An iron horse survives on a diet of french fry oil as 90-year-old steam engine gets new life from recycled waste

WILLIAMS, Ariz. -- A 90-year-old steam engine gets new life from recycled waste vegetable oil and guides passengers to the Grand Canyon.  This Earth Day on April 22, the Iron Horse is back and healthier than ever thanks to oil used for french fries and chicken wings.

While such a diet might be hazardous to the health of most, The Grand Canyon Railway (GCR) is using recycled waste vegetable oil as fuel on Locomotive No. 4960, a steam engine built in 1923. Beginning this May on the first Saturday of every month through September, the newly adapted steam engine will make a 65-mile journey from Williams, Arizona to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

The GCR is one of a few passenger railroads in the U.S. to service a restored steam engine for long trips and the first in the U.S. to utilize waste vegetable oil to power it.

In 2008, the GCR put its stable of historic iron horses out to pasture due to environmental concerns about pollution while traveling to Grand Canyon National Park.  However, inspired by the innovation of carmakers to run vehicles on waste vegetable oil, GCR General Manager Bob Baker and Chief Mechanical Officer Sam Lanter decided to apply the sustainable measure to a steam engine. The approach was so successful that the engine now operates carbon-neutral on the Grand Canyon Railway and thus releases fewer emissions than a modern diesel engine. The water used in the boilers is also earth-friendly: boilers use reclaimed rain and snow melt collected during the winter and Northern Arizona's rainy season for steam.

The GCR is the first tourism railway in the US to receive ISO 14001 third-party certification of its environmental management system.

More information about the Grand Canyon Railway is available at their website.