ROYAL GORGE

I'm really reaching for this one. When I was a boy, back in the '40's and '50's, my mother used to regale me and my sister about her trip by rail to Southern California in the early 1020's. She showed us photos of the trip which included Albuqueque, where she said she had to pay the Indians to take their picture AND one of the Royal Gorge where the train stopped, I assume for a photo op. My question: does anyone have any idea which train (I believe it was AT&SF) she was traveling on and do any of Amtrak's routes go anywhere near the Royal Gorge? We've taken the SC and CZ and never saw or heard anyting about the Royal Gorge. Appreciate your help.
Best regards,
Rodger

CHANGEATJAMAICA wrote:I'm really reaching for this one. When I was a boy, back in the '40's and '50's, my mother used to regale me and my sister about her trip by rail to Southern California in the early 1020's. She showed us photos of the trip which included Albuqueque, where she said she had to pay the Indians to take their picture AND one of the Royal Gorge where the train stopped, I assume for a photo op. My question: does anyone have any idea which train (I believe it was AT&SF) she was traveling on and do any of Amtrak's routes go anywhere near the Royal Gorge? We've taken the SC and CZ and never saw or heard anyting about the Royal Gorge. Appreciate your help.
Best regards,
Rodger

Sorry I can't pass this one up........ Trains weren't invented in 1020...

I thought a Royal Gorge was when the King throws up!

Seriously, though, try this:

http://www.royalgorgeroute.com/


Ocala Mike

I believe the Royal Gorge route was an alternative to Moffat Tunnel route across the Rockies. It was owned by DRGW, and wasn't typically used for passenger trains later. It was embargoed by UP and then sold, and a tourist concern operates it today with some carbon-steel ex-Via/CN coaches still painted for Via, and some ex-CN FP9's painted for DRGW but lettered "Royal Gorge Route". This might have been the route build by ATSF but taken over by DRGW later. Amtrak's closest train is the CZ, which travels the parallel Moffat route.

It appears that The Royal Gorge, D&RGW's daytime train through its namesake survived until July 1967. The DRG assigned a Dome Obs-Lng they acquired from the C&Q (part of Robert R Young's "slight overorder" or passenger cars). That car served out its days on the Rock Island for a private concern that operated it as a Parlor on the Quad Cities Rocket.

http://www.raftecho.com/royalgorge-arka ... ing-bridge

MOderator's Note:

Well, there seems to be good news and bad news.

For the car fanatics amongst us, it appears the Royal Gorge Route now has both a Budd and a P-S (ex MILW for GBN) full dome.

The bad news is this road never had anything to do with Amtrak.
The url to the Royal Gorge Route Railroad is:
http://www.royalgorgereservations.com/index.aspx

As stated elsewhere, this route hasn't been used by Amtrak, and indeed didn't see passenger service from 1967 to 1999.

I am moving this to Mr Benton's Rail Travel and Trip Reports Forum. If any Members have travelled this route in its tourist incarnation, please check in

The Railroad through the Royal Gorge at that time was the Denver and Rio Grande...do not read Denver and Rio Grande Western as that railroad did not yet exist. The Denver and Salt Lake was still running to Craig, CO at that time and the Dotsero Cutoff between Dotsero and Orestod had not yet been built. Note that Orestod is Dotsero spelled in reverse. Anyhow the train was probably the Scenic Limited with a section from Chicago, meeting up with the train in St. Louis where it ran on the Missouri Pacific to Pueblo, CO where the Denver and Rio Grande took over, the train then went through the Royal Gorge and over Tennessee Pass and down into Grand Junction and on to Salt Lake City, there the Western Pacific took over and took the train down the Feather River Canyon to Sacremento and on to Oakland. I can not guarantee that the train was the Scenic Limited, but I have a strong feeling that it was the Scenic Limited, because I think it was the only through train.
Cheers,
Nick

The history section on that website is very interesting . That suspended brdige must be something to see .

The Hanging Bridge was one of the major "wonders" of the Gorge Route and was pictured on virtually everything promotional. I had a deck of cards from the D&RG with that on it's back. The route was not an alternative to the Moffat Route as the Moffat Tunnel was not built until the 20's and the D&RG absorbed the Denver and Salt Lake and the name changed to DRG&W. DRG&W operated the route for passenger service into the 60's when the train, the Royal Gorge was discontinued (by then the route was perhaps an "alternative" route as this was the only passenger train to use the route by that time). When UP, with the WP and SP in house, the DRG&W the route was abandoned because of the grade at Tennesee Pass. A shortline operator took over at that time with someone operating a tourist train to the Bridge. I don't know the status of the track or operations today.