By Margaret Malsam
Passengers enjoy lunch on the vista dome dining car of the Royal Gorge train. Photo by Kathyrn Retzler, Royal Gorge Route
It’s fall and time for celebrating Oktoberfest. From now through Oct. 10 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, you can hop aboard the Royal Gorge Train in Canon City for a delicious Oktoberfest lunch while viewing this spectacular natural wonder. On the lunch train, we enjoyed a delicious meal served on a white linen tablecloth while we viewed the tumbling waters of the legendary Arkansas River. While riding in the vista dome dining car, it was a special treat to look up — instead of down — at the steep granite cliffs of the Royal Gorge.
Chef Jeremy Garnett will prepare a three-course lunch of potato and bacon soup with dumplings, veal bratwurst with mustard spaetzle, braised red cabbage and apple, plus Black Forest cake for dessert. You may enjoy Paulaner’s Oktoberfest beer on tap as well as live accordion music for this special event.
“Our classes of service and fine-dining menus have always been inspired by the elegant and leisurely train excursions of yesteryear,” said Mark Greksa, owner of the Royal Gorge Route Railroad.
The train offers six different classes of service from coach and vista dome, to first-class lunch, dinner, wine dinners and murder mystery trains. It’s one of the few railroads in the country that offers rides up front with the engineer.
Murder mystery trains are three hours in duration and include dinner, train ride and mystery solving. They will run at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 2, 16 and 30. On the wine trains, the executive chef serves a five course culinary feast with local wines from the Holy Cross Abbey in Canon City. The next one will be Oct. 23. Special weekend trains will operate during November and December.
From Nov. 20 through Dec. 30 on selected days, St. Nick visits the Royal Gorge on the 6 p.m. Santa Express excursion trains. Professionally decorated trains carry children of all ages to meet Santa at the “North Pole Village” while they sip on hot cocoa, nibble on cookies and listen to holiday stories and festive tunes. Thousands of lights bedeck the festive the village in the gorge where Santa Claus boards the train. He listens to children’s Christmas wishes and gives each child a holiday bell.
Royal Gorge Route Railroad train sits in the station in Canon City. Photo courtesy of Royal Gorge Route
The trains run on the most famous portion of the former Denver & Rio Grande Western track, which was laid more than 130 years ago. This train takes passengers on a 24-mile round trip from Canon City to under the Royal Gorge bridge, the world’s highest suspension bridge built 1,053 feet above the raging Arkansas River.
For information, the fall/winter schedule, or reservations, call 1.888.RAILS.4U or visit www.royalgorgeroute.com.
History of the Royal Gorge Route
During the 1890s, four transcontinental passenger trains a day passed through the Royal Gorge. The original route between Denver and Salt Lake City went over Marshall Pass, through Gunnison, Montrose and Grand Junction. Later, the main line was constructed over Tennessee Pass through Glenwood Springs and into Grand Junction.
When Moffat Tunnel opened in 1928, passengers could go either route to Salt Lake. If they chose the Royal Gorge route, they would leave early in the morning, arriving at Grand Junction in time for their train to be combined with an overnight train for the run into Salt Lake City. The downfall of the Royal Gorge line started when other forms of transportation become more available, such as planes with faster schedules and automobiles for the independent traveler.
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission allowed the Rio Grande Railroad to discontinue its daily passenger service between Denver and Salida. On July 26, 1967, the last day of train service, 56 passengers and 34 Head Start children boarded the train at Denver. The children got off at the Littleton station, and other passengers boarded the train at every station along the way that day. By the end of the day, more than 300 passengers had ridden this last train, which trip was uneventful except for feelings of nostalgia, according to the Green published monthly by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad in August 1967. Those on the train knew they were participating in Rio Grande history by riding on the last trip through the gorge, according to the newsletter. Here’s a herbed lamb chop dinner train recipe published with permission from Historic Recipes from Colorado.
