MyWestworld

Mexico’s Copper Canyon Express

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by BCAA.

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Near Creel, the train stops. Alongside, Tarahumara women quietly display their intricate baskets woven from grasses or foot-long pine needles. This is not the Mexican bargaining we’re used to. Silent babies, wrapped in bright cocoons, cling to hot-pink sweaters and orange shawls.

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Australia: Riding the Ghan

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by BCAA.

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On my journey south from Darwin, egrets rise from billabongs and wild buffalo flee the rumble of the Ghan’s approach as the kilometre-long train rockets along at 110 km/h. With welded-steel rails, there’s no clickety-clack. Dirt tracks lead away into eucalyptus forests and thousands of massive, stalagmite-like termite mounds draw gawking Ghan passengers to the windows. This is the land of “Waltzing Matilda,” . . .

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World’s Top 25 Rail Journeys (2009)

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by BCAA.

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The U.S.-based Society of International Railway Travellers bases its annual awards on the experiences of its members, writers, editors and staff. Trains chosen must meet “stringent standards for service, accommodation, scenery, itinerary, off-train experiences and passenger enjoyment.” New to the Top-25 list as of 2009 are two routes in Norway and the British Pullman, which completes the British leg of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express journeys between Paris and London. However, due to the recent economic downturn, gone are the GrandLuxe Express and Sierra Madre Express, which ran in Mexico’s Copper Canyon.

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Canada’s Rocky Mountaineer: The Rockies Under Glass

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by Rob Howatson.

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During a trip aboard the transcontinental in 1886, the wife of Canada’s first prime minister insisted on riding atop the train’s front bumper. The engineer played along, but he must have been sweating bullets. The first lady had chosen the steepest section of track to be out on the cowcatcher – the drop between Hector and Field known as the Big Hill.