Amtrak's California Zephyr in Utah and Nevada (and California)
"Timeless Service for Fifty Years" -- Amtrak's Slogan for the California Zephyr. Timeless is right!
Comstock Historical Society and Virginia & Truckee Info:Virginia Truckee History -- Links -- Photos -- Discussion |
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Amtrak's California Zephyr in Utah and Nevada (and California)"Timeless Service for Fifty Years" -- Amtrak's Slogan for the California Zephyr. Timeless is right! |
| Amtrak is a great idea gone bad. For the last few years I have
taken numerous overnight and day trips on Amtrak all around the United
States. Read my Amtrak article at trackandtrain.com. See the United States the Amtrak Way -- Way behind schedule California's best railroad trip -- San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara on the Coast Starlight An old article from amsterdam-holland-travel, Riding Trains in Europe IF YOU WANT TO GET THERE CHEAPER AND FASTER, DRIVE, BUS OR FLY -- TRAINS ARE FOR UNSCHEDULED TOURS The Amtrak California Zephyr and the California Trail in Nevada follow the same route. The California Zephyr is notoriously late these days in the Summer of 2006. If you have the chance to drive I-80, you may think it looks like a wasteland. A closer inspection will reveal the obvious cheap meals at the casinos, a Starbuck's Coffee in Elko, and a gem in the rough like Lamoille Canyon National Scenic Byway. Add in the emigrant and railroad history at easily accessible spots like Pallisade, and you have many reasons to stop and smell the dirt along Interstate 80. WHAT TO SEE FROM THE TRAIN IN UTAH AND NEVADA I spend a lot of time on this website talking about chasing trains, modeling trains, photographing trains and some advice about riding trains. I don't say much about what you specifically see from the train. Someone else has done a nice job of it. There is a nice book I bought at the Grand Junction train station about the California Zephyr route through Utah and Nevada. The book is one of a series of three covering the entire Zephyr ride from Chicago to Emeryville. The title is A Guidebook to Amtrak's California Zephyr - Salt Lake City to San Francisco.by Dr. Eva J. Hoffman, an environmental engineer in the railroad and mining industry. I don't know if the station store at Grand Junction still sells it, but the book was published by Flashing Yellow Guidebooks in 2003.. The book has many interesting features. Among them, it shows photos of the old wooden train sheds that used to be at the west tunnel end of Donner Pass. The book does a great job of talking about old train routes, nearby mining and views from the train. There's a section that talks about downtown Reno pre-trench. There are photos not only showing Reno when the tracks stopped above ground next to the casinos, but there are photos of casinos that have been converted to condominiums. The book does a great job detailing the California Zephyr route, and there are many photos, though the photos are often more practical than artistic. WHICH SIDE OF THE TRAIN TO SIT ON The big debate is which side of the train to sit on. When making sleeper reservations, you never know which room number is on which side of the train. I could tell you it usually works one way or the other, for example, normally the odd numbered sleepers are on the right side if the are #10 or less. Sleepers over #10 are downstairs, as are disabled sleeper rooms. As far as I can tell, it's a crapshoot whether the odd numbers will be on the left or right side of the train. Having said that, once you have a sleeper reservation, some sleeping car attendants will let you switch sides to the side of the train you want, while others are inflexible. They figure, if they move you and the next person gets on, they may or may not be happy about the move. Leaving behind forever your inability to reserve with certainty one side of the train, I will begin to talk about the north side of the train and the south side of the train, in reference to the whole trip. In my view, the two main highlights of the California Zephyr are the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges. IN UTAH AND THE ROCKIES, SIT ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE TRAIN In the Rockies you will see more of the Rockies towns along the way from the north side of the train. If memory serves you will see more of the Colorado River from the south side of the train. When you go through Green River, Utah, the Book Cliffs are on the north side of the train. All the way to Helper, Utah the North side of the train would be best. Over on into Provo, the most interesting views are from the north side of the train. The best view is just west of Soldier Summit in the Giluly loops, where you want to be on the north side of the train for the bulk of the loops. Since the train typically goes through Utah at night, it may not matter -- until you get to Salt Lake City. You can see the skyline from, you guessed it, the "north" side of the train which will be facing east in Salt Lake City. IN NEVADA AND CALIFORNIA, IT'S ALL BEAUTIFUL -- SIT ANYWHERE The trip from Reno to Truckee runs along the same canyon as the Truckee River. The river is on either side of the train at times. The only part of the trip where it really matters where you sit is west of Truckee for the run over Donner Pass. Here's where you want to be on -- again -- the North side of the Amtrak train. The view of Donner Lake and Stanford Curve (aka Horseshoe Curve) is worth oohing and aahing over. You might think all the north south stuff is too much, and you'll just sit in the Observation car where you can see either way. Depending on what time of season you are traveling, there may be quite a competition for seats in the Observation car during the trip through the Sierras. During the rest of the Sierras, there are impressive views on either side of the train. If you don't get the best observation seat, don't worry, you'll still get a great view. As an additional bonus, traditionally volunteers from the California Railroad Museum at Sacramento will be on board as far as Reno to narrate the trip, pointing out the highlights. While many of these volunteers simply read from a script and don't seem to like answering questions, you occasionally will get an exceptional tour leader. I have heard the best volunteers turn the script upside down and really tell a full story, including getting people involved in the story. If you're lucky, perhaps you'll get the sleeping car attendant who gives a private tour narrative in his sleeping car. This guy really knows some details, especially in him hometown areas near Martinez and Richmond where the train winds along the bay past industries. OTHER SIGHTS TO SEE IN CALIFORNIA Roseville, east of Sacramento, is home to a HUGE Union Pacific yard. If you like trains you will get your fill here. Roseville is definitely not in the mountains, though the story goes that the original Central Pacific claimed Roseville was in the mountains. By extending the reach of the mountains toward Sacramento, the railroad was paid a higher rate per-mile for trackbuilding. Once you get near Auburn, you are truly in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The train goes on to stop in the town of Colfax, named after a famous politician, Schuyler Colfax. After Colfax you climb up to Dutch Flat, another important place in the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Dutch Flat is where Judah began his survey of the potential railroad line over the Sierra Nevada range. (Cisco to Soda Springs, Troy -- to be written) Up at the top just before Donner Pass the railroad passes Soda Springs, Serene Lakes and Norden, home to Donner Ski Ranch and other ski areas. You are just a few miles from Lake Tahoe, as the crow flies. The railroad doesn't run to Tahoe any longer, though some of the old roadbed has been converted to a recreational trail. Instead of Tahoe, you will have to settle for Donner Lake. At Donner Pass the train enters a tunnel and comes out with a view of Donner Lake, of course on the north side of the train. This tunnel under Donner Pass bypasses an older more glorious section of track covered by historic snowsheds. The area with the old snowsheds can be accessed by car via Donner Pass Road west of Truckee. Once the abandoned road and the bypass tunnel rejoin, the train takes a long curve just outside the town of Truckee. I love the area between Truckee and Verdi. There are many places along Highway 80 to take an off ramp or just pull off the highway to access the tracks. Some of the most dramatic scenes of the Truckee River can be found near Floriston and Farad. The water flumes and the Truckee River run together with the train tracks, making for great photo composition. It's a bit out of the way, but on the side of the track is an obelisk shaped stateline marker showing that Oregon is about 100 miles away. I will have to return and get a photo of this marker, and get its history. OTHER SIGHTS TO SEE IN NEVADA Everyone talks up Reno so much it's easy to forget that the Truckee Meadows is made up of Reno AND Sparks. The Union Pacific railroad runs the Sparks intermodal terminal, the first inland container handling point in Nevada. Sparks is perhaps best known for John Escauga's Nugget Hotel and Casino, within walking distance of the Sparks "train station." While the train stops in Sparks, the stop is just an oversized version of Helper, Utah. You get off in a Union Pacific yard, and there may be a bus waiting to take passengers to the Nugget or downtown Reno. Between Sparks and Wendover (eastern stateline) there's a lot of railroad history, even if it's hard to find. Lovelock, Nevada has a restored train depot now used as a museum. Winnemucca is a good stop, with the main drag just a few blocks down the hill. Elko's train stations (a shed for passengers so they don't get snowed on) are a bit outside town, so you won't see much of Elko unless you take a cab to "downtown Elko." EUREKA AND PALISADE -- LONG GONE RAILROAD HAD ITS HEYDAY IN PALISADE West of Carlin and Elko is where it starts to get interesting, in my book. Palisade has a rich railroad history. While there's hardly anything left but the scenic canyons and the Humboldt River, Palisade was a thriving railroad town. One of three historic railroads in Nevada, the Eureka and Palisade ran in the late 1800's to serve the mines in Eureka with a connection to the Central Pacific tracks. NORTHERN NEVADA RAILWAY ROUTE CONNECTED TO MAINLINE AT COBRE Another important railroad connected to the Central Pacific tracks west of Wendover. The Northern Nevada Railway Museum preserves the history and rolling stock of the Nevada Northern Railway. In 1905 mining was a hot business and copper was discovered near Ely, about 100 miles south of Cobre. Track was laid from the Central Pacific connection at Cobre down to the mining boomtown of Ely. Today, the Northern Nevada Railway Museum carries the tradition forward. THE VIRGINIA AND TRUCKEE RAILROAD -- COMSTOCK LODE HISTORY RETURNS! While it's nowhere near the Amtrak train ride, I can't help but mention the granddaddy of historic railroads, the Virginia and Truckee. Built to serve the Comstock lode, the train is being revived as a tourist railroad between Carson City and Virginia City through Gold Hill. Today the Virginia and Truckee only runs from Virginia City to Gold Hill. Virginia City is a must-see, Mark Twain got his start in newspapers while living in Virginia City. Twain later wrote Roughing It about his experiences in Virginia City, elsewhere in Nevada, and in California's Gold Country and San Francisco. From the Gold Country we have The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and from San Francisco we have Twain's famous quote, "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." OTHER SIGHTS TO SEE IN UTAH On the train, if it's light, be sure to look out the window at Helper, Utah. Helper is a Historic District with an interesting past. While it looks more exciting from the train that it really is, Helper is worth a stop. East of Helper, the California Zephyr runs directly through Price, Utah, home of the dinosaur museum. Between Helper/Price and Green River, Utah, to the west (the south side of the train) you are looking over the San Rafael Swell, home to the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. This are is known as Castle Country, and what little civilization there is tends to be on the west side of the valley. In Green River is the John Wesley Powell River History Museum, then, past Green River are the Book Cliffs. On the ride between Salt Lake City and Provo, you will get to see the Salt Lake Valley, there the Mormons came to escape civilization before 1850. Judging by the dense population of the Salt Lake Valley, civilization did finally catch up with the Mormons to their chagrin. Between Wendover, Nevada and Salt Lake City, Utah, I don't know what to tell you. Unless you like salt lakes, there's just not much to get excited about. Maybe that's why the Zephyr makes this run in the dark, when on schedule. I will say, the last time I saw the Salt Lake I was driving and the sunset caste a beautiful red light over the cracked white ground pattern. EAST OF GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO It's not within the scope of utahnevada.com to discuss Colorado at length. Let me simply say that I used to live near the Amtrak line near Gore Pass. Between Glenwood Hot Springs and Frasier / Winter Park, you are in for a treat -- if the train makes it through on time, during the day. The trip from Glenwood Springs follows the Colorado River along the Trough Road and through Gore Pass into Kremmling on the way to Sulphur Hot Springs. The train doesn't stop here anywhere, but it's worth noting that this area is the headwaters for the Colorado River. |