America's Scenic Rail Journeys
May 2005 Reviewed by: Marc Mickelson Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Scenic railways, which carry tourists for short distances through pristine terrain, have become popular in the US over the last decade. The mating of travel by train with remote natural settings harbors some intrinsic adventure and romance. The half-dozen routes discussed in separate episodes of America's Scenic Rail Journeys -- two in Alaska, one in Canada, one from Arizona to Mexico, one from New York City to Montreal, and another from Los Angeles to Seattle -- are working rail lines that carry passengers to actual destinations, so the title is somewhat misleading. These shows originally appeared on PBS and have been popular enough that this two-DVD set is now available. Our local PBS affiliate offered it as a gift to those people who gave generous donations.

Don't get the wrong idea about this series, especially after seeing the low-budget, computer-generated opening sequence. Each episode is not simply a series of shots of picturesque landscape seen through the window of a moving train car. There is some of this, but the bulk of each episode profiles various people and places along the tracks in some depth, and these interludes give viewers a more absorbing view of the entire trip. We get to meet people who live in the Alaskan bush, people who work for the railways, and people who live along the tracks. All of this material bulks out each 50-minute episode. In a certain sense, each show imparts more information than riding the trains would.

Extra features are scant: text information on each rail journey and an Alaskan rail picture gallery. The video image is colorful and clear, not cinematically soft and saturated. It's exactly what you'd want for such material.

So often reviewing DVDs involves writing about assigned movies and TV programs that may or may not fully interest you. This series had me from the first few minutes of the first episode. America's Scenic Rail Journeys is not just for those who have taken the trips depicted. There are enough people and places profiled, and enough remote scenery, that even watching an episode you have already seen is not out of the question. You can spend much more on DVDs and not buy something nearly as entertaining as this set.

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