As our daily operating season comes to a close, and our weekend schedule begings, I wish to thank all of our guests for making 2008 a successful season. Thanks to those of you who gave us both positive and negative feedback as this has helped us grow and fit your needs. We had a couple of extremely challenging days in July, where hot temperatures tested our hvac systems and quite honestly couldn't stand up to 110 degrees in the Royal Gorge! Fortunately, this was short lived and the open-air cars were the best place to be.
Again, our combination of providing delicious food, outstanding service, and spectacular scenery helped our lunch trains grow quickly this year. Wine Express turned out to be very popular and we will bring it back in 2009.
We're going to have Santa back on the train in December and will once again run our special "New Year's Eve" train offering lodging, transportation, train ride, dinner and entertainment.
I look forward to seeing you on board and much appreciate constructive suggestions on what we can do to better your experience aboard our railroad. Please feel free to comment on what you liked and/or disliked and we'll get it posted.
Kindest regards,
Mark
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Royal Gorge Route Opens Daily - May 24th
Hello again!
Well, we're ready for the 2008 summer season opening this weekend with 3-daily departures and a new class of service. Wine Express pairs wines with delicious "appetizers" on our 12:30 PM and 3:30 PM departures. I laugh when I say "appetizers" as Andre put together four pairings that are not only delicious, but also quite generous as well. We decided to stick with the wines from the Holy Cross Abbey this year as they are really quite good. It's funny, but we often have many of our guests from California comment that the wines are better than award winners from the Napa Valley and Sonoma! We know!
I would urge you to arrive early if you haven't made a reservation, especially for our 12:30 PM departure as it gets busy, especially on weekends. Personally, my favorite run is the 9:30 AM, but I love the mornings. Thank you for riding and I'll see you on the train!
Mark
Well, we're ready for the 2008 summer season opening this weekend with 3-daily departures and a new class of service. Wine Express pairs wines with delicious "appetizers" on our 12:30 PM and 3:30 PM departures. I laugh when I say "appetizers" as Andre put together four pairings that are not only delicious, but also quite generous as well. We decided to stick with the wines from the Holy Cross Abbey this year as they are really quite good. It's funny, but we often have many of our guests from California comment that the wines are better than award winners from the Napa Valley and Sonoma! We know!
I would urge you to arrive early if you haven't made a reservation, especially for our 12:30 PM departure as it gets busy, especially on weekends. Personally, my favorite run is the 9:30 AM, but I love the mornings. Thank you for riding and I'll see you on the train!
Mark
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Welcome to Mark's blog on the Royal Gorge Route Railroad
Welcome to Mark’s blog. We’ve got a lot going on in preparation for our 2008 summer season and the train is getting busier during our current weekend schedule. New this May will be our “Wine Express” train where we’re featuring a “charcuterie” plate featuring four samplings of spiced meats and cheeses paired with wines from around the world. Our executive chef and VP of Operations, Andre Fournier is working on these pairings and this is going to be a fun class of service.
Over the winter our shop crew, lead by Bobby Colvin have completely refurbished two of our Budd dome cars with a new bar/kitchen area and new upholstery for comfortable seating in these amazing glass-topped domes. With 17 cars on the train this summer, the train is really much like a moving city and our crew has their hands full with ongoing maintenance.
Over the winter we have made many personnel changes. TA Davis helped us find a Vice President of Operations, Andre Fournier who brings years of experience in the hospitality industry to the Royal Gorge Route. Our goal has always been to provide an exceptional experience in the Royal Gorge region by providing not only a spectacular train trip, but through outstanding guest service, delicious food options, and a wide range of classes of service. I believe you, as a guest will see that we continually raise the bar on what excellent guest service really means in the attraction industry. We've also been fortunate in finding talented staff members that love this industry and it shows.
Is the train the best experience of the Royal Gorge? Why? I often am asked this question. Obviously, my point of view may be biased, but no matter how many times I ride our train through the Royal Gorge, my jaw drops in wonder. The train provides the only access to see the Royal Gorge in its entirety through 12-miles of amazing scenery. You also get a bonus by travelling under the world’s highest suspension bridge and in summer, watch rafts battle class IV and V raging whitewater. We are not a theme park and pride ourselves as leaders in the scenic rail industry as we attempt to always remain relevant in terms of what our guests wish to enjoy. Last year, we carried 105,000 guests through the Royal Gorge and have become the largest "destination attraction" in the Royal Gorge region.
Culinary Tourism and the train: Whether you choose to ride in Coach, Vista Dome, Lunch, Dinner, or Wine Express, you will have the option to try our food. Quite honestly, it doesn’t cost much more for us to find the best product available, and that’s what we do. Nothing irritates me more than spending $9.00 for a sandwich or hamburger somewhere, knowing what it costs the vendor, only to find that they’ve decided to give their guests a low end product and save a few pennies. I believe you’ll find that our food is delicious and service excellent.
We do have our problems and challenges and I invite your comments and suggestions. Through our guests comments, we have implemented better means of providing you with the best experience of the Royal Gorge. Colorado is fortunate to have many historic scenic train lines throughout the state. We’re not only the oldest, but on the cutting edge of what’s being offered in the industry. Welcome aboard!
Mark Greksa
CEO
Royal Gorge Route Railroad, LLC
Over the winter our shop crew, lead by Bobby Colvin have completely refurbished two of our Budd dome cars with a new bar/kitchen area and new upholstery for comfortable seating in these amazing glass-topped domes. With 17 cars on the train this summer, the train is really much like a moving city and our crew has their hands full with ongoing maintenance.
Over the winter we have made many personnel changes. TA Davis helped us find a Vice President of Operations, Andre Fournier who brings years of experience in the hospitality industry to the Royal Gorge Route. Our goal has always been to provide an exceptional experience in the Royal Gorge region by providing not only a spectacular train trip, but through outstanding guest service, delicious food options, and a wide range of classes of service. I believe you, as a guest will see that we continually raise the bar on what excellent guest service really means in the attraction industry. We've also been fortunate in finding talented staff members that love this industry and it shows.
Is the train the best experience of the Royal Gorge? Why? I often am asked this question. Obviously, my point of view may be biased, but no matter how many times I ride our train through the Royal Gorge, my jaw drops in wonder. The train provides the only access to see the Royal Gorge in its entirety through 12-miles of amazing scenery. You also get a bonus by travelling under the world’s highest suspension bridge and in summer, watch rafts battle class IV and V raging whitewater. We are not a theme park and pride ourselves as leaders in the scenic rail industry as we attempt to always remain relevant in terms of what our guests wish to enjoy. Last year, we carried 105,000 guests through the Royal Gorge and have become the largest "destination attraction" in the Royal Gorge region.
Culinary Tourism and the train: Whether you choose to ride in Coach, Vista Dome, Lunch, Dinner, or Wine Express, you will have the option to try our food. Quite honestly, it doesn’t cost much more for us to find the best product available, and that’s what we do. Nothing irritates me more than spending $9.00 for a sandwich or hamburger somewhere, knowing what it costs the vendor, only to find that they’ve decided to give their guests a low end product and save a few pennies. I believe you’ll find that our food is delicious and service excellent.
We do have our problems and challenges and I invite your comments and suggestions. Through our guests comments, we have implemented better means of providing you with the best experience of the Royal Gorge. Colorado is fortunate to have many historic scenic train lines throughout the state. We’re not only the oldest, but on the cutting edge of what’s being offered in the industry. Welcome aboard!
Mark Greksa
CEO
Royal Gorge Route Railroad, LLC
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