Anyone Traveling California Zephyr in new Winter Consist

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Tennessee Traveler

Tennessee Traveler

Conductor
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
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1,256
Location
Franklin, TN
Just checking if anyone has seen or is riding the California Zephyr since January 12 in the 2015 winter consist. I will be traveling in a couple weeks from Emeryville Jan 22. Wondering if the baggage car and transition sleeper have been removed. If so, what is the order of the cars. Are the sleepers still up front or did they move back to last cars of the consist after the change?
 
The change has been made. Consist is

2 Locos

31000 Coach Baggage (510/610)

34000 ADA Coach (511/611)

33000 Lounge

38000 Diner

32000 Sleeper (531/631)

32000 Sleeper (532/632)
 
inthegauge said:
The change has been made. Consist is

2 Locos

31000 Coach Baggage (510/610)

34000 ADA Coach (511/611)

33000 Lounge

38000 Diner

32000 Sleeper (531/631)

32000 Sleeper (532/632)
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Any word in how many OBS and T&E Crew rooms are being blocked out in the Sleepers since the Transdorm is gone?

And good to see that they didn't pull the Diner and SSL and put a CCC on like they did on the Cap and that often is what the Eagle and the Cono run with in the winter!
 
It's good to see that the sleepers are on the rear, but I wonder where the crew will be. If they are in 532/632 I hope they don't block access to the railfan window.

I'll be in 631/room 8 on 1/26, so I guess I'll know soon enough!
 
Does anyone know if the sleepers are on the rear of the SW Chief now that the consist change has been made?
 
How many cars would the CZ have in summer as winter must make it difficult for Amtrak to make a profit.
 
v v said:
How many cars would the CZ have in summer as winter must make it difficult for Amtrak to make a profit.
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The non- winter consist will have a Baggage Car ( if they are brought back?, the New Bag Cars are on the way, the Heritage Cars, Baggage and Eastern Diners, are basically run to death and on their last legs), Transdorm ( Crew Sleeper),Sightseer Lounge, Diner,3-4 Coaches and 2-3 Sleepers! ( sometimes the Sleeper from CHI to Denver is cut off in Denver, sometimes runs all the way to the Bay Area!)
Also its is quite common to have Privately owned Rail Cars ( called PVs) on the back of this train!
 
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Thanks Jim, but as a year round business is it profitable or does it have to be?
 
v v said:
Thanks Jim, but as a year round business is it profitable or does it have to be?
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Amtrak will NEVER be "Profitable" on LD Routes or Overrall!
That' something that's so hard to convince the overseers of Amtrak in Congress ( aka Mica Managers) why it can' t and won' t be "Profitable! This is why Amtrak was created, because the Class I Roads ( Freight) were bleeding money on Passenger Trains!
 
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That's all incorrect! sleepers are in the front. I got off the Zephyr in Truckee from Salt Lake City this morning.

It's 2 P42s

0631 Sleeper

0630? Sleeper

Diner

lounge

Regular Coach

baggage Coach

I was in the front sleeper. Definitely noticed the horn but it wasn't too bad. As we arrived in Truckee the conductor spotted my sleeper to let me off saying to the engineer "Remember this is the austerity express your stopping the sleeper directly behind the locomotive"

I'm on a Mountain Collective pass ski trip and pushed my departure back from Salt Lake City a day after it snowed 2 feet there the day before (had to just pay $8, losing my NARP discount). This unforchunately raised the someone booked a last minute sleeper flag, he must be transporting drugs with a member of Reno's finest drug detectives coming to visit me during that station stop. He creepily knew my name and that I was from New York (I guess on my credit card billing address). He started my asking me questions basically believed my story but still insisted on searching my room.
 
I was worried that with the winter consists things would be crowded for my 1/25 SEA-SAC-CHI-NOL trip, but by doing dummy searches I see there are still 7 roomettes available on the CS and at least 8 on the CZ. Interestingly enough there is only one roomette available on the CONO and it doesn't have a reduced consist.
 
Lots of people like to go South to escape the Midwest Winter and ride the CONO to Memphis, New Orleans and the Gamblers Riviera on the Mississippi Coast!

IMHO the best time to ride the Zephyr and Starlight is in the Winter when the snow is on the Mountains and there are no crowds! Beautiful sights from a nice warm Train!!!
 
Stevestx said:
I was worried that with the winter consists things would be crowded for my 1/25 SEA-SAC-CHI-NOL trip, but by doing dummy searches I see there are still 7 roomettes available on the CS and at least 8 on the CZ. Interestingly enough there is only one roomette available on the CONO and it doesn't have a reduced consist.
Click to expand...
[SIZE=14.3999996185303px]The CONO only has one sleeper year round plus the crew(transition) sleeper. [/SIZE]
 
Train 6(15) this morning had the sightseer lounge directly behind the locomotives. I can't say if the coaches were moved to the front behind the sightseer lounge (one can only assume they wouldn't want all the passengers going through the diner and two sleepers to get to it!) but the sightseer lounge was definitely in the front. This was not the order the train came in on number 5 last night so I assume the Oakland Maintenance Facility did some switching work.

Maybe this was so the passengers (and crew) sleeping in the front sleepers were not getting constant exhaust fumes at night (or horn noise)?

I can't say if it was just a fluke or what not but it interesting to see the sightseer lounge behind the locomotives (getting covered in soot) as the train passed by. If anyone further east has a chance to take a look or grab a picture feel free to report back. Hopefully this wasn't just my imagination! :)
 
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The shortened consist must be starting with equipment setups in Chicago. I photographed the eastbound CZ in Glenwood Canyon on 14 Jan (departed EMY on 13 Jan) - it had baggage car, dorm, two sleepers, diner, lounge, and two coaches.
 
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roadman3313 said:
Train 6(15) this morning had the sightseer lounge directly behind the locomotives. I can't say if the coaches were moved to the front behind the sightseer lounge (one can only assume they wouldn't want all the passengers going through the diner and two sleepers to get to it!) but the sightseer lounge was definitely in the front. This was not the order the train came in on number 5 last night so I assume the Oakland Maintenance Facility did some switching work.

Maybe this was so the passengers (and crew) sleeping in the front sleepers were not getting constant exhaust fumes at night (or horn noise)?

I can't say if it was just a fluke or what not but it interesting to see the sightseer lounge behind the locomotives (getting covered in soot) as the train passed by. If anyone further east has a chance to take a look or grab a picture feel free to report back. Hopefully this wasn't just my imagination! :)
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That could be to prevent the diesel fumes from directly entering a coach or sleeper. Without a transition car (which has only a lower level connecting door at the front), the forward connecting door of the first Superliner is directly behind and partly above the locomotives. The exhaust from the locomotives blows right on that door. Unless the seal is really good (and it rarely is), that interior of that first car gets a lot of fumes.

Putting the Sightseer up front at least moves the more permanently occupied cars out of harms way. That is little comfort for those who actually want to sit in the lounge, or those who make it the unofficial coach sleeper, but absent the transition car that prevents the fumes from getting in, it is maybe the best they could do.
 
I remember being on 27 into Portland in 2011 and riding the Sightseer car down the Columbia, which was right in back of the locomotive. I do not recall any problem with fumes and could see over the top of the locomotive. I am meeting Darien-1 in Flagstaff this evening for a drink. Maybe we will hang out and watch the train pull in to see what the consist is!
 
greatcats, please take some photos and post if you see the train pull into Flagstaff this evening.

roadman, if you can identify the SSL then you should have no problem identifying the baggage coach since it does not have seats nor windows on the lower level and there is a large baggage door just past the coach door for entry and exit. I hope someone will eventually take a photo of the consist and post or take a video and post on You Tube. I check those all the time especially the one in and near Agency, Iowa. Even though the train is moving fast through Agency I can always identify type of cars.
 
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I agree with greatcats. I have ridden many times on Amtrak trains in a Superliner car directly behind a locomotive and never smelled engine exhaust -- except when inside the Moffat Tunnel on the CZ and some passengers insisted on transiting between cars when inside the car, despite crew admonishments to stay put.
 
greatcats said:
I remember being on 27 into Portland in 2011 and riding the Sightseer car down the Columbia, which was right in back of the locomotive. I do not recall any problem with fumes and could see over the top of the locomotive. I am meeting Darien-1 in Flagstaff this evening for a drink. Maybe we will hang out and watch the train pull in to see what the consist is!
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I immensely enjoyed my trip on 27 from PDX in September. Here's a video I took out of the front railfan window. I don't recall fumes on that trip but I was in a sleeper on the TE with no transdorm and it was kind of bad at times.
Edit:video doesn't seem to be working I'll have to try again for my desktop when I get home from work.

trim.6E914E7A-BB39-40E9-9CFD-23C09F559B19.MOV
 

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  • trim.6E914E7A-BB39-40E9-9CFD-23C09F559B19.MOV
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Do both sleepers have SCA's? I know at least 5 - 6 rooms are allocated for the OBS crew and when a trans-dorm operates there is no SCA specifically for the trans-dorm. Just wondering.
 
Tennessee Traveler said:
roadman, if you can identify the SSL then you should have no problem identifying the baggage coach since it does not have seats nor windows on the lower level and there is a large baggage door just past the coach door for entry and exit. I hope someone will eventually take a photo of the consist and post or take a video and post on You Tube. I check those all the time especially the one in and near Agency, Iowa. Even though the train is moving fast through Agency I can always identify type of cars.
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What does one look for to tell sleepers from coaches? I can never tell just from a run-by video.
 
PRR 60 said:
What a timely post! Asset seizure absent proof of a crime as of today is history. Bad news for the Reno police (and numerous other law enforcement agencies), and Amtrak, which shared in the pot of gold by supplying passenger information to the police. Good riddance to a sleazy program that, in my opinion, was as criminal as the offenses it was allegedly fighting.

From the Washington Post, 1/16/2014:

Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions with local, state police

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without proving that a crime occurred. Holder’s action represents the most sweeping check on police power to confiscate personal property since the seizures began three decades ago as part of the war on drugs.
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Story
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That's awesome!

Here's the view from the SSL on 27:

DSC_7429 by Ryan Stavely, on Flickr

I could definitely smell some exhaust in there, but it wasn't overly offensive.
 
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