Tourist railways don’t always get much attention from railway enthusiasts. This seems a paradox, after all, as most tourist railways are designed specifically to be enjoyed; trains whose purpose is the pleasure of their existence. And certainly, tourist railways are popular, for there are scores of them across North America, carrying millions of passengers each year. Yet for some in our hobby, tourist lines are not part of the traditional railway landscape, or are somehow not “real” railroading.
Let’s take a step back. No sooner did railways establish themselves in North America than did tourism quickly follow. As railways reached for the Pacific from the 1860s through the 1880s, passengers were drawn to the novelty of taking in the dramatic sights of the West. While lines in the Atlantic states and provinces had significant existing populations, the West at this time was only sparsely settled. Railways produced advertisements that extolled the natural beauty of the waterfalls, geysers, mountains, canyons, and deserts of the continent west of the 100th meridian. Tourists who might otherwise travel to Europe for a vacation were told, in no uncertain terms, that the American landscape had as much to offer. This tourist-focused attitude persisted well past the construction of these first transcontinental lines, and remains a cornerstone of marketing Amtrak and VIA Rail long-distance routes to this day.
Let’s consider another kind of tourist railway, the specially built scenic line. There are several across the country, ranging from Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire (opened in 1868), to Colorado’s Pikes Peak Cog Railway (1891), to Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods just north of San Francisco (1896). Such lines were built to bring scenic views to the attention of tourists, typically by climbing up a mountainside. There’s something of the sublime to these lines, a mixture of appreciation for pictorial beauty and the sheer terror of dramatic cliffside vistas. While my California example is long gone, the Mount Washington and Pikes Peak routes remain in operation, continuing their long quest to show us a view that will take our collective breath away.
Then there’s the third category of railroads that have found new lives hauling tourists long after freight traffic has disappeared. Chartered in 1832, Pennsylvania’s Strasburg Rail Road was rescued by a group of businessmen in 1958 who transformed the four-mile short line into a steam tourist hauler. Rio Grande’s narrow gauge Silverton Branch was operated as a tourist attraction starting in the 1950s, and continues to this day as Durango & Silverton. Numerous other branch lines around the country have been revived as tourist haulers, including East Troy Railroad Museum in Wisconsin, North Shore Scenic Railroad in Minnesota, Naugatuck Railroad in Connecticut, Niles Canyon Railway in California, and others.
Is this “real” railroading? It’s true that many tourist lines are laid-back and less formal — and much of that is because the employees or volunteers who run them typically do so because they love their lines, their jobs, and their communities. Such affection, however, makes tourist railroading no less challenging. If you doubt this, take a look at Conway Scenic, 51 miles of former Boston & Maine and Maine Central track that twists through the rugged White Mountains of New Hampshire, and then ask yourself — is this real railroading?
My answer? A resounding yes.
Alexander Benjamin Craghead is a transportation historian, photographer, artist, and author.
