California Zephyr Schedule

[sunchaser]

I was just looking at the California Zephyr Schedule and noticed that Reno is no longer listed as a stop. Is that accurate? It used to also stop in Winnemucca. Does it still stop there? If not, that is a long time from the Salt Lake Stop to Sacramento, well over 12 hours. I thought they had to stop to refresh the train/crew every 8-12 hours?

 

[Acela150]

I think your overlooking something. I just looked in the Spring-Summer 2012 National and Reno and Winnemuca WERE listed. Winnemuca IIRC is an Enginner Change point. Not sure.

 

[Ben_G]

Like said your overlooking something. We are on the CZ next week with a stop in Reno on tuesday morning and back out of there thursday afternoon.

 

[greatcats]

Winnemucca is a crew change point for the entire crew. One engineer brings the train from Reno, a short assignment. Two engineers then board for the long run to Salt Lake City. This I observed last April one evening while driving from Arizona to Alaska. Recently I had the pleasure of reading Henry Kisor's Ebook on the California Zephyr. A crew used to take the train from Emeryville, CA to Lovelock, NV. Lovelock is no longer a station stop.

 

[sunchaser]

Thanks for the responses. Maybe I wasn't being clear enough on my question. The station stops are still there, but Reno used to have an 'arrive/depart' time listed, which makes it a refresh stop. For comparison, look at the Salt Lake City stop. I don't have the new Timetable yet, and amtrak.com still has the winter schedule listed, omitting the "refresh stop" for Reno. It didn't make any sense to me, that's why I asked!

 

[jmbgeg]

Thanks for the responses. I don't have the new Timetable yet, and amtrak.com still has the winter schedule listed, omitting the stop for Reno. It didn't make any sense to me, that's why I asked!

I see Reno on the on-line winter timetable. :blink:

 

[sunchaser]

Thanks for the responses. I don't have the new Timetable yet, and amtrak.com still has the winter schedule listed, omitting the stop for Reno. It didn't make any sense to me, that's why I asked!

I see Reno on the on-line winter timetable. :blink:

Please see my edited post....Reno is on the schedule, but no 'arrive/depart' time, like you would see if it was a refresh stop. Last time we took the CZ, we stopped there for about 30 minutes. I'm referring to the actual stop as in a refresh stop like the SLC stop.

 

[Trogdor]

The presence (or absence) of separate arrive/depart times is in no way indicative of whether or not through passengers are allowed to step off the train and onto the platform.

 

[PRR 60]

The presence (or absence) of separate arrive/depart times is in no way indicative of whether or not through passengers are allowed to step off the train and onto the platform.

Since Reno is a crew change point (engineer), it usually sits for at least 10 minutes.

Before the trench was built, the crew change was at the UP Sparks yard. The CZ would get in and out of Reno ASAP in order to not block cross traffic at the downtown grade crossings. Now, with the trench, dwell at Reno is not an issue, and Sparks is no longer a passenger stop (much to the pleasure of the Union Pacific).

 

[The Journalist]

I don't recall seeing separate arrive/depart times for Reno on any of the last few timetables, but I could be mistaken. When Sparks was a stop, it had separate times. As PRR said, the tracks are below street level; before, the train would block 3-4 grade crossings in downtown while it was stopped. So it would get in and out of Reno as fast as possible and then do crew work at Sparks, a station that was quite terribly placed for passengers-the middle of a freight yard.

Lack of arrive/depart times notwithstanding, the train needs to stop here for around 12 minutes to do whatever it does, and it seems that half the passengers get off-either to depart or just to wander the platform. It's frequently early and sits for longer, especially eastbound-on one of my trips it arrived just about at 4:00-this was when departure was scheduled for 4:46. On my last trip, the train stopped at the former Sparks station to pick up some UP employees-don't know how common that is, but one of them made a comment that implied he did this regularly.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

The lack of separate times listed is no reason for the stop to take any less time. When you look at the CZ schedule, you will see that ti takes 1h 28 min to go the downhill run from Truckee to Reno. Climbing up into the mountains, it only takes 1h, 1min. This extra 27 minutes is the time that is factored in for the stop in Reno. The same case goes for Austin TX, where there is a lot of time added in going northbound between San Marcos and Austin to factor in the station stop in Austin, and there are plenty more examples if you look hard enough.

 

[pebbleworm]

I wouldn't get off the train in Reno unless you wanted to get hassled-or worse- by the Reno police department for doing something suspicious, like getting off of a train to stretch your legs... It hasn't happened to me, but I have heard horror stories. I don't gamble or consort with prostitutes so I have no reason to get off the train in Reno and I'll just stay in the room.

 

[sunchaser]

I wouldn't get off the train in Reno unless you wanted to get hassled-or worse- by the Reno police department for doing something suspicious, like getting off of a train to stretch your legs... It hasn't happened to me, but I have heard horror stories. I don't gamble or consort with prostitutes so I have no reason to get off the train in Reno and I'll just stay in the room.

We didn't have any issues last time. But that was three years ago. We stayed right near the train, by our sleeper car.

We lived in Reno many decades ago.

It was a 'interesting' place. I didn't like it much at all. hboy:

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

I wouldn't get off the train in Reno unless you wanted to get hassled-or worse- by the Reno police department for doing something suspicious, like getting off of a train to stretch your legs... It hasn't happened to me, but I have heard horror stories. I don't gamble or consort with prostitutes so I have no reason to get off the train in Reno and I'll just stay in the room.

But the Reno PD puts on a daily fashion workshop for Amtrak passengers during the station stop. On my last Zephyr trip, this gentleman was kind enough to put me in touch with his tailor. My new shorts look great!

But seriously, as I wrote about in December, staying in your room isn't necessarily a safe harbor. They're so sweet, that if you can't come to them, they will come to you! :help:

 

[Donctor]

My new shorts look great!

Indeed they do. Just don't get your police bike stolen.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I got the CZ schedule right here from 2010 and there is not separate arr./dep. times. Then I check the current schedule and also not arr./dep. times.

 

[guest]

The lack of separate times listed is no reason for the stop to take any less time. When you look at the CZ schedule, you will see that ti takes 1h 28 min to go the downhill run from Truckee to Reno. Climbing up into the mountains, it only takes 1h, 1min. This extra 27 minutes is the time that is factored in for the stop in Reno. The same case goes for Austin TX, where there is a lot of time added in going northbound between San Marcos and Austin to factor in the station stop in Austin, and there are plenty more examples if you look hard enough.

I think the longer travel time from Truckee to Reno, compared to the Reno-Truckee time, is padding to make up for lost time from freight interference that usually happens between Emeryville and Reno,

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

The lack of separate times listed is no reason for the stop to take any less time. When you look at the CZ schedule, you will see that ti takes 1h 28 min to go the downhill run from Truckee to Reno. Climbing up into the mountains, it only takes 1h, 1min. This extra 27 minutes is the time that is factored in for the stop in Reno. The same case goes for Austin TX, where there is a lot of time added in going northbound between San Marcos and Austin to factor in the station stop in Austin, and there are plenty more examples if you look hard enough.

I think the longer travel time from Truckee to Reno, compared to the Reno-Truckee time, is padding to make up for lost time from freight interference that usually happens between Emeryville and Reno,

That extra padding dosen't really matter. The 6 has a lot worse OTP than the 5, despite the extra padding.