Which train is best?
 

I am helping my parents plan their 50th Wedding Anniversary trip to Alaska, and they want to experience a train ride from Anchorage to Denali. I find that Alaska Railroad and Gray Line both travel that route - is one better than the other, comfort wise and in overall experience? Is there an advantage to train travel, scenery wise? Thanks for your input.

The best scenery is the Anchorage/Seward route. Hopefully BQ will be along to give you more specific advice. She's one of the Alaska experts on the board.

Good luck with the planning!

I've actually done them both but I'll defer to the recognized expert and simply top this for you.

My opinion only, the bus would be my last choice. And with the Alaska RR, I would overnight one leg in Talkeetna. They need at least 2 nights in Denali Park, if going via rail. There is no advantage scenery wise since the rail just about parallels the road. But can be very relaxing and excellent guides narrating points of interest. Look at www.toursaver.com this year they have a 2 for 1 coupon.

Based on the title of your original post, there may be some confusion at work here. Your choices are not two separate trains. Gray Line (and a couple of the cruise companies) have railcars which are hooked up to the regularly scheduled Alaska Railroad trips.

There are a few trains dedicated to cruise boat passengers from Seward to Anchorage but, as far as I am aware, there are no such dedicated trains north of anchorage. In any case, they would travel the same route as the scheduled trains.

I haven't ridden on the Gray Line cars so I cannot comment on comfort or services but you are going to be pulled by the same locomotives pulling the Alaska Railroad cars.

Thanks, everyone! Great imput. And thanks, dwooddon, you "got" my question precisely, and I appreciate the helpful clarification - you were right, I discovered through more research that what I thought were totally different trains, like Gray Line with Alaska Rail Tours (Holland America) or The McKinley Explorer (maybe Princess Rails) were actually still served by Alaska RR, although they differed in price, and somewhat in description. Alaska Rail Tours offers dome cars (better viewing) for the same price as Alaska RR's regular coach, so I think I will book with them. My parents will only be riding the train one way to Denali, just for the experience. We will pick them up there and continue our vacation.