History has never been as dynamic and dramatic as it is on the SAM Shortline Train, a vintage train from 1949 named for the original rail line that stopped in Savannah, Americus, and Montgomery, Alabama. Today the SAM Shortline operates several specialty day trips:

Plains Excursion: This route takes you between Georgia Veterans State Park; Plains, Georgia; and Archery, Georgia. Passengers enjoy a two-hour layover in Plains, the quaint town famous as the home of 39th United States President Jimmy Carter. The next stop on the trip is a 40-minute pause at Carter’s boyhood home of Archery, Georgia, for a self-guided tour of home, farmland, and the roadside store where Carter worked.

Murder Mystery Dinner Train: At the start of this round-trip excursion that leaves from the Americus, Georgia station, cast members mingle on the platform with guests. Improvised and interactive, the performance continues until, halfway through the two-and-a-half-hour ride, one of the main characters exits the train, “deceased.” Then train organizers give passengers a synopsis sheet and everyone votes on the killer…but will the correct culprit be led away in handcuffs?

Wine and Cheese Train: This adults-only ride includes muscadine wine from nearby Paulk Vineyards and local Sweetgrass Dairy spicy pimento cheese. All this, on a scenic journey whose route takes you through pine forests via a raised track over Lake Blackshear.