Amtrak's Experiment in Indulgent Nostalgia

Think Cary Grant, meeting a coy Eva Marie Saint in an elegant dining car aboard a train in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest."

That style is what Amtrak hopes to recreate through a test-run venture with private rail company GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, which operates long-distance, scenic trips in cars that recall the golden era of train travel.

Amtrak's GrandLuxe Limited service will launch in Washington Nov. 6 with service from Union Station to Miami on the Silver Meteor line, starting at $789 each way. Similar service will be offered on routes between cities including Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The companies said they will share revenue. Amtrak will profit from the arrangement, said Tracy Connell, a spokeswoman for Amtrak. She declined to give specifics. Since it was founded 36 years ago, the government-owned passenger railroad has yet to turn an annual profit, and it has piled up about $3.3 billion in debt.

GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, formerly American Orient Express, is a privately held company based in Evergreen, Colo. The partnership with Amtrak, scheduled to run through January, is an effort to introduce a broader market to luxury train travel.

The new rail service will feature five-course dinners, overnight suites, butler service and a full-car lounge, among other amenities. All of the cars are either refurbished models from the 1940s and 1950s or built to evoke that era.

"We felt there is a resurgence in the interest in traveling by rail, and very specifically in the grand tradition of rail travel with luxury," said Jackie Johnson, assistant vice president of sales for GrandLuxe.

Seven GrandLuxe Limited cars will be attached to the end of Amtrak passenger trains and offer separate on-board service. The GrandLuxe Limited service will feature a dining car, a lounge car with bar, four cars with sleeping quarters and one staff car. Each train will have room for up to 48 passengers. Because of limitations in platform sizes, passengers on the GrandLuxe Limited service will not be allowed to step off at intermediary stops, Johnson said.

The two- and three-day itineraries offered through Amtrak will range from $789 to $2,490, far cheaper than the typical GrandLuxe tour, which can cost $3,250 to $8,520 for a seven- to 10-day trip.

-- Alejandro Lazo