Travel back in time with Grand Canyon Railway | Scenic train rides to the Canyon

On the return trip, watch out for a mischievous attempt at robbing your train. Hold up your hands as the robbers collect your valuables (usually money held up voluntarily by the passengers) and give you high-fives in exchange!

Every day, the Grand Canyon Railway experience starts even before you get on the train. Watch as the Cataract Creek Gang and the Marshal confront each other at the Williams Depot, giving you a glimpse of life at the Wild Wild West in the days of the ruling cowboys.

Once you get onboard, you'll see the scenery change from arid lands to the prairie to the pines. The large viewing windows on the train give you unparalleled views of the Grand Canyon area, the wildlife around, as well as the San Francisco Peaks. All this while live musicians provide the perfect background track for your journey. You can even participate in a little jig before the rain reaches the South Rim.

Usually, trains are pulled using diesel locomotives on a regular basis. However, there are a few special days when you can ride the train being pulled by steam locomotives, too! The steam engines run the first Saturday of each month from March to October and on some other designated days of celebration. The Polar Express, a winter tradition, is another special train that runs from November through January at 5:30pm and 7:30pm, and the trip lasts about 90 minutes. Seats are limited, so make sure you book accordingly!

1901: The Grand Canyon Railway is established at Williams, Arizona, by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. It starts ferrying passengers and freight to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
1903: President Theodore Roosevelt visits the Grand Canyon aboard the Grand Canyon Railway.
1905: Charles Whittlesey, the Chief Architect for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, builds the El Tovar, and the Fred Harvey Company starts operating it as a destination resort, catering to visitors who arrive by train.
1968: The Santa Fe ceases passenger operations because of rising automobile traffic. Freight services continue.
1974: Freight operations on the Grand Canyon Railroad are also stopped.
1989: Passenger trains start running again under the ownership of Max and Thelma Biegert, entrepreneurs from Nebraska, who had purchased the railroad the previous year.
1999: The Grand Canyon Railway gets recognized in the National Register of Historic Places.

2006: The Biegerts sell off the Grand Canyon Railway to Xanterra Travel Collection, a park-management company with ties to the original Fred Harvey Company, which was a collaborator of the Santa Fe in the early days of the Grand Canyon railway.
2008: Xanterra stopped using steam locomotives to reduce the railway's environmental impact and save fuel costs.
2009: The Grand Canyon Railway receives the ISO 14001 award for environment-friendly operations. Xanterra reintroduces steam locomotives, modified to use waste vegetable oil collected from restaurants all over Northern Arizona as fuel and harvested rainwater.
2024: The Grand Canyon Railway gets a $3.4 million grant to start a zero-emission train. The plan is to convert one of the classic diesel locomotives into a battery-powered one.

Emery Kolb and Ellsworth Kolb were brothers who arrived at the canyon via the Grand Canyon Railway in its early days and later became two of the most famous passengers of the train in local lore. They built the Kolb Studio from 1904 to 1926 and established a booming business taking pictures of visitors descending the Bright Angel Trail and selling them as keepsakes. Today, the restored and preserved studio is a popular spot for those interested in exploring the canyon's early history and the pioneers who contributed to the region's thriving tourism economy.

Made of stone and log timbers and standing proud at the edge of the canyon in the Grand Canyon Village, the Lookout Studio was built by Mary Colter as a spot from which visitors could enjoy panoramic views of the canyon, use telescopes to look up close, buy trinkets, and click photographs from a unique perspective. Inspired by the natural rock forms in the area and the indigenous American Indian architectural style, this structure has undergone few alterations since it was built in 1914.