Trains

by Gloria Helmuth; Tulsa, OK

4-day/3-night train/coach tour in ECUADOR. Highlights: Board the Tren Crucero in Quito/hike near Lake Limpiopungo in Cotopaxi National Park/chance to see Andean deer, wolves, spectacled bear, caracaras/explore a rose plantation/ride a steam locomotive from Riobamba to Guamote/Guamote indigenous market/visit a Shuar community in Bucay. Land, from $1,270. Single supp., $150. Tropic (Quito, Ecuador; 888/207-8615).

It’s always nice to receive the kind of warm attention upon arrival that I did, as a solo traveler, at the Priestville Guest House (10 Priestfield Rd., Edinburgh, Scotland, EH16 5HJ, U.K.; phone 0131 667 2435). For my stay, April 1-10, 2013, proprietors Colin and his wife, Trina, greeted me in their beautiful lobby area.

In Canada, a runaway train carrying crude oil derailed in the center of Lac-Mégantic, southeastern Quebec, on July 6, causing tremendous explosions and fire that killed 47 people and flattened 40 buildings. The cause was human error; a handbrake was not set properly on the parked train.

In northwestern Spain, the derailment and crash of a passenger train near Santiago de Compostela on July 24 killed 78 people and hospitalized more than 60. The driver admitted that the train was running far faster than the speed limit for that section of track.

This is Spain’s worst train disaster in decades. Spain’s rail safety record has been somewhat better than the European average. 

To celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, my husband, Dan Holland, and I visited Tuscany, Oct. 25-Nov. 8, 2012. We stayed in the small village of Ghivizzano, north of Lucca, in the Serchio Valley between the Apuan Alps and the Apennines. 

Before taking a cruise-tour in Europe, my wife, Gloria, and I wanted to see Switzerland. I searched the Internet for a Swiss travel consultant and found Magic Switzerland (Kansas City MO; 800/337-9477 or 816/753-5573). I recommend their services.

Magic Switzerland’s Pepe Stub was quick to respond to my e-mails and phone calls and make arrangements for my wife and me for five days and four nights. 

I read the article “The Great Train Journey — Vladivostok to Moscow” by Jack Ogg (March ’13, pg. 20) with great interest, as my longtime companion and I also were booked on the MIR Corporation trip, ours to take place March 9-23, 2013.

In Castelar, a western suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a commuter train slammed into the rear of a stopped train near the station on June 13, killing three people and injuring about 300. 

This is the third deadly crash on the Sarmiento line in two years. In September 2011 a bus was hit by a train, killing 11 and injuring 212, and in February 2012 a train hit a retaining wall, killing 51 and injuring more than 700.