Yesterday we took the Grand Canyon Railroad and let someone else do the driving. We have been to the canyon three other times over the years so the fact that we only had three hours to hike was OK, especially since it was in the high 80's with a high predicted of 90. It is still pretty crowded there this time of year. We hiked a section of the Rim Trail we had not done before so some of the views were slightly different. Enjoyed the train experience and although it is a bit on the pricey side we felt like it was well worth it for us. We were entertained by a gunfight before we boarded and when we were almost back to Williams bandits robbed the train. Along the way there were cowboy singers with who entertain some as well. This is not your typical tourist train ride. This is a real train. The car we were in was purchased from Amtrak a few years ago and recently completed a $ 1 million overhaul. They have a second car like this in the same process. They have lots of equipment and maintenance facilities and I can see why the tickets are expensive. The ride is a little over two hours each way with the three hour layover so it departs a 9:30 am and gets back about 5:30 pm.
Today they ran a steam engine up to the canyon which raced a bunch of cyclists back to Williams. It came back this afternoon a little after 3 and I guess it won because I saw no bikes. I was there to greet it and take a few shots. My favorite is the last one in this post. We are in the campground right next to the depot so it was a short walk. We are also next to the BNSF main line so it can be a little noisy around here....all night.
Tomorrow is the last leg of of this road trip. A little over 200 miles back to Las Vegas.
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| Before the Gunfight with the Marshall. |
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| Our car inside. Regular seats on the left. |
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| Outside of our refurbished Amtrak Dome Car |
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| Engine on display at the Canyon. Not a working engine. |
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| Words not necessary... |
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| "Robbers" chasing down the train. They are not paid enough to board a moving train so it stops and picks them up. |
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| The Holdup |
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| ..and the winner was... Too bad I did not record the sounds of the whistle and the belching steam. It is like a living, breathing monster... |
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