Rocky Mountain Exploration:
Part 8: Denver to Florida by Rail
By Jack M. Turner
Photos by John C. Turner
After a pleasant night visiting with friends in Fort
Collins we drove to the eastern outskirts of Denver and dropped
Christine at Denver International Airport for her flight home to
Florida. With several hours until our Amtrak train left downtown
Denver, John and I enjoyed a day of sightseeing. Our first
destination, Rocky Mountain National Park, provided beautiful vistas of
the towering Rockies as the park road rounded many curves and climbed
to approximately 12,000 feet elevation. After accomplishing this
feat, we turned back to allow time for one final railroad activity
before boarding our train in the evening. Driving to the park’s
west entrance and returning to Denver via Granby would have been too
time consuming for the allotted time; however, having made the drive
through the entire park several years ago, we felt satisfied by this
abbreviated visit.
The Rockies near Estes Park, CO
Rocky Mountain National Park
Scenic overlook in Rocky Mountain National Park
A glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park
Our next stop was the Colorado Railroad Museum in
Golden and we decided to take a back route from Estes Park to Golden
bypassing Boulder. After a twisting drive through the mountains
we were surprised when the highway suddenly came upon a well maintained
railway. When we saw a sign reading “Plainview” we realized we
had stumbled across the former Denver & Rio Grande Western route
which would host our California Zephyr later in the afternoon before we
boarded in Denver. We met the DRGW again near Arvada just north
of Golden.
The Colorado Railroad Museum possesses an
interesting collection of locomotives including Burlington (CB&Q)
steam engine # 5629 , D&RGW narrow gauge steam locomotives # 346, #
318, and # 683 and D&RGW F9 diesel 5771 along with Leadville &
Southern narrow gauge steam engine # 191 and Manitou & Pikes Peak
cog engine # 1. Galloping Goose # 7 and sisters # 2 and # 6 are
other prized pieces of the collection. The gem of the passenger
car collection is former Santa Fe sleeper observation car “Navajo”
which was assigned to the famed Super Chief. Union Pacific diner
4801 and coach 5442, a D&RGW combine car, and railway post office
cars belonging to the Rio Grande and the Colorado & Southern are
other notable pieces on display. Several wooden box cars, wooden
livestock cars, and wooden cabooses round out the equipment housed at
the museum. Another highlight is the original vista dome car
monument that stood beside the railway in Glenwood Canyon until highway
construction forced its removal. Several other interesting
displays and a well stocked gift shop are found inside the museum
building. The Colorado Railroad Museum is located in Denver’s
western suburbs and can easily be accessed by automobile.
Rio Grande # 683 greets visitors to the Colorado State Railroad Museum
Another classic steam locomotive
Santa Fe observation car “Navajo” from the original Super Chief
Side view of the “Navajo”
Super Chief drumhead on the rear of “Navajo”
A well preserved box car
Rio Grande F unit # 5771
Rio Grande F unit 5771 is shown
awaiting departure from Salt Lake City on the Rio Grande Zephyr in June
1976. The author's college friend Eric Harms poses here with the
engine which today is preserved at the Colorado State Railroad Museum.
One of many rabbits residing at the railroad museum
Dome car monument relocated from Glenwood Canyon
Colorado & Southern US Mail/Railway Express Agency car
Florence & Cripple Creek box car # 588
D&RGW wooden livestock car
Galloping Goose # 6
Following our visit to the museum we reversed the
process from two weeks earlier as we returned our rented minivan to the
Avis location on Broadway then were delivered by their friendly shuttle
driver to the Amtrak station. With Denver Union Station under
renovation, Amtrak presently uses a temporary station a few blocks to
the north. We found the facility to be quite adequate with enough
seating for the large crowd awaiting the California Zephyr. The
only drawback was the station’s location which required crossing a
street to reach the train platform. This proved to be a shorter
walk than what we had experienced in the past at Union Station though
it would have been inconvenient in the event of inclement weather.
We settled into Bedroom E in sleeper 32053, the
middle of three sleeping cars on the eastbound California Zephyr and
were happy to find everything in good working order in our car.
Our car attendant had pulled dinner reservations for passengers
boarding in Denver and as the train departed at 7:56pm we made our way
two cars forward to the dining car. We were seated with a very
pleasant couple, Barney and Jane, from Denver with whom we shared most
enjoyable conversation as the CZ left the Mile High City behind.
We had to send compliments to the chef as our steaks were delicious and
perfectly cooked which set the tone for a nice overnight journey.
The comfortably cool sleeper facilitated a good
night’s sleep and we hated to have to rise at 7:30am in order to eat
breakfast in the dining car. For some reason the diner crew had
established serving times as 6:30-8:30am, a bit early when one
considers that it felt an hour earlier due to our passage from the
Mountain to Central time zone. When we reached the diner we
discovered a waiting list was being taken necessitating a short wait in
the adjacent lounge car. Fortunately, our names were called soon
and we were seated by 8:00. Following breakfast we retreated to
our bedroom to resume our shuteye until about 10:45. We were
awake for the crossing of the mighty Mississippi River at Burlington,
Iowa. As we sailed through Monmouth, Illinois at 11:33am we were
back in the diner as lunch was served only on an abbreviated
basis. Though it was not very long since breakfast, we decided to
eat a light meal since dinner time would be late on our next train.
Amtrak Cascades F40 cab car at Galesburg, IL
CB&Q 4-6-4 # 3006 displayed beside the Galesburg Amtrak station
Soon the California Zephyr made its march through
Chicago’s western suburbs passing through Aurora, Clarendon Hills,
Western Springs, Brookfield, and other villages with a cacophony of
names. Arrival at Chicago Union Station came 4 minutes early at
2:46pm. After storing our luggage in the check room at the first
class Metropolitan Lounge we made our way to the station ticket window
to check a couple pieces of luggage to our destination, Jacksonville,
FL. We had carried this aboard at Denver in case the CZ had been
notably late as we didn’t want to be separated from our checked bags in
the event we had to be rerouted home. Fortunately our connection
was not in jeopardy and we were actually left with a fairly lengthy
layover since a few weeks before our trip Amtrak announced a temporary
later schedule for train # 30. We decided to spend the layover
time in the Metropolitan Lounge as we had toured Chicago on the
outbound trip. This turned out to be a wise decision as before
long thunderstorms rumbled into the city with no effect on us.
Sleeping car passengers were boarded at 6:15pm for
the Capitol Limited and once again we had Bedroom E, this time in car
32026. Dinner reservations had been taken in the Metropolitan
Lounge and we had obtained the 6:30 time slot. The dining car
crew was about one-half hour late in seating guests but fine
conversation again with Barney and Jane, our tablemates from the prior
night, made up for the delay. About 10 minutes later the Capitol
Limited emerged from Union Station’s train shed into a torrential
downpour augmented by flashes of lightning. Turning east near the
state line, we noted whitecaps on nearby Lake Michigan and the ghostly
appearance of the steel mills in Gary, Indiana.
P42 # 156 wears Amtrak’s Phase I paint scheme
The South Shore commuter line that we rode a couple
years earlier soon appeared on the south as did the minor league
baseball stadium in downtown Gary. About 45 minutes later the
Capitol Limited made its scheduled stop in South Bend followed by stops
in Elkhart and Waterloo. We arrived in Toledo, Ohio accompanied
by heavy rain and lightning at 12:32am and decided it was time to turn
in for the night. During the station stop the head end power cut
off briefly and when it returned, the bedroom lights blinked on.
This and the inability to silence morning announcements were two
results of recent car refurbishment that are negatives in our
opinion. Sleep came easily after we departed Toledo at 12:45am and
we snoozed wonderfully thanks to a comfortably cool bedroom and a
smooth ride.
We awoke at 8:00am and within 45 minutes were
enjoying a nice breakfast in the diner where we shared a table with
Charles and Elaine from Alexandria, VA. The scenery during
breakfast was mostly misty mountains and a flowing river just outside
our window. Having traversed this route many times in recent
years, we decided to rest some more after returning to our room as
three weeks on the road had taken its toll. We noted the stop at
Cumberland at 11:43am and an hour later returned to the diner for the
abbreviated lunch scheduled for the dining car crew’s
convenience. The weather had cleared and we ate lightly since we
weren’t overly hungry. We had planned to get a take-out dessert
to enjoy during our layover in Washington, however, none was offered
and our server said there were no more desserts left. The reason
became obvious when I noted a paper plate covered with tin-foil at a
table occupied by a dining car crewmember. Barely poking out was
a piece of the delicious pie served at dinner the prior night.
Apparently this was being kept for crew consumption rather than the
intended passengers.
Harpers Ferry, a National Historic Site due to its
role in the Civil War, came at 2:00pm and many tourists watched the
train as it stopped at the station then headed across the Potomac River
and into the tunnel leading from West Virginia into Maryland. Ten
minutes later we spotted some MARC commuter train equipment at
Brunswick, MD as well as the turntable used to turn locomotives.
In another 10 minutes we passed through Point-of-Rocks Tunnel then
diverged from the old Baltimore & Ohio mainline to Baltimore at the
gothic style Point-of-Rocks train station. After pausing at
Rockville we rolled through Washington’s northern suburbs and came to a
stop at Union Station at 3:13pm.
Cumberland, MD station
Harpers Ferry, WV
View to the north on the Potomac River bridge at Harpers Ferry
Looking south at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers at Harpers Ferry.
The tunnel ahead leads from West Virginia into Maryland. Virginia lies across the river.
Looking north from the Potomac bridge
Washington Union Station is perfectly located for
sightseeing as it is within walking distance of the US Capitol and many
major museums. Having toured these sights many times through the
years, we decided to enjoy some of the shops and eateries inside the
grand station and relax in the first class Club Acela lounge. The
spacious lounge has an abundance of comfortable sofas and chairs, free
Internet access, and televisions tuned to cable news as well as
complimentary soft drinks and light snacks. Between browsing at
some of the stores and eating establishments and hanging out in the
Club Acela, the hours passed quickly. At 7:00pm train # 97
arrived from New York and sleeping car passengers were escorted to the
platform.
Shops in Washington Union Station
Bedroom B in Viewliner sleeper 62004 “Beach View”
was ready for us and we were happy that the sofa seating faced
forward. Typically, Viewliner sleepers are pointed the proper
direction so that the accessible bedroom and Bedroom B seating faces
forward. Such cannot be predicted on Superliners. We noted
that we rode the “Beach View” a few years earlier on the Cardinal while
the other two sleepers “Prairie View” and “Sylvan View” had to date
eluded our list of sleepers ridden. Unfortunately the names have
been removed from the exterior of most Amtrak sleepers in the past
three or four years which gives them a little less individuality.
Luckily the names remain on the car end doors and appear in lists we
carry with us on our rail trips.
The electric engine has pulled the southbound Silver Meteor into Washington
The Silver Meteor’s coaches board at Washington
Heritage diner # 8558
Viewliner sleeper 62004 “Beach View”
Upon boarding, our pleasant car attendant informed us that the dining
car would be ready for us as soon as the train departed and he was true
to his word. However, a major delay in bringing the locomotives
from Ivy City Yard set departure back significantly. At least
someone was thinking as the electric engine that brought the train in
from New York remained attached to the train to provide head end power
until the diesel engines were ready to move into position. This
time we would have three P42 engines, the middle one being # 156 decked
out in the commemorative Phase I paint job that celebrated Amtrak’s
40th anniversary in 2011. The 156 had been the third unit on our
Capitol Limited from Chicago though we wished it had been the lead
engine at least once.
We finally got underway at 8:09pm and the diner crew was indeed ready
for all sleeper passengers who boarded at Washington. The wait
was worth it as our flat iron steak with mushroom gravy, baked potato,
and mixed vegetables were perfectly cooked and very tasty. In
railroad tradition we topped the meal off with apple pie a la mode as
the Silver Meteor glided along the former Richmond, Fredericksburg
& Potomac mainline between Quantico and Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Passage through Ashland brought back the usual memories of my semester
at Randolph-Macon College in 1972 as well as views of the quaint town’s
stately homes and attractive downtown storefronts. I wondered
whether there might be an RMC student standing in the darkness to view
the silver streamliner streaking southward as I had so often done 40
years earlier. Eleven minutes later we slipped into Richmond’s
Amtrak station off Staples Mill Road, a far less dramatic entrance than
the approach to beautiful Broad Street Station years earlier.
Fifteen minutes after departing Richmond we passed high above the James
River as the rocky fall line was barely discernible with the aid of a
few distant city lights. Emerging from the woodlands that shelter
houses south of the river, we passed the US Army storage depot that
fascinated me as a kid peering from the window of the Seaboard Coast
Line’s Silver Star. A few minutes later we pulled to a stop in
Petersburg where a small crowd waited patiently for the 28 minute late
train.
After crossing the Appomattox River we turned in for the night though
the stop in Rocky Mount, NC woke us briefly. My sleep was again
interrupted at about 2:00am and I sensed we had been standing still for
10 or 15 minutes. Looking out both sides of the sleeper revealed
that we were stopped in a wooded area on what appeared to be single
track. Thoughts of all the things that could have gone wrong
filled my mind and, as the stop dragged on past the 40 minute mark, I
dug through our suitcase and located my railroad scanner. The
airwaves were strangely quiet for several minutes before the engineer
and conductor broke the silence to discuss a disabled freight train
ahead of us. It had suffered a broken knuckle which, in turn,
resulted in a railroad traffic jam. Finally at 2:43am our
counterpart, train # 98, eased past on a second track that had been
invisible in the deep darkness. A few minutes later we resumed
our southbound journey after a delay of approximately one hour.
We managed to sleep through the major stops in
Florence and Charleston, SC then woke as we pulled out of tiny Yemassee
at 7:35am. We were now 99 minutes late and we realized we would
not be on-time into Jacksonville. The delay allowed us time to
sleep in and we enjoyed the rare “rest first” tone of our entire
homeward trip from Denver. As the Silver Meteor arrived in
Savannah, Georgia we gave in to the need to rise so there would be time
for breakfast before Jacksonville. The dining car was busy but we
were served by the time the next stop, Jesup, came at 9:35am. A
good crowd waved from the rail fan pavilion in Folkston while a
children’s birthday party crowded the lawn at the old depot on the
opposite side of the tracks. A couple of minutes later train # 97
crossed the St. Marys River and entered Florida then passed through
Callahan where the Baldwin Cutoff diverges. Our final
destination, Jacksonville, came at 10:53am, exactly 90 minutes behind
schedule. As we waited for our checked baggage we watched the
lead engine, # 193, cut off and prepare to turn to the evening’s train
# 98. Our dear friend Billy Parker, long one of Amtrak’s finest
employees, was there to greet us. Before long John and I were
rolling off the final miles home in a rented minivan, reflecting on a
trip that had gone about as smoothly as we could have asked hoped for.
