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| Choosing a Rail Tour | ||
| by Michael Allen | ||
| Railfans are generally independent types and usually prefer to travel by themselves or with a few selected friends. Why sign up for a tour, which may consist of upwards of 60 people and cost a lot of money? Good question. | ||
| First, in many places visited by tours, you simply can't manage to get the quantity or quality of shots on your own. Mainline steam has ended nearly everywhere and a typical one or two week tour may feature multiple locomotives, charter freight and passenger trains, and numerous runpasts. You can often get more photos in two days on a tour than you could manage in two weeks on your own, even if you were lucky enough to catch some photo freights or passenger specials. | ||
| The second reason for taking a tour is the difficulty of independent travel in certain areas. The language barrier means that only the hardiest traveler will choose to travel independently in places like South America, China, Pakistan, or Syria and Jordan. Add to this, poor internal transportation, the need to obtain permission for many visits and erratic operations and you have excellent reasons for taking a tour. If you only have two weeks of vacation, a tour can optimize your photographic results. | ||
| While SteamCentral does not recommend specific tours or tour operators, we can point you in the right direction and help you to find a selection of tours. Also, we will help you to ask the right questions when you are trying to decide on a tour. | ||
| How to Choose a Tour | ||
| You can find international tours listed in the SteamCentral Schedules, or at Rob Dickinson's International Working Steam Locomotives site. You can also find tours advertised in rail magazines like "TRAINS" or "Railfan & Railroad." You may also find an interesting tour by contacting your travel agent, although travel agents generally book more mainstream-oriented tours than the photography-oriented tours favored by railfans. | ||
| Once you've found a tour that interests you, find out if it is a luxury travel tour, a general railfan tour, or is it a hardcore photographer's tour. On general tours, the emphasis is often on riding lots of trains, with photo runbys offered only when convenient. Off line visits for tourism or shopping may also be featured. Spouses and significant others may enjoy such a tour. Hardcore tours may feature photography over all else, covering only the most scenic sections of a line with dawn to dusk spent on the line. Decide which type of tour you, and maybe your partner, will enjoy most. | ||
| You've narrowed down your selection, so it is time to get some references. Most rail tour operators are reputable and often have significant repeat business. Ask them for the names of some clients that you can contact. You can learn a lot about a tour group through a few brief phone calls. Do customers repeat because they like the quality of the photography, because they enjoy their fellow travelers or do they like the quality of the catering? Ask them if they had any problems on their first tour. Ask them what they would like to see improved on future tours. Ask them how the tour leaders deal with unexpected problems. Ask if the tour is well organized, or a little loose. Find out if the tour leaders have regular information meetings, or if the participants are expected to read the programs and know what is happening. This is important to know, as some tours announce each photo location in advance, including which side of the train to alight from and where the photo line will be. Others merely stop the train and everyone piles off and runs to a photo location that is chosen on the fly. While you're at it, ask the operator about accomodations. In developing countries, hotels and meals can be, er, Spartan by Western standards. You may be expected to "rough it," but don't let the lack of a Ritz-Carlton, or even a Motel 6, keep you from going. | ||
| Finally, even if the tour literature looks good, the operator gets good references and you decide to go, do some checking on the status of the lines to be visited. As we enter the new millennium, steam is nearly dead outside of museum operations. Some places that fans have been visiting for years, such as Ecuador, are becoming seriously run down and the infrastructure to run a successful tour may not be there any more. Tour operators are dependent upon local contacts and they may not have been given the latest bad news. If you take a tour to a "last gasp" operation, you need to go forewarned, as breakdowns and derailments will seriously cut into your photographic time and may result in skipped meals, late arrivals at hotels, etc. | ||
| Choosing a Destination | ||
| This sounds pretty obvious, but many American railfans are unfamiliar with foreign railways and often don't have any interest in foreign travel. But a steam locomotive being thrashed to its limits on steep grades sounds and smells the same the world over. After a while, you may find you like buffers and red drivers! | ||
 | South America: This is the number one destination for Americans taking organized foreign rail tours. Most steam engines used in South America were built in the USA. South America is also a treasure trove of rare US-built diesels and electrics and these are often featured on tours as well. With the exception of the Old Patagonian Express in Argentina, there is almost no regular service steam working in South America. If you like cab rides or even running the engines, South America is the place to go. Scenery is often spectacular, the food is good and people are friendly. Tour companies will provide charters on many main and branch lines, as well as organizing photo freights and passengers at various museum operations. | |
 | Africa: South Africa: If you want to capture mainline steam in South Africa, you will do best to take a tour. Mainline steam ended in 1991 and a typical two week tour of South Africa will feature 14-18 different locomotives, 14-20 charter freight and passenger trains, and upwards of 200 runpasts. South African steam has many American characteristics, with the famous 25NC class 4-8-4's having been based on the NYC Niagara and the N&W J design. The scenery in South Africa is spectacular and the lighting is brilliant during the South African winter (June-August). South Africa also offers game parks, beaches, excellent hotels and English is the principal language. Zimbabwe: There is still real working steam here, with about 15 Beyer-Garratts still active on shunting and local freight turns around Bulawayo. A tour will also cover the rest of the system, which went diesel in 1993. If you are fascinated by Beyer-Garratts, this is the place to go. You can easily visit on your own, if you want to photograph the "real" action, or take a tour and stay over for a few days. Cab rides can be arranged by applying for a permit in Bulawayo. Zimbabwe is a good destination for taking a spouse, as you can take a 5-7 day tour, followed by a week in the big game parks plus Great Zimbabwe ruins. English is the principal language. | |
 | Europe: Independent travel to Poland, the Czech Republic and the former East Germany is relatively easy, but one week tours out of England offer the opportunity for interesting charters. Romania, Ukraine, and Russia are best done on a tour, with charters arranged in advance. Former Soviet steam has a vaguely American look, with the big P-36 4-8-4's looking like green Milwaukee engines. The ribbed side passenger cars add to the Milwaukee "through the looking glass" feel! If you like cab rides, or even running the engines, a tour to these lawyer-free zones is a must! | |
| Middle East: Turkey and Syria are the principal destinations and they have quite a few preserved steam engines, but nothing is running in regular or tourist service. You'll need to be on a tour to see steam here. Scenery is spectacular, especially in Turkey, where snow capped mountains provide dramatic back drops, although the desert in Syria is spectacular as well. You can also get to see the trains that Lawrence of Arabia blew up, still lying in the sand along the Hedjaz Railway! | ||
| Asia: India and Pakistan: India used to have loads of steam and could easily be done on your own, but now, steam is gone except for one or two narrow gauge lines, a rack line and the famous Darjeeling line. A tour will offer charters on lines where steam is gone, as well as on the few steam survivors. The same is true for Pakistan: the famous Khyber Pass line is a must see, but the only trains that operate here are special charters. Indonesia: Most Americans don't know much about this interesting country, but if you are a fan of truly tiny narrow gauge engines, the Indonesian sugar industry is still using about 100 steam engines, mostly in 600mm and 700mm gauges. Economic changes threaten to wipe out the small mills, so go quickly while there is still something to see. Most tours here are organized out of England. China: This is the destination for fans looking to see big steam in true mainline service. Steam traction is being eliminated on China rails, but there are several regional and industrial lines still using steam on what look like main line trains. The steel mill near Chengde is on a branch off of China Rails, where two and three engines are regularly used to move coal to the mill. The most famous destination is currently the Jing Peng Pass in Inner Mongolia, where double headed 2-10-2's battle steep grades with high curved viaducts and tunnels. Several other locations, as well as some narrow gauge logging lines in Manchuria make China a great place for the steam minded traveler to visit. Cab rides are discouraged on mainline rails, but the regional lines are much more relaxed. Some reports on the net even indicate you can fire a 2-10-2 if you want to! Because these remaining steam locations are widely separated and are in rural areas with little tourist infrastructure, a tour is the best way for the first time visitor. Most tours of China do not feature special trains, except on the forestry lines. Getting you to the line side to take those photos of regular trains is the service the tour operator provides. A tour can take you to all the good locations, take care of the hassles of transportation, meals and lodging, and provide entry to workshops, factories and steel mills. In addition, an English speaking guide will be with the group to deal with local officials, take care of lost luggage, lost hotel reservations, etc. Many have done it on their own, but for the first time visitor, a tour is almost mandatory! Australia and New Zealand: These two countries have lots of preserved steam railways as well as frequent mainline specials. Most people visit on their own, but a few tours have been organized around mainline specials as well as tours to the preserved lines. If you want to maximize the steam experience, consider a tour here as well. | ||
 | North America: Tours of US and Canadian rails are offered by a number of British and other tour operators, as well as at least one US operator. Trips to the White Pass & Yukon, the Cumbres & Toltec, the British Columbia Railway, the Nevada Northern and others, offer multiple days with freight and passenger charters, often in areas not accessible by car, and also feature time trackside on "regular" railroads like BNSF or UP as well. Short of owning your own "Way Back Machine," this is the closest most of us will get to experiencing the "Golden Age of Steam." | |
| Being on a tour won't gratify the sense of "being there" if you enjoy standing alone at a photo location and letting the experience transport you. But if you want to see steam in many spectacular parts of the world, a tour is often the only way to do it. You will almost certainly come away with photos of trains or locomotives the solo visitor won't get. Give it a try, and don't hesitate to try something new. | ||
| Mike Allen of Brighton, MI, travels extensively both solo and on tours to photograph steam. He operates a hobby shop in the suburban Detroit area. | ||
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