For truly friendly travel with ever-changing scenery, take your foot off the gas, unbuckle your seat belt, and hit the rails.

By Sarah Rose

1. CONQUERING THE CANADIAN ROCKIES
Route: Vancouver to Banff, Alberta
Duration: Two days

The benchmark train ride for jaw-dropping scenery, the Rocky Mountaineer highlights the Canadian Rockies in a way government-run trains can’t: It travels only in daylight. The two-day trip is the ideal land cruise, with lavish domed viewing cars and regional gourmet dining, both of which are overshadowed by the majesty outside. Following the original Canadian Pacific line along the churning Fraser River, you leave lush rain forest for the mountains — lots of them — and the rust-colored desert of the Canadian far west. After a night in quaint Kamloops, you approach the Rockies, where the views of jagged peaks and glacier-fed alpine lakes are monstrously beautiful — and not viewable from any road.
HIGHLIGHT: Spiral Tunnels
To reduce the grade through Big Hill, a unique pair of circling tunnels were dug into the walls on opposite sides of the stunning Kicking Horse River ($500; rockymountaineer.com).

2. INTO THE SIERRA MADRE
Route: El Fuerte to Creel, Mexico
Duration: 13 hours

Nothing about the Copper Canyon Express is fast: It took 100 years to build, and the train seldom comes close to arriving on time. But why hurry through Mexico’s Sierra Madre, with gorges seven times more expansive than the Grand Canyon? Don’t even try the alleged 13-hour journey in a day, or darkness will claim the view — get off for a night or two in Divisadero. The train, also known as “el Chepe,” is a feat of Looney Toons engineering; trestles hang off sheer cliffs as train wrecks decay far below.
HIGHLIGHT: Divisadero
Its name refers to the view over the space where three canyons unite; the town offers great hiking, horseback riding, and climbing ($70; chepe.com.mx).

3. GLACIERS GALORE
Route: Anchorage to Seward, Alaska
Duration: Four hours

The Alaska Railroad debuted its luxury 114-mile Coastal Classic this summer with double- decker domed cars and white-tablecloth dining. The half-day trip passes vistas of snow-topped mountains, fjords, and plenty of big game (moose, wolves, bears). For sportsmen, ARR is adding whistle-stop service in the parks.
HIGHLIGHT: The Loop District
The key attraction is the striking Bartlett Glacier, which comes into view on the left as the train winds up toward Grandview ($160; akrr.com).

4. LIVING THE OLD WEST
Route: Antonito, Colorado to Chama, New Mexico
Duration: Six Hours

In the 1870s, silver mines in Colorado and New Mexico required a hastily built, narrow-gauge railway to bridge the Continental Divide. Now 129 years old, the railway operates in two sections: 44 miles on the Durango & Silverton line and 64 on the lesser-known but more scenic Cumbres & Toltec. For train geeks, the latter trip is a series of ecstasies, from the restored steam engines to the steep loops and gaping gorges.
HIGHLIGHT: Cumbres Pass
At 10,015 feet, it’s the continent’s highest railway pass. Legend says the surveyor simply followed his mule over the crest ($83; cumbrestoltec.com).

5. INTO THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Route: Cochrane to Moosonee, Ontario
Duration: Five Hours

The Polar Bear Express is a train to the top of the world, through boreal forest, over white rivers and crystalline lakes, toward the aurora borealis. Used by Cree and Inuit as their lifeline to modern civilization, the train has a family car with camp counselors where you can park the kids. But the canoe car shows the Polar Bear Express’s true priority: It belongs to the paddlers and fishermen who seek out the middle of nowhere.
HIGHLIGHT: Onboard music
Performers in the club car sing voyageur tunes over Canadian beers ($44; ontarionorthland.ca).

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Don’t forget your essential train gear: to see the must-have item to take along for the ride, click here. Or click here to read how you can travel in style in your own private rail car. And to see five more unforgettable rail routes, click here.

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This article originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.