Colorado-based GrandLuxe Ceases Operations Tomorrow

Colorado-based GrandLuxe, formerly the American Orient Express, has folded. The luxury train operator has officially pulled the plug making tomorrow the last day of operations. Current ticket holders for future trips are left with the option of taking the ticket charges up with their credit card companies or to wait and see if the company can get a new lender or partner.

Reasons for the closure, other than financial difficulties, have not been disclosed by management. Trains magazine states,

It is not clear whether GrandLuxe will actually declare bankruptcy or what will happen to the equipment, which presumably will deadhead back to the company's Fort Lupton headquarters tomorrow.

The closure has taken some off guard, including some of their employees who showed up to work unaware of the announcement. This closure comes in the face of a popular standing among patrons and industry insiders. According to the LA Times, "earlier this year [GrandLuxe] was named one of the world’s Top 25 trains by the Society of International Railway Travelers."