To Carol Sarlat, 50, it was a chance to recall clip-clopping in high heels some 30 years ago as she ran for a commuter train in suburban Glen Ellyn.
To Jeff Quevillon, 10, of Quartz Hill, Calif., it was ”real cool.”
To Paul King, 32, the engineer of a turn-of-the-century steam locomotive on the Grand Canyon Railway, it`s a job-and a rewarding experience.
”It`s fun,” says King, a rail fan all his life. ”And it`s hard work. I`m really young to be doing something that was going out of style in the
`50s.”
The Grand Canyon Railway uses refurbished steam engines built in 1906 and 1910, and restored Harriman coaches from the 1920s. These are the same kind of trains that Sarlat, now a Tucson homemaker, and other Chicago commuters ran for on the old Chicago and North Western Railway and the Burlington Route.
The nostalgia-laden Arizona line has averaged more than 90,000 passengers in each of the last two years on the run between Williams, Ariz., and the Grand Canyon.
On Sept. 17, 1901, long before Sarlat was breaking speed records and heels, the first passenger train chugged out of Williams, once a bustling town on a famous slice of Americana, Route 66 (U.S. Highway 66).
Ups and downs of Williams
Williams, population 2,300, is 30 miles west of Flagstaff. Five years ago, Williams was a community bypassed by California-to-East-Coast Interstate Highway 40. The local economy sagged, but with the rebirth of the railway on Sept. 17, 1989, things began looking up.
Rooms in some of the newer motels now rent for about $80 a night during the summer, with reservations recommended.
While engineer King makes routine inspections before the daily Grand Canyon run, the 1906 Williams depot comes alive with the music of a colorful mariachi band.
A short time before the train`s 9:30 a.m. departure on its 65-mile trip north, the infamous ”Bloody Basin Gang” invades the area. Predictably, a shootout occurs, and the sheriff walks off with the pretty girl after gunning down the bad guys and an ”innocent bystander” dressed as a tourist.
As old No. 18 begins its journey, it eases past the railway`s maintenance shop and yards where 13 coaches have been redone. Inside the shop, rail enthusiasts can see a variety of equipment, including a so-called drop table that enables mechanics to easily remove the wheels from a locomotive.
On this day, each of seven coaches rumbling along behind the engine is practically full, making a total of 630 passengers. The round trip-2 1/2 to 3 hours each way-takes visitors through high plains, past narrow gorges and to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The round trip costs $47 for adults plus tax and National Park Service entry fee of $4, $23 for teenagers, and $14.50 for kids under 12.
The smoke problem
A conductor says that the Harriman coaches, manufactured by Pullman Standard in 1923, were designed with high-arching ceilings so smoke from cigars wafted upward, away from female passengers.
Each coach cost $100,000 to refurbish. Railway owner Max Biegert has invested $20 million in the project, and plans to build a theme park near the Williams depot, the conductor says.
If Biegert`s business stays on track, he hopes to run steam locomotives between Los Angeles and the Grand Canyon by 1995, with club cars, diners and sleepers.
As No. 18 huffs and puffs toward the canyon, Kevin Johns moves from coach to coach, playing a guitar and a harmonica simultaneously. It doesn`t take much coaxing to get passengers to sing along on ”I`ve Been Working on the Railroad,” ”She`ll be Comin` `Round the Mountain When She Comes,” and ”You Are My Sunshine.”
At one point, the train passes the old CO Corral, built in 1909 by the Santa Fe Railway for a firm that was owned by the pioneer family of former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt.
Just before the end of the journey, a youngster in an engineer`s cap shouts: ”Awesome!” The Grand Canyon has come into view.
Rim is nearby
It`s about noon. The quaint log-cabin terminal is a short walk from the rim, some of the canyon trails, and hotels and restaurants. Signs along the trails caution hikers that climbing up takes takes at least twice as long as walking down.
During the layover, King again goes through his routine of inspections.
”I don`t know whether the kids or the old-timers get a bigger kick out of this,” King says. ”I guess, the older folks. They`re able to remember the `good old days.` ”
The two steam locomotives used by the railway were converted from coal-fired to oil, King says, because the National Park Service insisted on oil for safety reasons. Cinders from a coal fire would have presented a hazard in the often-dry wooded area.
Occasionally, puffs of black smoke belch from the locomotive, but King says that`s just part of the sand-blasting process to clear out a buildup of soot. If environmentalists were to ask, they would be told that pollutants emitted by the oil-fired locomotives are considerably less than those of the 30,000 cars that would have made the trip were it not for the railway.
At 3:55 p.m., King gives several short toots on No. 18`s whistle, beckoning stragglers. Despite the early excitement, the trip back to Williams seems a bit quiet. The anticipation is gone. Besides, some of the weary passengers ventured part way down a canyon trail.
About 8 miles from Williams, the train makes a brief ”unscheduled”
stop. Moments later, rascals who look a lot like the Bloody Basin Gang storm aboard for a hokey hold-up and a shotgun wedding. As luck would have it, Sarlat, the former Glen Ellyn resident, becomes an impromptu bride.
”You`ll be partners for life,” the sheriff says. ”Or at least until the train stops.”
And by 7 p.m., another round trip to the Grand Canyon is history.
