Finishing up a great week that started in Denver and ending in Flagstaff Arizona. In between included time at Moab Utah, Sedona Arizona, and Page Arizona for Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon. Also included multiple National Parks, Forests and Monuments, with highlights including Arches, Monument Valley, Canyon Lands, and Grand Canyon.
Two days of the trip included Riding the Rocky Mountaineer from Denver to Moab. In 2019 we made a more known but some ways similar two day trip from Banff Canada to Vancouver. After making both trips I thought I would list a few comparisons between the two trips. But one factor that impacts the comparison is the Canada trip was pre COVID. All industries have had some impacts, especially when COVID shut down all business as in the situation with Rocky Mountaineer.
For the Canada trip, we elected Gold Leaf which included a modern two story car that provided recliner seating on the upper level and gourmet dining in the lower level with a bonus outdoor observation platform. Those cars are not an option on the U.S. because of the tighter tunnels. For this trip we elected the most inclusive option which is Silver Plus. That included a single story car with high curved windows and comfortable semi recliner seats. In addition, you have access to the adjacent lounge car that included plush seating and a staffed bar. Outdoor observation is limited to the connections between cars that included four doors that allowed the top half to be open.
in many ways, COVID was the reason for the U.S. Rockies to Red Rocks trip exists. After COVID restrictions started to loosen, the border restrictions continued between the U.S. and Canada, a major source of revenue for Rocky Mountaineer. The company quickly negotiated with U.P. and created this route.
Equipment comparison between the two trips include big differences. In Canada the consist included three Rocky Mountaineer owned engines with a half dozen gold leafs cars and another half dozen single story silver leaf cars, along with supporting generator cars and crew cars. In the U.S. the train is much shorter with a total consist of 12. Two leased U.P. motive power, generator car, 2 crew cars, 2 silver plus passenger cars and 2 supporting lounge cars. The rest are Silver level cars that have smaller windows and your trip is restricted to that car only. Similar to Canada, the West to East trip is more popular than the reverse. We went East to West on both trips and the consists included several empty cars. The U.S. trip is new and less popular. On our trip, the occupied cars consisted one Silver Plus and one Silver car. The limited occupancy gives me some concern for long term viability of the route.
As far as staffing, the big difference is the engine crew consist of leased U.P. crew instead of employed crew as in Canada. Both crews do an excellent job of maximizing the experience of the passengers by slowing down for scenic views and radioing back to car hosts any spotted wildlife. We did have to stop to switch crews in Grand Junction Colorado on day 2 for the UP.
Where I saw no difference between the two was the quality and attention to detail of the passenger car crews. We had 4 hosts providing service to our car this week. We had an additional member in the Canada Gold leaf dedicated to the kitchen. Service is outstanding and the food quality is top notch. The Gold leaf menu had more meal options made possible with a larger kitchen and crew. You also ate your meals at a table in Gold leaf instead of at your seat in Silver Plus.
In regards to scenery, your experience comes down to your familiarity of the areas you travel through. I had no prior experience with either the Colorado Rockies or Canada Rockies. Both were first encounters. Both trips were totally engaging to me with big differences in scenery. Canada is less populated and more remote, while day 2 in U.S. has less trees and much further reaching views than the forests and canyons of Canada. Both were engaging experiences for a first timer.
The Canada trip utilized existing CP and CN lines with heavy competition with long freight consists. In U.S., the stops were much shorter with shorter UP freight consists and quick delays for the inconsistent Amtrak California Zephyr. Forced stops made greater impacts on arrival times in Canada. In the U.S. we essentially arrived on time both days. U.S. route was mainly on original Rio Grande tracks that follow the Colorado river.
We boarded on a freight yard in Denver and stopped overnight at a station in Glenwood Springs. We off boarded on a short freight line at an intersection with a road near Moab, with the final part on a bus into town. The Canada trip included all station stops in towns with stays in Banff, Kamloops and Vancouver.
A big difference was the weather. We had rain on day 1 in Denver with much better weather on the other side of the Rockies. The scenery was still beautiful but made photography much harder.
