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Go East Young Man to Greeley, Colorado 11/26-29/1994

I wanted a change of location for the Thanksgiving holiday and decided two weeks beforehand to go somewhere I had never stepped off a train before and could do it within four days. Upon browsing an Amtrak timetable and ruling out the usual turn-around points, I saw the Desert Wind and Pioneer schedules and since I wanted to ride over Sherman Hill again, picked Greeley, Colorado to spend Thanksgiving night. I telephoned my brother Bruce, the Amtrak agent in Sacramento, who booked my reservation and I paid for it at Santa Ana then was ready to spend my first Thanksgiving away from home.

Having packed lightly for once, I was standing on the platform at Santa Ana waiting for the northbound train to Los Angeles and found a seat in the Amcafé on this all-Amfleet train and purchased my first drink of the trip then relaxed and watched Orange County fade into Los Angeles County and soon we were arriving at Union Station.

I boarded the Superliner coach and chose a seat on the right for the journey to Salt Lake City. I had not ridden this train since Bruce moved from Pocatello, Idaho to Sacramento, so was looking forward to it. The train departed on time and crossed the Los Angeles River on the way to Fullerton and I sat back as the train ran under Interstate 710, then stopped briefly at Fullerton. Cajon Pass was full of trains but we took the short way up the three percent grade while a heavy Union Pacific coal train went down the less-steep north track. We made great time to Barstow, where I enjoyed a longer-than-normal fresh air break.

We left the Santa Fe at Daggett and crossed the Mojave River before making our way through Union Pacific's Yermo Yard then once free of yard limits, Union Pacific had trains in almost every siding as we proceeded for the beauty of Afton Canyon with the colours as beautiful as ever in the late afternoon light. We crossed the Devil's Playground then viewed the Kelso Dunes to the south, passed through Kelso and climbed Cima Hill with no delays before entering Nevada as I was enjoying a steak dinner in the dining section of the car. The sun had set as we neared the lights of Las Vegas and we paused for about thirty minutes, allowing me to have luck with the slots then I returned to the train and had the first drink of the evening as we departed on time. My coach was nearly empty and by the time we reached Caliente, I called it a night and slept soundly almost to Salt Lake City.

11/27/1994 I was awakened by the conductor who told me I had five minutes to be up and ready and my bus to Ogden was behind the Rio Grande station. We arrived at Salt Lake City early so I had time to walk over to the park to see Union Pacific 4-8-4 833. Once on board the bus, I wished the Desert Wind still included Ogden in its routing as it used to when I went to Pocatello in the 1980's. Our destination was reached with plenty of time before the Pioneer arrived from Seattle.

This train arrived in Ogden early and I chose a seat in the empty non-through coach and I enjoyed the ride as we travelled through Union Pacific's Riverdale Yard before starting the assault on the Wasatch Mountain, passing through Devil's Slide as I was watched the countryside on this mostly clear morning. At Echo, I saw where the Park City Branch left the main line then we turned to the northeast, running below the brightly-coloured red cliffs to Emory, where we climbed the north side of the canyon and crossed over the other main line at Curvo. We reached the crest of the grade at Wasatch before descending to our next station at Evanston, Wyoming then went through Altamont Tunnel and across the barren Wyoming canyons.

The freight action was heavy and the dispatcher in Omaha routed us around trains in both directions, after which we reached Granger, the junction to the Pacific Northwest, as we ran fast and hard to Peru, where we descended the grade to the Green River. Once we crossed the lowest spot on today's ride, we entered the Green River station, a smoking break for the passengers. The next station, Rock Springs, was departed on schedule and we proceeded for the twin crossings of the Continental Divide. While the landscape was not very scenic, there are interestingly-named places such as Point of Rocks, Bitter Creek and Red Desert. We had no delays crossing the basin, from where no water leaves, on our way to Rawlins, at which we arrived early, so it was another fresh air break. Next was Laramie and we passed the Sinclair Refinery as we sped eastward down the tracks. Near Hanna was a bunch of empty coal trains waiting to get onto the branch there and we switched tracks at Medicine Bow to avoid the westbound fleet of nine trains we met, until short of Laramie, where we crossed back over to be able to use the platform at the station for another fresh air break of twenty minutes.

Now I was ready for the climb over Sherman Hill. We ran via Colores to Hermosa, where we plunged into the Hermosa Tunnel then passed through Dale before cresting the grade at Sherman. We passed the ballast pits at Burford as we made our way down the eastern flank of Sherman Hill to our stop at Borie, for those passengers being taken by bus to Cheyenne, then travelled down the Borie Cutoff to Speer before leaving Union Pacific's transcontinental line and descending the hills into Colorado. We made a quick trip of the miles through Nunn and Ault and arrived at Greeley on time, where I walked over to the hotel, found a liquor store that was open and called home, wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I then went out to dinner and had a sirloin steak wrapped in bacon then returned to my hotel room and called it a night.

11/28/1994 The next morning after a hearty breakfast, I watched some television before checking out and going to the station. Train time came and went, so after a while I called Amtrak and found out the train was running forty-five minutes late out of Denver so I waited patiently and about thirty-five minutes later, the train came into view.

I boarded the same car as yesterday and after my ticket was taken, was off to the lounge car for a screwdriver. We proceeded north into Wyoming and at Borie, the passengers boarding were battling a strong northwest wind and I knew they were glad to be on this nice warm train. We climbed Sherman Hill and I thoroughly enjoyed the crossing of this historical route.

We arrived in Laramie ten minutes early having made up all of the lateness of the morning and at Rawlins, met a couple who were going to Las Vegas. We talked and became friends and they bought some some drinks. It seemed as though it took no time to reach Green River as we were having a great time. The three of us had the early seating for dinner and I enjoyed another steak along with ice cream. Dinner and the sunset took us to Evanston and we laughed all the way down the Wasatch Mountains then arrived in Ogden half-an-hour early and the bus driver insisted that we leave for Salt Lake City right then. The Amtrak agent told him not to worry as the westbound California Zephyr would not be arriving there until about 3:30 AM, to which he replied that he would make them wait longer if he arrived there earlier. We drove down to Salt Lake at some record speed and arrived thirty minutes before we were scheduled and the uncaring driver laughing as the passengers debussed.

To while away the time, the three of us played cards on the depot floor surrounded by locals waiting for the train sitting on all of the benches.

The train was due now at 4:30 AM but the crew finally let all the Desert Wind passengers board at 3:45 AM. I boarded, the conductor took my ticket and I went to sleep. The California Zephyr finally arrived at 4:15 AM and I slept through the switching to make our train then awoke at 5:30 AM as the Great Salt Lake was fading from view. Dawn had grasped that morning and it would be a daylight ride all the way to Los Angeles, which would mean I will have ridden every mile of the Desert Wind's route in light good enough to see.

I learned that the California Zephyr was caught by a mudslide east of Glenwood Canyon and had to wait for the tracks to be cleared. We made our way south passing freight trains in about every third siding and I had breakfast as the train ran through Lynndyl then we stopped in Milford to change crews before the high desert turned to trees as we neared Zane. Our route took us on the line re-location at Crestline before starting the descent toward Caliente then we went into the first siding at Islen for a double stack train then the second siding for an empty coal train. A couple people boarded at Caliente before we travelled down Rainbow Canyon, going around a westbound coal train at Boyd and waiting for a freight at Elgin.

We continued down the Meadow Valley Wash with no further delays and passed the Farmer John hog train at Dry Lake before meeting at an eastbound piggyback train at Apex and making our way around freights at Dike and Wann then finally reaching Las Vegas at 11:15 AM, where I said goodbye to the couple from last night and wished them well.

At 11:30 AM, we departed Las Vegas and were bound for California. Union Pacific had everything now out of our way as we climbed Cima Hill and descended to Kelso then we went into the siding at Crucero for a stack train before travelling through Afton Canyon, slid through Yermo and the Santa Fe took us with no delay at Daggett. We made our way into Barstow then a very quick trip over Cajon Pass.

We were making up time and as I looked at the San Diegan schedule upon our departure from San Bernardino for a possible connection at Fullerton to get me home, saw I would have fifteen minutes to wait if nothing else happened. We escape delay at Colton Crossing at the San Bernardino Subdivision, which was void of trains, so arrived at Fullerton with twenty minutes to spare. I took the next southbound train to Santa Ana, ending a very fun and interesting trip on Amtrak.

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