Royal Gorge 2025

The Royal Gorge Train is an out-and-back ride from Canon City. Skyline Drive is a single lane one-way road along a hogback.

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Royal Gorge Train Ride

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This one day adventure glimpsed into the engineer's role in operating a desiel electric locomotive through the Royal Gorge of the Arkansa river. Steve R. joined me for the roundtrip drive from Longmont to Canon City and the out and back train ride.

I took the Miata for the drive. Turns out the car is ok for a taller driver, but not suitable for a tall passenger; the leg space is shortened on the passenger side. We took a route through Sedalia then southwest on Hwy 67. I took the West Pine Creek Rd turnoff because to stay on Hwy 67 requires a left turn onto a narrow dirt road and is not sign posted. West Pine Creek Rd immediately turns into a dirt road that winds it's way down to the South Platte River and the adjacent paved road. That worked out ok in the end.

The route took us through Woodland Park then to Cripple Creek. That town had Main street closed with booths set up and folks racing burros a few blocks through town on the hour. It was a festive atmosphere. We took lunch at the Gold Camp Cafe deserving of an endorsement.

Steve took over the driving after lunch for the chance to experience the Miata and stretch his legs out. It rained sporadically on this leg of the journey clearing as we pulled into Canon City and the train depot.

The parking lot is adjacent to the Arkansas river which afforded us a little view of the cool clear tumbling water. Upstream from here is the Royal Gorge with it's challenging rapds. Downstream the river slows down with miles of flat water before it enters the Pueblo Reservoir.

We grabbed our complimentary drink at the caboose snack bar before being escorted to the locomotive at the head of the twelve plus car train. I was expected maybe 4 train cars so the length of the train with its dome vista cars, dining cars, and open cars surprised me. One car was set up with lasers for the evening laser light show on rails.

Jeremy, our engineer posed along with us for a picture before we climbed with 'three points of contact' up into the locomotive. There were three seats in the no frills roomy cab. All the controls to operate the train were on the right side. There was electrical switch gear on the back wall. The diesel engine was idling the entire time while parked. Even with Jeremy's explanation of the procedures and controls, I'd be hard pressed to get the train moving. He rotated a medium sized switch high on the back wall to put the train in 'run' mode before sitting down in front of the main console. There seemed to be three main controls: power, air brakes, and dyno brakes. There was the 'deadman' which is a joystick like lever that must be moved about every 60 seconds to insure the engineer hasn't 'died'. The train would shut down and stop on its own if the deadman wasn't routinely triggered. There were at least four gauges that Jeremy monitored and used: brake air pressure, DC amperage, the changing train length (the train stretched and shrunk while traveling), and the speed. We never exceeded 14mph during the entire two hour trip up and back through the gorge. Jeremy prided himself on operating the train as smoothly as possible to give folks a pleasant ride.

With two blasts of the horn, we pulled slowly away from the station to start our journey through the Royal Gorge. We passed the state penitentiary on the right. Jeremy used a touch tone phone to request clearance on the track to proceed on several occasions. The steel wheels squealed on some of the tight corners. We waved at rafters and kayakers floating down the river. We were free to move about the cab, hang out the window, and stand behind Jeremy to watch him operate the train. We passed Santa's workshop on the North Pole - a village of small replica homes lit up at night. We saw the Royal Gorge Bridge high over head. We passed under a concrete structure for diverting water from a side canyon over the tracks. We eventually reached the upstream opening of the gorge. Here the train reversed direction and the conductor at the 'caboose' end became the eyes for Jeremy. He stopped the train at the narrowest point of the gorge at the 'suspended bridge'. The gorge is 70ft wide here with the train bridge taking up about half and the Arkansas river flowing through the other half. We were invited to climb down to experience the presence of the big locomotive in the narrow and very deep gorge with the river rushing past. Back in the cab Jeremy took as back down the Royal Gorge to Canon City and the train depot.

We enjoyed dinner at the White Water Bar and Grill west out of town a few miles on Hwy 50. Returning back to town, we turned left onto the Skyline drive. This one-way single track paved road runs along the top of the hogback on the west side of Canon City. It affords a dramatic view of the surround area. One wonders the history of how the road come to be; what crazy inspiration manifested its perched route.

It took a little over two hours to make the drive back home up I-25.