Fall Amtrak Vacation Trip 2007: |
Amtrak's California Zephyr - In Pictures Continued From Page 1: |
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A couple vintage UP Boxcars on a siding seen here. |
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The Colorado River. |
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Another view of the Colorado River. |
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One of the many non-descript roads that parallels the tracks. This may be US 6. |
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Interstate 70 going through Glenwood Canyon. |
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Another shot of I-70. Truly an engineering marvel, how engineers were able to wind the Interstate through such a narrow canyon as was done here. |
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Taking a smoking break at Glenwood Springs, CO. |
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Superliner I Coach #34020, my coach for the trip, seen at Glenwood Springs. |
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Signage on the station building in Glenwood Springs. Amazingly after all these years, the Amtrak "Pointless Arrow" logo is still seen in many places. |
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Some Union Pacific Power on a siding just past Glenwood Springs. |
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The Western end of the Colorado river valley, as the train nears Grand Junction. |
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Taking a breather at Grand Junction, CO. This was a crew change point for the train and the station had a small convenience store on site which did a ton of business thanks to all us hungry (and bargain hunting) passengers! |
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This has to be one of the few cars left on Amtrak still in Phase III paint and it looks pretty good too! This is a former Santa Fe Baggage Car. |
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Somewhere west of Grand Junction near the Utah state line. |
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Winnemucca, NV the following morning. Another crew change point for the train. |
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They had to call in the raw sewage truck to come and pump out this coach thus adding some time to the stop in Winnemucca. |
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Some high desert somewhere past Winnemucca. Note the interesting cloud formations. |
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More high desert and interesting clouds! |
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Coming into Sparks, NV, the GrandLuxe Train (Formerly the American Orient Express) is parked here. |
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The lead unit on the GrandLuxe Train, Amtrak P42DC #114. |
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The Amtrak/Union Pacific Station in Sparks, NV, this is just outside of Reno, the next stop. |
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Taking a break in Reno and waiting for another engineer! |
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Another view of the train in Reno. Union Pacific rerouted the mainline underground through this section so as to open up the area to more economic development years ago. This would allow UP to still run through here but not block the streets where the hotels and casinos are located. Bad news, now you can't see the big "RENO" sign from the train but at least now traffic isn't stopped when a train comes through town. |
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The platform-level sign you see when you arrive in Reno. |
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Some new homes just West of Reno. |
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Crossing the Truckee River West of Reno. |
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Another view of the Truckee River. |
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The scenery just never ends on this route! |
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The Amtrak Station in Truckee, CA. |
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Going through the Sierra Nevadas coming up to Donner Pass. |
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Passing our Eastbound counterpart, Train #6 West of Truckee. |
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Hi 204! Nice to see you! |
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Donner Lake |
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Another view of the great Donner Lake. |
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Passing through the Sierra Nevadas with Interstate 80 parallelling us. |
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Truly incredible mountains & scenery, I'll never forget this trip!!! |
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Out of the mountains now past Sacramento, passing the "Mothball Fleet" of US Navy ships at Suisun Bay. |
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A Capital Corridor Train in the foreground with the "Mothball Fleet" in the background. |
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And finally, arriving just after sunset is Train #5 - The California Zephyr. This was a ride experience I'll never forget! The train departed Emeryville for Oakland to be serviced shortly after I took this photo and I headed for my hotel for the evening. |
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