Steam & Excursion > Royal Gorge F7 cab ride

On August 22, 2007 I treated myself to a cab ride on the Royal Gorge Route Railroad. I still lament being just a bit too young to have
experienced riding on Rio Grande's "Royal Gorge" between Denver and Glenwood Springs via the Joint Line and over Tennessee Pass.
This was the next best thing...it cost $99 and was worth every penny. The sound of riding in the cab of an F7 was wonderful !

1) Leaving Canon City westbound past the prison
2) As we start into the canyon it gets pretty curvy
3) Almost directly under the bridge 

---

---

---

4) Hanging Bridge
5) A peek over the engineer's shoulder
6) I set up to videotape the ride too

---

---

---

7) another look at the controls
8) the heritage of the unit is well documented on the wall
9 a "selfie" in the rear view mirror

---

---

---

10) there were many rafters on the Arkansas River...and one of them had to pull over to answer nature's call
11) had to hold it a bit longer to wait for the train to pass...or maybe not :)
12) a fixer upper

---

---

---

13) a look back at our train
14) a old D&RGW rock gon
15) after we get past the Gorge and arrive at Parkdale we get to walk the entire train to go to the cab at the other end...
 

---

---

---

16) past a well stocked lounge car
17) a Rock 'N Rail train passes us while we were stopped at Parkdale
18) dining in a dome

---

---

---

19) one of the open air observation cars
20) past the snack bar
21) trying not to get grease on my clothes slipping by the 567

---

---

---

The ride back to Canon City is quieter since it's downhill. All in all a very memorable trip. Thanks for looking !

22) one of the full length domes
23) a chop nose SD-9 in the yard
24) the afternoon train departs Canon City
 

---

---

---

Excellent - An "A+" set of photos!
Bob

Great series

What a ride. I took the same trip in 2007 also. Had the SD9 subbing for the B Unit tho, which was so cool. Engineer Bob was a hoot. Had a really great chat about his days on the Rio Grande and we chatted so much, we ran past the station on the retunr trip. :-)

I really enjoyed the images from your cab ride, the views inside the train and outdoor shots  . Thanks for sharing .

GREAT POsTING

Your cab ride certainly was a treat.  Thanks for your awesome posting.
ALLEN

Nicely done!  Didn't know that a cab ride was available there.  Also liked your car interior pics.

Thanks for posting,

-John

Sad to say that the SD9 5304 is no longer in the operating world. Scrapped in Canon City a few years back. Word was there were major issues with the, I believe, the Main Generator among other things.  Great shots of a great trip. That prison in shot 1 is the Original Prison in Colorado, known as Territorial. Back when I first retired from the NAVY, I worked for the Colo Dept of Corrections here in town. First night on the job, had to take a guest of the state there for observation, and going into the facility and the area where we took the guest, sure gave me the "willies"  Hair on back of my neck stood up til I got out of there. Those stone walls and other things really give one an appreciation as one not to do anything stupid that would put me in a place like this. Whole new perspective.  Thanks for sharing. Ben

Thanks for sharing these nice photos.  What a fun day.  They now have a matching car consist and obviously some newer power, but I sure like the F's.  I sure wish the SD-9 was still around.  

Jim Barton

Not the control stand I remember on the F's.  What happened to the 24RL brake valve? 

Very enjoyable series!!

Larry

ExStarlightHog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not the control stand I remember on the F's. 
> What happened to the 24RL brake valve? 

former cnw exec f's maybe the CNW changed it?