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Trivia: "unappreciated" Scenic Routes

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61653 HTAFC

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Every so often there'll be an online article discussing things like "Europe/The World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys" which usually brings up the usual suspects (West Highland, Settle-Carlisle, Rhine Valley, Cerdagne line, Brenner Pass, Horseshoe curve at Altoona) and leaves many other spectacular railways uncovered.

What are everyone's "hidden gem" railways around the world? Mine would be the mountain section of the Rodalies de Catalunya R3 route between Ripoll and Latour de Carol, which is a breathtakingly stunning run up a narrow, twisting and steep-sided valley followed by the last few miles over moorland with rocky snow-capped peaks in the distance, like the scene of a spaghetti Western. This route never seems to get a look in with "listicle" type pieces but is well worth a ride if you're in the area. The timetable right up to the summit is fairly limited (only a handful per day going all the way to Latour pre-COVID) and the rolling stock is fairly basic (being the standard 3-car CAF EMUs running most Spanish commuter services) but they do have nice big windows with seats that mostly line up with them. Definitely an unappreciated gem in my book. An honourable mention for the Nürnberg to Cheb (CZ) Rechte Pegnitzstrecke route.
 
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Spoorslag '70

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The "Lahntalbahn" (Limburg(Lahn) - Koblenz) certainly ticks the box. Mostly in a very narrow valley right next to the Lahn river.

On my summer trip to Austria, I really liked the line from Wörgl to Salzburg, especially the section between Bischofshofen and Golling-Abtenau and certainly the "Gesäusestrecke" from Kleinreifling to Selzthal (4 trains per day, saturdays and sundays only). The line from Spital-Millstättersee to Schwarzach is slightly more well known but certainly very stunning.

And for a contender for a really unappreciated route: The line from Linz Urfahr to Aigen-Schlägl - first, it follows the Danube out of Linz and then climbs the hills through very lightly populated areas and a very dense forrest. Quite a lot of fun on a 5047!
 

Ianno87

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The Mittenwaldbahn between Garmish-Partenkirchen and Innsbruck.
 

MarcVD

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Liege to Luxembourg.

Definitely. I was going to add that myself. So I will make another addition : Nice / Ventimiglia to Coni and Limone, may be even to Torino. Hurry up before SNCF and FS finally manage to close it down, as they appear to try very hard.
 

Mcr Warrior

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Can only really comment on UK railways, but as the OP has mentioned in passing a couple of domestic lines, I'm going to nominate the Bentham Line between Settle Junction and Carnforth as scenically under-appreciated.
 

306024

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Ely to Peterborough on a freezing cold February morning.

OK, not everyone’s cup of tea so I’ll throw in Ljubljana to Zagreb along the river Sava, and Sofia to Svoge.

Garmish-Partenkirchen to Innsbruck is an old favourite, as is Luxembourg to Koblenz.
 

johnnychips

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Definitely. I was going to add that myself. So I will make another addition : Nice / Ventimiglia to Coni and Limone, may be even to Torino. Hurry up before SNCF and FS finally manage to close it down, as they appear to try very hard.
If we can stay in Belgium, Charleroi (which is a bit like Rotherham, but grim) to Couvin. Get off at Mariembourg for a lovely town and a preserved steam railway.
 

JonasB

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For a detour to Scandinavia, Fryksdalsbanan, the rail line along the Fryken lakes in Värmland. In my opinion one of the most scenic routes in Sweden.

Another favourite is Tällberg-Mora, along lake Siljan.
 

py_megapixel

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Sorry to bring up a UK one in the international forum, but I really think Stroud to Kemble (the Chalford Valley) is beautiful.

Both from inside a train and out.
 

30907

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Kempten-Reutte-Mittenwald in Germany and Austria, Banska Bystrica-Margecany and Vrutky-Zvolen in Slovakia, the Le Monastier-Mende-Villefort line that connects the bettwe known Lignes des Cevennes and des Causses...
 

Bletchleyite

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I don't know if it's a hidden gem or not, but to me one of the most beautiful lines in the world is Geneva to Brig, pretty much in its entirety. I was privileged for it to be my weekly commute for a couple of years, and I do miss it.

If we're allowed a UK one I'm going to say the WCML in its entirety, ideally via Brum. From the bustling city of London, to the rolling Chilterns, past the canal in Northamptonshire, through the industrial West Midlands, onwards through more rolling hills to the post-industrial North West, then on between the stunningly scenic Lakes and Dales (the Lune Gorge is one of my favourite bits of both railway and motorway anywhere) to the border city of Carlisle then onwards again through more stunning scenery to the great Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Interesting pretty much throughout, unlike the drab, boring ECML which basically has two interesting bits - through Durham and north of Newcastle.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Ourense-Zamora in NW Spain (part of the Santiago de Compostela-Madrid route).
Runs high in the mountains near the Portuguese border, linking high valleys with wide views all round, mostly single track.
A bit like the S&C but much longer, lots of short tunnels and a few remote halts.
Probably not long for this world, as a parallel replacement electrified AV line is under construction nearby.
This is at a much lower level (limited views) with some long tunnels (no views at all).

Sighisoara-Brasov in Romania is pretty scenic too, in fact the whole of Transylvania.
 

Alfie1014

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A couple of lines in the French Jura; Andelot - Morez - St Claude - Bourg en Bresse which climbs up through the high Jura through gorges, over viaducts and through many tunnels. The climb out of Morez round a large horseshoe up to Morbier is especially impressive. Sadly SNCF have replaced all the trains between Morez and St Claude by buses (the route bridges two regions who have little interest in developing service across their borders) and most of the trains between St Claude and Oyonnax and Bourg. Though the reason for the latter is due to part of the single track route being developed and electrified as the main TGV line between Paris and Geneva so there’s little room for the local traIns anymore!

Secondly Besancon to Le Locle in Switzerland. Another single track secondary route with just a handful of trains that meander through the high Jura that once across the border connect into the regular interval services that are the norm in CH.

In Spain the narrow gauge lines from Hendaye on the French border over to Galicia. Again impressive scenery with narrow rivers, mountains and coastline. Frequencies thin out as you go west with just a few trains a day at the extremity. Eskotren used to run a couple of expresses a day between SAN Sebastian and Bilbao I caught one of these once a few years ago and it was one of the most frightening rail experiences I’ve ever had bowling along at speeds that seemed too high for the infrastructure! I was quite relieved to return on one of the hourly stoppers at what seemed a more sedate pace.
 

superjohn

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The Eifelbahn from Köln to Euskirchen and onwards to Trier. Visitors to that part of Germany are usually recommended to take a trip along the Rhine but the ride through the Eifel hills can be equally spectacular.
 

43096

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Liege to Luxembourg.
Definitely - I’ve always liked that line, although I’m unlikely to do it again any time soon as the service has been downgraded to suburban EMUs from the nice CFL 3000+SNCB I6 stock.
 

yoyothehobo

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Got the train from Rome to Perugia once. That was really spectacular, mountains, plains, hill cities
 

eastwestdivide

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Definitely - I’ve always liked that line, although I’m unlikely to do it again any time soon as the service has been downgraded to suburban EMUs from the nice CFL 3000+SNCB I6 stock.
Oh, what a let-down.

Also in the Liège area, the old non-high-speed line Liège-Aachen as far as Welkenraedt isn't bad - river gorge , tunnels and towering hills.
Two other river routes out of Luxembourg, change at Trier and take the line south towards Saarbrücken for some more riverside, or carry on NE towards Koblenz for the Mosel valley.
If you're in the Wuppertal area, the line round via Solingen-Schaberg to Solingen is good around the high Müngsten bridge.
 

duesselmartin

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there is a beautiful cross border line in the German/Polish Neisse valley from Görlitz to Zittau.
It links the two German towns via Polish territory.
 

RichJF

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Neussargues to Beziers (Ligne des Causses).

Travels through the Massif Central, over the Garabit Viaduct (from Cassandra Crossing film fame) & through tiny French countryside. Electrified on the original 1500V overhead SNCF system. 38 tunnels & some quite steep gradients.

Still gets a daily Corail AFAIK from Paris & one daily TER service. I think it's usually an X73500 now, but occasionally sees local-hauled short intercity trains.
 

MarcVD

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If we can venture a little bit further... The trans-Iranian railway, that extends from Bandar Abbas on the strait of Hormuz, to Bandar Torkaman on the Caspian sea. And specially the segment north of Tehran, which is as spectacular and complex as the Gotthard line in Switzerland. I will probably return to Iran once, just for this line.
 

30907

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Neussargues to Beziers (Ligne des Causses).

Travels through the Massif Central, over the Garabit Viaduct (from Cassandra Crossing film fame) & through tiny French countryside. Electrified on the original 1500V overhead SNCF system. 38 tunnels & some quite steep gradients.

Still gets a daily Corail AFAIK from Paris & one daily TER service. I think it's usually an X73500 now, but occasionally sees local-hauled short intercity trains.
Sadly just the unit now, though run as an Intercites IIRC
 

XAM2175

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I don't know if it's a hidden gem or not, but to me one of the most beautiful lines in the world is Geneva to Brig, pretty much in its entirety. I was privileged for it to be my weekly commute for a couple of years, and I do miss it.

A very hearty endorsement from me here - it's a hugely enchanting run along the full length of the north shore of Lac Léman to Montreux, then onwards up the Rhône valley. Absolutely lovely.
 

Puppetfinger

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+1 for Nice to Ventimiglia, beautiful indeed.

Gothenburg to Stockholm, outside of the built up areas some stunning scenery.

Corsica - only had time for Bastia to Corte, but stunning when it gets into the mountains.

Closer to home, Exeter to Newton Abbot.
 

Richard Scott

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Have a few, in no particular order, Bucharest to Sibiu via Brasov (Romania), Nis to Dimitrovgrad (Serbia), almost anywhere in Switzerland!, Kosice to Zilina (Slovakia), Jesenice to Nova Gorice (Slovenia), Dresden to Prague, Marseille to Miramas (used to be great when 67400 hauled, windows down absorbing atmosphere, not done on plastic junk as lack of opening windows cause it to lose something), Messina to Siracusa on Sicily (two interesting points, one is the train ferry from mainland and second is going past Mt. Etna) and Trondheim to Bodø.
 

peteb

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Clermont Ferrand to Nimes; Arvant to Neussargues to Beziers; Grenoble to Gap; Valence to Gap via Die; Aix to Chamonix to Martigny; La Tour de Carol to Perpignan; but maybe these too well known; less appreciated might be Lyon to Paray le Monial through wooded hills and featuring a spiral climb; Clermont Ferrand to Volvic climbing steeply out of Clermont in a circle; St Etienne to Le Puy en Velay twisting along pretty gorges;
 
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