To experience the best leg of Via's cross-country service, take the Snow Train, which runs from Vancouver's grand beaux arts railroad station through a series of stunning snowbound mountain ranges to the hamlet of Jasper in the middle of 4, 200-square-mile Jasper National Park (home to some of the world's best, least-crowded skiing, at Marmot Basin).

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Constructed in 1926, the New Mexico hospital was originally frequented by employees of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, who worked on the railroad that cut through the city.

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Mr Kelly said it would be wrong for the Scottish government to "railroad the legislation through" and that it was "bad practice to be breaking up the consenus on such an important issue".

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Spruce Pine grew up around the railroad, which still runs through downtown, did well for decades, sending local textiles and furniture to the rest of America.

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He pushed through the construction of the mightiest railroad project ever, the Trans-Siberian Railway.

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Then, on 10 May 1869, came the opening of the first transcontinental railroad across the US, which finally helped to forge fast routes through to the west, drawing settlers and, later on, sightseers.

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Forrest made headlines in 2011 for protesting the construction of a Montana railroad that would have facilitated coal extraction from the state because the proposed route passed through his ranch.

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