#5 (11) Held up by flooding in Colorado

[Swadian Hardcore]

I see that the damage is more easterly than I thought it was. I was thinking about the area around Nederland/Rollinsville, near Colorado 119. Colorado 72 is indeed shut down due to flooding. Colorado 93 is still operational.

The washed out section west of Eldorado Springs, is that around Scar Top Mountain or Eldorado Mountain?

Thanks for info, guys.

 

[domefoamer]

Working from the bottom up, they would have to repair the east-facing route through the tunnels before they could access anything west of Eldorado Springs. The lights really are impressive. From my office ten miles away, they're as bright as any city lights nearby.

 

[Beth2013]

Trip is going great so far! Staff have all been excellant.

A lady tried to dine and dash during lunch time. I'm not sure how she thought she would getaway with that. They nabbed her pretty quickly!

Tonite at dinner, a drunk guy from coach tried to make his way to the sleeper cars. Needless to say he didn't make it pass the middle of the dining car. He was mumbling and completely out of it. I'm pretty sure he was smoking wacky tabacky whenwe stopped at Winnemucca. I stepped outside for fresh air and the smell was pretty strong. Hopefully he doesnt cause anymore trouble.

 

[railiner]

I see that the damage is more easterly than I thought it was. I was thinking about the area around Nederland/Rollinsville, near Colorado 119. Colorado 72 is indeed shut down due to flooding. Colorado 93 is still operational.

The washed out section west of Eldorado Springs, is that around Scar Top Mountain or Eldorado Mountain?

Thanks for info, guys.

All this talk of that region has got me nostalgic of when I used to live in Arvada....I could watch the RGZ, the Ski Train, and the BN 'beer run' right from my apartment window at 60th and Lamar.

Have any of you driven over the old Corona Road over Rollins Pass? Now that was quite an adventure. I did it in my '72 Monte Carlo.... I still have the route guide they gave out back then somewhere in my 'archives'.....

 

[user 1215]

Trip is going great so far! Staff have all been excellant.

A lady tried to dine and dash during lunch time. I'm not sure how she thought she would getaway with that. They nabbed her pretty quickly!

Tonite at dinner, a drunk guy from coach tried to make his way to the sleeper cars. Needless to say he didn't make it pass the middle of the dining car. He was mumbling and completely out of it. I'm pretty sure he was smoking wacky tabacky whenwe stopped at Winnemucca. I stepped outside for fresh air and the smell was pretty strong. Hopefully he doesnt cause anymore trouble.

And this is what makes train travel so, well, 21st Century! LOL. Seriously, though, it's fun to watch other's bad behavior so long as it can be contained. I've seen lots of wacky stuff on trains. Never gets old. Where does someone think they are going to run off to, on a train, skipping on a dinner tab?

All this talk of that region has got me nostalgic of when I used to live in Arvada....I could watch the RGZ, the Ski Train, and the BN 'beer run' right from my apartment window at 60th and Lamar.

Have any of you driven over the old Corona Road over Rollins Pass? Now that was quite an adventure. I did it in my '72 Monte Carlo.... I still have the route guide they gave out back then somewhere in my 'archives'.....

Can't take the whole route any more, but I've been all the way up to Rollins Pass from the West. There's even a short 4x4 route that takes you to the tunnels that are now closed off. Did that in a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Fun fun fun...

 

[Frederique]

I am coming from France to go to a conference in San Francisco and I specially prepared my trip to take the California Zephyr 5 from Chicago to Emeryville on the 26th September, taking a roomette and wanting to enjoy the scenery.

As a French I am very much used to taking the train and I am appalled that there is no news on the Amtrak site. What will happen to me ? Sure I am a bit lost there

 

[Beth2013]

You will be fine Frederique. The train in running thru Wyoming insteas of Colorado.

 

[Notelvis]

I am coming from France to go to a conference in San Francisco and I specially prepared my trip to take the California Zephyr 5 from Chicago to Emeryville on the 26th September, taking a roomette and wanting to enjoy the scenery.

As a French I am very much used to taking the train and I am appalled that there is no news on the Amtrak site. What will happen to me ? Sure I am a bit lost there

Specifically - while the traditional CZ route through the Colorado Rockies is under repair, the train is detouring through Wyoming on the Union Pacific Mainline. The CZ will make all of it's regular stops between Chicago and Denver and then again between Salt Lake City and Emeryville. You should have a pretty good chance at arriving on schedule too as the detour route is actually a little faster than the regular route.

You will still have lots of incredible scenery....... just not quite as much as you would have.

 

[Lounge car]

It is really bad for smokers through Wyoming I think you go fourteen hours without a stop if you smoke you may want to take the bus.

 

[Frederique]

Thank you for your answers, I'll take it as an adventure. I decided to take the train after going last year from Perth to Adelaide on the Indian Pacific in Australia (also 3 days) and I find it is a great way of seing a country when you are traveling solo

 

[Beth2013]

They just made any announcement about smoking, as some idiot decided smoking in the barhroom was a good idea. If you smoke come prepared with nicotine gum or patches, dont stink up the train, because you're an idiot!

On a happier note, I can't believe all the antelope I've seen.

 

[Notelvis]

I was on a detoured number 6 once where they did make a smoke stop at the former Laramie passenger station. The platform which had been used by the Pioneer prior to it's discontinuance was still in place there at that time...... probably 8-10 years ago.

Minus the infrastructure of an active passenger station with a platform long enough for the entire California Zephyr, making a smoke stop along the detour would likely pose more immediate threat to someone needing a smoke than the smoke itself.

 

[Beth2013]

We stopped briefly in Green River to switch crew. We were stopped there for a few mintues. Not sure if they let people smoke or not, as I jumped in the shower while the train stopped. Much easier to shower when the train is not moving.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

They just made any announcement about smoking, as some idiot decided smoking in the barhroom was a good idea. If you smoke come prepared with nicotine gum or patches, dont stink up the train, because you're an idiot!

On a happier note, I can't believe all the antelope I've seen.

That smoker, did they kick him off the train? He should be kicked off the train in the middle of nowhere with no refund! That'll teach him, it alwasy teaches the violators over here.

 

[Beth2013]

Im not sure if they did or not.

We are currently about 4 hours late. A train ahead of us had engine problems.

 

[the_traveler]

It is really bad for smokers through Wyoming I think you go fourteen hours without a stop if you smoke you may want to take the bus.

I am not, and never have been, a smoker. Going 14 hours without smoking - torture!!!!!!
BTW - what do you do when you fly? You have to show up at the airport early, most all airports do not allow smoking, and if you fly cross country, or especially overseas, you can easily find yourself without a chance to smoke for 10 hours or more! (And I don't think there are many busus funning between LA and Japan or Australia!

 

[jebr]

It is really bad for smokers through Wyoming I think you go fourteen hours without a stop if you smoke you may want to take the bus.

I am not, and never have been, a smoker. Going 14 hours without smoking - torture!!!!!!
BTW - what do you do when you fly? You have to show up at the airport early, most all airports do not allow smoking, and if you fly cross country, or especially overseas, you can easily find yourself without a chance to smoke for 10 hours or more! (And I don't think there are many busus funning between LA and Japan or Australia!

I assume they plan for it by bringing nicotine patches and the like. After all, they know it'll be 10 hours without being able to smoke.

Amtrak, on the other hand, just states there'll be an "alternate route" from Denver to SLC. It doesn't mention anything about the lack of fresh air stops along the route, so someone who's a casual rider of Amtrak may not realize that there'll be 14 hours without a smoke break. In fact, Amtrak states that passengers "will not be affected by the detour," which one could easily read to mean that they'll still make some fresh air stops along the route.

It'd be better if they stated something like "Passengers from Chicago to Denver and Salt Lake and San Francisco Bay will be detoured over an alternate route. Trains will not be delayed, but the train will make no stops (including fresh air stops) between Denver and Salt Lake City."

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Locking passengers into an air-conditioned train is a good way to force-quite smokers. Very good if you lock them in for 52 hours and prohibit smoking in the station platform area.

 

[slasharoo]

Uh oh, 5 just lost one engine at Borie. Could be a slow trip over the mountains.

 

[jis]

BTW - what do you do when you fly? You have to show up at the airport early, most all airports do not allow smoking, and if you fly cross country, or especially overseas, you can easily find yourself without a chance to smoke for 10 hours or more! (And I don't think there are many busus funning between LA and Japan or Australia!

There are Airbuses running those routes you know.... But even in those smoking is strictly prohibited.

 

[PaulM]

Just to add to idle speculation, tonight's local news just reported that 80% of US 34 is damaged or entirely gone.

I know that reporters suffer from math and geography deficiency syndrome, but even for them this is nonsense. US 34 pretty much follows the CZ route from Naperville to Ft. Morgan, none of which is damaged.

 

[PaulM]

I have a question. How are some of you able to get information about what is going on, in the complete absence of info from AMTRAK???

I also discovered AU while trying to find out information during flooding, namely June of 2008 when the Empire Builder was not running CHI to MSP. I couldn't even find out where the flooding was. In this case AU wasn't any help. Turned out to be a temporary lake in central Wisconsin.

To answer your question, generally it's speculation based on a lot of past experience. This case is unusual in that we've had a lot of people on trains and in stations giving us live updates.

 

[PaulM]

Have any of you driven over the old Corona Road over Rollins Pass? Now that was quite an adventure.

It's been a while, but my son and I biked up to the Needle's Eye Tunnel from the east portal of the Moffat Tunnel. I can tell you that the uphill ride was easier on the butt bones than the downhill. The tunnel was closed and I doubt one could drive over the pass down to Winter Park any more.

 

[Nathanael]

I also discovered AU while trying to find out information during flooding, namely June of 2008 when the Empire Builder was not running CHI to MSP. I couldn't even find out where the flooding was. In this case AU wasn't any help. Turned out to be a temporary lake in central Wisconsin.

I remember that year's flooding; it was epid. The regular CP line was flooded due to that lake. I got through on the last train northbound, which detoured via the BNSF line next to the Mississippi River. The next day, *that* line flooded out too. The other alternative routes (Union Pacific and CN) had *also* flooded out. On the way back, I rented a car -- the expressway had reopened only two days before, and all the gas stations in Wisconsin were closed due to flooding, so that was kind of a close thing.

 

[Nathanael]

Just to add to idle speculation, tonight's local news just reported that 80% of US 34 is damaged or entirely gone.

I know that reporters suffer from math and geography deficiency syndrome, but even for them this is nonsense. US 34 pretty much follows the CZ route from Naperville to Ft. Morgan, none of which is damaged.

What's actually happened is that US 34 no longer exists *between Loveland and Estes Park*.