Arizona Rail Passenger Association

The Grand Canyon Railway will commemorate the 20^th anniversary of its rebirth Sept. 19, 2009 with a special roundtrip run to the Grand Canyon of its Steam Locomotive 4960 fueled by recycled vegetable oil.

The Sept. 19 excursion for the Railway’s regular 65-mile journey from Williams, Ariz. to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park and back to the Williams Depot departs Williams at 9:30 a.m. and arrives at the Grand Canyon Depot at 11:45 a.m. For the return trip the train departs the Grand Canyon at 3:30 p.m. and arrives in Williams at 5:45 p.m. The Railway’s typical four classes of service will be used.

The Sept. 19 event will feature live music, photo opportunities with the steam engine, a ribbon cutting and remarks by local dignitaries.

The steam locomotive will also make several eight-mile trips throughout the days of Sept. 5 and 6, 2009 with a single class of service in the train’s historic 1923 Harriman cars. Tickets for the “Cataract Creek Rambler” will be sold on-site for unreserved seating and will cost $15 for adults and $10 for children 15 and under.

“In addition to commemorating the history of the Grand Canyon Railway – both its original run of almost 70 years beginning in 1901 and its modern run of the last 20 – we are looking to our future as an eco-friendly railway,” said Gordon Taylor, general manager of the Grand Canyon Railway. “When we moved to an all-diesel fleet last year we decided to keep the steam locomotives maintained so that we could use them for special occasions like this, our 20^th anniversary of the return of the Railway.”

For several years the Railway operated the steam engines from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but last year it discontinued their regular runs because of environmental considerations. Operating an all-diesel fleet of locomotives year-round saves a considerable amount of fuel and reduces greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants associated with steam locomotives…

Rest of the story at the Grand Canyon Railway’s website