Pretty clean dome car glass, yes? You’re on the Rio Grande Zephyr, Train 18, eastbound through Ruby Canyon just after leaving Utah, and the train is about to cross McDonald Creek which empties into the Colorado River. A few miles back, the D&RGW began following the river, and will be next to it for 238 miles, the longest any railroad in the USA follows the same river. Just five months after the birth of Amtrak, this was October 10, 1971. D&RGW initially did not join Amtrak, and this train became the nation’s sweetheart.
