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The Royal Gorge Route Railroad, Keeping Alive The Memory Of The Rio Grande's Royal Gorge Route

The Royal Gorge Route Railroad is another tourist railroad that operates part of the Denver & Rio Grande Western’s super-scenic trackage in Colorado. Also close to other very popular lines like the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad, Cumbres & Toltec Scenic, and Durango & Silverton the Royal Gorge Route operates 24 miles of the Rio Grande’s famous line the Royal George Route (as you may have guessed, this is where the railroad derives its name) departing daily from Canyon City, Colorado (it should be noted that the railroad is one of the few tourist lines to operate year-round).

Like the rest of Colorado’s famous tourist lines, the Royal Gorge Route Railroad offers some of the most spectacular views of the state, in this case the famous Royal Gorge area in which runs the Arkansas River. This Rio Grande line was built in the late 19th century primarily to tap the lucrative silver mines in the region. However, the railroad fought bitterly for years with the Santa Fe to obtain exclusive rights to reach the Leadville area, where the mines were centrally located.

The two railroads continued to fight for years following the court order although in the end the Rio Grande eventually won exclusive rights to operate through the gorge. Today, the Royal Gorge Route Railroad offers guests a variety of adventures from cab rides and group charters to wine dinner trains and murder mystery specials. On top of all of this the train is bedecked in classic Rio Grande orange, silver, and black. One thing is for sure, a trip aboard the Royal Gorge Route Railroad is something to remember!

To give a brief history of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, also known as simply the Rio Grande, it was one our country’s most famous railroads. Its speed-lettering herald is likewise one of the most recognized of all time and people continue to flock to its scenic routes to travel trains such as the California Zephyr, now operated by Amtrak, and the Durango & Silverton, perhaps the most famous tourist line in the country which operates several miles of the D&RGW’s former narrow-gauge trackage in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. While the railroad officially became a fallen flag in 1996 when the Union Pacific took over the Southern Pacific the railroad’s identity had mostly disappeared before that when its parent company Rio Grande Industries purchased the SP in 1988 and began consolidating D&RGW operations into the much larger railroad.

The Rio Grande has an interesting if somewhat complicated history. Like many of the now-famous fallen flag railroads, it was created through mergers and acquisitions of smaller railroads. Its predecessors’ primary purpose for being built was to conquer the Rocky Mountain range and link Denver with Salt Lake City, Utah. This would come later, however, as the new and prospering town of Denver chartered the Denver & Rio Grande Railway in 1870 to build south, wanting the railroad to reach El Paso, Texas and eventually Mexico but after it came under the control of Jay Gould in 1880 it took on a new direction and would only make it as far south as Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Besides the railroad’s famed narrow-gauge lines two other future ventures would earn the railroad legendary status. At the Continental Divide northwest of Denver, the Rio Grande completed its famous Moffat Tunnel in 1928, some 6.1-miles in length and in doing so bypassed the torturous Rollins Pass, over 11,000 feet in height! The new tunnel cut down transit times over that section of main line from several hours to mere minutes and further strengthened the line’s demand as a high-speed connection over the Rockies.

For more information on tourist trains like the Royal Gorge Route Railroad you might want to consider the book Tourist Trains Guidebook from the editors of Kalmbach Publishing's Trains magazine. Given excellent reviews by readers this guidebook covers nearly all of the tourist railroads and museums (over 400) operating in the country in fine detail with accompanying reviews about each. So, if you’re interested in locating a tourist train or railroad near you, or simply want to know more about a particular one, you will certainly not be disappointed in Trains’ guidebook to tourist railroads and museums. In any event, if you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit the link below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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