Canyon Spirit, Colorado's New Luxury Train Connects Denver With Utah's National Parks

Someone with more money than most has finally done it. They created a luxury train that connects a thriving metropolis like Denver with a beautiful resort like Glenwood Springs and a true blockbuster, the five desert National Parks in Utah. Last year, it was rolling under the name of her sister train in Canada, The Rocky Mountaineer, which still fit because Colorado anchors the southern end of the Rocky Mountains. Today, the same paint scheme and service under a new name, Canyon Spirit.

The train departs Denver and takes the identical route of the California Zephyr up the Moffat Route, through all 31 tunnels of the Tunnel District and then down through each of the exquisite canyons, finishing it off with the grand(e) dame, Glenwood Canyon before coming to a rest in Glenwood Springs. That's where the similarities to the Cal Z start to diverge. In Glenwood, you disembark for the night to stay there overnight. Dinner and a soak in the Springs? Possible. The train will be there the next morning to pick you up and take you the rest of the way to Moab, Utah and/or Salt Lake City. That is certainly a new way of doing things!

How you travel on the Canyon Spirit is up to you, but even the basic package is $1,735. This is well above the California Zephyr fare and more ambitious plans could run more than a private car rental, depending on where you go. Nevertheless, luxury and leisure, gastronomy and refined palates, you may have met your match with this train. Travis Ridgen, a youngish travel vlogger has made a detailed entry about this new experience.

If you are looking for a special date to commemorate or a landmark trip to take that is off the beaten path, Canyon Spirit is a capital idea that needs investing in, probably some saving up for. Some folks prefer to have a wide-open agenda and take things as they come, but if you'd rather let someone else do the planning once you've made your pick and then have every need catered to, this is your boarding call. All aboard! ⚒

PS: Speaking of special dates, today marks a very special date for me and my spouse. I'm very grateful for her support of this hobby all these years!

Denver's Highland Neighborhood Holds A Surprising Link to the Rio Grande's Founders

On the west side of Denver, a neighborhood unlike any other holds a surprising link to General William Jackson Palmer and Dr. William Bell, the two key figures in the early days of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. They were critical to the future of the entire state, yet this one undeveloped corner of Denver drew their attention. Sarah Mulholland of Colorado Public Radio picks up the story. 

How beautiful must that corner of land looked to these men that they would be reminded of the Scottish Highlands? One can only guess. But Palmer, for his part, described a recent morning when he had arisen, approached the window, and 

"a sight burst upon me which was worthy of God's own day. The [Front] Range, all covered with snow, arose, pure and grand, from the brown plains. As I looked I thought, 'Could one live in constant view of these grand mountains without being elevated by them into a lofty plane of thought and purpose?'₁

Clearly, the man was not above being moved by natural beauty! Such a heart is one I'd someday like to know. ⚒

1 - Rebel of the Rockies, Robert Athearn Ch 1, p.8

Tidemark Ends Colorado Narrow Gauge Calendar Publication

Today, January 1, 2026, was the first day I went without an accompanying Colorado Narrow Gauge calendar after decades of popular production. According to TideMark's post, they decided to end their publication of all calendars. 

To our friends and customers,

I regret to report that after 45 years, we have decided to discontinue our calendar program. As a result, we will not publish any calendar titles for 2026. We appreciate your interest and support through the past four decades.

Best,
Scott Kaeser
Publisher

For years, Charles E. Ditlefsen offered a calendar titled Those Magnificent Trains. In 1985, he published an ad in Trains for his calendar with scenic landscapes and Rio Grande K-28s sharing the months with standard gauge behemoths in less scenic places. Clearly, the Colorado photos and the narrow gauge photos gathered a lot of interest because in a few years, Mr. Ditlefsen introduced Colorado Narrow Gauge. 

Colorado Narrow Gauge 2025 Calendar is the last
full run in a long line of beautiful runs

The run began when CEDCO advertised his offering in the October 1991 Trains magazine issue. Titled Colorado Narrow Gauge 1992 Calendar. it sold well enough for follow-on production. CEDCO continued issuing the calendar in paper for nearly a decade before allowing TideMark to take over the popular title around 2009.

Personally, I was a great fan. I was amazed at the seemingly inexhaustible supply of pre-1970 railroad photographs from Colorado's narrow gauge past! I would always read the incredibly detailed and researched descriptions that came along with each month. Every single month the "Five Ws" of each photograph were answered in those pages. 

In regard to photographs, Al Chione seemed to take a lot of them, but he was not alone nor did the photographs seem to vary noticeably in quality or variety. It was always something new to view, and I never felt like I got a bad year. Considering such quality, a price increase would have been worth the sacrifice, especially in view of the alternative.

In short, this calendar was an inspiration to me in presenting the best I could to my readers. Including myself, Colorado and Narrow Gauge fans are in considerably poorer shape this year. It's my hope that someone takes up the challenge, directly or indirectly, to add more quality offerings to this legacy.

On a side note, in 1995, CEDCO even managed to sell a CD-ROM version of its train calendar that allowed the user to put together and print their own calendars using desktop printers. A few narrow gauge photos were included, but the pictures were limited in size and quality. It may have been asking much of the technology of the time to fit BMP format pictures on a CD together with the software. Nonetheless, I always thought using a JPEG format might have saved the Trains Calendar CD-ROM from being a single issue, brave as it was.