'We're Partying Like It's 1875' As Glenwood Springs Welcomes New Rocky Mountaineer Luxury Train
GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - A new luxury train is now making the journey from Denver to Moab, Utah. That includes an overnight stop in Glenwood Springs, and the Glenwood community turned out to welcome the travelers on the Rocky Mountaineer late Sunday.
Tickets start around $1,200 to hop aboard for the Rocky Mountaineer's Rockies to the Red Rocks route. It's an all-inclusive journey much like a cruise, which includes lots of food and drinks.
And when the train rolled into Glenwood Springs Sunday, a crowd was on hand to greet the travelers, much to the delight of the train operator, which tweeted out, "It was a special day for Rocky Mountaineer as we launched our inaugural Rockies to the Red Rocks journey, and the warm welcome we received into Glenwood Springs was amazing! Thank you to everyone who came down and we look forward to the season."
That reception did not go unnoticed by city officials. Matt Nuñez is an economic development specialist with the city and he tweeted out a picture of the crowd saying "Welcome to Glenwood Springs, @rmountaineer! What a wonderful community celebration of a new railroad. We're partying like it's 1875!
The Post Independent in Glenwood Springs talked with travelers as they departed the train. The Blakely family from New York booked the trip after the pandemic interrupted their train tour last year. For Joe Blakely, Jr. it was his first trip through the Rocky Mountains and he told the paper that doing it by train was pretty special.
"This place is gorgeous," he said, "and we'll be back to explore, for sure. It was just gorgeous."
U.S. Senator Michael Bennet just happened to be in Glenwood after touring the damage a mudslide caused on I-70.
"I know what a hard year it's been here in many respects because of the fires, COVID and floods," Bennet said in the Post Independent report. "But there is something to celebrate with a new train come to town. That's pretty exciting when you're a railroad community."
The Rocky Mountaineer will run the "Rockies to Red Rocks" route, which also runs journeys from Moab to Denver, for this inaugural season through mid-November and hopes to make 56 trips.
