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Northern ArizonaOdd Observations
Home›Northern Arizona›Grand Canyon Steam Engines Powered by Cooking Oil

Grand Canyon Steam Engines Powered by Cooking Oil

By Sam Lowe
August 22, 2013
12908
4

WILLIAMS — The old steam engines that once chugged and their way across the nation are, for the most part, relics of a bygone era. Most were turned into scrap metal or shipped off to railroad museums. But the Grand Canyon Railway owns two of the old iron behemoths and they both still run. But they don’t use coal and water to create the steam that drives them.

Grand Canyon train

The train to the Grand Canyon is powered by vegetable oil. Photo Credit: Sam Lowe

They use recycled vegetable oil.

The oil is collected from restaurants at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and from Frito-Lay plants in Phoenix, then filtered and purified by Greener Day, an ecology-oriented enterprise. Once cleansed, the oil is a usable, non-polluting fuel.

So a couple times a year, the oil that once turned taters into fries powers one of the engines on the journey from Williams to the Grand Canyon, while diesel engines still make the vast majority of the daily runs.

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Related Posts:

  1. Think Arizona is the Grand Canyon State? Think Again.
  2. A Scary Glimplse Down the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon
  3. Get Up Close and Personal with Deer at the Grand Canyon Deer Farm Near Williams
  4. Get Away from It All at Grand Canyon Caverns Underground Motel Suite
  5. Captain John Hance Impresses Early Grand Canyon Tourists with Tall Tales
Tagsgrand canyontransportationwilliams

4 comments

  1. dog name 2 June, 2017 at 09:25 Reply

    Great post.

  2. who deleted me on face 17 September, 2017 at 13:39 Reply

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  3. John Sullivan 5 November, 2017 at 20:11 Reply

    Being a Cheif Engineer boiler operator and a Mopar lover alot of the oil wells you see were powered by Chrysler Hemis that had more balls than a 57 Chevy and have run for 50 years thats about 45 more than a 283 Chev ever would. Chrysler made more behind the scenes industrial engines that make your life more comfortable than you would ever believe.

  4. aestheticclothingstores.blogspot.com 23 July, 2018 at 23:08 Reply

    Howdy! This article could not bbe written any better! Looking through this article reminds me of my previous roommate!

    He continually kept talking aboutt this. I will forward this information to him.
    Fairly certain hee will have a great read. Thanks for sharing!

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