Grand Canyon Railway will again offer special runs on its steam-powered
"Cataract Creek Rambler" Saturday and Sunday as well as a roundtrip run to
the Grand Canyon Sept. 18.
GCR will operate its steam locomotive 4960 - fueled by recycled vegetable
oil - on eight-mile trips throughout the day Saturday and Sunday with a
single class of service in the train's historic 1923 Harriman cars. Trains
depart on the hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A special "photo run by" will
leave at 6 p.m. Tickets for the "Cataract Creek Rambler" will be sold
on-site for unreserved seating.
The Sept. 18 steam excursion for the Railway's regular 65-mile journey from
Williams, Ariz. to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park and back to
the Williams Depot departs Williams at 9:30 a.m. and arrives at the Grand
Canyon Depot at 11:45 a.m. For the return trip the train departs the Grand
Canyon at 3:30 p.m. and arrives in Williams at 5:45 p.m. The Railway's
typical four classes of service will be used.
For several years the Railway operated the steam engines from Memorial Day
to Labor Day, but last year it discontinued their regular runs because of
environmental considerations. Operating an all-diesel fleet of locomotives
year-round saves a considerable amount of fuel and reduces greenhouse gas
emissions and air pollutants associated with steam locomotives.
The Grand Canyon Railway recently became the first tourist railway in the
United States to receive ISO 14001 third-party certification of its
environmental management system (EMS) after a two-year process involving
complete review, development and implementation of environmental initiatives
in all of its operations.
The Grand Canyon Railway has two operable steam locomotives that have been
restored to like-new working condition. Locomotive No. 4960 was built in
1923 by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. It operated a freight- and
coal-hauling service for the Midwestern Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q)
railroad until the late 1950s and made its first official run on the Grand
Canyon line in 1996. Locomotive No. 29 was restored in 2004 at a cost of
more than $1 million and 26,000 man-hours of labor. An SC-3 class
locomotive, Locomotive No. 29 was built in 1906 by ALCO in Pittsburgh and
weighs 185 tons.
Trains began traveling to the Grand Canyon Sept. 17, 1901 on a spur built
and operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company. The Grand
Canyon Railway continued to operate until 1968 when the spur was closed. In
the mid-1980s businessman Max Biegert purchased the tracks and brought the
Grand Canyon Railway back to life with the first train running Sept. 17,
1989, 88 years to the day after its maiden run.