All Aboard!
Take to the rails of Kentucky and experience a bygone era

HUGE steam locomotives with engineers waving from the cab. Dozens upon dozens of freight cars clacking through city crossings. Bright red cabooses. All are a part of the age-old romance of trains.

For a few childhood summers I took the overnight Pullman from Nashville to summer camp in North Carolina. I remember peeping out the curtains during the wee morning hours to see tiny town lights whiz by, and being rocked to sleep by the soothing clackety-clack of iron wheels. The nostalgia those memories evoke can still emerge whenever I hear a train whistle in the night.

So it was with delight that I discovered a resurgence of opportunities to ride these glorious beasts right here in Kentucky.

My Old Kentucky Dinner Train

Departing from a National Historic Register, pre-Civil War depot in Bardstown, My Old Kentucky Dinner Train hearkens back to a bygone era when top class cuisine was cooked in a fully-equipped kitchen car and served on fine china by white-coated waiters. On a recent evening I climbed aboard to relive those memorable days.

According to general manager and corporate chef Bob Perry, about half his clients ride for nostalgia’s sake and the other half because it’s out of the ordinary. To him, however, the train is a fine dining restaurant, and he’d like food to be their first consideration.

On my March run, the entree list presented five divine selections – prime rib, crown roast of pork, herb-roasted chicken with risotto, spinach-mushroom manicotti or salmon in parchment paper with leeks and new potatoes. I chose the latter, with Bourbon Creme Brulee for dessert. The Orient Express would be green with envy.

In a little over two hours, we chugged 35 miles in authentically refurbished 1940-era cars. A 1950s diesel engine (one of two used for each run) pulled us past the Jim Beam Distillery, Deatsville depot and grazing llamas, through Bernheim Forest and across the 300-foot Jackson Hollow Trestle to Limestone Springs and back on the old L&N tracks.

More than 25,000 passengers of every sort and condition climbed on last year, from blue jean-clad rail fans to anniversary celebrants in slinky dresses and spike heels. The 140-capacity Dinner Train runs all year – from January through March only on Saturdays, with a murder mystery every third weekend. April runs are scheduled on demand, with daily ones at noon and 5 p.m. the rest of the year. 502/348-7300.

Kentucky Railway Museum

The Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven boasts a collection of railroad artifacts and memorabilia that’ll turn your clock back to the glory days of trains. Learn about the Lebanon Branch, one of the first tracks built by the old Louisville and Nashville in the 1850s and its vital Civil War role. Then climb on for a 22-mile chug through fields, forests, farmlands and the historic Rolling Fork River Valley.

Each year 35,000 museum visitors either ride behind or marvel at the steel behemoth, which operates on special runs. Regular runs are on Saturdays, Sundays and most major holidays April through November (weather permitting) and from June through Labor Day, every Tuesday through Friday as well. A Santa train connects with Christmas ‘Round Bardstown, and you can escape from shopping mall fever on December 26 and 28 on two after-Christmas specials. 800/272-0152 or www.kyrail.org

Big South Fork Scenic Railway

In 1902 Justice Stearns bought around 30,000 acres on the Cumberland Plateau of the Big South Fork River Valley for logging and coal mining, set up company headquarters in the newly-established town of Stearns and began construction on the Kentucky and Tennessee Railroad, now the Big South Fork Scenic Railroad. For years, the Stearns Company sawed logs into finished lumber at the nation’s first all-electric sawmill and shipped it, along with coal, all over the country.

Today, the Big South Fork National Recreation Area is one of the nation’s newest national parks, straddling the Kentucky-Tennessee line. Visitors can tour the company store, original office buildings and freight depot in the restored coal mining town of Stearns, sit down for a meal at The Whistle Stop Cafe, board the train for a plunge into the gorge of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River – sometimes called the "Yellowstone of the East" – and stop for an hour and a half at Blue Heron Mining Camp.

Here, a National Park Service exhibit’s "ghost structures," silhouettes of former buildings, feature voices of people who really lived there, telling about life back when. Tap your toes to Bluegrass and country music while munching a hot dog before reboarding for the 45-minute return. "We have a lot of rich Appalachian coal mining history and railroading and scenic beauty," says general manager Mark Jordan. "It’s an outdoor package that’s difficult to find anywhere else."

Towed by two antique Alco diesel locomotives, the train itself consists of roofed open-air cars, so dressing for the weather is essential. May through September runs are Wednesdays through Sundays, and during fall foliage in October, on Tuesdays as well. April runs are added on demand.

Call ahead to order a boxed lunch, which comes wrapped in souvenir red engineers’ bandanas. You can even stay overnight in a miner’s cabin at Barthell Mining Camp. 800/GO-ALONG or www.bsfsry.com

Hardin Southern Railroad

Specializing in both on-board and edible trackside nostalgia, the Hardin Southern Railroad is a Kentucky State Landmark in the far western town of Hardin, 30 miles south of Paducah and adjacent to TVA’s vast Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

On a two-hour educational rumble along the century-old route of the Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis Railroad, you can sip iced tea or a chilly soft drink in the comfort of reclining seats in climate controlled coaches as the fertile farmlands and lush forests of the Clarks River Valley flash by.

The Hardin Southern takes on pleasure-seeking passengers on every Saturday from May 27 until October 21 with additional runs on Saturdays and Sundays during July, August and October.

Rich in atmosphere, Hardin’s Railroad Diner Restaurant is but a short walk from the tracks and serves authentic dining car cuisine prepared from recipes developed by the country’s finest railroad chefs over the past 100 years. Lunch fare can be juicy hamburgers or sandwiches, while dinner brings full-course meals with classic desserts. After their substantial Sunday breakfast buffet, you may need to jog alongside the train.

Special events theme trains include Mothers and Fathers Day and a yuletide Santa express. During non-scheduled run times, charters are available and on-board food can be arranged for groups. 270/437-4555 or www.hsrr.com

Bluegrass Scenic Railroad

Open every weekend from the last in May through the third in October, the Bluegrass Scenic Railroad just south of Versailles offers a casual 90-minute journey through Central Kentucky’s rolling hills and farmland. Midway through this jaunt along the mainline of the old Louisville Southern Railroad, passengers may disembark for a short stroll to 1889-era Young’s High Bridge, a 1,658-foot-long trestle with a spectacular view of the Kentucky River 280 feet below.

Special events include Hobo Days on Memorial Day Weekend with on-board live music, a Wild West Train Robbery the last weekend in June with real looters who’ll fleece you for charity, a Civil War Drama and Train Robbery the last weekend in August, Clown Daze in September, Halloween Ghost Trains and of course, the Santa Claus Special. Kids love these runs.

Groups can charter non-scheduled weekday trains and coach rental on regular run coaches are available for any kind of celebration. 606/873-2476 or 800/755-2476 outside Lexington area

Amtrak

If you’re not looking for history, entertainment or epicurean delicacies, but just want to watch beautiful backroads countryside zip by, hear a locomotive whistle blow and chow down on a snack bar sandwich, Amtrak’s your ticket. Catch its famous Cardinal at about 9:00 a.m. on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays in Ashland and put your feet up for a daylight run through the gorgeous mountains of West Virginia. In transit, the train stops at the grand old Greenbrier resort on the way to an 8:30 p.m. arrival in Washington, D.C. A return on those three mornings leaves the capitol at 10:00, rumbling back into Ashland by 10:30 that night.

Brand new daily service for Amtrak is a stop in Jeffersonville, Indiana, just three miles north of Louisville. Passengers can board at 10:25 p.m. for a 10:00 arrival in Chicago the next morning. Windy City departure is at 8:10 in the evening with an 8:40 return the following day. 800/USA-RAIL or www.amtrak.com.

Katherine Tandy Brown (kathybrown@lanereport.com) is a staff writer for The Lane Report.

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