New! Rails and Sails of the Eastern Shore
 May
13-23, 2009
Tour from $2699.00
One of our new spring tours for 2009 takes us to the
beautiful “Delmarva” area of the eastern seaboard. (That’s Delaware,
Maryland and Virginia, for those not familiar with the term). In addition,
we’re adding New Jersey destinations to comprise a beautiful rail and
ocean-themed circle from Baltimore. Rail Travel Center’s President, Wil
Doak, is the tour manager on this great new program.
Rail-oriented travel includes the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad Museum, the steam-powered Wilmington & Western Railroad,
 SEPTA,
New Jersey Transit’s Atlantic City Line, two rides on Amtrak (including
one on the 135mph
ACELA EXPRESS) and dinner on the new
Bay Creek Railway.
On the water, we cruise the harbor at Annapolis MD, ride the
Lewes Ferry
from Cape May NJ to Delaware’s Delmarva Peninsula, cruise the Miles River
in
St. Michaels MD, and travel by boat to famed
Tangier Island in
Chesapeake Bay.
Other major attractions include sightseeing in Baltimore,
Annapolis and Cape May; the
Hagley Museum;
Longwood Gardens;
the
Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels MD; and visits to the
United States Naval Academy in Annapolis; Nauticus; and the
Mariners'
Museum in Norfolk/Newport News VA. Please read the detailed description
below and then plan to join us on this exciting tour. All aboard!
Note: Some of the hotels used on this tour are totally
non-smoking. In order to fully enjoy this program, participants should be
able to walk for distances of a half-mile on fairly level ground.
Day One, Wednesday, May 13 Arrivals in Baltimore.
Our program begins with independent arrivals into Baltimore MD. No
activities are planned today, as participants will be arriving throughout
the day. We have an included overnight at the Days Inn Inner Harbor in the
downtown area.
 Day
Two, Thursday, May 14 (D) Fort McHenry; Baltimore & Ohio RR Museum; into
Annapolis; Welcome Dinner. This morning we first visit
Fort McHenry,
where the words to “The Star Spangled Banner” were composed by Francis
Scott Key while observing the fort under fire during the War of 1812.
We then return to downtown Baltimore and visit the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum. The B&O Museum houses what may be the
most significant railway collection in the United States, as the B&O was
the first long-distance railroad built on the continent. A company with a
true sense of history, the B&O saved equipment from the earliest years of
the company to the 1960s. Indeed, the B&O Museum is now affiliated with
the Smithsonian Institution!
Treasures include a rare “Camelback” steam engine, the
streamlined observation car from the “Columbian” (complete with its
art-deco interior furnishings), and the first diesel engine used on a
Class One railroad in the late 1920s. While many of the trains in the
collection come from the B&O, other exhibits come from lines that later
merged with the B&O (eventually forming today’s CSX railway) including
such wonders as a huge
Chesapeake and Ohio “Allegheny” articulated steam
engine, the most powerful steamer ever built. We enjoy a ride on the
historic “First Mile” of the B&O and explore the elegant 1850s round-house
that is the center-piece of the collection. This National Historic
Landmark was severely damaged by a record wet snowfall a few years ago,
but has been exquisitely restored.
 Our
museum visit ends about lunch time, when we return to the Inner Harbor
area for free time to visit the restaurants, shops and museums in this
lovely area. Sightseeing possibilities include the Baltimore Maritime
Museum, Maryland Science Center and IMAX Theatre, National Aquarium, or
the
USS CONSTELLATION Museum. The USS CONSTELLATION is the only Civil War
era ship still afloat and was the last all-sail warship built by the U.S.
Navy. In late afternoon, we depart for Annapolis and our Welcome Dinner.
We stay two nights at the Country Inns & Suites by Carlson in Annapolis.
Day Three, Friday, May 15 (B,D) Annapolis sightseeing
city tour; U.S. Naval Academy; William Paca House; harbor cruise. Our
morning begins with a sightseeing tour of Annapolis, followed by visits to
the
U.S. Naval Academy (walking tour) and a visit to the
William Paca
House and Gardens nearby. Paca was a signer of the Declaration of
Independence and Governor of Maryland; and his Georgian style home (built
in the mid-eighteenth century and surrounded by lovely gardens) is a
showplace. Following these visits, we have free time to enjoy an
independent lunch on the inner harbor, visit other historic sites, shop,
or simply sit in the sun enjoying the views until our late afternoon boat
cruise encompassing the harbor, Severn River and views of Annapolis from
the water. Dinner is again included at one of the fine restaurants in
town.
Day Four, Saturday, May 16 (B,L,D) Ride ACELA
EXPRESS; Hagley Museum; Delaware Toy & Miniature Museum; Read House and
Gardens; into Chadds Ford PA. Our motorcoach drops us at the BWI
Amtrak station for a fast
ACELA EXPRESS ride to Wilmington, Delaware.
These are North America’s fastest trains. On Amtrak’s superbly engineered
ex-Pennsylvania RR mainline, we cruise at speeds up to 135mph as we cross
coastal estuaries, the Susquehanna River and follow the northern shores of
the Chesapeake Bay.
We re-board our coach at Wilmington for a visit to the
Brandywine Valley’s Hagley Museum and an included luncheon. Hagley was the
original location of the great Du Pont gunpowder mills, estate and gardens
and is both a scenic, historic and scientific adventure. Nearby, we visit
the
Delaware Toy & Miniature Museum, which includes both antique and
contemporary miniatures, dollhouses, toy trains, boats and planes dating
from the 18th century to the present.
In
later afternoon we drive to New Castle Delaware, which was settled by the
Dutch in the 17th century. The village still retains a treasure of
historic 18th and 19th century buildings. We visit
Read House and Gardens,
built at the beginning of the 19th century by a son of one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence. A Victorian garden surrounds the
house. We also make a photo stop at the 1832 ticket office of the New
Castle and Frenchtown Railway and view wooden rails on stone sleepers
(ties) reconstructed nearby. Our included dinner is in the historic area
and features foods with an early American, Dutch and Swedish flavor. We
stay two nights at the charming Brandywine River Hotel in Chadds Ford,
Pennsylvania.
Day Five, Sunday, May 17 (B,L,D) Longwood Gardens;
Wilmington & Western RR. The morning is spent at famed
Longwood
Gardens, which should be in beautiful spring bloom at this time of year.
Pierre S. du Pont originally bought this property as a country estate. It
now contains numerous fountains, two lakes, 11,000 types of plants, a 3.5
acre conservatory, a formal rose garden, and woodlands. Lunch is included
on site.
We then drive to the outskirts of Wilmington to board
the Wilmington & Western Railroad’s normally steam-powered
“Mt. Cuba
Express” for a 1-1/2 hour ride through the Red Clay Valley. The W&W line
was nearly destroyed four years ago by a hurricane-type storm but has been
completely rebuilt and offers a very scenic ride with repeated crossings
of the Red Clay River. Dinner is included this evening at the Brandywine
Prime restaurant next to our inn.
Day
Six, Monday, May 18 (B) Ride SEPTA; NJ Transit; Smithville; into Cape May
NJ. We make a short transfer from our hotel to Elwyn and board SEPTA
for the ride into Philadelphia. We ride on an electrified former
Pennsylvania RR route through the prosperous suburbs southwest of
Philadelphia. Enroute our tracks pass directly through the campus of the
renowned Swarthmore College. We detrain to explore the magnificent 30th
Street Station, one of the last true “palaces of travel” to be completed
in the United States. The building was opened by the Pennsylvania RR in
1934 and has been stunningly restored.
We continue on New Jersey Transit’s Atlantic City Line
to Absecon NJ. The Atlantic City route was the joint speedway of the
Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and is famous for being featured in
the game of “Monopoly”. NJ Transit trains reach 80mph speeds as they fly
across the forests and farmlands of southern New Jersey.
At Absecon we re-board our motorcoach for a short drive
to
Smithville NJ. Historic Smithville is a quaint destination shopping
village with restaurants and dozens of shops to enjoy. And yes, there is a
miniature train and carousel to enjoy as well! We have time here for
independent lunches and browsing before continuing on to the famous
Victorian resort of
Cape May, New Jersey, where we stay two nights at the
beautiful, historic Congress Hall Hotel across the street from the beach.
Congress Hall has hosted guests since the 19th century and has been
lovingly restored.
 Day
Seven, Tuesday, May 19 (B) Cape May. This morning we take a guided
tour of the village of Cape May and visit the
Emlen Physick Estate. The
rest of the day is ours to enjoy as we wish. Swimming would not be in high
season at this time of year (although the beaches are open and you can
walk along the beautiful sandy beach). Cape May is full of other possible
activities. Numerous tours operate by rubber tire trolley, or you can
enjoy the town by walking. The entire village of Cape May is a National
Historic Site, and the display of restored Victoriana is unmatched! You
could visit Victorian homes for tours or tea, go shopping, tour
Fisherman’s Wharf or the World War II historic sites, or visit the
lighthouse and Cape May Point. Or you could just stroll and photograph the
beautiful surroundings.
Day Eight, Wednesday, May 20 (L) Lewes Ferry; Biggs
Museum; Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum; into Salisbury MD. This
morning we ride the
Lewes Ferry from
Cape May to Lewes DE, crossing the
Delaware Bay as it outlets to the Atlantic.
 Upon arrival on the rural
Delmarva Peninsula, we drive to Dover, where we visit the
Biggs Museum of
American Art in the capital city. The museum is based on the personal art
collection of Sewell Biggs and contains incredible American art, including
works by Albert Bierstadt and George Inness of the Hudson River School;
William Merritt Chase; the Impressionist Childe Hassam; Charles Wilson
Peale and Gilbert Stuart. Modern art also is represented, as well as fine
furniture of the Colonial and Federal periods.
We then drive to the lovely village of
St. Michaels MD,
which was a major port and ship-building center in the colonial period.
Now it serves as the yachting center for the area. Following an included
luncheon, we visit the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, seeing various bay
craft, ship models, ship paintings, and the Hooper Strait Lighthouse (ca
1879) on the museum grounds. A history of the vitally important Chesapeake
Bay oystering industry also is depicted here. During our visit, a cruise
on the Miles River on the Patriot of St. Michaels is included. Our hotel
tonight is the Country Inn & Suites by Carlson in Salisbury, Maryland.
 Day
Nine, Thursday, May 21 (B,D) Cruise to Tangier Island; Bay Creek Railway
dinner train; into Newport News VA. We drive to Onancock this morning,
located on the eastern shore of Virginia. Our boat cruise is on the
Captain Eulice, which takes us to the Chesapeake Bay’s car-free
Tangier
Island in time for an independent lunch. The island was settled in the
18th century, although legend has it that the famous Captain John Smith of
Jamestown first sighted it in 1608. Here we can watch the watermen as they
prepare to go fishing for seafood found in the Chesapeake Bay: soft shell
crab, clams, shrimp, and flounder. Today this area is a major center for
the provision of seafood to U.S. markets.
We return from the island in mid-afternoon and drive on
to Cape Charles to ride one of the newest dinner trains in the U. S., the
Bay Creek Railway dinner train. This line uses a restored 1913 former
Interurban car, converted to a self-propelled “Doodlebug”. The ride
travels on the former Pennsylvania RR Delmarva Line, which provided the Pennsy with a short route from Wilmington to Norfolk, although trains had
to cross the outlet of the Chesapeake Bay on a ferry!
Following our ride, we cross through the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge and Tunnel and the Hampton Roads Bridge and Tunnel to the Hampton
Roads area. We quite literally “go to sea” for over 20 miles on these
remarkable highway crossings! Our final two hotel nights are spent at the
colorful Marriott Newport News at City Center.
 Day
Ten, Friday, May 22 Norfolk Botanical Garden; Nauticus; Mariners’ Museum.
The Norfolk Botanical Garden is one of the largest in the U.S. and is
filled with roses, azaleas and rhododendrons as well as tropical plants in
a special pavilion. Following our visit, we travel on to Nauticus for
touring and independent lunches. This hands-on science center explores the
naval and economic uses of the sea and also contains a museum dedicated to
the naval history of the Hampton Roads area. Of special interest is the
battleship
USS WISCONSIN, which is open for touring.
Keeping to the maritime theme, we return to Newport News
and visit the
Mariners’ Museum. This superb museum contains marine art,
scrimshaw, navigational instruments, figureheads, a collection of
miniature ships, and the Hall of Steam. It also provides a history of the
U.S. Navy and, of special interest, an exhibit and relics of the American
ironclad USS MONITOR, which fought a naval battle with the Confederate
ironclad CSS MERRIMAC during the Civil War.
Day Eleven, Saturday, May 23 To Baltimore on Amtrak;
tour ends. We travel Amtrak north this morning over routes of the CSX
rail system and on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. From Newport News to
Richmond we ride the former Chesapeake and Ohio mainline through
Williamsburg. We continue on CSX’s former Richmond, Fredericksburg and
Potomac line, which crosses the Rappahannock River and follows the Potomac
to Washington. Enroute we actually traverse a bitterly contested portion
of the Civil War battlefield at Fredericksburg. Finally, we reach speeds
of 125mph on the quick sprint north from Washington to the BWI (Baltimore
Airport) station. We depart Newport News on Amtrak at 9:00 a.m., arriving
at the BWI (Baltimore airport) Amtrak station at 1:53 p.m., where our tour
ends.
TOUR PRICES include all hotels; tour manager services;
admissions; meals noted as included above; rail, boat, motorcoach and
ferry transportation; and luggage handling from arrival at our hotel on
Day One to drop-offs at BWI Amtrak on Day Eleven. Not included are
connecting transportation to/from Baltimore, other meals, alcoholic
beverages and items of a personal nature.
$2699.00 per person, double occupancy
$3299.00 single occupancy
Conditions and Booking Information (the fine
print)
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