I flew into Montreal and boarded the VIA at Montreal s Central Station. I splurged on business class

 I remember the first train trip I ever took. It was from Harrisburg to New York City aboard the popular Broadway Limited, and I was 16 years old. During its heyday, the Broadway Limited cruising with kids was a long-distance and full-service train that carried well-dressed businessmen on a regular schedule between Chicago cruising with kids and New York. What I loved the most was eating in the dining car (complete with elegant china and white linens) and lounging over a fully cooked breakfast while taking in the scenery en route to New York. Once we pulled into Penn Station, I was hooked.
There are many of us who wish the golden age of train travel would return, but unless you re lucky enough to travel by private or specialty/charter trains, I m afraid most of the grandeur cruising with kids is gone, although the beautiful scenery is here to stay.
If you re cruising Alaska this summer, be sure to get on board this international historic civil engineering landmark cruising with kids train tour round trip from Skagway. The vintage parlor cars take you from the dock to the Trail of '98, including Dead Horse Gulch and cliff-hanging cruising with kids turns up to the White Pass Summit, the boundary between Canada and the United States. During cruising with kids the trip, you ll pass waterfalls, glaciers, tunnels and natural mountain terrain on this famous narrow-gauge railway. (For optimum views, keep your fingers crossed for a clear and sunny day.) Info: www.wpyr.com 
I flew into Montreal and boarded the VIA at Montreal s Central Station. I splurged on business class and enjoyed the added convenience of priority boarding and a full-service meal, including regional wines, served at my seat (it was worth every penny). The fall foliage was spectacular, and in just over three hours I was in Quebec City checking into the infamous Chateau Frontenac overlooking the Mighty St. Lawrence River. Info: www.viarail.ca 
Taking this train from New York to Vermont is like stepping back in history. It is picture-postcard New England with the white church steeples, historic towns and surrounding snow-capped mountains. Although any time of the year would present beautiful scenery, I ll take the winter and the picturesque snowscapes that seem to go on forever. Info: www.amtrak.com  View full size
Amtrak s Keystone Service operates daily from Pittsburgh to New York City. Convenient service cruising with kids from Harrisburg and Lancaster makes this train popular with business and leisure travelers going to Philadelphia or New York.
Lancaster County is especially pretty with its rolling farmlands and horse-drawn buggies. If you still haven t taken a family train trip, this is the one I would recommend as a first-time getaway to Philadelphia or NYC. It s not too long, and both destinations are first-class, must-do cities with an overwhelming number of activities and hotel packages. cruising with kids Info: www.amtrak.com 
Except for my train trip in Alaska, all of my personal experiences have been East of the Mississippi. According to my friend who is also a renowned train expert and rail historian, Jim Porterfield, I haven t seen anything yet. So I asked him to share with me his three favorite U.S./Amtrak train routes for scenery
His response: The most scenic Amtrak route is the one followed by the Los Angeles-to-Seattle Coast Starlight. You run right along the Pacific Ocean for 140 miles and, while the train turns inland overnight, you wake looking at Mount Shasta, followed by volcanic mountains that culminate with Mount Rainier approaching Seattle.
Next would be the California Zephyr, between Chicago and San Francisco. You get it all. The Rocky Mountains, a taste of the Midwest and then up and down the Sierra Nevada range into Sacramento and on to San Francisco.
My third would be the Empire Builder between Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Again a lot of scenery. cruising with kids The upper Great Plains and the Cascade Range. Departing Cut Bank, Montana, into East Glacier Park and through Glacier National Park and finally racing along the Columbia River Gorge into Portland. 