California Zephyr detour in Nebraska?

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This forum on another website says the California Zephyr is detouring on the Union Pacific through Nebraska rather than its usual BNSF route, but I can't find anything about this on Amtrak's website. Can anyone here confirm this?
 
Interesting. As someone said on TO, I've never seen or heard of the CZ going through North Platte. I'm sure it's happened, but MUCH less than other segments.
 
Looks like the CZ has disappeared from Status Maps. The detour is peobably real. Rare mileage if you ask me, this time VERY rare and thus VERY welcome.
 
Does anyone know what the detour route will be? or for how long?
Yes. The detour route takes the train from Omaha to Grand Island to North Platte to Julesburg then down to Denver entirely on UP trackage (even though I believe the line from east of Fort Morgan to Denver is also joint). I assume that it will run up to Fremont and Columbus, but it's too bad it doesn't serve Lincoln and then cut off to Grand Island that way to still serve Lincoln. Wouldn't waste that much time. Ignore that. I just searched Google maps and there's no connection between the BNSF and UP lines in Grand Island, at least in that quadrant it would be turning on.
 
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Interesting. As someone said on TO, I've never seen or heard of the CZ going through North Platte. I'm sure it's happened, but MUCH less than other segments.
Indeed, a rare occurence. I have been on Number 5 many years ago when we did a partial detour on the UP, but only between Union, Colorado, and Denver. We left the regular line at Brush, went up BN's freight only route to Union, then the UP line via LaSalle. We stopped at the UP depot in Fort Morgan, about a mile north of the BN/Amtrak depot. The line between Union and LaSalle last saw regular service on UP's old City of Denver until Amtrak Day, 1971. The line between LaSalle (just south of Greely), and Denver last saw service on Amtrak's Pioneer. I can't say how long its been since the Burlington ran a passenger train between Brush and Union.
 
Interesting. As someone said on TO, I've never seen or heard of the CZ going through North Platte. I'm sure it's happened, but MUCH less than other segments.
Indeed, a rare occurence. I have been on Number 5 many years ago when we did a partial detour on the UP, but only between Union, Colorado, and Denver. We left the regular line at Brush, went up BN's freight only route to Union, then the UP line via LaSalle. We stopped at the UP depot in Fort Morgan, about a mile north of the BN/Amtrak depot. The line between Union and LaSalle last saw regular service on UP's old City of Denver until Amtrak Day, 1971. The line between LaSalle (just south of Greely), and Denver last saw service on Amtrak's Pioneer. I can't say how long its been since the Burlington ran a passenger train between Brush and Union.
Why did it see service with the Pioneer?
 
Does anyone have an idea what the schedule of the trains will be? Arriving North Platte, Grand Island, etc. I live in Central Nebraska and would like to know roughly when 5 and 6 will be coming through. thanks.
 
Interesting. As someone said on TO, I've never seen or heard of the CZ going through North Platte. I'm sure it's happened, but MUCH less than other segments.
Indeed, a rare occurence. I have been on Number 5 many years ago when we did a partial detour on the UP, but only between Union, Colorado, and Denver. We left the regular line at Brush, went up BN's freight only route to Union, then the UP line via LaSalle. We stopped at the UP depot in Fort Morgan, about a mile north of the BN/Amtrak depot. The line between Union and LaSalle last saw regular service on UP's old City of Denver until Amtrak Day, 1971. The line between LaSalle (just south of Greely), and Denver last saw service on Amtrak's Pioneer. I can't say how long its been since the Burlington ran a passenger train between Brush and Union.
Why did it see service with the Pioneer?
The Pioneer was routed on the Overland from Greely through Borie to Ogden, bypassing SLC. I think Amtrak wanted to open service to some towns in Wyoming.

edit: did not serve SLC.
 
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Interesting. As someone said on TO, I've never seen or heard of the CZ going through North Platte. I'm sure it's happened, but MUCH less than other segments.
Indeed, a rare occurence. I have been on Number 5 many years ago when we did a partial detour on the UP, but only between Union, Colorado, and Denver. We left the regular line at Brush, went up BN's freight only route to Union, then the UP line via LaSalle. We stopped at the UP depot in Fort Morgan, about a mile north of the BN/Amtrak depot. The line between Union and LaSalle last saw regular service on UP's old City of Denver until Amtrak Day, 1971. The line between LaSalle (just south of Greely), and Denver last saw service on Amtrak's Pioneer. I can't say how long its been since the Burlington ran a passenger train between Brush and Union.
Why did it see service with the Pioneer?
The Pioneer was routed on the Overland from Greely through Borie to Ogden, maybe even SLC. I think Amtrak wanted to open service to some towns in Wyoming.
When it was going through Wyoming, it didn't divert south to SLC. Went through both SLC and Ogden when it didn't split until SLC.

The Pioneer was the last scheduled passenger train across the Overland Route through Wyoming. Burlington ran service through Brush right up until AmDay.
 
Interesting. As someone said on TO, I've never seen or heard of the CZ going through North Platte. I'm sure it's happened, but MUCH less than other segments.
Indeed, a rare occurence. I have been on Number 5 many years ago when we did a partial detour on the UP, but only between Union, Colorado, and Denver. We left the regular line at Brush, went up BN's freight only route to Union, then the UP line via LaSalle. We stopped at the UP depot in Fort Morgan, about a mile north of the BN/Amtrak depot. The line between Union and LaSalle last saw regular service on UP's old City of Denver until Amtrak Day, 1971. The line between LaSalle (just south of Greely), and Denver last saw service on Amtrak's Pioneer. I can't say how long its been since the Burlington ran a passenger train between Brush and Union.
Why did it see service with the Pioneer?
The Pioneer was routed on the Overland from Greely through Borie to Ogden, maybe even SLC. I think Amtrak wanted to open service to some towns in Wyoming.
The original Amtrak 5 and 6 operated from Chicago to Denver on the BN, then the UP from Denver via Greely to Cheyenne, and then to Ogden, then on the SP on to Oakland.

Later, it bypassed Cheyenne, and served it via a bus connection at a newly constructed stop at Borie. Then in 1983, the train was permanently rerouted onto the D&RGW to Salt Lake City and west from there, causing Wyoming and Greely to lose all service. At the time, the CZ carried cars for the Desert Wind and the Pioneer to Salt Lake City, where they branched off. A few years later, the Pioneer restarted service from Denver to Ogden via Wyoming, but it didn't last very long before funding ended it entirely.
 
Interesting. As someone said on TO, I've never seen or heard of the CZ going through North Platte. I'm sure it's happened, but MUCH less than other segments.
Indeed, a rare occurence. I have been on Number 5 many years ago when we did a partial detour on the UP, but only between Union, Colorado, and Denver. We left the regular line at Brush, went up BN's freight only route to Union, then the UP line via LaSalle. We stopped at the UP depot in Fort Morgan, about a mile north of the BN/Amtrak depot. The line between Union and LaSalle last saw regular service on UP's old City of Denver until Amtrak Day, 1971. The line between LaSalle (just south of Greely), and Denver last saw service on Amtrak's Pioneer. I can't say how long its been since the Burlington ran a passenger train between Brush and Union.
Why did it see service with the Pioneer?
The Pioneer was routed on the Overland from Greely through Borie to Ogden, maybe even SLC. I think Amtrak wanted to open service to some towns in Wyoming.
When it was going through Wyoming, it didn't divert south to SLC. Went through both SLC and Ogden when it didn't split until SLC.

The Pioneer was the last scheduled passenger train across the Overland Route through Wyoming. Burlington ran service through Brush right up until AmDay.
The CZ still goes thru Brush. The line from Brush north to Union is the segment that hasn't seen passenger service since probably the '60's....
 
Does anyone have an idea what the schedule of the trains will be? Arriving North Platte, Grand Island, etc. I live in Central Nebraska and would like to know roughly when 5 and 6 will be coming through. thanks.
A detour such as this, that is not done regularly, typically loses a lot of time. Not at all by the good track on the UP, but rather, waiting for qualified 'pilot' crews, etc. So it is hard to figure....There is also the question of exact routing...will the train run over the BNSF between Omaha, Lincoln, and Grand Island, or the UP between Omaha, Fremont, and Grand Island...
 
Thanks for the info.

Does anyone know what the detour route will be? or for how long?
Yes. The detour route takes the train from Omaha to Grand Island to North Platte to Julesburg then down to Denver entirely on UP trackage (even though I believe the line from east of Fort Morgan to Denver is also joint). I assume that it will run up to Fremont and Columbus, but it's too bad it doesn't serve Lincoln and then cut off to Grand Island that way to still serve Lincoln. Wouldn't waste that much time. Ignore that. I just searched Google maps and there's no connection between the BNSF and UP lines in Grand Island, at least in that quadrant it would be turning on.
 
Does anyone know what the detour route will be? or for how long?
Yes. The detour route takes the train from Omaha to Grand Island to North Platte to Julesburg then down to Denver entirely on UP trackage (even though I believe the line from east of Fort Morgan to Denver is also joint). I assume that it will run up to Fremont and Columbus, but it's too bad it doesn't serve Lincoln and then cut off to Grand Island that way to still serve Lincoln. Wouldn't waste that much time. Ignore that. I just searched Google maps and there's no connection between the BNSF and UP lines in Grand Island, at least in that quadrant it would be turning on.
Hmmm. I didn't research the interchange at Grand Island as you did. If feasible, it would be 'worth it' to do it anyway if possible to include the stop at Lincoln, which I believe is a crew change and servicing stop for fuel and water as well.

The only joint operation between the UP and BN on the route in Colorado is the short segment between Sterling and Union. BN has the more direct route from Fort Morgan to Denver via Wiggins (of C W McCall's 'Convoy' song fame), rather than the UP's route via LaSalle. (It got its own fame when they taped the epic miniseries 'Centennial' at Orchard, Co. renamed Centennial for the picture).....
 
A different thread has a report of Amtrak #6 going through Columbus, Nebraska around 11:30.

Will the service disruptions end once the trains are through their detours?
 
Interesting. As someone said on TO, I've never seen or heard of the CZ going through North Platte. I'm sure it's happened, but MUCH less than other segments.
Indeed, a rare occurence. I have been on Number 5 many years ago when we did a partial detour on the UP, but only between Union, Colorado, and Denver. We left the regular line at Brush, went up BN's freight only route to Union, then the UP line via LaSalle. We stopped at the UP depot in Fort Morgan, about a mile north of the BN/Amtrak depot. The line between Union and LaSalle last saw regular service on UP's old City of Denver until Amtrak Day, 1971. The line between LaSalle (just south of Greely), and Denver last saw service on Amtrak's Pioneer. I can't say how long its been since the Burlington ran a passenger train between Brush and Union.
Why did it see service with the Pioneer?
The Pioneer was routed on the Overland from Greely through Borie to Ogden, bypassing SLC. I think Amtrak wanted to open service to some towns in Wyoming.

edit: did not serve SLC.
Not what I was asking. I knew that the Pioneer went Denver-Greeley-Borie-Ogden, but I was asking why the line from Brush to LaSalle would have seen service with the Pioneer, because the train up until that point had been only BNSF (back then still kind of BN) and I thought it would have gone straight into Denver rather than switching ti the UP. Is that a little clearer for everyone? Because the most recent train I can see using this would have been the City of Denver between Chicago and Denver.
 
Does anyone know what the detour route will be? or for how long?
Yes. The detour route takes the train from Omaha to Grand Island to North Platte to Julesburg then down to Denver entirely on UP trackage (even though I believe the line from east of Fort Morgan to Denver is also joint). I assume that it will run up to Fremont and Columbus, but it's too bad it doesn't serve Lincoln and then cut off to Grand Island that way to still serve Lincoln. Wouldn't waste that much time. Ignore that. I just searched Google maps and there's no connection between the BNSF and UP lines in Grand Island, at least in that quadrant it would be turning on.
My understanding of the detour route is (westbound) Omaha to Cheyenne, then south to Denver via Greeley. It is not using the old UP Denver route through Fort Morgan.
 
Does anyone know what the detour route will be? or for how long?
Yes. The detour route takes the train from Omaha to Grand Island to North Platte to Julesburg then down to Denver entirely on UP trackage (even though I believe the line from east of Fort Morgan to Denver is also joint). I assume that it will run up to Fremont and Columbus, but it's too bad it doesn't serve Lincoln and then cut off to Grand Island that way to still serve Lincoln. Wouldn't waste that much time. Ignore that. I just searched Google maps and there's no connection between the BNSF and UP lines in Grand Island, at least in that quadrant it would be turning on.
My understanding of the detour route is (westbound) Omaha to Cheyenne, then south to Denver via Greeley. It is not using the old UP Denver route through Fort Morgan.
OK sounds good. So you think the Brush-LaSalle was last used by the City of Denver though?
 
Does anyone know what the detour route will be? or for how long?
Yes. The detour route takes the train from Omaha to Grand Island to North Platte to Julesburg then down to Denver entirely on UP trackage (even though I believe the line from east of Fort Morgan to Denver is also joint). I assume that it will run up to Fremont and Columbus, but it's too bad it doesn't serve Lincoln and then cut off to Grand Island that way to still serve Lincoln. Wouldn't waste that much time. Ignore that. I just searched Google maps and there's no connection between the BNSF and UP lines in Grand Island, at least in that quadrant it would be turning on.
My understanding of the detour route is (westbound) Omaha to Cheyenne, then south to Denver via Greeley. It is not using the old UP Denver route through Fort Morgan.
OK sounds good. So you think the Brush-LaSalle was last used by the City of Denver though?
I believe that is true. When Amtrak took over, the Chicago-Denver train that survived was the Zephyr on the BN route used by the BN portion of the California Zephyr.
 
Does anyone know what the detour route will be? or for how long?
Yes. The detour route takes the train from Omaha to Grand Island to North Platte to Julesburg then down to Denver entirely on UP trackage (even though I believe the line from east of Fort Morgan to Denver is also joint). I assume that it will run up to Fremont and Columbus, but it's too bad it doesn't serve Lincoln and then cut off to Grand Island that way to still serve Lincoln. Wouldn't waste that much time. Ignore that. I just searched Google maps and there's no connection between the BNSF and UP lines in Grand Island, at least in that quadrant it would be turning on.
My understanding of the detour route is (westbound) Omaha to Cheyenne, then south to Denver via Greeley. It is not using the old UP Denver route through Fort Morgan.
OK sounds good. So you think the Brush-LaSalle was last used by the City of Denver though?
No passenger train went from Brush to LaSalle....it would be much clearer if you looked at a railroad map. The BNSF line from McCook, Ne. goes thru Brush, stops at Fort Morgan, then passes thru Wiggins, Roggen, and Hudson enroute to Denver. The UP line from North Platte leaves the UP transcontinental line at Julesburg, then passes thru Sterling, Union and the UP side of Fort Morgan and then towards LaSalle where it joings the Cheyenne-Denver route. The BNSF has another line that goes from Brush up to Union, then operates jointly with the UP to Sterling, then goes north to Sidney, Ne., enroute to Alliance. That latter freight only route is served mainly by coal trains.
 
I can't find the status for the CZ #6 departing EMY on 5 July 2012. Any updates?
The times for #6(5) are available on Amtrak's website. It arrived in Chicago over ten hours late. I don't know why Amtrak Status Maps hasn't recorded them.

How long will this detour last
The detour has been over for some time now. It was only for one day.
 
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