# California Zephyr Trip - Part Two



## MrFSS (Jan 23, 2006)

Amtrak Trip Part Two

On our second day of travel we arrived in Denver over two hours late. The train backs into the station and this night we did it twice. Once to unhook the private car and then we pulled out and backed in on another track.

Before arriving in Denver we came down out of the mountains and it was dark and clear. The lights of the city went from one end of the view to the other. It was as if we were landing in a big city in a plane. What a view. Also, the track roadbed coming into the city from the mountains was so smooth we could hardly tell we were moving.

We would have almost a half an hour in the station so I got off for a stroll and some air. I had not been to the Denver station since 1962 when I rode a UP train from Denver to Chicago.

As I walked out of the sleeper car door there was the Virginia City. I walked over to take a picture and the car attendants for that car waved and invited several of us in for a “tour”. We could only stay a few minutes but I was able to snap a few pictures. What a magnificent old car.

We turned in for the night after leaving Denver and I slept until just before we arrived in Omaha, two and a half hours late.

Had the same breakfast I did yesterday. Better today and warmer. Love the coffee!

About 11:00 AM we had an unscheduled stop in Sheridan Iowa. The conductor had to get off and did something with one of the switches. I don’t know if it was frozen, or what. But, we lost another 20 minutes and had to get a new track warrant. Then as we pulled forward and travel a few miles, stopped again and waited for another warrant to enter Ottumwa, Iowa. Now down a good three hours as we head toward Chicago.

The weather has deteriorated from the past two days. Snow and rain. Windy and cold.

We will remain three hours late all the way to Chicago. I wish it had been daylight when we got there for the pictures, but it wasn’t to be.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and there isn’t much to look at unless you like flat farmland.

After stopping in Naperville to let a lot of passengers off, we sped into CUS. The Metra tracks are really smooth and having three tracks really helps, we passed several commuter trains on the outside tracks.

Our sleeper car accommodation allowed us into the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago. I had only been in the temporary one several years ago as they were remodeling this one. Very comfortable. We checked our bags with the Redcap and walked up for a bite to eat in the food court.

They called for Cardinal passengers about 15 minutes before they let the general boarding start. Since we were in coach for this short trip, it helped as we could get our bags stored and settled in our seats before everyone else boarded.

The consist was:

1 engine, 3 coaches, café car, sleeper car.

Last time I was on the Cardinal it only had 2 coaches.

But, our car was full and only had passengers going as far as Indianapolis or before. Lots of college kids that would get off at Lafayette.

We left about 15 minutes late but arrived in Indy on time. At some places on the flat lands of Indiana he really opened it up. I feel we may have been going faster than 79MPH. Anyone know if that can be done on that trackage?

Now, we were in the coach right behind the engine and the engineer was whistle happy. I know they have to blow for the crossings, but he went beyond that. Two longs, a short and a long, but each long was probably twice as long as you usually hear. I wished I had had ear plugs.

We followed the old Monon route, I think, down to Crawfordsville and then east to Indy. Since I used to live in that town, it was interesting to watch as we came into the city and recognize so many of the sights.

The train arrives on an elevated platform that is almost 2 stories up. No escalator or elevator, so we had to carry all our luggage down the steps. Our daughter was waiting for us and we were glad for a good nights sleep at her home before driving back to Kentucky the next day.

What a trip. A great experience I would gladly do again.

Some general observations and questions for the group:

I would mention again that the entire train staff was excellent and went above and beyond to make us all comfortable and informed. Mr. Harris, the sleeping car attendant, Mr. Cooper our waiter, Mr. Rivers the Dining car lead attendant, and the conductors, too.

One time I asked a conductor about a particular town (not one on the schedule) to see if we went through it or not. She handed me her official conductor’s schedule and said, “Just give it back when you’re done looking at it.” That’s service.

One of the reasons I was able to take this trip was because I thought I got a really good price on the bedroom. I had checked several different days for the prices and found the one we took was almost $500 less than other days before and after. That’s why I grabbed it. I have heard the many discussions on the board about how the bucket system works. However, while in Sacramento, the day before we left, just out of curiosity, I checked the prices for our train, again. It was $50 lower than what I paid. I know they go to the bottom bucket when you are on board. Wonder why this one was down the day before?

I tried to talk with some of the Amtrak employees on the train about their thoughts on what has been going on lately. The only clear consensus I could get was that all of them were very sorry to see Mr. Gunn be let go.

Three years ago I knew very little about Amtrak travel. I am almost 65 years old and have been a rail fan since I was a young boy. Retirement has allowed me to enjoy train travel again. While working over the year I probably flew over a half million miles. I wish I could have used the train more, but just couldn’t.

On this trip I met young people and older people. They were all on the train because they were using it to get from point A to point B, unlike my wife and me, who were riding it because we like to ride trains. They all said, in so many words, that if the train went away they didn’t know what they would do. They didn’t like to fly, they didn’t drive, or couldn’t afford to drive, or they just had no other way to get where they needed to go. Many of them had heard about what was going on with the current administration and were upset.

Lastly, with one exception, I felt I was the most knowledgeable Amtrak travel person on the train. Why? From all the useful information I get from the great folks on this forum. Thanks to all of you for making my trip even better. I joined this group right before our EB trip a couple of years ago and I had a million questions which many people very graciously answered, and continue to answer for new people who ask those same questions today. Sometimes I can even answer someone’s question, too.

We are already planning our next trip for next year. I hope Amtrak is there for us to enjoy as we did last week.

Questions comments welcome.

Here is the picture link info:

I have lumped the train related pictures here.

If you are interested, the entire trip set of pictures is here. There are a lot of them and some may not be of interest to you. Many pictures are just the beautiful scenery views from our window.

All my train pictures are found from the link at the bottom of this message in my signature.

Tom


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## AlanB (Jan 23, 2006)

Tom,

Thanks for the excellant report.  Glad things went well for you and that you and your wife had a great time.


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## AMTRAK-P42 (Jan 23, 2006)

Sounds like a great trip. Glad you had fun!


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## gswager (Jan 23, 2006)

Glad that you had a fantastic trip!

I was looking at your gallery of private car. Wow! It was totally different than I thought! Old stove, fireplace roaring, fancy chairs, etc.  It's so nostalagic. Someone ought to film it and its history on PBS or Discovery or whatever before the car will fade into history.


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## MrFSS (Jan 24, 2006)

> It's so nostalagic. Someone ought to film it and its history on PBS or Discovery or whatever before the car will fade into history.


I was told that car has been the subject of a TV special, History Channel, Travel Channel, or PBS. The source couldn't remember.

Here is the link to the Private Car Owners Page if you want to look at what is available to rent.

We were yold the cost to take that car from Oakland to Denver and back was $21,000.00 for the week. Amtrak charges $1.80/mile to pull it.


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## Bill Haithcoat (Jan 24, 2006)

What a great report. You always write good reports---the kind that makes me feel I was there with you.

Just one of the many things which stood out for me was that ocnductor allowing you to see the employee timetable to see all the towns the train actually passed through wiithout stopping. Many people do not even know about those. They give neat info like speed limits, etc.

Since you are just 4 years older than I you might appreciate and remember that the older timetables showed all the towns. That is because there were trains back then called "locals" which actually made all or almost all of the stops....thus you could get all that in the regular public timetable.

The CZ has always been one of my favorite trains. You probably realize what a first class operation it has historically been, anyway.

Oh yes, you take neat photos, also.


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## MrFSS (Jan 24, 2006)

Thanks, everyone for the kind words. I kept a written diary on the trip. My wife thought I was crazy, but it helped me remember important things.

Bill - I do indeed remember the early timetables and have a collection of them.

I remember seeing the original Zephyr in the 50's and here is a picture I took of that train (not good quality) being pulled from the station after it had unloaded all the passengers. I think that might be a NYC sleeping car in front of the dome. They had service from coast to coast in those days.


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## Guest_montanajim (Jan 24, 2006)

good to hear you had a good trip!


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## caravanman (Jan 29, 2006)

Hi, thank you for your interesting trip report, it was entertaining (and informative) to read a full account, as well as the bare bones about the equipment and time-keeping. You seem fortunate in that your wife enjoys trains too! I have noticed wide variations in day to day bedroom prices myself, it pays to shop around if you can be flexible on travel dates. I had hoped to re visit America for a two week intensive long distance rail tour this Jan 2006, one of the challenges of the planning that went into that was trying to obtain the lowest bedroom prices on all sections...quite frustrating at times! (For different reasons I decided to have a rail holiday in Europe instead, which I enjoyed, & hope to write up soon.) Your photo's are great, as usual, and bring back the Amtrak experiences I have had.

Ed B)


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## MrFSS (Jan 29, 2006)

> Your photo's are great, as usual, and bring back the Amtrak experiences I have had.


Thank You!


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## pspeidel (Feb 12, 2006)

your pictures and commentary about your trip was most enjoyable, thank you! i am traveling on the lake shore limited and the texas eagle in a few weeks. i will share my comments when i return.

pspeidel


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