Nostalgia & History > End of the Rio Grande Zephyr 1983

For those with a better mind for dates - I believe today was the last day for the Zephyr to run in one direction and tomorrow the final in the other.

The last wb RGZ
1. As she comes out of the west portal of Moffatt.
2. And on to the Winter Park
3. The Gore Canyon

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4. At Glenwood
5. (I don't remember where this is. help!)
6. At the Palisades. I think I saw Martin at a vestibule.

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Thank you for sharing these photos! These are great.

your No.5 looks like New Castle or Silt

Thirty-one years? I am so old.

Newcastle had the overpass. Siding is behind the photographer. Off ramp is why the Highway curves away. Great stuff.

#5 definitely New Castle, CO.

Agree. New Castle.
Chacra just around the bend in the far distance.

Pat from Littleton, CO.

Wow! What a crowd at Glenwood Springs. Everybody and their dog turns out for a last run. How many times was that scene repeated in this country?

I rode the Zephyr westbound in late summer of 1982. A few years later I hoped to take the Amtrak Zephyr so that I could travel the route again, but we detoured because of a slide. I finally did the route (eastbound)in February.

The RGZ was a great train and I think they maintained standards until the end.

Thanks for the memories!

I was on what ended up being the last Friday east bound train from Salt Lake City before the Thistle slide. There was a fair amount of people leaving Salt Lake City - at least the diner was full as I had breakfast. But it wasn't very long before the train was almost empty. There was only 4 of us in the dome of the Silver Shop through most of Utah. My buddy and I moved down to the bullet end as we approached Colorado and spent about a half hour shooting the breeze with the conductor - we were the only people there. No one at all was in the flat top coaches. From Grand Junction east I sat in the dome of the Silver Sky and again it was not full until Glenwood Springs. Then everything changed. Tons of people got on and I believe the train was sold out (if not close to it). It was crazy. I wasn't able to get dinner since the line for the diner extended through two of the dome coaches and they quit seating people when they got to the Moffet tunnel. I arrived in Denver hungry but overall had a great trip.

So long story short, the big crowd at Glenwood Springs may also be attributed to people who just rode the Denver to Glenwood Springs section.

that would have been April 12, a Tuesday...Stevie

Wonderful route, wonderful crews, wonderful train.