Great American Rail Journeys [Paperback]

John Grant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2000 | Series: Broadcast Tie-Ins

Great American Rail Journeys takes you on location to eight of North America's most scenic and historically rich landscapes. Each of the rail adventures profiled in this volume - a counterpart to the highly praised public television programs - celebrates the beauty, history, and romance of railway travel.

From your first-class seat on this virtual railway coach, you'll view coastlines and canyons, majestic mountains and rushing rivers, Native villages and world-class cities. Along the way you'll meet dozens of delightful characters - conductors, tour guides, passengers, and others who share their love of the landscape and their passion for riding the rails.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The near disappearance of the American passenger railroad, whose schedules dominated social life for a century, has left the nation with few surface transportation alternatives to the automobile. Those who yearn for the days of coaches, sleepers, dining cars, and clickety-clack still have a few premium sightseeing trains left on the North American continent. Most of these are west of the Mississippi, where the Rocky Mountains, stretching through Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, provide a backdrop of peaks, river valleys, bridges, and tunnels that makes travel by train so very thrilling. In this companion volume to the PBS television series, Grant has enumerated those few remaining mountain trains that take passengers through these vistas. One southern and one eastern route figure in this roster: the Gulf Coast route east from New Orleans to Savannah and the passage through the Hudson Valley between New York and Montreal. Touring lovers as well as rail buffs will celebrate this reminder that travel is as much about the route as the destination. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Great American Rail Journeys takes you on location to eight of North America's most scenic and historically rich landscapes. Each of the rail adventures profiled in this volume - a counterpart to the highly praised public television programs - celebrates the beauty, history, and romance of railway travel. From your first-class seat on this virtual railway coach, you'll view coastlines and canyons, majestic mountains and rushing rivers, Native villages and world-class cities. Along the way you'll meet dozens of delightful characters - conductors, tour guides, passengers, and others who share their love of the landscape and their passion for riding the rails. (8 1/2 x 11, 208 pages, color photos, hard cover)

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Globe Pequot; 1st edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762706147
• ISBN-13: 978-0762706143
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,800,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 8 of North America's Scenic & Historic Landscapes -- by Rail, June 1, 2006

By 

G. Clark "clarkquilt" (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great American Rail Journeys (Paperback)

TRAINS Magazine says this book is top-notch reading for anyone who has heard the call of the rails, and I have to agree.
The rail adventures profiled in this volume celebrate the beauty, history, and romance of railway travel. View coastlines, canyons, mountains, rushing rivers, Native villages and world-class cities. This book is for anyone who has a passion for riding the rails and for the curious. Come take an armchair ride on The Alaska Railroad, The Adirondack, view Copper Canyon, The American Rockies, The Canadian Rockies, ride the West Coast's Coast Starlight, ride the rails through the American South, and thrill to the narrow gage Gold Rush Train out of Skagway --
enjoy your own Great American Rail Journey. GREAT GIFT!

3.0 out of 5 stars Attractive TV tie-in book, April 26, 2011

By 

Nicola Jane - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Great American Rail Journeys (Paperback)

This is a very attractive book with some lovely photographs, but it is (as indeed the description states) a book to accompany the PBS TV series. Thus the narrative and (very appealing) photographs) reflect that. So anyone looking to buy / read this as a basis for their own travels on American rail trips won't find this particularly useful. Otherwise it's a lovely coffee table book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very highly recommended for railroad buffs., September 5, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great American Rail Journeys (Paperback)

This companion to the PBS program is a fine armchair read for any fascinated by railroads and travel: it takes a cross-country trip behind the scenes of American roads, presenting eight chapters which celebrate multi-day rail journeys. Rail history and scenery alike are presented in colorful, photo-packed chapters.