 |
Royal Gorge Railroad
Excursion Train
|
A few weeks before Brittany came with Ro and Pippa for a visit in April, Louis started thinking about fun things we could do while they were here. One of the activities he suggested was to ride the train in the Royal Gorge. I didn't even know there was a train. We'd been to the bridge over the Gorge a couple of times, but that was about it. Then Louis found out that the excursion train was seasonal and didn't even begin to operate until the end of April--after the Wilsons returned to Portland.
Louis brought it up again when we started talking about what mini vacation we were going to take for our anniversary this month. I actually had some vacation days beginning the 11th, so we thought about Savannah, Montreal, or Oakland where we could go to the open house for the newly refurbished temple. I suggested Oakland because that is where Louis served his mission. We leaned toward that choice as Louis expressed an interest in seeing the mission home and some of the areas where he served, as well as the temple now ready for rededication.
Alas, United's planes to San Francisco (United no longer has gates at Oakland) were already full for the middle of May. So, we started over. Savannah, Montreal...… Louis also suggested a "stay-cation" in Denver like we did a few years ago. But, I thought I wanted to "go" somewhere--until the last few weeks of flying were so overpacked and full of weather delays that a road trip sounded lots better to me.
Why not Grand Junction? And then I said I didn't think I wanted to drive even that far. We'd already gone to Cheyenne once. Didn't want to do that a second time. That's when Louis brought up the idea of the Royal Gorge Excursion Train again. He was really enthusiastic about it. I was kind of ho-hum, but it was only about three hours (plus) away. Why not? There are also some places around Colorado Springs that we could pretend to be tourists. Like Pikes Peak, for one. And Manitou Springs has a Christmas shop. Right up my alley....
It was a beautiful morning when we left home about 8 am for Cañon City. We stopped for snacks at 7/11 and went to the drive-through at McDonald's for orange juice and breakfast sandwiches to fuel our way. Great discussion in the car about this week's Come Follow Me since there was a fair amount of time to develop the topics, and no distractions. Spring in that part of Colorado was definitely two weeks ahead of us here in Johnstown. All the trees were full-blown green with leaves, as were gardens, shrubs, and even the wayside undergrowth which was already hearty and lush. And the day was pleasantly warm in the low 80's. Life doesn't get much better than that!
Seemed like no time at all that we were driving into the attractive railyard with lovely landscaping and fresh white pea gravel ballast covering the boarding area by the tracks instead of a cement platform . We had made online reservations for the 12:30 pm afternoon excursion. That day it was a good choice to be out riding in the best part of the afternoon.
Louis waited in a long line to purchase the tickets in the restored depot/gift shop which sported a vintage Santa Fe railroad sign, but the signage printed on the engine and cars was just like the old Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad's script.
The Royal Gorge Railroad which began in 1999 has been refurbished to it's 1950's excellence with added air conditioning. It sported a Dining car, a Club Car, a Vista Dome car enclosed in glass, coach cars, and an open-air observation car. The long line of cars had a diesel engine on both ends.
 |
| Boarding the SPURBUCK coach car |
We chose to sit in one of the coach cars because of the high backed seats and big windows. Sounded roomy and comfortable. Our car was situated about mid-train with Spurbuck stenciled on the side. We had passed the Zebulon Pike car and the Theodore Roosevelt car, so I was kind of disappointed we got the non-descript one. (A Spur Buck is a Mule Deer with spurs on its antlers.) Plopped down into seats 3 and 4 which were facing seats 1 and 2. We were about the tail end to board, so we were hoping no one would come and sit across from us. Then Louis realized that we were supposed to be in 1107 seats 3 and 4, not 1119 seats 3 and 4. Got up and wandered down the aisle to our ticketed seats. Crowded in that part of the car and there were people already sitting in seats 1 and 2. Nonchalantly wandered back up to the end of the car and sat down again. Felt like the passengers on United--taking any seat we wanted and hoping no one would come and claim their rightful seats. Luck was on our side--no one came by the time the conductor yelled "All Aboard....!" as he pulled up the stairs. With a toot of the horn, we were on our way as soon as the red signal turned to green.
Our seats were on the Arkansas River side. This was our lucky day! We got to see all the rafters and boaters shooting the rapids as we chugged along on our 24 mile round trip through the Royal Gorge's granite cliffs reaching straight up on both sides of the river bed. The river isn't deep, but I have heard the rapids are pretty gnarly. A couple of places it looked like it might be just a bit of a squeeze to get through the narrow opening of turbulent water flanked by huge granite boulders.
I was glad it was a sunny day. Didn't look so foreboding with sunlight and blue sky at the top of the sheer rock walls of the giant ravine we were in. We also rode under the famous hanging bridge which is still in use.
 |
| DOZING!! Old eyes can't stay open |
When we got to the end of the line at Parkdale, Colorado, there was a 15 minute break while the engineer walked through all the cars the entire length of the train and readied himself to take us back to Cañon City, driving the engine that had started the trip at the rear of the train. Because of the empty seats across from us, we scooted over there. That way we still got to face forward and see the river side of the train once again as we rode.
The whole trip took about two hours. It was fun! Louis told me he had driven extra enough the week before that we could splurge on our little vacation, so we ordered lunch on the train during the return trip. He had a turkey club sandwich with lemonade and I had a HUGE--too big for one person in a tin pan serving dish--order of nachos. Our server brought it to us on lap trays. It was actually as good as the brochure hyped it would be. And prepared right there on the train. The people who opted for the dining car had a full lunch included in the price of their ticket. We didn't eat in the diner or order food from the Club Car very often--like NEVER--when I was little, so eating a meal on the train was a treat. It was this time, too.
The employees looked to be a combination of college kids, who were the stewards and servers, and retired people doing the driving and managing the train. I think they had actually been real railroad employees during their lifetimes. All were friendly and helpful, seemingly having a good time doing something that looked kind of fun.
It wasn't until we were getting off the train that Louis said, "I have a confession to make. This is the first time I have ever ridden on a passenger train!" I was surprised. "Did you like it?" I asked. "I loved it!" he said. "Then it was worth it. You're happy. I'm happy."
I truly enjoyed the little excursion trip, mostly because it brought back a lot of great memories of all the years I rode the train. But I thought it was too bad Louis had never had the opportunity to ride a train when it was in its heyday more than half a century ago. Railroads were an illustrious and great part of America's history.
Last week was the sesquicentennial of the Golden Spike ceremony joining the Union Pacific Railroad with the Central Pacific Railroad at Promentory Point in Utah. I remember the big deal for the 100th anniversary in 1969, and those special locomotives--the 6900's--to commemorate the occasion. Railroad is in my blood, and I still experience strong tugs at my heart strings when I feel the pounding power of those giant turbine engines or hear the blast of the horn as it signals a train is on the move.
Here's another interesting fact. The Royal Gorge ride is one of the eight best heritage railroad excursions in the United States according to Trains Magazine. I boned up on some other history tidbits, too, like the war between the Santa Fe Railroad and the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway who fought over the rights to use the tracks that had been laid through the gorge. Like straight out of a Western movie. People even got shot!
And this last little observation: I could have sworn that we used to spell Cañon City with the "y" instead of the tilde over the "n" which signifies a nasal sound. Now most signs in the town are Cañon or just plain Canon. Well, whaddayaknow! And to write this blog entry, I even learned HOW to make that little tilde diacritical mark on the computer. Now if I can only remember the code to do it!
In all, a pretty decent 18th....
No comments:
Post a Comment