Passenger Trains > Grand Canyon Railway Departing the Rim

I just spent some time at the Grand Canyon and managed to catch one of GCRY's afternoon departures.   The railroad runs two trains north from Williams to the Grand Canyon in the morning, and the two trains run back south in the afternoon.   This is the second Williams-bound train this day, departing at 4:30pm.   The train is maybe a half mile from the depot at the Grand Canyon and is rounding the curve to point south towards Williams.  One of the switches to the wye used to turn trains is visible.

From my (very minimal) research, the leader is ex-Amtrak and the trailing locomotive is ex-New Jersey Transit. 

Thanks for watching!
-Tom

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Nice work! I'm imaginging a Disater Flick with CGI and the train going right into the canyon.

Nice!  I believe the first three cars are Budd RDC remodels.

The car after it seems to be a Pennsy "Congressional" coach. 

Are they the same rebuilt B&M RDC's that came via Caltrains-Virginia Railway Express?  Others were sold by VRE to Vermont for use in the short lived passenger service out of Burlington.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/19 06:56 by mp208.

Nice. What was the white antenna looking object in the video, to the left of you location.?

CPRR Wrote:
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> Nice. What was the white antenna looking object in
> the video, to the left of you location.?

I'm not sure.  It's not something that caught my attention when I was there other than trying to work around it as much as possible with it being 'foreground clutter'.   It could be an old sign post or a marker for the road crossing circuitry or something.  Just guessing though.

VERY nice camera work - steady, smooth pan and tilt while maintaining nice framing.

mp208 Wrote:
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> Are they the same rebuilt B&M RDC's that came via
> Caltrains-Virginia Railway Express?  Others were
> sold by VRE to Vermont for use in the short lived
> passenger service out of Burlington.

Yes, they are from the group of "Boise Budds" rebuilt from mostly ex-B&M RDCs for the MBTA almost forty years ago.  This group came to the Grand Canyon from Caltrain.

Dave

I once heard their ride quality is now awful with propulsion equipment removed and the cars lightened in weight. Is that true ? 

That is some nice video work, and very good HD!

Excellent ! Tha you for sharing !!!:):):)

Slow train.  Is it that slow all the way?

Those F40s are both Ex Amtrak, I remember seeing 3 of them before their paint job in the yard over there a long time ago!

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> I once heard their ride quality is now awful with
> propulsion equipment removed and the cars
> lightened in weight. Is that true ? 

I last rode these in Boston over 35 years ago when they were fresh from rebuild at Morrison Knudsen.   They were rough riding and and the luggage racks vibrated, none of which was intolerable for a commuter coach.     However, I recall that they didn't bounce like an RDC when going through interlockings.  

Tom Coughlin
Stow, MA 

coach Wrote:
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> Slow train.  Is it that slow all the way?

​It's not super slow once they get out of the curves near the canyon.  I'm guessing 35 - 40 is typical speed?  It's 2hr 15 min from Williams to the canyon.  Same distance is about an hour by car.  My wife and I took it in March.  It was a very enjoyable trip.  We paid extra for the dome.  I would highly recommend paying the extra money for the dome.  We took a walk through the coaches and people didn't look like they were enjoying the trip nearly as much.

​As for the post about picturing it as a disaster movie with the train going into the canyon, that is impossible.  There is a little hill between the end of track and the canyon.  The El Tovar Hotel is something like 100 feet above the Grand Canyon station.

I could not tell from the video but do the locomotives provide 480 voltsas they did for Amtrak or is there a power car in the consist!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/19 15:56 by TomPlatten.

ProAmtrak Wrote:
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> Those F40s are both Ex Amtrak, I remember seeing 3
> of them before their paint job in the yard over
> there a long time ago!

While you’re correct that Grand Canyon has three ex-Amtrak F40PHs, the 4124 is one of two ex-NJT units also on the roster.

Dave

Great work!

Thanks for shooting it!

Erik Leeper
Phoenix, AZ