"The Return of Steam" at the Grand Canyon Railway

August 4, 12:16 PMGrand Canyon National Park ExaminerLinda Updike

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Grand Canyon National Park Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Steam Locomotive 4960 in front of Grand Canyon Railway depot - photo: Linda Updike 2009 

It hasn’t been announced yet but the Grand Canyon Railway will be bringing their steam locomotive out to play for a limited time in September.  “The Return of Steam” will be powered by waste vegetable oil. 

During Labor Day weekend the steam loco will be taking short trips each hour from the GCR Williams, Arizona depot.  And then on September 19th, locomotive # 4960 will be running the entire trip to the Grand Canyon in celebration of the 20 years since the Grand Canyon Railway reopened in 1989. 

This Grand Canyon Railway Steam Locomotive 4960 has gone from burning coal to burning diesel to now burning recycled waste vegetable oil.  Not only is the Grand Canyon Railway the only shortline tourist railway in the country to be ISO14001 certified, but now they are experimenting with burning vegetable oil.  How cool is that?

Details will be released soon and I’ll keep you updated as they are announced.

To learn more about the Grand Canyon Railway go to www.thetrain.com.