A Mingling of Leaf-Peeping and Time Travel
The Hobo Railroad runs along the Pemigewasset River in New Hampshire. More Photos »
By DAVE CALDWELL
Published: September 23, 2010
CONSTRUCTION began in 1846 on the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad, so business travelers and others have been gazing out the windows of trains huffing north into the White Mountains of New Hampshire for quite some time. Eddie and Brenda Clark only took the idea of a train rolling through tree-carpeted countryside and turned it into a lavish autumn excursion for sightseers in no particular hurry
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When the Clarks bought the line, in the 1980s, they originally had in mind a railroad theme park. That plan grew into the Hobo and Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroads, which cover about 55 miles of track in New Hampshire.
The trip “fits that whole image of New England in the fall,” said Emily Clark, Eddie and Brenda’s daughter-in-law, who works for the family-owned Hobo line.
It is one of many vintage (or tourist) railroads — using steam or diesel engines — in the Northeast that do most of their business in the autumn, and for good reason: They take sightseers through woodland faster than on foot but slower than in a car. On the tracks, “you make good progress, but you aren’t flying by, unable to enjoy the view,” said Jim Wrinn, editor of Trains magazine.
Peak foliage season in the Northeast varies from year to year, depending on temperature and rainfall. But generally leaves turn color from north to south during a six-week period from about the middle of September to the first week of November, according to tracking sites like foliagenetwork.com, which provides regular reports.
In recent years, about a dozen tourist railroads in the region have added and expanded programs that take advantage of the exquisite autumn views. The Hobo and the Winnipesaukee, for example, offer one-, two-, four-hour and all-day trips. The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway in Pennsylvania, the Catskill Mountain Railroad in upstate New York and the Wilmington & Western Railroad in Delaware are among the lines that cater to leaf peepers.
And seats fill fast. “We shotgun these things out the door, one after the other,” said David Ludlow, executive director of the Wilmington & Western.
Aesthetically, vintage steam or diesel locomotives offer trips back in time. Although the notion of “foliage trains” has been around since tourist railroads replaced some working ones 50 years ago, Mr. Wrinn said these trains retained their popularity because most roll through undeveloped land, like woods and farms.
“You can drive and see the fall colors, but you’re spending 75 percent of your attention on the road,” Mr. Wrinn said. “While with the train, you can let someone else take care of the transportation, and you can enjoy the changing kaleidoscope of autumn colors.”
Some of the rides are open-air, and Mr. Wrinn said that onboard, “there’s a certain joy in feeling the chill of the air in your face — it’s a subtle reminder that this beauty is fleeting and should be savored.”
Mr. Wrinn said he was a big fan of the Conway Scenic Railroad, in northern New Hampshire near the Maine border, and the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad, whose tracks slip through the rolling, tree-blanketed Allegheny Mountains. But you do not have to be a train buff to take advantage of lines within a short drive from New York with views — at comfortable temperatures.
The Catskill Mountain Railroad, which runs between Mount Tremper and Phoenicia near the Esopus Creek, chugs through a majestic tunnel of tree branches that looks like a cathedral. The Wilmington & Western, a 10-mile excursion, travels from the Coastal Plain region to the Piedmont, offering a glorious display of hardwoods with leaves in blazing colors.
Many of these panoramas cannot be seen from a road or are very difficult to access, even on foot. The Potomac Eagle runs along the south branch of the Potomac River, near Romney, W.Va. David Corbitt, president of the railroad, said there was no way a car could get down into the deep valley, locally known as the Trough.
That’s one reason the landscape remains pristine. Mr. Corbitt said activity around eagles’ nests among the limestone cliffs was at its peak in the autumn. Fox and bear sightings are common. Waterfowl migrate through the area. Paddlers in canoes or kayaks can enjoy the autumn scenery, Mr. Corbitt said, “but that’s about it.”
Although there are elaborate, multiday New England fall foliage excursions like those coordinated by Vacations by Rail and other companies and some leaf peepers have been known to book a year ahead, smaller railroads say those who call ahead for information and arrive at least an hour before the departure of foliage excursions usually get seats.
Some lines tie into autumn’s splendor with pumpkin patches at stops along the way, offering cider and cookies to everyone, and pumpkins to the youngest riders. Others coordinate trains with local foliage festivals, like the Lehigh Gorge line in Jim Thorpe, Pa., which offers special two-and-a-half-hour Hometown High Bridge excursions on weekends in October.
“We were turning hundreds of people away a day,” so more trains were added last year, said Laura Kennedy, the director of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway.
Visitors to the Conway Scenic Railroad come from all over the world in the fall, and the number of visitors from the Western United States spikes dramatically in October, said Susan Logan, the railroad’s director of marketing and events. To meet the demand, the railroad offers short excursions to a pumpkin patch and longer excursions like a five-and-a-half-hour trip.
The mood on a foliage train tends to be more serene than it is in the summer, Ms. Clark said, because children have returned to school, and the riders tend to be older. And as leaves thin, rock formations and waterways are more visible.
Those who built railroads like the Boston, Concord and Montreal through the Northeastern United States more than a century ago were simply trying to find a way to transport freight and passengers from one rural outpost to another. Now passengers are looking for a way to move like a slowpoke.
“You definitely get that old-world nostalgia,” Ms. Clark said.
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