Large Scale Central

Excursion Train

Linda and I had a blast yesterday on the Potomac Eagle train, between Romney and Petersburg WV. Though they have several trip types, this all-day trip happens once a month, and it’s quite a long train of around 8 coaches of various styles, an open-air observation car, open gondola, and a vintage diesel at each end.

They have 5 different levels of service to choose from, and we chose the club car service with breakfast, lunch, and (on the way back) 5-course dinner. Adult beverages are extra. We had an assigned table with our name on it.

Several cars had their own food prep area.

The club cars had interesting seating arrangements. This shot shows half the car.

While in Petersburg, a group of us were bussed to Smoke Hole caverns and back.

This loco was on the rear of the train going south, and the front of the train going back north.

Here’s some videos.

Well, that’s our story. Feel free to post on your RR excursions here if you wish.

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Thank you for sharing

Folks;

If you ever pay a visit to Burlington, VT, I highly recommend the Champlain Valley Dinner Train of the Green Mountain Railroad. It’s a really nice trip (often with a beautiful sunset over Lake Champlain) with a really good meal, but you do have to book online.

Regards, David Meashey
P.S. We rode during the end of June last year, and notice the jackets we are wearing - so please be prepared for lower temperatures.

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Last evening we did the dinner train on the Colebrookdale RR. This was our “consolation railroad event” which I booked after missing out on tickets for the 2102 “race” against the Big Boy excursion. But this was wonderful.

I really have to recommended this ride. For $90/person, one gets a nice 3-course dinner aboard a 2-hour train ride through beautiful rocky and forested scenery of central PA. The RR is on clearly the upswing, with new construction at the station, and smaller stations being recreated along the route.

We arranged travel on their lounge car, which is a fantastically-equipped and restored ~1916 Pullman. That car really made the trip worth the travel for me. Definitely reflects the grandeur of the early Pullmans, for which @John_Wilda posted a 1901 catalogue.



I got a laugh when the train had to stop to clear a limb from the track, prompting the violinist to play “Nearer my God to Thee” (from the Titanic movie sinking scene).

Earlier yesterday we visited Hopewell Furnace, where they’ve restored a water-powered bellows for their furnace, which was started in the late 1700’s. My understanding is that they’ll fire it up and do a pour (using aluminum) on August 1, for the first time in almost 150 years. I made a mistake in the video when describing the pour: I thought it had been done on July 1, but learned after I shot the video that it will be done on August 1 (2026).

The National Park Service have done a fantastic job in restoring this facility.

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I have but one reaction to the opulence - WOW!

i can’t help it: these people, a hundred years ago, must have been more civilized, than we are!