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Travel Date: September 8, 2025
I was looking forward to this rail trip because it is one of the few diesel power trains we rode. I know, I know: if I’m a true rail fan (aka Foamer) I should be foaming out of my mouth for the steam locomotives (and the rides the next two days were breathtaking). But my love for trains started in the late 1950s when my grandpa would take me down to the Winslow, Arizona depot to watch the Santa Fe passenger trains led my first generation diesel locomotives. come in for refueling.
Most of the promotional materials for the Royal Gorge RR features features the F7 unit. This is an F unit locomotive leading an excursion on the Oregon coast.
But the F7 units are so old they only come out for special occasions; and having me as a passenger wasn’t special enough for them. Instead the Royal Gorge train is led by an EMD SD40-3 (I think that might qualify as a third generation. It was awesome enough for me though.
The locomotives built for passenger service has separate power for the passenger equipment: lights, heat, cooking, that sort of thing. The SD40-3 freight locomotive so it doesn’t have that extra engine. Instead it hauls a converted passenger baggage car to hold the engine that takes care of the passenger requirements.
I knew if I started heading up to take these pictures by myself I risked getting stopped short of my goal. So I asked a car attendant for help. They contacted the conductor, Justin Reynolds, who was kind enough to escort me to the front of the train for a quick look and picture.
Here is part of the remaining consist.
We left Cañon City and followed the Arkansas river.
Soon we were deep in the gorge. Our group was toward the back of the train and we took advantage of the open car to get the views.
The Rocky Mountains are aptly named, aren’t they.
There is a suspension bridge that takes traffic over the gorge. It’s way up there.
At times following the river there isn’t enough room for the trains to run. So they designed in ingenious beige system with bracing fastened to each side of the narrow canyon forming a suspension bridge for us.
I messed up and didn’t get a picture of the Happy Endings Caboose Cafe in Cañon City. Our tour guide, Al, and his wife owned and operated this back in the day.
On the way to our next stop we stopped at one of the many dinosaur parks in the Rockies. There were sculptures of many of the types of dinosaurs found in the area. Here is a stegosaurus.
Why a stegosaurus? Two reasons: 1. There are a lot of their fossils in the area. 2. (and the real reason): I found out the spiky club on the tail is called a Thagomizer. I joked it is because Thag, a caveman, was killed by one. Turns out I’m not far off. It’s named that after a Gary Larson carton where a caveman named it after “the late Thag Simmons.”
Funny stuff.. I’ll have a bit more on the stegosaurus int a later blog post.
The next two days were going to feature rides on a couple of beautiful steam trains. Stay tuned.
