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Hauling skiing tourists to the slopes west of Denver became a regular service for the Rio Grande. Even after improved highways made the drive much easier, the train remained a popular and convenient alternative, with trains often running as long as 17 cars till its end in 2009. The train was modernized in 1988 with "new" equipment purchased from Canada - although these cars were 20 years old, they allowed retirement of other coaches dating back to 1915! Our consist is based off of those later years, including a power car and some of the premium "varnish" that frequently brought up the rear. Motive power could be just about anything from GP60s to Tunnel Motors. Amtrak and later, dedicated matching F40PH locomotives were also used.