ADVENTUROUS TRAIN JOURNEYS – PART III:
THE ARCTIC CIRCLE NIGHT TRAIN, SWEDEN TO NORWAY
The Route: Stockholm, Sweden to Narvik, Norway
Duration: 1215 miles, 18.5 hours
The Fare: 136 USD in a six-person couchette compartment, one-way
The Adventure: Disembark at Kiruna for cross-country skiing, dog-sledding and aurora hunting in Abisko National Park or stay on until Narvik, a gateway hub to the Lofoten Islands and Tromsø
Departing Stockholm Central station just after 6pm, this comfortable sleeper night train service curls up the backbone of Sweden, crossing over the border into Norway and ending 137 miles inside the Arctic Circle, at the northernmost station in Europe. It was mid-March when I boarded, the sky a midnight blue, the air clean and crisp. As the train thundered out of the capital, turning north, I cupped my hands against the window and watched as bodies of ink-black water glittered under the glow of lampposts. Around me passengers were spreading out blankets, wedging in ear buds and opening takeaway boxes of pizza, the waft of kicked-off shoes adding to the mix.
Lured towards the dining car, the heart and soul of a night train, I tucked into a steaming bowl of reindeer stew and mash, surrounded by a group of teachers en route to the city of Kiruna to ski. They offered me wine and strips of sticky gravlax along with tips on how to spot the Northern Lights at Abisko National Park. This onboard community was filled with the warmth so typical to sleeper trains, but my midnight I was ready to take to bed. Crawling into my lower berth in a six-person couchette, I nudged back the curtain to watch the moon bobbing between tree silhouettes, and golden stars hanging in bedroom windows. By morning passengers had slipped out, leaving no more than a bundle of blankets and as we crossed the Norwegian border, less than a handful of passengers were privy to the route’s grand finale.
Embarking on the Ofoten line at Bjørnfjell, the train ran at the edge of a cliff as the fjords emerged below, magisterial in their quiet movement. Mountains rose, the sun throwing soft light upon the carriage as the train clattered through one tunnel after another, beside ice-blue waterfalls frozen in their midst. Nineteen hours after departure the train took its final breath, hissed and braked into the historic port of Narvik. – Monisha Rajesh
DENALI STAR, ALASKA
The Route: Anchorage to Fairbanks
Duration: 356 miles; 12 hoursThe Fare: Around $285 for Adventure Class and $532 for the upgraded GoldStar
The Adventure: Take in Denali – the highest peak in North America – as you zip through the remote Alaskan wilderness
The shining jewel of the Alaska Railroad, the Denali Star links the state’s two largest cities with one of our nation’s most awe-inspiring national parks. I’ve ridden the Denali Star twice over the last three years, and it’s by far the best way to reach Denali National Park.
From Anchorage, the Denali Star rolls through a couple of urban stops before entering the backcountry. The train chugs past the Chugach Mountains and across Hurricane Gulch atop a 296-foot-high trestle bridge. Chugging along past the spruce and birch forests, we see multiple homesteader cabins through the thick trees, and even stopped near one to drop off supplies.
Seeing moose, grizzlies, and other wildlife are a common occurrence; I may have caught a fleeting glimpse of a black bear cub standing near the edge of the Indian River, but we passed it so fast, it could’ve been just a rock. A conductor calls out animal sightings, as well as bits of history intermixed with dad jokes over the intercom.
Roughly only 30 percent of Denali visitors actually see the iconic peak; the mountain’s so large, it creates its own weather systems, and is usually enveloped in clouds. When Denali – forget the Mt. McKinley name change – came into view in all its white-capped glory, the entire train car let out a collective “ahhhhhhh.” Every other mountain in the Alaska Range looked like the proverbial molehill compared to the 20,000-foot behemoth.
When we finally arrived in Denali National Park after eight hours, my bags were whisked away and brought to my hotel, while I took in the majesty of my surroundings while waiting for a shuttle bus. Nearly a week later, I’d be back on the train platform, waiting to complete the journey to Fairbanks. While the first leg was filled with an anxious energy, the final leg is all about reliving your Denali experience. – Robert Annis
TREN DEL FIN DEL MUNDO, ARGENTINA
The Route: Estación Fin del Mundo/Estación Parque Nacional
Duration: 4.3 miles, 45 minutes
The Fare: USD $38
The Adventure: Travel to the “End of the World” at the tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego
As I nibbled dulce de leche-filled biscuits, the Tren del Fin del Mundo (End of the World Train) chugged past peat bogs, southern beech forests, meandering rivers and snowy mountains, landscapes that make up much of Tierra del Fuego, the archipelago at the tip of South America. Tango classics played in the background, and a pair of yellow-green austral parakeets flashed overhead. It was hard to believe we were only 620 miles north of Antarctica.
Despite its modern comforts, the southernmost railway on earth has a grisly history. It was built by convict labour in the early 20th century, when the area was home to a notorious prison dubbed the ‘Siberia of the South.’ The Prisoners’ Train originally ran along 13.6 miles of track and played a vital role in the development of the region, before falling out of use in the 1950s. Four decades later, the railway was revived as a touristy heritage line in the mid-1990s, and rebranded the Tren del Fin del Mundo. Replica steam trains now run on a 4.3-mile section of the track, from the Estación Fin del Mundo – 5 miles west of the city of Ushuaia – to a station at the edge of Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. En route they stop briefly at the miniature Estación La Macarena, which is populated by souvenir shops and cheerful staff in striped prisoner garb.
Despite these kitsch touches, the route provides a fascinating glimpse into the region’s tumultuous history, as well as its glorious scenery. It also enables you to explore Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, a trekking haven stretched along the shore of the Beagle Channel. At the end of my journey, as I followed a trail through a woodland echoing with the taps of a Magellanic woodpecker, a steam engine whistle sounded in the distance as the Tren del Fin del Mundo returned home. – Shafik Meghji’
This completes my series on the most adventurous train journeys in the world. I hope you enjoyed them and, more importantly, I hope you manage to take some of them. I’ve only managed to take one…to date!
