AMERICAN RAIL GUIDES
American Rail Guides
American Rail Guides
American Rail Guides
“Explore America on Amtrak” route guides bring to life the stories, trivia, and quirkiness of fascinating small towns and their colorful histories. Using short, whimsical insights and fun facts, it enlivens hundreds of places as you pass by them.
The Coast Starlight
American Rail Guides
American Rail Guides
This entertaining route guide illuminates hundreds of places between Los Angeles and Seattle, as the Coast Starlight hugs the beautiful Pacific Ocean, traverses vast agricultural valleys, slows for breathtaking mountain ranges, then speeds through dense evergreen forests to exhilarating cities.
NOW Available from Amazon.com
The Empire Builder
American Rail Guides
The California Zephyr
Everyone traveling Amtrak’s popular route between Chicago, Seattle, and Portland needs a copy of “Explore America on Amtrak’s Empire Builder”. It highlights points of interest along the way as the Empire Builder crosses the continent past towering mountain ranges, dense forests, alpine valleys, the grandeur of Glacier National Park, vast prairies.
NOW Available from Amazon.com
The California Zephyr
The California Zephyr
The California Zephyr
This essential companion shows the way through cities, towering mountain passes, sculptured red rock canyons, and inhospitable deserts while recounting absorbing tales of the Old West towns, and their colorful citizens.
As the California Zephyr crosses the Rockies and vast prairies, it rumbles by small towns and farms in the Midwest, fo
This essential companion shows the way through cities, towering mountain passes, sculptured red rock canyons, and inhospitable deserts while recounting absorbing tales of the Old West towns, and their colorful citizens.
As the California Zephyr crosses the Rockies and vast prairies, it rumbles by small towns and farms in the Midwest, follows the heroic and tragic paths of wagon train pioneers, and recounts accounts of bank robbers, Plains Indians, explorers, and gold miners.
This invaluable guide is packed with short whimsical insights and fun facts, it enlivens hundreds of places in an easy-to-read format.
The Crescent
The California Zephyr
The Sunset Limited
Everyone traveling Amtrak’s popular route between New York and New Orleans should have a copy of “Explore America on Amtrak’s The Crescent.” It’s like having your own personal tour guide to describe the captivating scenery, towns, and history passing by your window and telling you fascinating and funny stories. All the while tracking your progress as you proceed through the countryside.
The Sunset Limited
The California Zephyr
The Sunset Limited
The Sunset Limited is a popular Amtrak route that stretches from Los Angeles to New Orleans, offering breathtaking scenery and a glimpse into the history and culture of the Southwest.
This essential companion illuminates hundreds of points of interest as the train traverses the deserts of the Southwest, then passes through near the Mexi
The Sunset Limited is a popular Amtrak route that stretches from Los Angeles to New Orleans, offering breathtaking scenery and a glimpse into the history and culture of the Southwest.
This essential companion illuminates hundreds of points of interest as the train traverses the deserts of the Southwest, then passes through near the Mexican border and breathtaking mountain ranges, crossing the paths of Spanish conquistadors, Apache, Navajo, soldiers, gunfighters, Cajuns, pirates, and famous musicians.
Thomas Baker
My Background
My fifty-year career in travel and tourism has enabled me to experience the joys and surprises of rail travel in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia, and Australia.
These journeys have taken me on the narrow-gauge railways in Switzerland, past America's spectacular national parks, across the vast Australian outback, on efficient European services, and on a super-fast blur through South Korea at over 200 mph.
My Journey
My love of trains started at a young age on passenger steam trains from Newcastle, my home city in Australia, to Sydney, during the 1950s.
I still recall those old carriages on the Newcastle Flyer with their dark wood-paneled walls and trim. I fondly remember the sounds of the whistles, the giant locomotives, and the powerful gushes of steam - not only filling the platform but residues filled the carriages as well with traces of soot and smoke.
They were the signs of the adventures to come.
Discovering Amtrak's America
In 1978, I experienced my first long-distance journey aboard Amtrak when I circled the USA. I traveled from San Francisco to Denver, Chicago, New York, Orlando, New Orleans, and across the rugged expanses of Texas and the Southwest to Los Angeles.
The people I met onboard and the conversations were just as memorable as the landscapes.
Since then, I have made dozens of trips on Amtrak in all regions of the country. These books are designed to help you discover the real America between the stops in big cities.