In the 19th and 20th centuries, railroads revolutionized transportation in North America, permanently accelerating the pace of travel across the continent. Today, many of those railroad tracks host an assortment of historic excursion trains, inviting riders to slow down and enjoy a grand day out.. Today, many of those same tracks host an assortment of historic excursion trains, inviting riders to slow down and enjoy a grand day out.

The trains below are destinations in themselves, offering a mix of spectacular sightseeing, onboard dining and glorious open-air observation cars. They traverse deserts, mountains, forests and canyons, pulled by diesel and steam into parts of nature reachable only by rail. They’re rolling lessons in geology and ecology, not to mention history. Most are accessible, none costs more than $150, and each offers a window into the diverse beauty of this continent.

One of Canada’s most scenic train routes starts in the town of Sault Ste. Marie, just over the Michigan-Ontario border. Initially conceived to transport the area’s timber and iron ore, the former Algoma Central Railway slices through the 1.2-billion-year-old Agawa Canyon on a route so picturesque that it’s offered some form of recreation-focused passenger service for decades.

Today, it’s the Agawa Canyon Tour Train, which offers full-day excursions that give riders ample time to take in the scenery both onboard and on foot. The train leaves at 8 a.m. for a four-hour, 114-mile run through the Canadian Shield wilderness, with a prerecorded onboard commentary highlighting points of interest along the way. At mile 102, the train descends 500 feet to the canyon floor (accessible only by rail), where passengers can disembark for 90 minutes to explore Agawa Canyon Park’s trails, panoramic lookout and waterfalls before the trip home.

The train runs Friday to Monday in August, when tickets cost 150 Canadian dollars (around $104), and daily during peak foliage season (166 dollars). Riders can preorder food, bring their own, or upgrade to the new Stone Gardner “theater car,” with its swivel lounge chairs and a giant rear window (500 dollars, including breakfast, lunch and drinks). Also on offer: Indigenous-led cultural tours of the canyon, plus special train outings with onboard guides from both the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Center and Entomica Insectarium, possibly the world’s only aviation-and-entomology-themed train tour.

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