Rail Passenger USA uses many resources to research the passenger rail routes and station stops that comprise our Route Guides. One of the most valuable and entertaining of these is Google Earth.

The "Fly Me First" feature of Rail Passenger USA allows Google Earth users to "fly" selected routes from station-stop to station-stop in either route direction.  If you haven't downloaded Google Earth yet, go to http://earth.google.com/ to download the free application. The application must be down loaded and installed prior to running the Fly Me First tours.

For example go to Slide 3 of the California Zephyr Route Guide and  click on one of the fly me first links.

When the selected link is clicked you will see a window asking whether you want to "open or save this file". Click "Open" or "Open using Google Earth". If you click "Open" you will download a Google Earth ".kmz" file. Double clicking on the .kmz file icon will download the station locations from railpassengerusa.com and open them in Google Earth. If you don't have any other locations check marked in your Google Earth sidebar, you will zoom to an overview of the entire route.  

To fly the route simply click on the "Play Tour" button under "Temporary Places" in the Google Earth side bar on the left. What you see and how long you stay at a station will depend on your settings. An "almost infinite" number of settings are available. Ray prefers the following simple settings.

Ray's Settings

Have an Enjoyable Flight!