What was that train? 1964 Edition

[Anderson]

I'm trying to puzzle through a bit of a stumper. A friend of the family says he took the CA Zephyr from San Francisco (well, presumably Oakland/Emeryville, but I'll grant that there are probably more than a few folks who would readily shorthand the latter as the former) to St. Louis in 1964 (he was on his honeymoon and an airline strike broke out, making the return trip from San Francisco to Virginia...well, a bit more interesting than he'd planned on it being; he was able to fly back from St. Louis). Now, he specifically remembers going through Feather Canyon (this came up when I took the Zephyr for the first time), but obviously there is a logical fallacy here: The Zephyr didn't go to St. Louis, at least not as far as I know. So...

1) Was there another through train from San Francisco to St. Louis? His recollection is strongly in favor of it being a one-seat trip, I believe.

2) Failing that, were there through cars from the Zephyr that detached somewhere (say, Denver)? Or was there somewhere that an easy transfer might have happened?

I'd check my 1956 Guide, but that's both 8 years off (which matters, given all of the cutbacks that were happening) and I'd have to basically start stabbing in the dark at the other railroads in the region for possibilities.

 

[henryj]

The California Zephyr of course did not go to St Louis nor carry through cars. According to the June 1964 Official Guide it left Oakland at 10:45am and arrived in Denver 7:10pm where he could have transferred to the UP City of St Louis train which left there at 8:20pm. Back then this was feasible because the railroads ran their trains on time. He could have taken the UP all the way from Oakland, hence a one seat ride, but it would have gone vis Donner Pass unless for some reason there was a detour. The UP train left Oakland at 3pm as it was a much faster route. By 1964 the UP was combining their City trains where ever they could. Leaving Oakland he would have been on a through car to St Louis on the City of San Francisco. UP combined this with the City of LA in Ogden. There the City of St Louis would have been separated combining the LA and SF cars into one train that went via Denver. The rest went via Cheyenne direct to Chicago. In 1964 the Burlington and the UP still ran a first class passenger service, but the losses were mounting and they combined trains where ever they could. By then most railroads were looking at how to get out of the passenger business and were discontinuing trains right and left.

 

[railiner]

I don't have a '64 Guide handy, but besides the above, most likely scenario, other possibilities at one time inluded a transfer at Lincoln or Omaha to MoPac on to St. Louis via Kansas City. Or you might have gone "Zephyr all the way", by transferring from the CZ at Burlington to St. Louis....

 

[Anderson]

I'm actually inclined to suspect the Burlington transfer if I had to guess...but it's strictly a guess. Thanks for the stabs, guys.