Rio Grande Zephyr

The Rio Grande Zephyr was a passenger train operated by Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW or Rio Grande) between Denver, Colorado and Ogden, Utah from 1970 until 1983. In operation after the creation of publicly-funded Amtrak, the Rio Grande Zephyr was the last privately-operated interstate passenger train in the United States.
== History ==
The train was a remnant of the original California Zephyr, which was jointly operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, and Western Pacific Railroad. This iteration of the Zephyr ended operations on March 22, 1970, when the Western Pacific discontinued its portion.
The Rio Grande Zephyr commenced operation using the D&RGW's portion of the California Zephyr route from Denver, Colorado to Salt Lake City, Utah. The route was extended to Ogden, Utah to allow for California-bound passengers to connect to the City of San Francisco and later the San Francisco Zephyr, which did not serve Salt Lake City. The Rio Grande Zephyr used mostly the same equipment and staff as was formerly used for the California Zephyr. Since the train was no longer an overnight affair, sleeping cars and a full baggage car were not required. The D&RGW sold its sleepers to the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, while their one baggage car was sold to the Algoma Central Railway in Canada.
Amtrak planned to resume operation of the original California Zephyr on May 1, 1971. The D&RGW and Amtrak could not come to terms over a contract agreement, however, and, just four days before Amtrak began operations, Union Pacific's Overland Route was substituted for the Rio Grande's Moffat Tunnel Route. The Amtrak service was initially named the San Francisco Zephyr, as the route combined portions of the routes of the former California Zephyr and the City of San Francisco trains.
link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rio_Grande_Zephyr_in_Glenwood_Canyon_1975.jpg|thumb|Rio Grande Zephyr in Glenwood Canyon, 1975
For twelve years, the Rio Grande Zephyr operated three days a week in each direction. It never operated on Wednesday. In 1983, the D&RGW reversed its earlier opposition and elected to join Amtrak, citing increasing losses in passenger operations. Amtrak re-routed the San Francisco Zephyr over the D&RGW's main line between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah, which had been the original preferred route in 1971. The change was initially scheduled for April 25, but a mudslide at Thistle, Utah closed the D&RGW's main line and delayed the change until July 16. While the Utah portion of the line was closed, the Rio Grande Zephyr continued to operate on a truncated route between Denver and Grand Junction, Colorado until the train was discontinued on April 24, 1983. After the D&RGW tracks were re-opened, Amtrak revived the California Zephyr name.
The modern California Zephyr uses the route of the Rio Grande Zephyr from Denver to Salt Lake City; service to Ogden was discontinued. Intercity rail service between Salt Lake City and Ogden was still available via the Desert Wind and Pioneer passenger trains until these were discontinued in 1997. Passenger rail service between Ogden and Salt Lake City was restored in April 2008 with the startup of FrontRunner commuter trains.
== Gallery ==
== Trivia ==
Category:Locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives
Category:Amtrak
Category:Preserved locomotives