Locations no longer in view

For Amtrak passengers, that is. At one time you could see these from an Amtrak passenger train:
Great Salt Lake crossing
Homestake Pass
Stampede Pass
Gulf Coast bays and estuaries
Sherman Hill
Blue Mountains
Columbia River (UP side)
Virgin River Canyon? (not 100% sure about this one)

You'll still see plenty of bayous between Orange and Baton Rouge from the Sunset Limited.

But how about this variation: Scenic highlights lost due to schedule changes? Thinking of the Sunset Limited again...the Pecos River High Bridge and the Salton Sea in southern California used to be scenic highlights. Now you're unlikely to get a decent glimpse of them, either way, unless the train is significantly late.

There used to be a good view of the Chicago River from trains departing/arriving the north side of Union Station before the air rights were sold and a skyscraper was built on top of the tracks.

Never was a railroad through the Virgin River Gorge (not even a highway until they completed Interstate 15 through it is the 70s. US 91 didn't go through it, either).

But that reminds me...Meadow Valley Wash/Clover Canyon(although that was at night either direction).

Since we are talking the Desert Wind, Afton Canyon and Cima Hill.

Echo Canyon/Wahsatch Grade on SFZ or last iteration of Pioneer.

Bozeman Pass on the North Coast Hi.

Sunset never went through Baton Rouge, either under SP or Amtrak. Think you mean between Beaumont, TX and New Orleans.

zephyr17 said:

Sunset never went through Baton Rouge, either under SP or Amtrak. Think you mean between Beaumont, TX and New Orleans.

Click to expand...

Correct, brain slipped out of gear.

The Yellowstone River segment of the North Coast Limited route was also a highlight of the North Coast Hiawatha. The Empire Builder route through Yakima was also scenic, although it drove Oregonians crazy to spend all day riding around Washington to get to or from Pasco. On the original Amtrak route for the Builder it also traveled in one direction on the scenic SP&S line between Pasco and Spokane, but normally in the dark.

BTW, the State of Washington is studying the possibility of sponsoring a rail service on the Stampede Pass line. It's preliminary, but as in some other Western states, there has been support from members on both sides of politics. This would create a corridor service that also would be touristic.

Don't forget the literal water-level crossing of the Montrealer in northern Vermont. Nothing quite like a sleeping car swaying like a boat in the middle of a lake with nothing but water on either side.