Lower
left is a view into the canyon. At no location could I
actually see the Colorado River. For fun, I tried to capture an
image of the North Rim Grand Canyon Lodge and got it. It is
slightly left of center just below the row of trees with a green roof.
The
South Rim was crowed with people who arrived via two different
trains and many automobiles. I saw little wildlife. The
scenic locator seemed to be missing a vital piece, but the names of the
locations remain. They include Hopi Fire Lodge, Point Sublime,
Dana Butte, Figure 7, Isis Temple, Cheops Pyramid, Buddha Temple,
Colorado River Gorge, Zoroaster Temple and Grandeur Point.
Who was George S. Crosby?
With Grand Canyon Limited
departure time at 4:00 PM, it was time to
take the short walk back to the railroad. The train was already
there and the steam locomotives were about to be backed to the train.
At
the appropriate time, I boarded the train to enjoy the ride
back. We had one more photo run by to happen. That is where
the trouble started for me. I was juggling 3 batteries in my
camera and happened to put a good one in the charger and take two dead
ones with me for the run by. I got several still photgraphs
before I realized my problem and mistake. It then became time to
just enjoy the photo run by. Surely you and I can find that run
by on youTube. Here are the still photos collected before the
camera complained. At least the flowers were pretty.
The rest of the run back to
Williams was a good time because this was,
after all, the Grand Canyon Limited. I went back into video mode
and got the last moments of this trip.
Soon
we were at the Grand Canyon Railway Williams depot. After most of
3 days on the Grand Canyon Limited, I was ready to get off.
Thankfully, the next day was one totally free of riding a train even
though I would have liked to have ridden the Verdi Canyon Railroad down
in Clarkdale. I was so frazzled that even though I researched the
only Thai restaurant in town, I could not find it. While walking
around trying to find that particular restaurant, I saw Grand Canyon
Limited passengers at various restaurants. I wound up getting a
takeout calzone from a pizza place on Route 66. While waiting for
my order, the lady at the restaurant told me that her husband worked at
the GCR automobile shop. Point being, the Grand Canyon Railway is
an important business and employer in Williams Arizona. I intend
to return to support them. Later on in the
evening, it was natural to wander out to the depot and check out who
was around. Some fellow Grand Canyon Limted passengers were
sitting, or walking to or from the Grand Canyon Hotel, if they were
staying there. One character, a young man, perhaps late teens or early
twenties was hanging around the Number 29 steam locomotive taking
photographs. He was extremely talkative and wanted everyone to
know that he was taking Number 29 home and was going to steam her up
later this night. Really? I wondered if the Grand Canyon
Railway knew of this plan? 29 is captive on the track with
passenger cars across the street. He claimed his family had some
interest in ownershiop and he was taking her home. I told him
that he better set an alarm clock. And, how was he going to steam
this locomotive up alone? Now for that one
good night of sleep. Night, night.
Grand
Canyon Railway
Grand
Canyon Limited Main Page
Richard Elgenson
RailNews Site
