• Enjoy dinner on a train pulled by a restored steam engine .Steam Engine Morayshire image by Louise McGilviray from Fotolia.com
  
  Traveling by train can reconnect you to a simpler, less hectic time. Rolling down the train tracks around Virginia, you can enjoy the mountains, green hills and streams. You can even dine on a gourmet meal on an old-fashioned steam train while taking in the sights and viewing the landscape.
  
  

Bay Creek Railway

• The Bay Creek Railway in Cape Charles, Virginia, has a restored 1913 rail car that takes passengers on a round-trip dining odyssey along the eastern Virginia shore. The journey lasts about an hour and you are served a set menu. Depending on what the chef prepares, dinner might include an Asian dim sum plate, mesclun salad and your choice of entree such as Louisiana-style shrimp or andouille stew. Beer, wine and cocktails are also available. The dinner trips are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and 6:30 p.m. Saturdays from Memorial Day weekend through the last weekend in August. Cape Charles is off the Chesapeake Bay and about an hour's hour drive north of Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
  
  Bay Creek Railway
  P.O. Box 312
  202 Mason Ave.
  Cape Charles, VA 23310
  757-331-8770
  baycreekrailway.com
  
  

Cass Scenic Railroad

• The Cass Scenic Railroad in a West Virginia state park offers a Fiddles and Vittles dinner train package. This includes a train ride and a tour of Camp Whittaker, a recreated logging camp; a full dinner on the train; and a live local fiddle show. Trains depart at 5 p.m. Saturdays in May, June and July. The railroad also offers a Murder Mystery train ride with buffet dinner that runs at 5 p.m. Fridays. The person who solves the crime wins a prize. The Cass Railroad is about a two-hour drive from Harrisburg, Virginia, and Clarksburg, West Virginia.
  
  Cass Scenic Railroad State Park
  P.O. Box 107
  Cass, WV 24927
  304-456-4300
  cassrailroad.com
  
  

Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad

• The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad in Elkins, West Virginia, offers a Mountain Explorer dinner train. The menu is copied from trips offered on trains of the 1930s though 1960s. The train takes a four-hour round-trip through the West Virginia back country; the four-course meal is prepared en route. The train departs the Elkins station at 5 p.m. on specific Saturdays and reservations are required. The railroad is about 42-minute drive from Woodstock, West Virginia, and about four hours from Washington, D.C.
  
  Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad
  315 Railroad Ave.
  Elkins, WV 26241
  304-636-9477
  877-MTN-RAIL (686-7245)
  mountainrailwv.com