Private railroad cars are a time warp

CINCINNATI — Financial barons and wealthy socialites once traveled the country on luxurious private railroad cars, dining on fine china and crystal and pampered by stewards. Today's travelers can recapture that romantic era with journeys on some of the same cars.

A relatively small number of train devotees have purchased and refurbished the private rail cars familiar in the first half of the 20th century — the golden age of passenger rail travel.

Passengers can sip cocktails and nibble on hors d'oeuvres while sinking into deep leather sofas in lounges paneled in rich mahogany and be lulled to sleep at night by the rhythm of train wheels rolling down the rails.

"I wasn't a train buff, but I am now," said Donna Cothron, who took a trip with her husband on the Cincinnati-based Oliver Hazard Perry sleeper-lounge. "I could travel like this forever. It's so relaxing."

The Cothrons' car was part of a train that went to Chicago for shopping and sightseeing, then through picturesque Michigan towns such as Petoskey on the banks of Lake Michigan and Boyne Falls, where the train pulled into a Polish Festival.

"Everyone was so excited in all the small cities we stopped in, and some brought their kids to see the train," Cothron added. "You felt like you were riding with the president."

While the Cothrons' car was chartered for their use only, the private-car train also included the Vista Dome sleeper-lounge topped with a glass dome providing a 360-degree view and the Birch Grove sleeper that accommodates 22 people.

The private single cars and multicar trains normally travel Amtrak routes, hooked onto the back of Amtrak passenger trains as they wind through the Sierra Mountains or the Great Plains or into bustling metropolitan areas such as Chicago, New York and Washington.

Sometimes they go off Amtrak lines, hiring a freight engine to pull the cars along short-line railroads that are less traveled and offer a more leisurely pace and the opportunity to stop in small towns.

The Cothrons leased a car with three bedrooms, two showers, kitchen, dining room and lounge solely for themselves and were served by a chef-concierge.

"It's like riding in a million-dollar motor home on rails," said Edwin Cothron, a real estate developer, as he relaxed in the car with a glass of wine as the 1940s song "Long Ago and Far Away" played softly in the background.