Carl and I walked up to the train at 8:56 AM and boarded the rear sleeper, 32019 and had Room 12 on the lower level. This version of the Zephyr had P42DCs 186 and 136, baggage 1235, transition 39043, coaches 34016, 34097 and 31042 (coach/baggage), lounge 33012, diner 38060, sleepers 32002 and 32019, ExpressTrak 74009, Express 71101, ExpressTrak 74062 and Express 71220, 71214 and 71043. We departed at 9:27 AM {8:20 AM} with Arthur as our excellent sleeping car attendant.
We followed the same route the Challenger took a few hours earlier through the 36th Street Yard and passed Pullman Junction, the location where the former Kansas and Pacific, now Union Pacific, came into Denver. Tom Tuttle stopped by for a short but pleasant visit then we passed the Beltline Connection (former Denver and Rio Grande Western) before crossing the former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (BNSF) Amtrak line at Sand Creek. Our train rolled north, picking up speed through Commerce City as we ran through the industrial north side of Denver. Curtis Katz, a coach car attendant on this trip, informed the passengers over the public address system about our detour route and had prepared a route guide for our trek across Wyoming. He would walk the train delivering the guide for those who wanted one. Curt also does the cartoons for Railfan and Railroad magazine.
The California Zephyr ran north through Hazeltine, Brighton and La Salle on this mostly cloudy and dark morning. The public was still out after taking pictures of Union Pacific 3985 and to catch our train speeding through their towns. We crossed the farmlands between towns and had US Highway 85 to our west. Curt stopped by to give Carl and I his route guide and it was a pleasure to finally meet him in person. We slowly rolled through La Salle, where the local power included two unaltered Denver and Rio Grande Western GP40s.
The Platte River was crossed before entering Greeley with its tree-fronted depot. We passed the Best Western hotel where I had stayed on my "Go East, Christopher to Greeley" trip ten years ago. It became a wet morning as we went through Eaton, Ault, Pierce and Nunn and US 85 crossed over the tracks to head due north to Cheyenne.
The weather improved as we passed through Carr then climbed into the rolling hills towards Speer.
Entering Wyoming, the train rounded the large curve to go under Interstate 25 then over the former Colorado & Southern (BNSF) tracks.
We rounded the final curve into Speer and stopped. The passenger cars from the Union Pacific 3985 excursion were taken down the leg of the wye behind our train and we waited for an eastbound welded rail train before we proceeded u the Borie Cutoff.
Curving off the cutoff and crossing over to Track 1.
We next passed the former Amtrak stop at Borie where a bus used to bring passengers out here from downtown Cheyenne, then accelerated to track speed as we ran through Granite and Burford, ascending as we did so. At Granite, we passed a westbound stack train with Union Pacific 3880 working hard on the point.
West of Granite, the train rounded a curve, with snow fences behind, to get underneath Interstate 80 for the second time since leaving Borie and ran through the low clouds that came right to the ground before Burford.
The clouds lifted before we rounded runby curve above Burford.
Here is Union Pacific 3985 on the same curve during a photo runby on a Union Pacific 3985 excursion in July 2003.
We rounded a few more curves before cresting Sherman Hill at an elevation of 8,015 feet, the highest point on the Union Pacific Railroad.
More curves on the descent to my favourite rocks on Sherman Hill.
Curving into Dale, where mainline 3 rejoined our pair of mainlines.
At Hermosa, we entered the 1,800 foot Hermosa Tunnel.
A minute later our train exited.
Crossing over to Track 2, also at Hermosa.
We now descended towards Laramie.
Seven miles from Laramie, we passed the colourful rocks at Colores and I called the last few minutes of Let's Talk Trains then met several railfans before our arrival at Laramie, a fresh air stop. I really enjoyed our trip over the fantastic Sherman Hill!
We departed at 1:12 PM and made our way west towards Rawlins, crossing the semi-rolling landscape as we travelled around the northern end of the Snowy Mountain Range.
Some of the interesting rock formations east of Rock River.
The town of Rock River, Wyoming, after which we sped to Wilcox where on June 2nd, 1899, the famous Hole in the Wall Gang robbed the Union Pacific Railroad. This robbery was the basis for the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Antelope were grazing along the track as our train quickly passed.
We blew through Medicine Bow, with its 1912 Union Pacific station now a museum.
To the south of our route was the Medicine Bow Range, with its highest peak, Elk Mountain, at 11,162 feet. Large alkaline dry lakes were passed before Ramsey.
Union Pacific built lines of snow fences to keep the drifting snow off their mainline tracks. There was a parade of eastbound Union Pacific freights that started well before we reached Hanna, where a rotary snowplough is on display in a park.
A Union Pacific ballast train approached Hanna from a branch line west of town.
The California Zephyr burning up the track miles towards Durrant. Before Walcott, we met the eastbound California Zephyr at track speed then crossed over to Track 2 so we could get by the fleet of eastbound trains.
Rolling through Sinclair with the refinery of the same name.
At Rawlins, we slowly rolled through the mainline fuelling racks, picked up speed and crossed back over to Track 1, continuing to climb on the way to Riner.
The California Zephyr then ascended the grade to Creston for the first of two crossings of the Continental Divide as a Union Pacific freight approached then crossed a basin where the water has no exit to any ocean, so this is how the Union Pacific mainline crosses the Continental Divide twice.
Once across the basin, we continued to Wamsutter passing more eastbound freight trains.
The buttes to the north signalled our arrival at Red Desert.
We crossed the western side of the basin for our second crossing of the Continental Divide at Tipton and west of here, the mainline separated for several miles.
As thunderheads built to the north, we passed through Table Rock and the mesas here look like miniature versions of the ones in Utah. We then crossed Bitter Creek where there were many antelope along the edge of the creek.
Continuing our journey to Black Butte with the butte to the south.
Curving into Point of Rocks. I watched more thunderheads building to the south as we passed through Thayer and Baxter then into Rock Springs. Carl and I had a 5:00 PM dinner reservation with a grandmother and grandson from Clearwater, Florida and I had a New York strip steak and an ice cream sundae.
We stopped at Green River to change crews but a freight train was on Track I, the only one with a platform, so we could not have a fresh air stop and I was not able to say goodbye to Tom Tuttle.
Castle Rock stands guard over the town of Green River, from which we departed 5:37 PM, versus the scheduled time out of Green River, Utah at 6:15 PM. Remember, we left Denver an hour and seven minutes late.
We traversed the Green River, the chief tributary of the Colorado River. The watershed of the river, known as the Green River Basin, covers parts of Wyoming, Utah and Colorado and is 730 miles long, beginning in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and flowing through Wyoming and Utah for most of its course, except for a short segment of 40 miles in western Colorado. Much of the route traverses the arid Colorado Plateau, where the river has carved some of the most spectacular canyons in the United States. The Green is slightly smaller than Colorado when the two rivers merge but typically carries a larger load of silt.
The train then climbed away from it to Peru.
We ran across a relatively flat plateau with mining or industrial spurs diverging from the mainline then passed Alchem and Westvaco, where trona is mined. Trona is a sodium carbonate compound that is processed into soda ash or bicarbonate of soda, or baking soda, as it is commonly known. Wyoming has the world's largest deposit of trona, supplying about 90 percent of the nation's soda ash. This mineral is Wyoming’s top export and is shipped to markets around the globe. Wyoming mines produced over 17.4 million tons of trona and for that reason, has billed itself the Trona Capital of the World.
We contiued west to Granger, where the mainline to Pocatello and the Pacific Northwest takes off then quickly returned to open range lands with capped oil wells, passing through Verne with its center siding access from both mainlines.
Our train curved left towards a butte in the distance then crossed Blacks Fork.
At Hampton, yet another butte near our route.
The countryside at Carter was interesting as we continued to travel west down the Union Pacific rails.
Ranching came into play again as the Zephyr continued on to Bridger.
Out of the west, we came upon another eastbound Union Pacific freight.
There were stacks of railroad ties along our route.
After passing under Interstate 80, two beautiful peaks came into view before we made our way into Spring Valley.
Ascending the grade to the 6,706 foot Altamont tunnel.
A few minutes later, we exited.
Passing Union Pacific 4344 West waiting at Altamont.
We proceeded down the valley to the Bear River.
Crossing Bear River before running to Millis. This river flows north then turns west into Idaho before it turns south and empties into the Great Salt Lake.
We stopped at Evanston before passing the Union Pacific station built in 1900.
The California Zephyr started its climb of the east face of the Wasatch Mountains as Union Pacific 9533 East was approaching.
A last view of Wyoming before we entered Utah, crossing the state line as we climbed the short but steep grade of the Wasatch Mountains.
Curving into the summit of the grade at Wasatch.
The mainline separated as the eastbound track dropped off quickly; our train stayed high with a great view and some deep cuts, as well as several tunnels.
Minutes later, we entered the 201 foot long Tunnel 5 and crossed over the eastbound mainline at Curvo.
At Curvo, we commenced our descent towards Weber Canyon.
It went down and down and the red colours of Utah looked fantastic in the late afternoon light. At this point, the eastbound mainline was across the valley.
Below Emory, the Red Canyon walls became the target of my camera.
I could not get enough of these beautiful views.
We continued to Echo and the sun shone on the red cliffs one last time then we paralleled Interstate 84 through more reddish canyons and passed through Heffner. There were a pair of dykes running up the canyon walls called the Devil Slides. We crossed the Weber River and plunged into Taggarts Tunnel.
Here is the San Francisco Zephyr with a Union Pacific high speed SD40-2 on the point at Taggarts, Utah in 1980. At this point, the sun had set and twilight took hold and we played hopscotch with the Weber River. A fellow passenger, Connie Johnson, spent some time with Carl and I in the lounge car as we continued to Morgan and followed the Weber River to Strawberry then through the Devils Gate and Uintah before reaching the Salt Lake Valley floor at Riverdale. Carl and I called Steve Grande of Trainweb.com, thanking him, telling him we were detoured and giving a general update. We travelled through Riverdale Yard before making the big turn west at the two large grain elevators in Ogden.
Going back in time ... here is Union Pacific 3985 coming around the wye at Ogden on June 21st, 1982.
We then crossed the Weber River for the last time before ducking under Interstate 15 and turned south, passing through Clearfield then over Roy Hill before going through Layton, Kaysville and Centerville then stopping at a red signal at Woods Cross. The moon and Great Salt Lake was off to the west while the Wasatch Mountains were to the east. We sat for over twenty-five minutes before a Unionn Pacific Office Car Special flew by at track speed at 10:30 PM then we proceeded to North Salt Lake before rolling through the west side of Union Pacific's North Yard, so I gained a little more new mileage since the Desert Wind always took the track on the east side of the yard.
The State Capital of Utah was standing guard over this important city and downtown Salt Lake City has certainly changed since my first trip through here in 1980. We turned to the west at Grant Tower before reversing into the new Amtrak station at 11:08 PM. Carl and I went outside to enjoy the warm night-time Salt Lake City air. For the night, Carl was given the empty room 11 across the hall so we would both sleep in our lower berths and I was off to dreamland before we departed Salt Lake City.
7/25/04 Waking up east of Battle Mountain when the dining car made its first call, I went to enjoy a French Toast and sausage breakfast then showered. I thought that we were running over two hours late. West of Preble, there was an eastbound Union Pacific running on the former Western Pacific. We arrived at Winnemuca where Union Pacific 4124 East was waiting in the siding. Everyone had a long fresh air break as two of the coaches were having their toilet tanks pumped. Carl found a 70 MPH sign in some weeds before we departed at 9:05 AM {6:19 AM} then the conductor told me of our delays since leaving Salt Lake City on time last night. We followed one Union Pacific freight train into Elko, but the most damaging was another Union Pacific freight whicht we followed almost to Winnemuca, which kept on having major problems.
We had also stopped at Ocala as our crew died on the twelve hours of service law. The good news was that the new crew was already here to take us on our way west. Next, sleeping car 32002 lost all of their toilets and their passengers would have to use the toilets in our car. We had no more delays and the continued to Fernley, where we joined the Truckee River for our journey into California. We came to Sparks, which was now a quick stop at 12:09 PM {9:24 AM} then made our way to Reno.
This was our next fresh air stop so I photographed the Zephyr at the new station.
A passenger had fallen and the Reno paramedics were called to meet the train and assist, after which we departed at 12:26 PM {9:38 AM}.
The path of the future Reno Trench could be seen as we left town. Carl and I went to lunch, sitting with a pair of cousins, one from Salt Lake City and the other from above Sonoma. I had an Angus beef burger and my last sundae of the trip then we stopped at Truckee before the California Zephyr made the final climb on Donner Pass.
We came to halt and sat at a red signal at Shed 12 (MP 197 was outside my window) for an extended delay starting at 1:51 PM because of a freight train was stuck in the summit tunnel of Donner Pass with several major problems. I napped using my new Amtrak blanket with the new company emblem on it that I bought for the bus ride home tonight. Not! After an hour-and-a-half nap, I went to visit my new friends in the lounge car to see how they were doing during this delay. The veterans of Wyoming were doing fine but our new Reno passengers were not taking it too well. I returned to my room and here was the scene. To the west was the front of the train on a curve, two high red signals and Snow Shed 12. To the south were trees above a cut with rocks of various sizes, to the east, thunderheads were building, while to the north was Donner Lake down in the valley with Interstate 80 on the opposite side of the valley with a single peak with snow on it.
I saw an Amtrak Thruway Bus on its way to Sacramento for San Joaquin 704 at 4:25 PM that we would not be on as previously scheduled. The eastbound Zephyr was stuck on the west side of this mess. We lost the toilets in our sleeping car at 4:10 PM, meaning we would have to walk four cars to use the bathroom. "Every trip is an adventure!" Electric Light Orchestra's "Out of the Blue" was my musical selection for this delay and the conductor's estimated time of arrival of 4:40 PM to be on the move again came and went with everyone on board noticing.
Finally at 5:29 PM, the eastbound Zephyr rolled by, so it made it through the tunnel. This stopped the jokes about us being here until the first winter snows! This was now Carl's longest delay that he had encountered on a train and I hoped it would not be a 14 hour delay which I had in San Antonio on that Janesville Jaunt trip in 2000. At 6:17 PM, we finally moved to cheering from the passengers in the lounge car. We went through Shed 12 before stopping again for just two minutes then ran through the Summit tunnel and on to Norden.
Carl and I went to the dining car for a limited menu from both the lunch and dinner menus. I had fish, a halibut I think. We sat with a couple from Melbourne, Australia and during our meal, paced Union Pacific 5701 West, the delaying train, towards Yuba Gap. We finished our last California Zephyr meal as the train passed through Emigrant Gap, saying farewell to this excellent dining car crew, then continued our descent through Blue Canon in the shadow of the ridge we were following westbound. Gold Run came next, followed by Long Ravine, before a quick stop at Colfax.
Darkness took hold as we descended the Sierra Foothills to Auburn, where for the second time, today our crew died on the twelve hours of service law, a new record. I took this time to call home, letting my mother know I would not be home late tonight. Now with our fourth crew of the day, we ran to Roseville at 10:04 PM {2:39 PM} then made the final sprint towards Sacramento before slowing for yard limits for the last few miles. We arrived at the Sacramento Amtrak station at 10:34 PM {2:39 PM}, ending another completely interesting Amtrak adventure on the California Zephyr.
Carl and I went into the station and I signed a voucher for which they gave us money for a room at the Vagabond Inn, as well as cash for breakfast. We walked over there and received a room then checked our e-mail at their Business Center before calling it a night.
San Joaquin 702 7/26/2004
We packed, checked out and walked back to the station where our southbound train arrived at the platform with cab car 8313 "Mount Lassen", coach 6465 "Moonstone Beach" (Surfliner), café 8805 "Yosemite Valley", coach/baggage 8201 "San Francisco Bay" with F59PHI 2004 pushing. Carl and I chose Surfliner seats in "Moonstone Beach" and I saw my brother Bruce briefly before we departed on time. While we were waiting, the Coast Starlight came in with no Pacific Parlour Car on time and departed on time with the Creative Charters dome car "Patrick Henry" on the rear. Tickets were taken and we went to get breakfast as we proceeded down the valley.
I read a USA Today as we went south to Lodi and Stockton, with Union Pacific having all their freights out of the way in sidings. The train made the turn onto the BNSF and it was off to the races with our only BNSF delay being for a few minutes at the new Stockton Yard. We flew by San Joaquin 711 in the siding at Atwater before passing the Castle Air Museum and proceeded to Merced. Further south at Madera, BNSF 5439 was in the siding there as we were leaving then sister train 701 was tucked away in the siding at Gregg before we crossed the San Joaquin River and ran to Fresno where I grabbed a picture of our train. We continued south, holding the mainline at Conejo for a BNSF freight with a Kansas City Southern locomotive in the consist then flew down to West Corcoran, meeting BNSF 5336 West in the siding there. At Allensworth, San Joaquin 713 was in that siding as we made our way to Wasco and from there, our San Joaquin made the final sprint into Bakersfield.
Thruway Bus 7/26/2004In keeping with my "Number One Rule" of "Every Trip is an Adventure," we arrived at Bakersfield at 11:52 AM where Carl and I detrained and dropped our bags so that the driver would put them in the bay of the Amtrak Thruway Bus then took the front seat so that we could be off fast and to Amtrak Train 578 at 2:00 PM to Fullerton for Carl and Santa Ana for me. Now for the final delay of this great trip. Our driver closed the door for the comfort of the passengers and began loading the luggage under the bus. A male passenger went to the door in a vain attempt to get the driver's attention because he needed what he called his "lifesaving medication". He failed to get the driver's attention but still tried to get off, messing with the door and controls without success before returning to his seat.
When our driver completed the luggage loading, he came to the door to enter but could not get in. He then knocked on the door, drew my attention and said, "Let me in!" He told me some buttons to push, which I did, but the door still did not open. He then left to ask another driver how to get into his own bus and the second driver came over and realized the bus was locked from the inside by the passenger who tried to get out, and told me about another knob to turn and all was well ... except for the precious ten minutes that had been lost forever! At 12:11 PM, we finally left departed for Highway 99 and Los Angeles.
Our driver drove very well and I enjoyed fact-checking Carl's story that he had written so far. Due to more construction at LAUPT, we arrived at the far northwest portion of the station and the two of us needed our luggage quickly to make the train, the reason for this bus in the first place. We were kept from getting our luggage by Amtrak Red Caps who only got the checked luggage out. Finally after helping all passengers off the bus, the driver started unloading the luggage that we had left on the platform at Bakersfield.
We collected our bags with Carl's being the penultimate to come out and took off for the train, hurrying all the way along the front of the station, in the front door and through the station. I saw Pacific Surfliner 578 boarding on the station board and hoped that maybe we would be lucky. We went up to Track 10 and saw no train waiting but at least there was a Metrolink train at 2:55 PM on which our tickets would be valid.
We walked over to Track 8B to wait for Metrolink 684. Some thoughts about this mess. Why is it that a bus delivering connecting passengers cannot be bought up to the platform? If that cannot be done, can the driver be in contact with Station Services so they know that we had arrived? In addition, signs so that people would know where to go would be helpful. How about a human being who could have told everyone going as far as Irvine about that 2:55 PM Metrolink train so they would not have to wait until 4:10 PM for Pacific Surfliner 582?
Metrolink 684 7/26/2004Carl and I were greeted by Metrolink conductor Kim Chadwick, who is always an enjoyable person. We had a few laughs before settling in for our trip home, which was quick and after we dropped Carl off in Fullerton, the train took me home to Santa Ana, ending another great Amtrak Adventure. Special thanks to Carl for joining me on this fantastic journey. I drove home thinking that "Every trip is an adventure!".
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