My wife and I had planned to see the South Rim of Grand Canyon during a visit to Flagstaff to see our son. We had some time to kill before seeing our son for dinner and drove to Williams to browse around. While there, we saw the flyer at the Visitor Center for the Railway excursion to the Rim. We decided on the spur of the moment to purchase tickets.
They have several levels of tickets. The agent told us there wasn't much difference between the basic $67 and next step up $82 ticket. In fact, the more expensive of the two looked maybe a bit more comfortable. Still, we felt we made the right choice. You can pay $137 to $189 a ticket for observation skylight seats and refreshments provided, but in retrospect I don't think they're worth it.
We bought the $67 tickets and sat in the 100 year-old Pullman car. Limited leg space and seats not real comfortable, but we enjoyed our ride agent/guide, Owen, an older gentleman with a gentle demeanor, good sense of humor, and a family history steeped in western tradition, family values, and horse, raising, training, and racing during his years on the family ranch. He provided a lot of historical background for Williams and the Grand Canyon. We tipped him for his entertaining us. There are guitarists and mandolin players and singers that do solo acts during the ride over and back. On the way back to Williams we had a "train robbery", great fun for adults and kids, where you can be "robbed" is you are displaying a $1 or $5 bill visible on your person when the varmits walk by.
The train only goes about 35 mph so the ride takes 2 hours and 15 minutes one way. We did see an elk, some deer, and lots of cows.
All in all, a great way to enjoy the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.