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Background:
The Royal Gorge was created to replace
the flagship train of the Rio Grande, the Scenic Limited.
The Scenic Limited had been a train that carried
through cars to/from St. Louis (on the Missouri Pacific
train of the same name) and to/from Oakland (on the Western
Pacific train of the same name). Though the MP, D&RGW
and WP all had a Scenic Limited, it was never operated
as a through train. With the demise of the Scenic Limited
in June 1946, a new train on the D&RGW, using the same
train numbers (1 & 2) was initiated with through car
service to/from St. Louis and Kansas City on the MP train
(also named the Royal Gorge (a MP train of the same
name ran from 1940 to 1946, but it was actually a completely
different service) and to/from Oakland (on the WP's Royal
Gorge which was initiated May 3, 1948 - the Western
Pacific canceled their Royal Gorge quickly, October
9, 1948; then restarted it on March 20, 1949 before canceling
it forever on September 14, 1950) and service of a sort
was replaced by two RDC cars. The Missouri Pacific canceled
their Royal Gorge in 1950 (what remained was a short
section between Kansas City and Hoisington). Note that on
the MP, the Scenic Limited was replaced by the Colorado
Eagle.
The initial concept for the Royal Gorge
hearkened back to the days when the MP controlled the
D&RGW and WP. The important through train connection
was at Pueblo, not Denver; and the mainline was via the
Royal Gorge and Tennessee Pass, not the Moffat Tunnel route.
By the time the Royal Gorge started, Pueblo had been
superseded by Denver for through train and through car service
for a number of years. With the demise of the MP & WP
Royal Gorge trains, the D&RGW segment continued
on, making connections at Denver and Ogden. It was the last
D&RGW train to use the original standard gauged through
route via the Royal Gorge and Tennessee Pass.
In 1950, the Royal Gorge acquired some
new cars. The cars were all purchased directly from Pullman
and they had been ordered by the C&O as part of a massive
order to re-equip their trains. When the C&O reconsidered
their purchase, other buyers were found for the cars at
drastically reduced costs. Never a railroad to let a good
deal pass by, the D&RGW purchased 25 cars, enough to
re-equip the Prospector completely, while adding
new cars to the Royal Gorge and allowing for some
contingency cars. These cars took their paint scheme from
the narrow gauge equipment that had been displayed at the
Chicago Railroad Fair in 1949. The scheme was Grande Gold
below the windows, aluminum above the belt rail with 4 black
stripes separating the colors. A new operational aspect
presented itself as a result of the coal miners' strike
in 1950, as the Royal Gorge equipment was combined
with the Prospector between Grand Junction and Salt
Lake City. The arrangement worked well enough that it continued
for the service lives of the two trains.
Unlike the Prospector, the Royal
Gorge enjoyed the prestige of being a dome-equipped
train (though the Prospector could claim the status due
to the combination of the trains between Grand Junction
and Salt Lake City). With the purchase of 3 ex-C&O domes,
the Rio Grande added one for each direction on the Royal
Gorge. The train was not completely streamlined, however,
as it retained heavyweight Pullman and head end cars (though
some lightweight head end cars were also used). If the capacity
warranted, the Royal Gorge would usually get rebuilt
heavyweight coaches as opposed to the streamlined 1240-1248
coaches, though one such coach was typically still assigned
to the train.
In the late 1950s, the D&RGW attempted
to prop up sagging revenues on the Royal Gorge by
expanding on the Thrift-T-Sleeper concept initiated by Pullman
and the Missouri Pacific. These cars were heavyweight Pullmans,
modified with skirting and sheathed roofs to better emulate
streamlined cars, and the interiors were modernized as well.
The original cars (Thirft-T-Sleeper 1 through 3) were painted
in MP colors. Later, various Pullmans would be used on this
assignment, both heavyweight and lightweight. For a time,
starting in 1956, Denver Zephyr equipment was added
to the Royal Gorge between Denver and Colorado Springs.
The Royal Gorge was cut back to Salida
in 1964; the Denver Zephyr connection was eliminated
January 1, 1967 and the last remnant of the Royal Gorge
ceased July 27, 1967.
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