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Last Day on the California Zephyr, Reno Trench, San Joaquin and Home!

5/1/2007 I arose just as the California Zephyr was entering Palisades Canyon.

Palisades Canyon.

The Humboldt River.

A beautiful central Nevada morning.

A lone tree in the clear morning air.

An eastbound Union Pacific train on the eastbound line.

A big bend in the Humboldt River. I went to the dining car at 6:15 AM and was seated with the Winstons and enjoyed French toast and sausage patties. Most of my meals on the California Zephyr were served by the most excellent and funny waiter Alexander Walton. The train stopped at Winnemucca.

West of Winnemucca.

Sage brush, the plant of the morning.

An eastbound Union Pacific at Rye Patch.

Rye Patch Reservoir.

Past the Rye Patch Reservoir the Humboldt River dries up in the salt flats.

Nevada can be turned green. All it takes is a little water!

West of Lovelock, I returned to the rear door for the ride to Toy.

New ties were ready to be installed.

Miles of slow orders were in place ready for the ties to be installed.

Toy.

Toy siding.

The west switch of Toy. I napped until near Sparks then back in coach, Tom showed me a Union Pacific 3985 DVD included the trip to Gorham during the 200 National Railway Historical Society convention.

Just east of Sparks we stopped waiting for the yard to be cleared for our arrival.

After we departed Sparks, I was again at the rear door for my first trip down and through the Reno Trench.

The junction to the former Western Pacific line into Reno.

An eastbound freight was waiting for us to clear with its tail still in the trench as we started our descent into there. Reno is situated on a major rail corridor linking west coast ports, especially the Port of Oakland, to inland destinations. Prior to the Reno Transportation Rail Access Corridor (ReTRAC) project, dual mainline, at-grade rail tracks passed directly through the City's downtown, creating a number of concerns. By depressing a 2.25-mile downtown stretch of the rail corridor into a 1.75-mile-long, 54-foot-wide by 33-foot-deep trench, the ReTRAC project resolved numerous environmental, public health, and safety issues. An adjacent access road, relocation of the City's Amtrak station, and utility relocation was also included in the project.

The ReTRAC project, completed in November 2005, eliminated 10 at-grade street crossings by replacing them with bridges and constructing one new bridge over the trench, minimizing emergency vehicle delay, vehicular delay, impacts from pedestrian conflicts, whistle warning noise and air quality conflicts. The project also increased property tax revenues by raising residential, commercial, and industrial property values along the corridor. New, developable real estate amounted to 120 acres. The project allows Union Pacific to improve freight capacity by increasing train lengths to 8,000 feet with double-stacked containers. Greater train frequency is also possible facilitating Nevada's warehousing industry.

We arrived at the Reno Amtrak station in the Reno Trench. Now some station scenes.

The Amtrak Station before we all reboarded and the California Zephyr departed to continue west down the Reno Trench.

Our trip through the Reno Trench was now complete, a first for me. After Tom's DVD ended, I returned to my room to read USA Today and listen to Keith Richard's "Expensive Winos Live at the Palladium".

The Truckee River. After Truckee, we started our climb over Donner Pass and I returned to the rear door of the train.

The big turn at the head of Coldstream Canyon.

Looking east as we climbed the east side of Donner Pass.

Inside a snowshed.

Inside the Donner Summit Tunnel, also known as the "Big Hole".

Exiting Summit Tunnel at Norden.

Rolling towards Norden.

Coming into Norden.

Norden.

Leaving Norden.

A signal bridge just west of Norden.

Rounding a big curve.

After we crossed one of the large trestles on this line.

Passing one of the former bypassed tunnels.

A great looking signal bridge.

Twin Tunnels on Donner Pass.

We passed an eastbound BNSF freight after the next tunnel.

Inside a concrete snowshed at Shed 10.

Leaving Shed 10 behind.

We passed through the tunnel as the old grade went around.

This is where the San Francisco Zephyr became stuck in the Blizzard of 1952.

Nearing Yuba Gap. Later at Emigrant Gap, we passed the eastbound California Zephyr and I relaxed in my room after that with the Scorpions' "Crazy World" and did some Sudoku puzzles, followed by Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tears" as the day turned mostly cloudy as we descended into the Sacramento Valley. After Colfax, I listened to Mick Taylor's "Handle Me With Care" before we arrived at Roseville.

Engines at Roseville.

Locomotives at Roseville. At the south end of the yard, we were stopped for a westbound Union Pacific freight to clear out of our way. After I walked to the rear of the train, we started to move.

A few minutes laterm we passed that Union Pacific freight. Why did we have to wait for him to leave when we had to make him wait later?

Passing the Sacramento Light Rail Shops. Next we proceeded out across the newly-rebuilt American River trestle that had burned and the Union Pacific Railroad repaired it in less than two weeks, a great job by the crews.

Coming off the American River bridge. One word describes this new trestle: Impressive! We arrived at Sacramento at 5:00 PM {2:15 PM}.

The California Zephyr at Sacramento.

We walked over to the Vagabond Inn where we checked in and I checked e-mail. After we settled in and caught the local weather, it was time to ride the new half mile of the Sacramento Light Rail. Jonathan, Tom and I walked through the Amtrak station to the Light Rail station and bought tickets for our one-way trip. We left the Amtrak station and a few minutes later detrained at the 7th and Capitol station then walked through the Westfield Mall to Old Sacramento. There we went to Fat City, where I had an excellent blackened ribeye steak. After dinner, we walked around Old Sacramento before Jonathan and I walked over a bridge to see the railroad equipment at the old Sacramento Southern Pacific shop buildings.

Back at the hotel ,I checked e-mail before we watched the Anaheim Ducks {no longer mighty} defeat Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in overtime, after which we called it a night.

5/2/2007 After a good breakfast at Denny's, we checked out and walked back over to the Amtrak station and I visited with my brother Bruce then took a luggage cart to make it easier to take our bags out to the train.

This train had California cab car 8308 "Mount San Gorgonio", café 8806 "Salinas Valley", coach 8023 "Calaveras River", coach/baggage 8204 "Drakes Bay" and F59PHI 2010. We departed on time and at Haggin, the southbound Coast Starlight was waiting for us to clear.

A wrecked grain car from the accident that rerouted the trains down the former Western Pacific mainline from Haggin to Stockton.

The Siemens Plant in South Sacramento. The train made its way to Lodi and the Altamont Commuter Express station in Stockton before turning south onto the BNSF mainline to Modesto then went into the siding at Turlock/Denair where we met Amtrak 712.

Castle Air Museum before Merced.

A little steam engine on display near Planda. The train made its stops at Madera and Fresno and I had the all-time worst hot dog after leaving Fresno as the train sped to Hanford and Corcoran then met San Joaquin 701 before arriving at Wasco. We went around a freight train at Shafter and arrived at Bakersfiedl at 11:45 AM then boarded the Thruway Bus, but guess who did not have a ticket? Jonathan! He had to go and get a ticket, delaying our departure time, so I would have to say that we would take Metrolink home to Santa Ana.

The bus departed Bakersfield at 12:07 PM and I listened to Jethro Tull's "Watchers of the Storm" CDs, which took me to Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, arriving there at 2:01 PM. I rented a luggage cart for $3 to carry the luggage up to Track 8B to wait for Metrolink 684 to Irvine then returned the cart to track 12 for 50 cents.

Union Pacific SD70ACe 8500 built by Electro-Motive Division in 2006. The Walkers arrived on a cart and everyone boarded the lower level of the cab car.

We departed LAUPT on time at 2:50 PM, stopped at Commerce and Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs before arriving at Fullerton. Tom, Jonathan and the Walkers all left me there and I stayed on through Anaheim and Orange. After waiting for a late-running Pacific Surfliner 579, I was returned to the place where it all started last Wednesday at Santa Ana. The main difference, besides being tired, is that I stepped off Metrolink 684 with over a million rail miles ridden. I was picked up and dropped off the slide film before I went home! But it was not all over yet!

I rode Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner 763 up to Fullerton both mornings to be in the Trainweb.com booth over the two-day event as I was the Million Rail Mile Man.

Santa Fe 4-8-4 3751 was a surprise display.

On the Trainweb.com tent was this message.

Disneyland Railroad 36" gauge 4-4-0 1 "Cyrus K. Holliday" built by WED Enterprises in 1955.

The map of my rail mileage on the inside of the tent.

On Sunday, we moved the sign to our side to create more shade.

Tom Marshall, Kelly Marshall and Steve Grande. Tom and Kelly were here to promote the Depot Inn and Suites in La Plata, Missouri.

Myself with Tom and Kelly. After Fullerton Railroad Days was over, we had a dinner for them at the Slidebar Café. Here are some scenes from that event.

After a wonderful dinner, I took Pacific Surfliner 592 home to Santa Ana, ending an exciting two weeks in my life. Now the Million Rail Mile Man can rest and write these stories.

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