All aboard the coziest train in North Carolina 🍁🚂🌧️ The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City, North Carolina offers two of the most scenic fall rides in the Smoky Mountains, both perfect for leaf peeping and only about an hour from Asheville. ⛰️The Nantahala Gorge Excursion is their signature 4.5 hour ride that follows the Nantahala River, crosses Fontana Lake, and winds through the gorge. It departs from downtown Bryson City and stops at the Nantahala Outdoor Center halfway. Tickets

The eastbound Amtrak Floridian passes through south central Pennsylvania on its way to the next stop in Cumberland, MD. On this day, the train was operating with both an older P42DC locomotive and a brand new Siemens Mobility ALC-42 locomotive, built in Sacramento, CA. Amtrak has 125 of the new locomotives on order to replace all P40 and P42 locomotives on long distance trains. During this transition period, ALC-42 units can be seen regularly working with the P42DC locomotives on long distance t