American Railway Explorer is planning to bring back train travel on four different routes, including the eight-day Northwest Explorer excursion, which will use refurbished luxury cars to travel between Napa and Jackson, WY with stops in Crater Lake National Park, Glacier National Park and Helena. The end portion of the trip — through Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park to Jackson — will be done via coach.
Though it’s not publicized anywhere on the American Railway Explorer website, the firm is owned by Anschutz, and the website is actually served by Xanterra servers.
No word yet on the pricing for the trip, though another Anschutz-owned outlet, the Examiner.com website, is reporting prices will begin at $900 a day per person.
It’s not quite regularly scheduled service to Yellowstone National Park and way outside the price range of most Americans, but it’s a start. There’s been momentum building in Montana for regularly scheduled train service in that state, and one side effect of that movement could be some sort of trunk service to Yellowstone or West Yellowstone.
Photo of Gardiner train station courtesy of Library of Congress.
We’ve also set up a free Twitter account so you can receive updates on the device of your choice.