Lots to see from the Zephyr. Some pics from my 2014 visit.
Beautiful pictures! For the uninitiated, the one with the tracks streaming away is from the back car of the train, usually after a bunch of coaches. Well worth the walk. Totally legal for sleeping car passengers and a chance to find out how the other half lives. The back door, if hopefully not too dirty, is a great place to hang out and take pictures.
Couldn't help but notice that one of the side pictures looking forward appears to be from an open door window. Strangely enough, it is extremely easy to open the door window in a Superliner train. And no harm done *except* that you will get yelled at for it. It is technically easy but very illegal. I think these days not opening windows is part of the safety announcement.
Which brings back a *very* old story. People under 60 may not know that until about 40 years ago, trains simply dumped toilet waste directly onto the tracks. An old railroad jingle:
"Passengers will please refrain
From flushing toilets while the train
Is standing in the station."
The Superliners were built with dump toilets. I'm not sure if it happened immediately, but soon a valve was added that only opened the dump if the train was moving over a certain speed. Later common sense prevailed and kicking and screaming Amtrak installed retention tanks and honey wagons to empty them. Not something they really wanted to get involved with.
Which brings me back to the open Superliner window. Many years ago I was standing with some other train nuts at an open window, taking pictures when a conductor walked by. He said,
"I'd close that window if I were you, boys. If you feel a fine mist in the air, it ain't Mountain Dew..."