Rio Grande Zephyr

When the D&RG was still running the Rio Grande Zephyr in the Amtrak era, why didn't they convert the coaches to HEP and/or buy F40s at the time Amtrak was buying theirs? Nostalgia reasons?

Could have been that the origional equipment worked well enough and that the corporation did not wish to undergo the additional capital outlay for new equipment/modifications.

The RGZ began when the CZ ceased in the 1970's. The D&RGW had bought some cars to be used in the CZ pool. These cars formed the backbone of the RGZ fleet. D&RGW did buy a diner & other cars to stand in for ailing or out-of-service cars.
It is a wonder that the RGZ survived for 15 years, never running on Wednesday (Get that book)!

By the 1980's, the capital cost for the D&RGW would have been too great for it to bear. There may be another post here to talk about getting D&RGW into the Amtrak family. I feel the good news is the route remains open.

I don't know enough of CO politics to determine why the state did not do more to promote & help pay for the train. There may have been no interest or money for the state to step up to the plate like CA, IL, NY, & other states that sponsored a 401B or commuter train. The business folks in Aspen may miss the ski train that no longer brings passengers to their door?

First of all, realize that the reason Rio Grande kept running the Rio Grande Zephyr instead of joining Amtrak was that they determined that it would cost them less to run the train themselves than it would to join. They didn't make their final decision until just before Amtrak started, so the numbers were probably very close. The need to spend a significant amount of money on equipment probably would have tipped them the other way. Considering that, I highly doubt that Rio Grande management ever considered new power specifically for the RGZ. Even if the F9s failed, Rio Grande had steam generator cars (rebuilt from Alco PBs) to allow regular freight diesels to pull the train. If they wanted to replace the F9s, freight diesels and a generator car they already had is cheaper than new F40PHs. HEP might have at least been considered, but they would have had to take all the cars out of service to convert them and acquire HEP locomotives or generator cars, and I doubt that they would have converted the old Ski Train heavyweights to HEP, at least not right away, so they still would have needed the steam generator cars too. Far more expensive and complicated than just maintaining the status quo.