Train fans, prepare to envy...

[Pilgrim]

I've been wanting to do this for a while.  Tomorrow at 8:05 AM my wife and I will hop aboard AMTRAK's California Zephyr in Denver, ride through the Rockies to Grand Junction Colorado, and hang out Friday evening and Saturday.  Sunday we hop back on the returning train at 10:23 and return to Denver in the early evening.

Some views I found online...



Yes, there will be rafters...





This is my (belated) birthday present, and I'm looking forward to it.  The last time I took a train trip to actually go somewhere was 1958, riding from Des Moines to Tacoma, WA when my dad worked for what was then the Douglas Fir Plywood Association...now APA—The Engineered Wood Association, still headquartered in Tacoma.

I expect the 6+ hour ride each way to be a real pleasure!

[TBird1958]

That's the track the  Denver and Rio Grande Western Al, enjoy the trip!


The route up the front range was originally built by Denver business tycoon David Moffat ( as part of his Denver & Salt Lake RR) as a more direct, westward route to Salt Lake City. During Moffat's lifetime track made it as far as Phippsburg, Co and the road was driven into bankruptcy by it's impossible route over the summit at Rollins Pass. The Rio Grande bought the D&SL and eventually with gov't help built the 6 mile long Moffat Tunnel, also used for Denver's water supply and a connection between the two railroads on the west slope. The trip up the Front Range features a series of curves called the "Big Ten Loops" and as you head upgrade some fantastic views of the plains ( I photographed quite a bit of this in the early '80s) and there are many tunnels and curves.  Winter Park ski resort is on the west side as are incredible scenery at Gore and Beyers canyons.  The railroad's slogan was "Mainline through the Rockies" and in this they didn't disappoint, Grand Junction was the railroad's centerpoint for freight train classification, beyond to the west is the desert moonscape of central Utah ( I visited here as well) and eventually the Wasatch Range.
The Rio Grande was one of three railroads that ran the original California Zephyr between Chicago and San Francisco, with the advent of Amtrak in 1970 the little railroad choose not to have the train on it's rails, instead  they ran their own equipment on the route for many years -  It was the last privately run passenger train in the U.S. for many years, using the classic all Stainless Steel cars and some of the very last EMD F- 9 locomotives running. Management took pride in train and kept it on time, clean and it featured fresh Rocky Mountain Trout in the diner as a specialty. It was of course, all to good to last as the Rio Grande was swept up and merged into the much larger Southern Pacific RR in the '90s and then became part of the Union Pacific.   

Earlier this year I completed my models of the locomotives used during the '70s and into the '80s. Electro Motive Division (GM) F-9s, the real ones are happily part of the Colorado Railroad Museum's collection.

[Highlander]

Somewhat envious from here...

Are there any historical steam lines over your side...? Not far from where we are looking is a line that (during the tourist season) runs the "real" Hogwarts Express" between Fort William and Mallaig (ferry to the Isle of Skye) as a scheduled service... as part of that service the route goes over the same viaduct (nice and slowly) seen in the films... posted about that visit on my last sojourn to the Isles...

[Pilgrim]

There are some sort steam lines in the mountain area of the Rockies, but they are sightseeing lines and not really travel lines.  Today JoAnn and I went through the Colorado National Monument,  which rivals Bryce Canyon or Zion parks in Utah..which of course is next door.  I'll post some pics of that after I return.

Very nice ride over.. On the ride back I'm going to try and get in the observation car through Glenwood Canyon...spectacular!

[patman]

Have always wanted to do something like that...I love to watch trains...

Always wanted to ride the Delta Queen down to New Orleans, also...

Enjoy!

Patman