Most scenic parts of Amtrak routes traversed during the night?

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Willbridge said:
The night view into Denver doesn't work well in the reflective glass topped lounge. I haven;t seen it recently but some conductors would turn off the main lighting in the coaches and passengers would oooh and awww. About once or twice a year Train 5 is so late that it offers the night view, reminiscent of the westbound former D&RGW Prospector.
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Maybe the reflective glass dimmed the lights, I think probably I wasn't paying attention at the right time. That particular train was running 6 or 7 hrs late, maybe someone had already shut out the lights.
 
I remember the descent into Denver on 6 being quite pretty from the lounge car - but do not remember if the lights were dimmed or not (it's been a long time ago.)

But it's pretty much impossible to see dim or moonlight-illuminated scenery from coach or lounge; when I get a roomette, it's for the view at night with the room darkened/hallway curtain drawn, more so than for the bed.
 
flitcraft said:
This isn't Amtrak, but on Via's Canadian, the Thompson and Fraser River Canyons east of Kamloops are usually traversed at night, though due to a late Canadian, we saw them during the day. They're spectacular.
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A good reason to ride the Rocky Mountaineer over that territory....
 
If we are including VIA Trains into the mix then I have a segment to nominate.

On the Ocean from Mont Joli to Campbellton, especially the area near Matapedia. If you are lucky and a bit late going eastbound you will get the area near the Matapedia in daylight.

Then on the Canadian westbound.

Edmonton-Jasper is in darkness.
Kamloops-Vancouver is in darkness.

Eastbound on the Canadian.
Hope-Valemont is in darkness.

And I love Saskatchewan and find it an underrated part of the country.
 
Seaboard92 said:
If we are including VIA Trains into the mix then I have a segment to nominate.

On the Ocean from Mont Joli to Campbellton, especially the area near Matapedia. If you are lucky and a bit late going eastbound you will get the area near the Matapedia in daylight.
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Eastbound, sunrise started at Matapedia last November and it's a good thing - the next several miles are beautiful at dawn.
 
I found my photograph from 1977 from the Pecos River High Bridge. This is traversed in darkness on the Sunset eastbound. The quality is pretty bad (this is a digital flash photograph of an Instamatic print), but I still believe the canyon looks deeper and wider than in anyone else's photos:

IMG_8216.jpeg
 
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I like the view of Lake Erie and the marshes near Sandusky, seen from the Lake Shore Limited or the Capitol Limited under a full moon. With the low light and motion, I've never been able to get a good photograph of it. Plus I'm always so tired, because it's an ordeal to stay up late enough to catch the train after working Friday.

I just ordered the Google Pixel 4a, upgrading from the Pixel 2, and I hope to do it justice in future photographs.
 
bms said:
I like the view of Lake Erie and the marshes near Sandusky, seen from the Lake Shore Limited or the Capitol Limited under a full moon. With the low light and motion, I've never been able to get a good photograph of it.
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I know little about digital photography, but based on roll film camera experience I have a hunch that your best chance of getting good images under those conditions would be by capturing the scene in black & white. I'm guessing (if that can be done) doing so would reduce the amount of data recorded by eliminating any attempt to capture what little color there is.

This is pure guesswork on my part.
 
Much of the Kootenai River Canyon between Libby, MT (well, Troy, really) and Bonners Ferry, ID is largely inaccessible by road and our (BNSF's) Kootenai River Sub. traces it near water level. If I remember correctly, BNSF at one point rated it as the most scenic spot in their network. As an AMTK passenger, you're missing one fine morning view; they filmed the waterfall scene of The Revenant at Kootenai Falls for a reason (and also because train crews are most of the only people to have seen them).
These old dwarf telephone poles parallel the rails along the water that the ospreys nest on (they peep angrily at you when you step out onto the nose and try talking to them). Constant landslide hazard in the canyon - BN has spent, well, not enough building slide detector fences and reinforcing the rock but it didn't stop a few big boulders from tossing two Dash-9's into the river last January in the middle of the night. Ironically, given this forum, I think they were in Katka siding waiting on Amtrak.
The Canyon is one of those rocky, windy single-track stretches where freight and passenger (if I remember) are limited to 30. So the next time you're westbound on #7 and can't sleep in the middle of the night, wait til you're going real slow about 15 minutes out of Libby - head downstairs and open up that little vestibule window on the right side of the train that your Shelby conductor really won't appreciate you opening - get your night vision - and take a gander at one of the last truly remote stretches of rail left in the West. I don't miss much about riding the head end at 3am, but I've yet to find a more gratifying solitude at work than opening up that orange steel door, suffering the blast of sudden Idaho winter and hanging my arms over the forward stanchions, watching that river (always under 20mph, as far as the internet is concerned).
 

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