Discoveries…America National Parks: Railroads—Magic, Mystery & Mystique

This special entry in Jim and Kelly Watt's acclaimed Discoveries…America National Parks series focuses on magnificent parks that also feature a train line. Here, viewers board vintage trains to witness natural beauty, starting with the Grand Canyon Railway, which hosts a 265-mile trip to the southern rim of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (every day except Christmas). An old diesel engine does the job, but from April through September a steam engine—one of only 200 left from the original 100,000 built in the U.S.—will get passengers there. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado travels an old route once used to transport metal ores mined in Silverton and brought to Durango. Gorgeous long shots of the train, with its steam engine and bumblebee-yellow cars moving through a spectacular valley, are accompanied by footage of an annual event in which people dress up in historic Western outfits amidst lots of hoopla and music. The Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah is where the Transcontinental Railroad—joining eastward and westward tracks—was completed in 1869, an occasion that was marked with an honorary golden spike (now on display at Stanford University). Re-enactments of the project's completion can be seen most days of the year, and the park features a natural memorial to the many Chinese laborers who did so much of the construction. Also covered here is the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, which originally carried coal and passengers across the Tuscarawas River Valley to Akron and Cleveland (one can travel that route now as a tourist and stop along the way to shop or ride bikes). Farther northwest, the Denali National Park—with its six million acres and tallest mountain in North America (Mount Denali)—is crossed daily by the Alaska Railroad, which has been traveling from Fairbanks to Anchorage since 1923, offering plenty to see in the way of mountains, glaciers, and wildlife. Sure to appeal to train buffs and armchair travelers, this is highly recommended. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)