Whether sparked by childhood tales of Thomas the Tank Engine chugging along or during college adventures backpacking the tracks through Europe, a love affair with the locomotive has been kindled within many of us from early on. We’re awed by the power of their engines, which promise to pull us on unknown adventures around the bend ahead, past window-framed landscapes and villages that we might never glimpse another way. We’re entranced by their whistles, which ring of nostalgia for the golden era of train travel, long before the days of the plane or automobile, when it was clear that the trains were designed not just to get passengers from here to there, but to allow them to embark on a journey. This list of top train trips around the globe will put you on the fast track to an “I-think-I-can” rail trip that we assure you not only can embark on, but absolutely should.