Move to Relieve Crowding, Air Pollution : Classic Train Steams Into Grand Canyon

WILLIAMS, Ariz. —  The whistle of steam locomotives has returned to the South Rim, and officials say it could usher in a cleaner era at the crowded Grand Canyon overlook.

The Grand Canyon Railway hauled its first passengers over the 64 miles from Williams to the South Rim on Sept. 17, 88 years after the first train chugged over the sinuous route leading from pine forests to the blood-red sandstone of the canyon.

The railway restores service that ended in 1968; since then most of the 3.5 million annual visitors to the rim have arrived by automobile.

Plans Daily Service

The railroad plans weekend service until November and daily service next year, using only steam locomotives over a route that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad considered the toughest on its system when it was completed in 1901.

The railway plans to build a 400-room hotel, a turn-of-the-century theme park and an American Indian cultural center in Williams and later build a hotel near the Grand Canyon airport at Tusayan, 10 miles south of the South Rim.

An hourly train shuttle from the airport to the rim should reduce pollution, said Max Biegert, the railroad’s developer. A recent Northern Arizona University study predicted that train ridership could reduce motor traffic to the rim by 40%.

Biegert said he expects the line to carry 135,000 passengers next year and up to 500,000 annually in years to come, providing jobs for about 800 people.

Recalled Early Glamour

On last month’s inaugural ride, about 500 people, including Gov. Rose Mofford, rode aboard seven 80-foot-long Harriman Coach cars that recalled the glamour of turn-of-the-century railroading.

Mofford hailed the development as an economic boost to northern Arizona, while Eugene Hughes, the president of Northern Arizona University in nearby Flagstaff, waxed sentimental.

“As a child my visions of exotic travel were always likened to the railroads,” he said. “In an era of jet lag and frenetic freeways, it’s nice to know that a person can slow down the pace of things to what they used to be.”