MURDER ON THE NEW YORK EXPRESS MYSTERY BUFFS DELIGHT IN PLAYING DETECTIVES ON TRAIN.(Main)

Byline: Karlyn Barker

It is 7:30 a.m., my elegant, privately chartered railroad car has just left Union Station in Washington, and I am one up on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: I know someone will be killed before the train reaches New York.

Over croissant and orange juice, I discreetly scan the other passengers, trying to spot a crime in progress or, at the very least, settle upon a likely suspect.

Is it the bearded guy in the straw hat and dark glasses? The blonde woman in Bermuda shorts reading a dog-eared copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" ? Surely that's a clue of sorts. The kid with the camera looks too young to be a news photographer. Is it the woman in red who is groping through her purse? Did she just slip something into her companion's Bloody Mary? And why is that couple in the corner looking at me so suspiciously?

Welcome to Murder on the American Zephyr - the mystery-theater train excursion where it is up to the passengers to find out whodunit.

Since July, American Zephyr Inc. has been operating "Murder Mystery" day trips between Washington and New York. Zephyr passengers board a luxuriously refurbished, art deco style tavern-lounge-observation car - with etched glass, polished wood, rose and gray carpeting and an open bar.

A cast of actors shares the approximately 3 1/2-hour train ride north, and real passengers get to play …