KYUNE, Utah — The test train for next year’s expansion of Rocky Mountaineer service to Salt Lake City is well into its six-day round trip from Denver.
Rocky Mountaineer’s parent company, now known as Armstrong Collective, announced earlier this month that in 2026, it would add three-day trips between Denver and Salt Lake City to the current overnight trips between Denver and Moab, Utah., with a one-night stay in Glenwood Springs, Colo. The U.S. operation will be renamed Canyon Spirit [see “Rocky Mountaineer U.S. operations …,” Trains News Wire, March 18, 2025].
The company had reported it would run a training trip for the new service this year, prior to the start of its 2025 season of the two-day “Rockies to Red Rocks” excursions [see “Rocky Mountaineer ‘Rockies to Red Rocks’ trips …,” News Wire, March 19, 2025]. On Friday, the train traveled the new portion of the three-day route, arriving in Salt Lake City after its Moab stop. The return trip began Saturday, and will spend tonight (March 30) in Glenwood Springs before arriving in Denver on Monday, March 31.
Why does Rocky Mountaineer seem to have no problems expanding service yet it takes Amtrak years to reach an agreement with the host railroads? After wasting money on courts and lawyers on top of it.
There was probably a lot of “behind the scenes” discussion to enable this trip expansion that wasn’t publicly noticeable. Also, Rocky Mountaineer is a seasonal cruise train service with one round trip per week, and on such a slow schedule that they can afford a bit of freight interference (and being for-profit, they can probably afford to pay more for their slots). Compared to Amtrak, which operates daily+ round trips year-round on a tight budget, a much larger hassle for host railroads and dispatchers.
As long as you pay a commercial rate for the track time and have your own liability insurance not backed by the deep pockets of the USG, the Class 1’s will let you roll where you want.
Only Bill Gates got to travel the country like James West and Artemus Gordon, because he had the pockets to do so.
Now that was a happy flashback to the, “Wild, WIld West…” All we need now is the rear of the train going off in the distance…
That picture is a keeper. See in the first Rocky Mountaineer come out of Kyune.
Awesome photo… More power & best of good luck to the beloved Rocky Mountaineer!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün