10 Scariest Train Rides in the World

[George K]

http://www.weather.com/travel/commuter-conditions/news/10-scariest-train-rides-world-photos-20130915?_escaped_fragment_#/1

Lots of neat pics at the link, and a couple here in the United States.

For example, this pic from Scotland:

 

[Bob Dylan]

Nice find George!

I'm surprised that the Copper Canyon Route in Mexico and the Peruvian train into the Andies on the way to Machu Picchu wasn't included!

 

[George K]

Yeah, cool, isn't it?

However, it brings to mind an interesting (to me, at least) point: All those cool pics that we see are frequently not appreciated by the passenger!

I remember going over the trestle at Cut Bank, Montana last year. I took a couple of photos from the window of our roomette, not appreciating what a great location and what a spectacular place it really is! Similarly, that long, long bridge along Lake Ponchartrain is not appreciated by those riding the train, only by those who are taking the pictures! Yeah, that trestle outside of Minot too!

 

[Bob Dylan]

You're right George!

Also the Sunset Ltd. between NOL and LAX crosses the Huey Long Bridge and the Pecos High Bridge,two Very High Rail Bridges!

I like the Crescent over the Lake out of NOL too! And the Empire Builder has some pretty neat trestles and Bridges also!

 

[oregon pioneer]

I've been on the one in Scotland pictured above (West Highland Line). You're all correct, the passenger does not get the same experience. The scariest thing to me is looking down from a train window and not being able to see the support system at all (just the plunge waaaaaaayyyyy down into the canyon or river). By that measure, there are some pretty darn scary trestles and bridges on the Amtrak system!

 

[Ronbo]

A good friend of mine was visiting his daughter in Colorado this past July, she took him on the Georgetown Loop train ride. This is a photo his son in law took going over that trestle.

 

[SarahZ]

http://www.weather.com/travel/commuter-conditions/news/10-scariest-train-rides-world-photos-20130915?_escaped_fragment_#/1

Lots of neat pics at the link, and a couple here in the United States.

For example, this pic from Scotland:

Um, that's not the West Highland Line. That's the Hogwarts Express.

 

[willem]

Um, that's not the West Highland Line. That's the Hogwarts Express.

I thought it looked familiar. Now someone should add a flying car.

 

[jis]

Why are these considered to be scary anyway?

The Bangkok - Rangoon line has not run from Bangkok to Rangoon since the end of the Second World War. In Thailand it ends at Nam Tok and there are no tracks across the Three Pagodas Pass into Burma (Myanmar). I have traveled on it to Nam Tok. It crosses the famous Bridge on the River Kwai at Kanchanburi as mentioned.

I have also been on the West Highland Line across the Glenfinnan Viaduct a couple of times.

I suppose Ed (caravanman) will be able to tell us about some of the incredible bridges and viaducts on the Konkan Railway. Some even more spectacular ones are coming up on the Kashmir Railway.

Speaking of curved viaducts, there is the famous Albula Viaduct in Switzerland which ends on a vertical cliff face with the tracks entering a tunnel, on the route of the famed Glacier Express. I think that is pretty neat.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

For those of us who are afraid of heights, they are very scary! (I am still trying to figure out how to get to the west coast to ride the Pacific Surfliner without having to go over mountains to get there.) Might have to take a cruise through the Panama Canal!

 

[jis]

Just make sure you sit on the mountain side of the train and not the valley side

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Just make sure you sit on the mountain side of the train and not the valley side

 

[fairviewroad]

Scariest train rides? I'm gonna say the D train after midnight.

 

[jis]

^^ Where is the *Like* button? ^^

 

[JayPea]

In the pre-Amtrak days in Spokane, there was one ride that was a bit spooky for both passengers and train crew members that involved a tunnel instead. Prior to the construction of the Latah Creek bridge just southwest of downtown Spokane that consolidated UP, SP&S, and GN trackage that was removed in preparation for Expo '74, the UP and SP&S/GN railroads had separate bridges in Spokane. The SP&S and GN rails crossed the Spokane River on a bridge about a mile from the current Latah Creek bridge. After crossing the river west of Spokane, the GN and SP&S lines split. The SP&S line then immediately entered a mile+ long tunnel......that ran beneath two cemeteries. Many passengers on SP&S trains as well as crew members were a bit uneasy while riding through this tunnel.

 

[Bob Dylan]

For those of us who are afraid of heights, they are very scary! (I am still trying to figure out how to get to the west coast to ride the Pacific Surfliner without having to go over mountains to get there.) Might have to take a cruise through the Panama Canal!

The Sunset Ltd. is your best bet to avoid Mountain ranges except for the Davis Mountains in Far West Texas around Alpine.

There are two very high rail Bridges to cross, the Huey Long Bridge out of New Orleans and the Pecos High Bridge in West Texas.**

Other than that its mostly swamps and Desert!

**If you ride #2 East Bound LAX-NOL you'll cross both Bridges in the dark!

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Thanks, Jim. My other solution on a long-distance train if I am scared of the mountains might be simply to do what I did on my Florida to Philly trip when I woke up and we were going through a tunnel and had no clue where we were (I don't like tunnels much more than mountains)--just pulled the covers over my head and hoped for the best.

(We were coming into WAS, but I thought we were still down in Virginia or North Carolina and couldn't imagine where the tunnel was!)