page_title: Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
section_title: Passenger trains
hierarchical_section_title: Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad / Passenger trains
caption_attribution_description: Postcard photo of the California Zephyr in the Colorado Rockies in winter. The train is headed by Rio Grande locomotives for this leg of the trip.
context_page_description: The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft narrow-gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado, in 1870. It served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic.
  The Rio Grande was the epitome of mountain railroading, with a motto of Through the Rockies, not around them and later Main line through the Rockies, both referring to the Rocky Mountains.
  The D&RGW operated the highest mainline rail line in the United States, over the 10,240 feet Tennessee Pass in Colorado, and the famed routes through the Moffat Tunnel and the Royal Gorge. At its height in the mid-1880s, the D&RG had the largest narrow-gauge railroad network in North America with 2,783 miles of track interconnecting the states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Known for its independence, the D&RGW operated the Rio Grande Zephyr until its discontinuation in 1983.
context_section_description: This is a partial list of D&RGW passenger trains. Westbound trains had odd numbers, while eastbound trains had even numbers. Many of the trains were named and renamed as well as being re-numbered.  There are over 180 names on a complete list of all the railroad's named trains.
caption: California Zephyr headed by D&RGW locomotives passes through the Colorado Rockies in winter.
exif: {}