Spend your next family trip exploring a new area aboard a 100-year-old steam engine. The steam engine still chugs itself to the Grand Canyon and back and has become a global showcase on how ingenuity can save the past for the future.
The Grand Canyon Railway is considered to be the last daily standard gauge U.S. railroad to run steam engines in scheduled regular service. Currently, The Grand Canyon Railway uses recycled waste vegetable oil as fuel on No. 4960, a steam engine built in 1923. On select days through October, this massive steam engine pulls the daily train, running from Williams, Arizona, to South Rim, Grand Canyon. Waste vegetable oil typically used for French fries, chicken wings and other fried foods saved this train from becoming a museum display. By using this recycled fuel, the great machine runs on a neutral carbon footprint.
It’s estimated The Grand Canyon Railway reduces the number of cars in the national park by about 70,000 per year. The railway strives to utilize biodegradable fuels whenever possible and is the first tourism railway to receive ISO 14001 third-party certification of its environmental management system.
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