In 2027 the United States hits 200 years since its railroad era began, and the country's tourism body Brand USA wants travellers to mark the milestone from a train window rather than a car seat or plane aisle. The pitch is simple: the distances that make the USA daunting by road are exactly what make long-distance rail so rewarding, and there'll be anniversary exhibitions, special excursions and new services across the country all year.

For scenery, the classics still deliver. Amtrak's California Zephyr runs from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area over the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada; the Coast Starlight links Seattle with Los Angeles; and the Empire Builder crosses the northern plains and stops at Glacier National Park. A newer option, Canyon Spirit, runs daylight-only multiday trips in the West designed around canyon and red-rock views, and can slot into a wider itinerary linking Denver, Salt Lake City and the national parks.

New kit is coming too. Amtrak's Airo trains are due to refresh the Amtrak Cascades corridor between Seattle and Portland, while the new Mardi Gras Service reconnects New Orleans with Mobile, Alabama — handy if you want to turn a New Orleans city break into a Gulf Coast meander.

If Route 66 is on your list (the highway turned 100 this year), rail offers a fresh angle. The Southwest Chief from Chicago follows much of the same corridor west: stop in Albuquerque for Southwestern food and architecture, hop off at Flagstaff for the Grand Canyon, and finish in Los Angeles. It's not a mile-for-mile replica of the Mother Road, but it bundles several very different American regions into one trip.

Heritage railways are where the history gets hands-on. Colorado's Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad threads the San Juan Mountains, while the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad crosses into New Mexico with themed steam rides covering geology, dinner and even beer tastings. Further afield: Pennsylvania's Strasburg Rail Road, West Virginia's Cass Scenic Railroad in logging country, and New York's Finger Lakes Rail Experience with foliage and sunset runs.

Baltimore is a natural pilgrimage stop in the anniversary year — it's where the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad made history, and the National Museum of Railroad History & Innovation opens a new Innovation Hall in January 2027. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg unveils an accessible Roundhouse with six steam locomotives in early 2027 too. Grand stations have become destinations in themselves: Denver Union Station houses the Crawford Hotel with Pullman-style rooms, Omaha's Durham Museum sits in a 1931 Art Deco depot complete with a working soda fountain, and Kansas City, Cincinnati and LA all have landmark stations worth lingering in.

You can even sleep in a train. Chattanooga's Hotel Chalet at The Choo Choo puts guests in restored Pullman carriages; Salt Lake City's Asher Adams occupies the old Union Pacific Depot; and in rural Idaho, Idaho Train Stays offers nights in a 1909 carriage. Near Lamy, New Mexico, George R.R. Martin helped revive the 1880s Sky Railway, which runs stargazing, murder-mystery and margarita-themed trains.

Whether you want a coast-to-coast epic or a one-night caboose, 2027 is shaping up as the year to let the tracks lead.