Amtrak in Wyoming

[railgeekteen]

Will Amtrak ever be back to Wyoming? If so, how?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Will Amtrak ever be back to Wyoming? If so, how?

Whenever the Zephyr is rerouted thru Wyoming as happens for trackwork,weather etc.

 

[Lonestar648]

There is such a demand for Denver through the mountains, the CZ will remain there. But reroutes for track work will go through Wyoming with no passenger stops.

 

[railiner]

And it's a detour unique in that it's faster than the regular route, Denver to Salt Lake City...

 

[Lonestar648]

Wyoming route is definitely faster, probably much more efficient, but customer demand is for the current route, so with sold out trains during the summer the decision is obvious,

 

[railgeekteen]

Could commuter rail ever reach Wyoming?

 

[jis]

Could commuter rail ever reach Wyoming?

If Wyoming decides to pay for it, then maybe some day it might materialize as an extension of Denver area Commuter Service beyond Fort Collins. I would be very reluctant to hold my breath for it though

 

[Eric S]

Could commuter rail ever reach Wyoming?

I can't really see commuter rail service ever reaching Wyoming. A Front Range intercity service, perhaps as Phase 3 or 5 or something. But commuter rail? Nah.

 

[railiner]

It would be a Very long time, indeed, and Larimer County (Fort Collins), is not even a part of the RTD district....

Here's an article related from last Fall.... https://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/25/why-no-rail-service-denver-longmont-boulder/

 

[Trogdor]

Could commuter rail ever reach Wyoming?

Isn't Wyoming the least populous state in the country? Hard to see any kind of commuter rail ever really getting much use under those circumstances.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I could see regional rail to the Front Range, but that's about it in the mid-future.

 

[railgeekteen]

Could commuter rail ever reach Wyoming?

Isn't Wyoming the least populous state in the country? Hard to see any kind of commuter rail ever really getting much use under those circumstances.

Cheyenne is not far from Denver.

 

[ainamkartma]

Could commuter rail ever reach Wyoming?

Isn't Wyoming the least populous state in the country? Hard to see any kind of commuter rail ever really getting much use under those circumstances.

Cheyenne is not far from Denver.

But the population density between Fort Collins and Cheyenne is indistinguishable from zero.

Ainamkartma

 

[Lonestar648]

I just can not see enough ridership to fill a couple cars everyday, every month. I think it is a car trip to/from Wyoming.

 

[dlagrua]

Cheyennes beautiful stone station stands empty in great shape and there are still many nice stations along the old route of the former Pioneer.

IIRC that route traversed the Southern part of the state and also served Boise ID and Ogden , UT . I do not see service returning to Cheyenne. Although it is the most populous city in Wyoming, there is no equipment available to add another LD route.

 

[Palmetto]

The station in Cheyenne was not used by Amtrak. Their trains ran via the Borie Cutoff, and stopped in Borie, west of Cheyenne. I think there was a van shuttle to Cheyenne from there for interested passengers. The Borie "station" was basically a single platform on the track 1 side of the railroad.

 

[jis]

The station in Cheyenne was not used by Amtrak. Their trains ran via the Borie Cutoff, and stopped in Borie, west of Cheyenne. I think there was a van shuttle to Cheyenne from there for interested passengers. The Borie "station" was basically a single platform on the track 1 side of the railroad.

The station in Cheyenne was used by Amtrak’s San Francisco Zephyr before they moved it to Borie. It used to involve a long backup move. Been there and done that. The move to Borie Amslab eliminated that backup move. There was an Ambus that connected Borie to Cheyenne.

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[railiner]

A verrrrry long back up move.....all the way from Denver.

When No. 5 arrived in Denver, it did not wye. They cut off the Chicago motors, and added the Oakland motors to the back of the train. They pulled it backwards into Cheyenne station.

They then cut off the Oakland motors and ran them around the train, to the front, and proceeded West. The reverse, on No. 6.

Kind of reminiscent of the Pennsylvania Limited between New York and 30th Street Station, Philadelphia....also rode backwards over that segment....

(I wonder if the Pennsylvanian continues that "tradition"?)

 

[jis]

Pennsylvanian and keystones ride backwards from New York to Philadelphia.

Pennsylvanian gets the diesel at the opposite end from where the electric was bringing it into Philly from NY going westbound, and of course reverse going eastbound.

The Keystones are all push pull with an ACS at one end and a cab car at the other end. They just reverse direction at Philly.

Incidentally, somehow making backup moves over long distances is frowned upon in the US. In India there are many very long distance trains which make huge reverse moves on their complex routing. But then again it does not take half an hour to hook up an engine in India either. I think such is true in Europe too Backup moves are made as and when necessary to provide a specific service.

 

[dlagrua]

The station in Cheyenne was not used by Amtrak. Their trains ran via the Borie Cutoff, and stopped in Borie, west of Cheyenne. I think there was a van shuttle to Cheyenne from there for interested passengers. The Borie "station" was basically a single platform on the track 1 side of the railroad.

The station in Cheyenne was used by Amtrak’s San Francisco Zephyr before they moved it to Borie. It used to involve a long backup move. Been there and done that. The move to Borie Amslab eliminated that backup move. There was an Ambus that connected Borie to Cheyenne.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

The station in Cheyenne was not used by Amtrak. Their trains ran via the Borie Cutoff, and stopped in Borie, west of Cheyenne. I think there was a van shuttle to Cheyenne from there for interested passengers. The Borie "station" was basically a single platform on the track 1 side of the railroad.

The station in Cheyenne was used by Amtrak’s San Francisco Zephyr before they moved it to Borie. It used to involve a long backup move. Been there and done that. The move to Borie Amslab eliminated that backup move. There was an Ambus that connected Borie to Cheyenne.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

I do not doubt that this was the case but what is puzzling is that Union Pacific freight trains routinely go past that station heading West. Also how did the 1940's/ 1950's trains stop at Cheyenne. I though that this was a station on a direct route West,

 

[jis]

The station in Cheyenne was not used by Amtrak. Their trains ran via the Borie Cutoff, and stopped in Borie, west of Cheyenne. I think there was a van shuttle to Cheyenne from there for interested passengers. The Borie "station" was basically a single platform on the track 1 side of the railroad.

The station in Cheyenne was used by Amtrak’s San Francisco Zephyr before they moved it to Borie. It used to involve a long backup move. Been there and done that. The move to Borie Amslab eliminated that backup move. There was an Ambus that connected Borie to Cheyenne.
Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

I do not doubt that this was the case but what is puzzling is that Union Pacific freight trains routinely go past that station heading West. Also how did the 1940's/ 1950's trains stop at Cheyenne. I though that this was a station on a direct route West,

Those trains did not go via Denver. They took off west on the trans-continental from Julesburg, instead of going southwest to Denver. Only the City of Denver (and a few other Chicago - Denver service) went to Denver. Not the trains to the west of the Rockies.

 

[railiner]

The station in Cheyenne was not used by Amtrak. Their trains ran via the Borie Cutoff, and stopped in Borie, west of Cheyenne. I think there was a van shuttle to Cheyenne from there for interested passengers. The Borie "station" was basically a single platform on the track 1 side of the railroad.

The station in Cheyenne was used by Amtrak’s San Francisco Zephyr before they moved it to Borie. It used to involve a long backup move. Been there and done that. The move to Borie Amslab eliminated that backup move. There was an Ambus that connected Borie to Cheyenne.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

The station in Cheyenne was not used by Amtrak. Their trains ran via the Borie Cutoff, and stopped in Borie, west of Cheyenne. I think there was a van shuttle to Cheyenne from there for interested passengers. The Borie "station" was basically a single platform on the track 1 side of the railroad.

The station in Cheyenne was used by Amtrak’s San Francisco Zephyr before they moved it to Borie. It used to involve a long backup move. Been there and done that. The move to Borie Amslab eliminated that backup move. There was an Ambus that connected Borie to Cheyenne.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

I do not doubt that this was the case but what is puzzling is that Union Pacific freight trains routinely go past that station heading West. Also how did the 1940's/ 1950's trains stop at Cheyenne. I though that this was a station on a direct route West,

UP thru trains from Nebraska did not dip down into Denver. Only the trains from Kansas went thru Denver....

Best illustrated if you look at a railway map....

 

[Palmetto]

True about the UP trains, but the discussion is about Amtrak trains.

 

[jis]

The question from dlagrua was about trains in 1940/1950 though. As far as I recall there was no Amtrak then [emoji57]

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[fairviewroad]

Pennsylvanian and keystones ride backwards from New York to Philadelphia.

Depending on where you are sitting (on the Keystones), it is the Harrisburg-Philadelphia section that rides backwards...then you go forwards to New York.