Royal Gorge Route Railroad

West of Cañon City, Colorado, the Arkansas River has cut a canyon through the granite six miles long and more than 1,000 feet deep, so narrow at its tightest point that the walls fall straight into the water. In 1878 two railroads fought over the right to lay track through it — the Royal Gorge War, two years of court cases, sabotage and hired gunmen — and the Denver & Rio Grande won. Its main line ran through the gorge until 1997, and passenger trains until 1967.

Since 1998 the Royal Gorge Route Railroad has run excursion trains over the 12 miles that were saved. They leave the 1914 Santa Fe Depot in Cañon City, run up the floor of the gorge beside the river, under the Royal Gorge Bridge and over the Hanging Bridge of 1879, and come back from Parkdale without turning round. The round trip is 24 miles and takes just under two hours, in coaches, dining cars and full-length domes from the great streamliners of the 1950s, with an open-air car for everyone.

Trains run every day of the year.

Trains leave from the Santa Fe Depot on Water Street in Cañon City, a brick station with a red-tiled roof, finished by the Santa Fe in 1914. Pick up your tickets inside; next door, a caboose has been turned into a café. Every seat is reserved and assigned, and the class you book decides where you sit: Coach, with high-backed seats in groups of four around a table; Deluxe, in a restored dining car with big plate-glass windows; or upstairs in a Vista Dome. Whichever you choose, you can step out onto the open-air car at any time.

The train heads west past the walls of the territorial prison, opened in 1871 and still in use, and along the river beneath Tunnel Drive. A couple of miles out the valley closes in and the Royal Gorge begins. From here the track is on a narrow shelf beside the Arkansas, with granite walls rising more than 1,000 feet on either side; watch for bighorn sheep on the slopes, and for rafters in the rapids. At milepost 166 the train passes under the Royal Gorge Bridge, a thin line against the sky, and a quarter of a mile on it crosses the Hanging Bridge, at the narrowest point of the gorge, where the walls stand 30 to 40 feet apart. The canyon then opens out towards Parkdale, 12 miles from Cañon City, where the train simply reverses and runs back. It runs push-pull, so nothing needs to turn.

The Hanging Bridge

In 1879 the Santa Fe's crews reached a point where both walls plunged straight into the river and there was no ledge left to build on. The Kansas engineer C. Shaler Smith hung the track over the water: a 175-foot plate girder, suspended on one side from A-frame girders that span the river and are anchored in the rock. It cost $11,759. Strengthened over the years, it still carries every train.

The trains

The best known of the locomotives are a pair of EMD F7s, Nos. 402 and 403, built in 1949 for the Chicago & North Western and painted in the orange and silver of the Denver & Rio Grande Western, the company that ran this line for a century. The cars came from all over North America. The coaches were built in 1954 for Canadian National. The full-length domes are among only 30 ever built, with glass running the whole length of the upper deck: two are Santa Fe Big Domes of 1954, and two are Milwaukee Road Superdomes of 1952. All four spent years carrying cruise passengers to Denali in Alaska before the railroad bought them in 2005 and 2006.

Meals are cooked on board on every departure, and served at your seat.

The train runs every day of the year, from the Santa Fe Depot in Cañon City to Parkdale and back. Daytime trips take about 1 hour 50 minutes; the evening train takes about 2½ hours.

In November the 12:30 runs daily and the 15:30 at weekends. In December the regular trains give way to the Holiday Train at 12:30 and the Santa Express in the evening, both about 1½ hours long.

Good to know:

• Book ahead. Trains sell out. You can book online up to an hour before departure; tickets bought in person at the depot cost $10 more.
• From December to February the evening train runs in the dark, with lasers and floodlights on the walls of the gorge. For the scenery, ride in daylight.
• Rain or snow, the train runs. If the railroad cancels for weather, you can rebook free within a year.
• Parking at the depot, 401 Water Street, is free.

Departures as of September 2026, from the railroad's own pages and its booking system, for June 2026 to May 2027. Confirm before travelling on royalgorgeroute.com (opens in a new tab).

You book a train, a time and a class, and every seat is assigned. The ticket covers the ride only: food, drinks and tips are extra, and a historic preservation fee is added at checkout. Fares are lower on the 09:00 and 15:30 trains than on the 12:30 and evening ones, and rise in high season and on holidays. Children under 2 ride free on a lap; every class includes the open-air car.

There are no refunds. Up to 48 hours before departure you can cancel for a $20 fee a ticket, or move to another date for $10; after that, you can only reschedule. Fares checked September 2026 at royalgorgeroute.com (opens in a new tab); US dollars.

No rail pass covers the Royal Gorge Route. It is a private, family-owned railroad that sells its own tickets. Amtrak's USA Rail Pass is valid only on Amtrak's own trains and Thruway buses, and Interrail and Eurail do not apply anywhere in the United States.

The railroad rarely discounts its own fares. Military discounts are sold through the ticket offices of the nearby bases, and any other offers go out to subscribers of its newsletter.

Checked September 2026 against royalgorgeroute.com (opens in a new tab) and amtrak.com (opens in a new tab).

Cañon City, a town of about 17,000 people and the seat of Fremont County, is the line's only station. The prison museum, Tunnel Drive and Skyline Drive are all on its western edge, and the rim of the gorge, where the Royal Gorge Bridge crosses, is a short drive further west.

Cañon City has hotels and holiday rentals within reach of the depot, and there are cabins along US Route 50 on the way to the gorge. The railroad also lets rooms and houses of its own in town, as Royal Gorge Route Inns.

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