A visit to Colorado's Royal Gorge Route

I was at the Royal Gorge Route railroad earlier this month. This Colorado tourist line, based in the south central Rockies at Canon City, came along after Union Pacific shelved its former Rio Grande main line across Tennessee Pass in 1997. Royal Gorge Route was in the news last month when the conductor on a train backing to the station tragically fell from the rear of her train and was killed. A small memorial of candles and flowers in memory of Leslie Cacy was evident on a sidewalk at the former Santa Fe station where the train loads. I paused and said a brief prayer. Other than a diesel unit placed on the east end of the train, a departure from the normal cab car, it was business as usual at this popular Colorado railroad.

It had been some years since I was last at Royal Gorge, and the railroad’s classic F7, No. 402, beset by mechanical problems, has been placed on display in front of the station. A narrow gauge West Side Lumber Co. Shay, No. 8, late of the Georgetown Loop Railroad and in ownership of the family that operates Royal Gorge Route, keeps the cab unit company. A former Virginia Railway Express GP40-2H, C20, was on the point, although the railroad does have other operable F-units in an adaptation of the classic Rio Grande colors. 

The true stroke of genius at Royal Gorge Route is the mixture of passenger cars in the consist. I counted some 20 cars on the train, including full-length domes, standard coaches, and, best of all, three open-air cars. These cars are ideal for viewing the namesake gorge from the bottom up. At its deepest point, the gorge of the Arkansas River is more than 1,000 feet deep, and you need to look up to see the famous bridge at the top. It’s also an ideal way to glimpse big horn rams that inhabit the hillsides and to study the famous Rio Grande hanging bridge – a location so narrow and rugged that the Rio Grande built a bridge suspended from either side of the canyon.

My preference when visiting a preservation railroad is to take a ride and then stick around to photograph a subsequent trip, thus getting the best of both worlds. The ride provides a scouting opportunity for the photography. At the gorge park at the rim of the canyon, until a 2013 fire, a funicular took you to the bottom, thus providing a great place to make photos of the train in the otherwise inaccessible gorge. For now, at least, that’s not possible. But in our Colorado Railroads special magazine and DVD, available now, you’ll get a great story on this line as well as great images. Because I was due elsewhere far away, I had to forego the photographic part of my visit. But I know I will be back — the Royal Gorge and its train are calling.