West Wendover, Nev. Wants a Zephyr Stop

[Agent]

The town of West Wendover, Nevada, right on the border with Utah, has tentatively approved $800,000 toward the building of a new station for the California Zephyr to stop at. Currently #5 comes through in the middle of the night and #6 passes through in the evening. I suppose it's a start.

http://www.coyote-tv.com/2014/12/05/800000-train-station-wins-w-wendover-ok

 

[KmH]

Ha. Wendover, NV

Back in the day - 1996 to 2001 - I stopped there many times to sleep and to avail myself of the fine dining in the big casino there.

I didn't travel by train though.

I drove an over the road 18 wheeler for C. R. England back then, a refrigerated goods trucking company headquartered in West Valley City, UT (SLC).

 

[chakk]

#6 would arrive around midnight, #5 would arrive around 1 AM. West Wendover, Nevada observes Mountain Time instead of the Pacific Time like most of the rest of the state. I assume that the only reason to get a stop there would be to entice more gamblers to come to this very remote location (although it is the closest gambling location to Salt Lake City).

 

[Karl1459]

#6 would arrive around midnight, #5 would arrive around 1 AM. West Wendover, Nevada observes Mountain Time instead of the Pacific Time like most of the rest of the state. I assume that the only reason to get a stop there would be to entice more gamblers to come to this very remote location (although it is the closest gambling location to Salt Lake City).

Anyone else here ever heard of "Bonneville Salt Flats" and the various land speed racing events?

 

[BCL]

Did they just pull the cost out of their behinds or something? $800,000 seems on the low side, especially with the artists rendition they have. I realize that labor might be cheaper there.

Still - one of the comments was someone mentioning the Lancaster, PA station and Amtrak's demands. However, that's a staffed station, so they're going to want certain standards before they commit to paying employees to be there. And wasn't there an issue with the length of the bus bays?

 

[The Journalist]

Makes sense, especially since Elko-Salt Lake has to be one of the longest runs without a stop in the Amtrak system. Of concern is that It's not clear if they're actually talking to Amtrak or are just building a station and expecting the trains to stop. That article also mentions the idea of running passenger trains to Ely, which seems wildly unlikely.

A article from yesterday from a Utah news station suggests they have been talking to Amtrak: Link -which is a good sign.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Did they just pull the cost out of their behinds or something? $800,000 seems on the low side, especially with the artists rendition they have. I realize that labor might be cheaper there.

Still - one of the comments was someone mentioning the Lancaster, PA station and Amtrak's demands. However, that's a staffed station, so they're going to want certain standards before they commit to paying employees to be there. And wasn't there an issue with the length of the bus bays?

Why should it be expensive? All they have to do is put slob of concrete next to track as platform.

 

[fairviewroad]

slob of concrete

:giggle:

 

[BCL]

Did they just pull the cost out of their behinds or something? $800,000 seems on the low side, especially with the artists rendition they have. I realize that labor might be cheaper there.

Still - one of the comments was someone mentioning the Lancaster, PA station and Amtrak's demands. However, that's a staffed station, so they're going to want certain standards before they commit to paying employees to be there. And wasn't there an issue with the length of the bus bays?

Why should it be expensive? All they have to do is put slob of concrete next to track as platform.

They're showing a rendition of a covered sitting area and a modern concrete slab with ADA mandated features like rubber bump tiles at the edge and that's placed at a precise height to be flush with the lower level floors of the cars. However, that looks like they found a photo of an existing train station and used that as an example.

There was that other thread where it was mentioned that building a train station on a railroad line isn't a trivial thing that your average contractor can do. It also has to be able to withstand being next to train tracks, which cause the ground to rumble.

Now Amtrak may agree to this, but they're not going to approve stopping there or allowing contractors to work on it next to the tracks unless they can approve the plans and the contractors. I suppose they could build it off the main line like some stations (OAC is one I use sometimes) and connect it later, but then who pays for the track and the switches. If you need to do that, it adds to the cost.

 

[the_traveler]

There were a couple of errors I saw in the article.

One was the times mentioned above. But the biggest was "... the CZ ... which runs between Chicago and Oakland ..." It's been MANY, MANY years since the CZ ran to OKJ instead of just to EMY!

 

[BCL]

There were a couple of errors I saw in the article.

One was the times mentioned above. But the biggest was "... the CZ ... which runs between Chicago and Oakland ..." It's been MANY, MANY years since the CZ ran to OKJ instead of just to EMY!

I read it earlier and thought it said San Francisco. Or was that the other article that was mentioned?

 

[afigg]

Did they just pull the cost out of their behinds or something? $800,000 seems on the low side, especially with the artists rendition they have. I realize that labor might be cheaper there.

Still - one of the comments was someone mentioning the Lancaster, PA station and Amtrak's demands. However, that's a staffed station, so they're going to want certain standards before they commit to paying employees to be there. And wasn't there an issue with the length of the bus bays?

Lancaster PA is also a much larger station which apparently had a substantial backlog of repair & refurb work with 529 thousand passengers in FY2014.

West Wendover is presumably going to get a 550' long 8" ATR platform which is the standard for the western LD train stations have gotten new ADA compliant platforms in recent years. Unless the platform is off on a siding, it won't be 15" high which is the floor height for the Superliners. So the station will either need to store a long bridge plate or a movable wheelchair lift.

West Wendover has a 2010 Census population of 4,410 so this won't be a busy stop. Elko, NV with a town population of 18K in 2010 had 9.426 passengers in FY2014. Unless it draws a lot of casino traffic, the West Wendover stop is likely to add a couple of thousand passengers to the CZ per year. Still, a couple of thousand new annual customers.

 

[fairviewroad]

There were a couple of errors I saw in the article.

One was the times mentioned above. But the biggest was "... the CZ ... which runs between Chicago and Oakland ..." It's been MANY, MANY years since the CZ ran to OKJ instead of just to EMY!

Eh, I'm inclined to forgive that one. Not counting railfans, most people outside of the Bay Area wouldn't have a clue where Emeryville, CA is. Saying the CZ runs to Oakland is good enough for a general circulation publication, IYAM. The bigger error, IMO, was saying that the eastbound CZ passes through Wendover around 7:30 p.m. I think it's more like midnight. IOW, this station is going to be a quickie middle-of-the-night stop in both directions.

 

[BCL]

Did they just pull the cost out of their behinds or something? $800,000 seems on the low side, especially with the artists rendition they have. I realize that labor might be cheaper there.

Still - one of the comments was someone mentioning the Lancaster, PA station and Amtrak's demands. However, that's a staffed station, so they're going to want certain standards before they commit to paying employees to be there. And wasn't there an issue with the length of the bus bays?

Lancaster PA is also a much larger station which apparently had a substantial backlog of repair & refurb work with 529 thousand passengers in FY2014.

West Wendover is presumably going to get a 550' long 8" ATR platform which is the standard for the western LD train stations have gotten new ADA compliant platforms in recent years. Unless the platform is off on a siding, it won't be 15" high which is the floor height for the Superliners. So the station will either need to store a long bridge plate or a movable wheelchair lift.

West Wendover has a 2010 Census population of 4,410 so this won't be a busy stop. Elko, NV with a town population of 18K in 2010 had 9.426 passengers in FY2014. Unless it draws a lot of casino traffic, the West Wendover stop is likely to add a couple of thousand passengers to the CZ per year. Still, a couple of thousand new annual customers.

It doesn't really sound as if they think it's needed for city residents. Maybe there are a few families with kids in college who might take it, but how often would that be?

It sounds to me as if they think it'll create a mini-boom of overnight visitors from the SLC area who don't feel like driving.

So what's your estimate for how much this is going to cost?

 

[BCL]

There were a couple of errors I saw in the article.

One was the times mentioned above. But the biggest was "... the CZ ... which runs between Chicago and Oakland ..." It's been MANY, MANY years since the CZ ran to OKJ instead of just to EMY!

Eh, I'm inclined to forgive that one. Not counting railfans, most people outside of the Bay Area wouldn't have a clue where Emeryville, CA is. Saying the CZ runs to Oakland is good enough for a general circulation publication, IYAM. The bigger error, IMO, was saying that the eastbound CZ passes through Wendover around 7:30 p.m. I think it's more like midnight. IOW, this station is going to be a quickie middle-of-the-night stop in both directions.

Emeryville? It's the HQ for several companies like LeapFrog. Of course the most prominent employer in Emeryville is Pixar. I think many have heard of Emeryville and have a vague idea where it is.

 

[fairviewroad]

There were a couple of errors I saw in the article.

One was the times mentioned above. But the biggest was "... the CZ ... which runs between Chicago and Oakland ..." It's been MANY, MANY years since the CZ ran to OKJ instead of just to EMY!

Eh, I'm inclined to forgive that one. Not counting railfans, most people outside of the Bay Area wouldn't have a clue where Emeryville, CA is. Saying the CZ runs to Oakland is good enough for a general circulation publication, IYAM. The bigger error, IMO, was saying that the eastbound CZ passes through Wendover around 7:30 p.m. I think it's more like midnight. IOW, this station is going to be a quickie middle-of-the-night stop in both directions.

Emeryville? It's the HQ for several companies like LeapFrog. Of course the most prominent employer in Emeryville is Pixar. I think many have heard of Emeryville and have a vague idea where it is.

Yeah, but you live in the Bay Area, right? I'm not sure you're in the position to judge how well Emeryville is known to the rest of the nation. Even Amtrak's own timetable shows the CZ runs from "Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area." Amtrak terminates the CZ in Emeryville for operational reasons, not because Emeryville is a significant destination in and of itself.

 

[BCL]

There were a couple of errors I saw in the article.

One was the times mentioned above. But the biggest was "... the CZ ... which runs between Chicago and Oakland ..." It's been MANY, MANY years since the CZ ran to OKJ instead of just to EMY!

Eh, I'm inclined to forgive that one. Not counting railfans, most people outside of the Bay Area wouldn't have a clue where Emeryville, CA is. Saying the CZ runs to Oakland is good enough for a general circulation publication, IYAM. The bigger error, IMO, was saying that the eastbound CZ passes through Wendover around 7:30 p.m. I think it's more like midnight. IOW, this station is going to be a quickie middle-of-the-night stop in both directions.

Emeryville? It's the HQ for several companies like LeapFrog. Of course the most prominent employer in Emeryville is Pixar. I think many have heard of Emeryville and have a vague idea where it is.

Yeah, but you live in the Bay Area, right? I'm not sure you're in the position to judge how well Emeryville is known to the rest of the nation. Even Amtrak's own timetable shows the CZ runs from "Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area." Amtrak terminates the CZ in Emeryville for operational reasons, not because Emeryville is a significant destination in and of itself.

I used to work in Emeryville, and I actually saw tourists taking photos in front of Pixar's front gate while I was trying to get to my favorite taco truck.

 

[Ryan]

Now Amtrak may agree to this, but they're not going to approve stopping there or allowing contractors to work on it next to the tracks unless they can approve the plans and the contractors.

Amtrak owns neither the tracks nor the land on which the station will sit, so they don't really get a vote.

 

[BCL]

Now Amtrak may agree to this, but they're not going to approve stopping there or allowing contractors to work on it next to the tracks unless they can approve the plans and the contractors.

Amtrak owns neither the tracks nor the land on which the station will sit, so they don't really get a vote.

OK. However, Amtrak would decide whether or not the train stops at a station, so I'd think their approval is important. Additionally, it's not as if UP is going to allow them to work next to their tracks (and probably on their property) without permission and some assurances that whoever designs and constructs this know what they're doing with regards to building next to an active train track.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I've been there many times: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95851032@N07/14181790967/.

 

[reefgeek]

Wendover ambulance responding to broken-down Zephyr!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Wendover ambulance responding to broken-down Zephyr!

Looks like Harry Reid hasn't been bringing home the Highway Money for Nevada! LOL

 

[neroden]

With good ground conditions and cheap labor, an 550', 8" compliant platform can probably be done for $800K, just about. They might even be able to afford a sign. All depends on whether UP is OK with it, of course.

 

[Bruce-C]

It's all about capturing the automobile travelers from SLC to the W. Wendover casinos. I wish them well.

 

[neroden]

If these automobile travellers have a habit of drinking at the casinos, I *definitely* wish them well in this project; best to get drunk people off the road....