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Great
Continental Rail Safaris and Rail Cruises
by
Jerry W. Bird
 We've
been avid Rail Travel enthusiasts for decades, and
our sights are set on South Africa for an
opportunity to board the famous
Blue
Train and the
elegant Rovos
Rail, among
others. We've been raring to go for months, having
had a taste of the Cape Town area last spring and a
private tour of Emperor Haile Sellasie's historic
'Lion of Judah" train with its matched set of rail
coaches at the station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Those occasions set the stage for next year's
journey. In 1989 I introduced Railways of the World
to the travel industry, despite a lukewarm response
from several media colleagues at the time,
including my boss. However, the concept proved to
be a roaring success, and led to other avenues of
opportunity in the world of travel, tourism and
transportation. From example, I went on to write
stories on rail travel for a variety of newspapers
and magazines. Often my mailbox was jammed full of
requests from individuals and couples, many of them
active retirees with plenty of time on their
hands.
 A
new Magazine and book
With the publishing of " Rail Adventure." we take a
giant step forward, having created a definitive
rail travel guide featuring the best of 33
countries around the world. It's the second
installment of a project we began in 1992 called,
"Everything a Travel Agent must know to sell Rail
Travel effectively." It
will be available in a combination of media - in
print- on the video screen - on Adobe PDF talking
books - and on our web sites. We've been gathering
items for a long time, just itching for this
opportunity. Be one of the first to order by e-mail
airhwy@dowco.com or fax (604) 681-6595.
Here are some sample topics
.
Welcome
aboard Alaska Railroad
( ...
the
last full-service railroad in the United
States.) We owe our
success of the past 77 years to the hard work and
dedication of our employees and the loyalty of our
customers. From tidewater at Whittier and Seward to
the heart of Interior Alaska, our route covers more
than 500 miles. Our summer service offers three
daily routes. Continued.
Above photo courtesy of
Alaska Railroad.
Circle
Rail Tour via Historic Kicking Horse and Crowsnest
Pass
(... the
'trip of a lifetime,' through the blue Canadian
Rockies.) While
there will be a variety of rail tours leaving from
Calgary, the most popular tour heads west through
the Kicking Horse Pass, then swings south at
Golden, following the Columbia River to the
Cranbrook- Kimberly area in BC's East Kootenays. At
the town of Elko, the train heads east via the
Crowsnest Pass to Lethbridge. The
final leg is a return north to Calgary via Vulcan
and High River. Continued)
Franco-Ethiopian
Railway and Haile Selassie's Historic Coaches
( ... given
Aladdin's 3 wishes)
I would restore Emperor Haile Sellasie's 'Lion of
Judah' railway engine, hook it up to the prized set
of French and British coaches, and operate luxury
excursion tours on the Franco-Ethiopian Railway
line. Built in the 1930s, the 482 mile route
stretches from Addis Ababa, via Nazaret, the Rift
Valley and Dire Dawa, to Djibouti, a French
protectorate on the Gulf of
Aden.
Continued)
American
Spirit Roars into the Old West
(...
Montana's Big Sky Country
beckons) Having
driven much of the scenic route from Montana via
Great Falls, Helena, Glacier National Park ,
Kalispell, Couer d'Alene, Idaho and Spokane,
Washington to Seattle on the Pacific Coast, our
editors were pleased to receive the material on
this page about American's best daylight train
journey. It's the American Spirit Rail tour,
formerly known as the Montana Daylight. Passing
through many parts of the country impossible to see
any other way, its refurbished 1940 and '50 s rails
cars, including 'dining car' add a touch of
nostalgia and a class act. Tour highlights include
mountain scenery in national parks, native sites,
old West museums and much more.
Continued.
Riding
the Shoulders of Alaska's Sawtooth Range
(...
My endless fascination with
railways)
and railroad memorabilia goes back to childhood
days, when the White Pass & Yukon Railway of
Gold Rush fame was linked via Skagway, Alaska, to a
vast transportation system of BC-Alaska Coastal
steamships and Yukon riverboats. Continued)
Canadian
Cities and feds wrestle with rapid transit woes.
What is your solution? While
Ottawa stands aloof, Canadian cities are falling
behind in providing the
public transit services
that are critical to
growing the economy and sustaining prosperity,
Pollution
Probe and the
Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA)
said today.
Rail
is the answer for rapid airport
connections:
I feel
saddened each time we drive along the boulevard in
Kerrisdale and see that
former interurban rail
corridor
going to waste, when in my high school days (seems
like yesterday), BC Electric's fleet of bright red
trams whisked passengers from downtown Vancouver to
Richmond's Steveston Village.
Via Rail
Fleet Expands:
Via Rail Canada has purchased 139 new passenger
cars including coaches, sleeping cars and
restaurant service cars. Originally built for a
European consortium, the new equipment includes
special features to maximize accessibility for
passengers with restricted mobility. The first
units will go into service in fall 2001.
Looking
for Railway Memorabilia? Check out Railway World in
Vancouver's Gastown, a few blocks from the historic
Waterfront Station. They've
got everything under the sun, from books and
magazines, to models, posters, you name it. Contact
Arthur Darlington at Railway World: 150 Water
Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 1B7, phone (604)
681-48211, or 604-929-7293. Division of Salopia
Train Lore Ltd.
• More topics on our
left hand column index, plus a whole
variety of new story titles to come.
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