Travel the world to rhythm of the rails

The romance of train travel still exists around the world. It is possible to step into a grand railway station, board a train and experience the best the world has to offer on steel wheels.

Trains have never been faster, while remnants of the golden age of rail carry from Australia to Canada to Scotland. The United States is more of a mixed experience, where a great railroading legacy bumps into the uneven quality of service and equipment on Amtrak.

Regardless of the continent, though, you can tuck yourself away in a small private cabin with a pile of books brought along to read but discarded for long periods gazing out the window.

At its best, rail travel offers the languor of a cruise with the new-sight-a-minute views of a road trip, without having to keep your eyes on the road.

Here's my personal list of favorite train trips, including some American classics:

Vancouver, B.C., to Jasper, Alberta: The VIA trains are nicer, the service is better and you're more likely to be on time aboard this Canadian train than on its Amtrak counterparts.

The route from Vancouver to Jasper in the Canadian Rockies is called “the ski train” in winter. Come summer, the 1950s dome car features views of pine forests, vast lakes and some of the tallest peaks on the continent. You can explore the Rockies or continue on to Edmonton or as far as Toronto without changing trains.

Sunset Limited: Amtrak service is not for those who want to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. Only the most leisurely traveler can really enjoy what amounts to low-cost land cruises.

The Sunset Limited is a favorite in the winter, rolling south through the great deserts, skirting the Mexican border by mere feet at El Paso before rolling past Big Bend National Park and the famous eastern Texas town of Marfa, and over the highest railway bridge in the U.S., which passes over the Pecos River.

Coast Starlight: The scenery, as on most U.S. lines, is the awesome attraction, with the long run from Los Angeles to Seattle going from city to sea to mountains. Break up the trip with overnight stops in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Mount Shasta or Portland, Ore.

Southwest Chief: The successor to the classic Santa Fe train roughly parallels old Route 66 from Los Angeles to Chicago. Stop off in Flagstaff, Ariz.; Albuquerque, N.M.; or Kansas City, Mo. If you can make a stop along the way, go for Winslow, Ariz., where you can stay at La Posada Hotel, a former Harvey House railway hotel.

Pacific Surfliner: Sometimes short and sweet works best, especially when it comes to Amtrak. Officially, this train runs from San Luis Obispo to San Diego, but the service from Orange County to San Diego is short, usually efficient, and drops you off at San Diego's landmark Spanish-style Santa Fe station, within easy walking distance to hotels, downtown, the USS Midway museum and other attractions.

Durango & Silverton: This route carved through the Colorado mountains in 1882 is now just a tourist excursion train, but the black smoke-belching locomotive looks, sounds and smells like a train out of a western movie.

The narrow gauge American Heritage Railways cars climb to the silver mining town at the end of the ampersand. It's all the more heart-pounding because of the sheer drop-off of many of the segments.

The Indian-Pacific, Australia: The long trip from Sydney to Perth that passes through days of outback track is best now when weather is tolerable. Stop in an outback town such as Broken Hill or Kalgoorlie along the way. This epic 21/2-day Australian rail ride from Sydney on the Pacific Ocean to Perth on the Indian Ocean covers 2,704 miles.

Eurostar, Paris to London: It's become passe to take the half-hour hurtle under the English Channel between London and Paris or Brussels, but for those of us who remember green-faced ferry crossings, it remains a marvel.

Shinkansen, Japan: The Nozomi 500 bullet train is the fastest in Japan, and its gray bullet-nosed front with the bubble cockpit is unlike any in the world. The slower — and that's only a relative term — Kodama and Hikari trains make more stops, but still speed you around the country in time that would make any American envious.

Bergensbanen: The Norwegian train from Oslo to Bergen is the highest main line rail route between two cities in Europe. Passengers can take the wondrous scenic spur line from Myrdal to Flem, which includes a ferry and a bus trip to reunite with the train farther down the line.

Rovos Rail, South Africa: A fatal accident has cast a shadow over the once exemplary record of this luxury train that operates throughout South Africa and sometimes to the north. The carriages beautifully represent colonial era comforts.

Rovos excursions in the past include an epic trip to Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe to Zambia border and then on to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.