All Aboard: The Scenic Railways Reviving Mountain Travel
Heritage rail excursions through gorges and across trestles are offering a nostalgic, unhurried way to experience the western landscape.
Before the highways, the railroad opened the Carolina mountains. Today, heritage rail is opening them again, in a slower and more romantic register.
Travel as it was
Scenic railway excursions carry passengers through river gorges and across soaring trestles, retracing routes that once hauled timber and ore. The journeys are unhurried by design, the landscape the entire point.
The trains draw families, railfans and travelers charmed by the nostalgia of it all.
The pleasure of the passage
There is something clarifying about a mode of travel that cannot be rushed. The scenery unrolls at a human pace, and the destination matters less than the ride.
For the western mountains, the railways offer both an economic boon and a reminder of a gentler way to move through a beautiful place.
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