
connects San Francisco with Sacramento
through the state’s agricultural heartland.
The Pacific Surfliner, a six-hour, Pacific-
hugging trip that joins San Luis Obispo and
San Diego (via Santa Barbara and Los
Angeles), boasts bicycle and surfboard
racks, and free Wi-Fi. Access to Yosemite
can be arranged via the San Joaquin line to
Merced, where a waiting luxury bus will
take you into the National Park.
Excursion Favorites
Until 1930, visitors to Mt. Tamalpais—the
Bay Area’s signature 2,574-foot peak—
could ride the Mt. Tamalpais & Muir
Woods Railway: “The Crookedest Railroad
in the World.” Though that line has been
dismantled, there are still plenty of
quirky, unusual excursions available to
the 21st-century traveler. These include
Mendocino’s irresistible Skunk Train,
mentioned above. Starting at the coastal
town of Fort Bragg, the Skunk navigates
some 30 bridges, trestles and tunnels on
its 40-mile journey between Fort Bragg
and Willits.
Book your tickets early for the popular
Napa Valley Wine Train, with three-hour
round trips in “meticulously restored rail
cars” between Napa and St. Helena in Cal-
ifornia’s wine country. Enjoy a la carte or
gourmet dining, depending on your class
of ticket. Lunch and dinner trains run
daily, with winery tours available.
Departing from Woodland, the Sacra-
mento RiverTrain features beer, wine, fine
food and live music as it follows the Sacra-
mento River on a three-hour, 32-mile trip.
There are several specialty rides, including
Sunset Dinners, Great Train Robberies (on
Saturdays) and the Zombie Train. What next?
Another dinner option is the Sierra Rail-
road, one of several rail lines built in the late
19th century to link the Gold Country with the
Central Valley. Today, the excursion “pro-
vides visitors an opportunity to travel on the
historic Sierra Railroad while enjoying a deli-
cious meal, beautiful countryside and a wide
range of entertainment.” Passengers board in
Oakdale, 90 miles east of San Francisco (and
70 miles south of Sacramento).
Historic Revivals
There are a variety of shorter train rides
throughout California, providing a taste of
what travel was like for settlers in the
1800s. Santa Cruz’s Roaring Camp Railroad
offers an hour-long Beach Train, or a steam
train through redwood groves. The
Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad
provides a four-mile, narrow-gauge
reminder of the days when logs felled in
the Sierra forests were carried to the fast-
growing settlements in the Central Valley.
And though it’s super-short (just 298 feet!),
a ride up the incline served by the Angels
Flight Railway in downtown LA, dating
from 1901, is just about the most fun you
can have in Los Angeles for 50 cents.
A Reminder of Childhood
While we’re on super-short train rides, few
equal the charm of the Redwood Valley
Railway in Tilden Park, Berkeley. The 12-
minute ride—with tiny steam locomotives
pulling open-bed cars—chugs through
rustic tunnels and around bends, offering
panoramic views of San Francisco Bay. For
$2, it’s a true family experience—even dogs
are welcome!
» CATCH
A TRAIN!
Amtrak
amtrak.com
Skunk Train
skunktrain.com
Napa Valley Wine Train
winetrain.com
Sacramento RiverTrain
sacramentorivertrain.com
Sierra Railroad: Oakdale
sierrarailroad.com
Roaring Camp Railroad
roaringcamp.com
Angels Flight Railway
angelsflight.com
Yosemite Mountain Sugar
Pine Railroad
ymsprr.com
Redwood Valley Railway
redwoodvalleyrailway.com
2014 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A 67