Back when the D&RGW ran the Rio Grande Zephyr, the Utah Valley railfan community would come together on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays to witness the arrival of train #17, the westward zephyr from Denver. The RGZ tri-weekly schedule called for an 8:25 p.m. arrival time at the study brick Provo depot (opened in 1910). We were especially fond of the long summer evenings, since the train would arrive at the depot in the daylight. On June 14, 1980 we witness the arrival of train 17, right on the advertised, with lots of people on hand to watch the train's arrival, or to say goodbye to loved ones. Automobiles on hand that evening are interesting today...a Pontiac Catalina from the 1960s, both Ford Pinto and Maverick models are present, and a shiny new Pontiac Firebird Formula was on hand. In contemporary times, both the Rio Grande Zephyr and the depot are long gone. Amtrak's California Zephyr trains stop here twice per day but the wonder of classic EMD F9's hauling fluted stainless steel Budd domes through the Wasatch Mountains are all but a distant memory.
