NEW! NATIONAL PARKS OF THE RIO GRANDE
 April 19-29, 2009
Tour from $2099.00
Please join Rail Travel President Wil Doak on a
spectacular new tour design to some of the less-visited parks of the
desert southwest. Our spring tour departs on Amtrak’s
TEXAS EAGLE
from Chicago, returning on the
SOUTHWEST CHIEF. These comfortable
double-decker Superliner trains follow legendary routes. The TEXAS
EAGLE traverses the Union Pacific over the renowned Missouri Pacific
and “Sunset” routes. The SOUTHWEST CHIEF is the successor of the
famed Santa Fe “Super Chief/El Capitan” and follows the Burlington
Northern/Santa Fe’s mainline over the Rockies across Raton Pass as it
rolls on the “Santa Fe All the Way” east.
This tour includes two rides on New Mexico’s new
“Rail Runner” commuter service.
The line utilizes portions of the former
Santa Fe El Paso-Albuquerque branch, the Raton Pass mainline, and an
entirely new railroad to provide service between Albuquerque and Santa Fe
and between Albuquerque and Belen. We ride both routes. The line to Santa
Fe is literally a brand-new railroad for over 25 miles!
 Tour highlights include a two-night stay at the
beautiful Gage Hotel and a visit to
Big Bend National Park, which contains
an amazing diversity of plant, animal and bird life in a remarkable
mountainous terrain. We also visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park,
which includes Guadalupe Peak, the tallest mountain in Texas. This
mountain range showcases part of the vast inland sea that covered this
area over 250 million years ago.
Famous
Carlsbad Caverns National Park also is located
in the Guadalupe Mountains. These limestone caverns are immense; and we
will be touring the Big Room before visiting the
Living Desert Zoo.
Another lovely stay is at the Lodge at Cloudcroft, a 1911 hotel built by
the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad System to replace the 1899 log hotel
which burned down. We also visit
White Sands National Monument, a 275
square- mile area of snowy white dunes located south of Alamogordo.
Our visit to Albuquerque has a two-night stay in the
Old Town area with a tram ride to the summit of Sandia Peak and rides on
the new Rail Runner Express commuter service round-trip to Santa Fe, where
we spend the day. Other activities are noted in the itinerary below.
Won’t you come with us on this great new spring adventure in our National
Parks? All aboard!
Please note some of the hotels used have no
elevators or are non-smoking. In order to fully enjoy this tour,
participants should be able to climb two flights of stairs and walk a
half-mile on fairly level terrain. One of the hotels being used is at
8600 feet elevation.
Day One, Sunday, April 19 (D for sleeping car
passengers)
Depart Chicago on the
TEXAS EAGLE;
overnight on train. Our train departs Chicago’s Union Station at 1:45
p.m. for west Texas. Our route this afternoon follows the Union Pacific’s
former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio route through the “Land of Lincoln” as we
roll southwest through Bloomington, Springfield and Alton, Illinois. We
cross the Mississippi before a mid-evening stop at St. Louis, then
continue south overnight on the UP’s former “Mopac” lines. Sleeping car
passengers have dinner in the diner included, and we overnight on the
train.
Day Two, Monday, April 20 (B,L,D for sleeping car
passengers)
En route on the train. We continue on our
rail journey. Dawn finds us in the foothills of the Ozarks leaving Little
Rock. We enter Texas at Texarkana and move from the piney woods to the
verges of the “Hill Country” as we ride south through Dallas, Fort Worth,
Waco and Austin. The TEXAS EAGLE combines with the SUNSET
LIMITED tonight in San Antonio. We again overnight on the train.
Day Three, Tuesday, April 21 (B,L for sleeping car
passengers; D for all)
 Alpine Texas; Museum of the Big Bend; to
Marathon. Breakfast and lunch are eaten on the train before we arrive
in Alpine TX about 1:30 p.m. This morning’s route takes us on the former
Southern Pacific “Sunset Route”, now operated by the Union Pacific. The
land changes from high plains to ragged desert mountains. At Del Rio, we
soar over the Pecos River just north of its confluence with the Rio Grande
on the famed Pecos High Bridge. The courthouse of the feared Hanging
Judge Roy Bean, who billed himself as “The Law West of the Pecos”, was
located here.
Upon arrival at Alpine, we are met by our motorcoach
and visit the
Museum of the Big Bend to learn about the area in which we
will be traveling over the next few days. We then depart on a short drive
to Marathon TX, an extremely small village with a wonderful hotel at the
gateway to Big Bend National Park. The historic
Gage Hotel (built at the
turn of the century) still stands; but our rooms are in a small complex of
modern Southwest-styled rooms built around a courtyard next to the hotel.
Each room is uniquely furnished with antiques from the old west, and the
swimming pool (with a waterfall!) is delightful. Dinner is included this
evening.
Day Four, Wednesday, April 22 (B,L)
Touring in Big Bend National Park. After an
included breakfast at the Gage, we re-board our motorcoach and drive south
for an hour to
Big Bend National Park, an 800,000 acre wonderland of
geology, botany and biology located in southern Texas. The Rio Grande
River borders the park for 118 miles, and the park itself encompasses part
of the Chihuahuan Desert, the Chisos Mountain Range and steep canyons.
The geology is both volcanic and fault-block, plant and animal life is
prolific and unusual, and the scenery is magnificent. Half the bird
species found in the U.S. migrate through Big Bend, and spring is a prime
time to spot them. Lunch today is at the
Chisos Mountain Lodge, located
in the heart of the park inside the cone of an ancient volcano. Here truly
is some of the most magnificent (and least-known) scenery in the west!
Day Five, Thursday, April 23 (B,L)
Guadalupe Mountains National Park. After
another included breakfast, we drive to Van Horn for lunch before entering
Guadalupe Mountains National Park. These mountains are the uplifted
remains of the Capitan Reef Complex, an inland sea which covered parts of
Texas and New Mexico in pre-historic times. In the 19th
century, Mescalero Apaches lived here before they were driven out by the
U.S. Cavalry to make room for settlers. Remains of a Butterfield stage
station and the Frijole Ranch can be seen during our visit. We then
continue to Carlsbad NM and overnight at the Best Western Stevens Inn.
Day Six, Friday, April 24 (B,L)
Carlsbad Caverns National Park; Living Desert Zoo
and Gardens. This morning’s touring begins with a visit to
Carlsbad
Caverns, a series of limestone caverns carved into the Guadalupe Mountains
in New Mexico. Our visit includes a self-guided tour of the Big Room,
which is 8 acres in area with a ceiling over 250 feet high. We then
continue on to the
Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, which contains plants
and animals of the Chihuahuan Desert, including gray wolves. After a
short drive to Artesia, we have an included luncheon before driving on to
Cloudcroft NM, a tiny mountain hamlet located over 8600 feet in
elevation. Here we stay the night at
The Lodge, a beautiful historic 1909
former Southern Pacific Railroad hotel with a spa, fitness room and
shopping in the village.
Day Seven, Saturday, April 25 (L)
White Sands National Monument; Toy Train Depot and
Miniature Train; Museum of Space History. Our day begins with a visit
to
White Sands National Monument,
 located south of Alamogordo. The
visitors’ center has a film and exhibits about the history of this
location, and the sight of these vast and starkly white dunes so far from
any ocean is amazing. In Alamogordo, we visit the
Toy Train Depot, which
has hundreds of model trains on display. In addition, we ride a 16” gauge
train. Following our included lunch, we visit the
New Mexico Museum of
Space History, which has exhibits of the space programs of all countries
and launch shuttles and spacecraft. We then drive to Socorro, where we
overnight at the Best Western Socorro Hotel.
Day Eight, Sunday, April 26 (L)
Sandia Tram; Albuquerque. We drive to
Albuquerque this morning and begin our sightseeing with the
tram ride up
to the 10,378 foot summit of Sandia Peak,
where we enjoy an included
luncheon before returning.
 The forested summit provides sweeping views of
nearly 100 miles into the vastness of the New Mexico uplands. Our motorcoach takes us to our hotel for the next two nights, the Best Western
Rio Grande Inn. Following our check-in, there is free time to enjoy the
Old Town area, which lies outside our hotel. Over 150 shops, restaurants
and attractions can be found in this area.
Day Nine, Monday, April 27 (L)
Rail Runner Express; Santa Fe. This morning
our motorcoach takes us to the depot to ride the new
Rail Runner Express
commuter rail, which is scheduled to be open all the way to Santa Fe by
next year. The route initially follows the traditional line to Santa Fe,
then turns onto a completely new alignment from Bernalillo, constructed in
some places in the median of I-40. Upon arrival in Santa Fe, we visit the
San Miguel Mission and ride the tram tour for an overview of the village.
Our Farewell Luncheon is at the famous
La Fonda restaurant,
 followed by
free time before returning by rail on the new line to Belen and back to
Albuquerque late this afternoon. We arrive at our hotel in time for
dinner.
Day Ten, Tuesday, April 28 (L,D for sleeping car
passengers)
Isleta Pueblo Mission; depart on SOUTHWEST
CHIEF. In mid-morning we visit the
Mission of the Isleta Pueblo,
located south of Albuquerque. The pueblo was initially established in the
13th century, and St. Augustine Church was built in 1612 on the
main plaza. We return to Albuquerque and board the
SOUTHWEST CHIEF
departing at 12:55 p.m. for Chicago. The route follows a very scenic line
through Apache Canyon and over Raton Pass as we roll east on the BNSF
mainline. We overnight on the train.
Day Eleven, Wednesday, April 29 (B,L for sleeping
car passengers)
Dawn finds us in the rich farmlands of eastern
Kansas. We stop at Kansas City and cross the Missouri and Mississippi
Rivers before speeding across Illinois enroute to Chicago. Arrival is
scheduled for 3:20 p.m. in Chicago, where our tour ends.
TOUR PRICES include all hotels; tour manager
services; admissions; meals noted as included above; rail and motorcoach
transportation; and luggage handling from our departure in Chicago on Day
One to arrival in Chicago on Day Eleven. Not included are connecting
transportation to/from Chicago to join the tour, other meals, alcoholic
beverages and items of a personal nature. Three nights are spent on
Amtrak. All other nights are in hotels. The basic tour price includes
leg-rest reclining seat coach accommodations on the train.
$2099.00 per person, double occupancy, using coach
seating on Amtrak
$2499.00 per person, single occupancy, using coach
seating on Amtrak
1951 Southern Pacific RR "Sunset Limited" Poster
Optional Pullman Sleeper upgrades on the TEXAS
EAGLE/SUNSET LIMITED and SOUTHWEST CHIEF. This added cost includes a
Pullman sleeper room on the nights of Day One, Two and Ten and a total of
ten meals (three breakfasts, four lunches, and three dinners) while on
these trains. Amtrak Roomettes provide an upper and lower berth at
night. Toilets and showers are located in each car. Deluxe Bedrooms
provide an upper and lower berth at night and a private in-room toilet,
sink and shower. Deluxe bedrooms are very limited; book early if you want
one of these rooms.
Our special pricing for these sleeper upgrades
should be available from Amtrak about June 1. We can accept your booking
now and then notify you of the sleeper prices when we receive them. These
rates also will be posted here as soon as they are received from Amtrak.
Conditions and Booking Information (the fine
print)
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