It features 4-star food for regular folks, spectacular California landscapes, and it's all aboard a locomotive steeped in Heartland history, welcome to the Sunset Dinner Train.

You'll find the Sunset Dinner Train in the historic Northern California town of McCloud, where for a hundred years the town's economy has hinged on trees and trains. "This line was the McCloud River Railroad, was built in 1897. It was built specifically to be a freight business to haul logs," says Sunset VP Jalene Forbis.

When the timber industry soured, tourism took over top billing and the historic railway lived on. But if you ride the Sunset you'll quickly notice, the nostalgia of the great railroad era hasn't been forgotten.

Says Jalene, "What we like to create for our customers is a sense of going back into time, back when there was fine dining and the rail was a unique experience and something that people would look forward to."

Fares for an evening aboard the Sunset average around 80 dollars per-person, but remember; here you're dining in style. Ivory linens, fine china, polished silver all housed in a restored 1916 Illinois Central dining car. It's an experience that often brings back fond memories.

Sunset passenger Greg White says, "Oh this is great…I was a locomotive engineer for twelve years of my life. And that's been some time ago, but getting back on a train like this and enjoying the sounds and the ambiance of, the whole railroad experience has just been wonderful."

If nostalgia and the scenery of Mt. Shasta weren't enough, remember this is a dinner train, and the cuisine here is in a league of its own. "Our signature dish is the Beef Wellington, which is a choice Fillet Mignon. And instead of using a goose liver pate, we use a mushroom pate. And then we serve it with a merlot sauce on the bottom and a bernet sauce on top," says Edward Hines, executive chef aboard the Sunset. But just because it's gourmet, don't expect pint-sized portions. Says Edward, "Our plates are usually fuller than you'll find in most four-star restaurants. And that's pretty much what we like to do, is make sure everybody's happy when they leave here."

And you'll also be happy to know, the food used in this kitchen is market fresh…and California grown. "We have a local produce market in Mt. Shasta. And we like to go over and pick out produce ourselves, so that we know it's fresh and hasn't been sitting on the shelf for any length of time," says Edward.

When the plates are cleared, the entertainment begins. And on this night passengers tackled the challenge of figuring out whodunit, as a whimsical murder mystery unfolded. "Oh, that was totally entertaining. Everybody in the whole cast, was all light-hearted, and just allowed the time to go by so easily. Just, added that much more entertainment to the whole evening," said Greg.

Today there's a lot less timber rolling through historic McCloud. By day the owners of the Sunset still haul some lumber products for companies like Sierra Pacific, but what McCloud's lost in timber they've gained in tourists. And here on the Sunset Dinner Train you'll find the history of the rails preserved…with new memories being built along the way.

For more information on the Sunset Dinner Train visit: www.shastasunset.com