Amtrak's air rail program is excellent. As noted in my post on the other page, I took Friday off and flew to San Francisco. I decided to railfan in from the airport to my hotel in Oakland. This was about an hour long trip and involved a bus ride to the BART station at Colma. They are supposed to have a rail link opeining soon. The BART cars are luxurious compared to the subway cars in chicago and New York. The seats had cushions, and the cars and track guage seemed wider. The ride was quiet, quick and smooth.
The Courtyard in Oakland is ideally located for railfans. It is two blocks from the 12th street Oakland center station. It is also near Jack London Sqaure station where you could get a bus to Emeryville to connect with 6. It was easy and cheap to travel back to San Francisco on BART and then I caught a cab to Fishermans Wharf for lunch. I got lucky and caught the sunset tour of Alcatraz. This is really cool. One of the more interesting national park visits that I have had. After Alcatraz, I finished my days activity with a cable car ride back to Market Street to catch the BART back to the hotel.
On Saturday, I got up early and ate breakfast at the Marriott across the street from my hotel, and then cabbed it to Emeryville. Allow time if you do this, my driver was a little confused finding the station. The fare was about 15 dollars. I probablly should have reserached the bus service a little more carefully.
The Emeryville station is modern, and there are benches located outside to facilitate train watching. The southbound starlight passed through close to on-time, and I noted the Pacific Parlor car in the consist. No Freight on the back.
As 6 rolled into Emeryville moments later, I noticed that god and the Chicago yard was on my side, car 632 was the last passenger car on the train. Room 8 was on the right side for this trip, which gave me good views of the Colorado River on Sunday. Car 631 was the strangley reconditioned George M. Pullman. The economy bedrooms had blue seats, the deluxe had green, and the hall way had superliner II carpeting. However, in alot of ways, the superliner I lineage was obvious. It looked strange, but those seat cushions would have been nice to sit on. The ones in my room had dents in them from heavy use! The diner was a superliner II, and I never really ventured in to the sightseer enough to determine its lineage.
We left about 15 minutes late, due to a late arriving bus from San Francisco. Traffic? A pleasant ride along the bay, over the bridge at Martinez, and then across the flatlands to Sacremento. Then it was time for lunch in the diner. It was the same standard menue, but the clam chowder and cheeseburge was good. Throughout the trip the dining car crew was friendly. Gwendolyn was the friendliest, as she past through the lounge before on Sunday, she notice me reading and turned on the overhead light. Then patted me on the shoulder. Small gestures, but big steps in providing great service.
The trip over Donner pass highlights the subtle pleasures of mountain railroading. High bridges, sweeping vistas, reverse curves and a winding route that twists in nearly each direction on the compas before the afternoon is complete. I noticed a rotary plow in colfax, but it aparently was not needed at this time. Several locals commented that the snow fall had been much less than usual this year.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, the Zephyr nursed a 30 minute delay that grew to about 45 minutes someplace after Salt Lake City. The run over the Wasatch mountains was spectacular, with show falling at the top, and then the sun shining as the train pulled into Helper. Grand Junction has a good store that sells already popped microwave popcorn. I bough two bags. The afternoon ride along the colorado river was enhanced by ny scanner. The engineer and conductor teemed up to give passengers advance notice of wildlife. Thus, I got a picture of two Eagles sitting in a tree between Glenwood Springs and Bond. Later, I heard the engineer provided warnings that the conductor failed to relay to passengers. I photographed a herd of Elk, and later, a lone coyote. Between Granby and Winter Park, we were delayed by track work for an hour, thus we were about 90 minutes late into Denver.
I enjoyed a relaxing day reading and watching DVD's on my portable player as the Zephyr crossed Iowa into Illinois. There is alot of trackwork in easter Iowa. We received slow orders near Ottumwa. I saw them improving the bridges by fixing them so that they could lay balast on them. This should make for a smother ride in the future.
We pulled int o Chicago an hour late. Over all, I had a great trip. If I had the money, I would be booking another one right now!!
The Courtyard in Oakland is ideally located for railfans. It is two blocks from the 12th street Oakland center station. It is also near Jack London Sqaure station where you could get a bus to Emeryville to connect with 6. It was easy and cheap to travel back to San Francisco on BART and then I caught a cab to Fishermans Wharf for lunch. I got lucky and caught the sunset tour of Alcatraz. This is really cool. One of the more interesting national park visits that I have had. After Alcatraz, I finished my days activity with a cable car ride back to Market Street to catch the BART back to the hotel.
On Saturday, I got up early and ate breakfast at the Marriott across the street from my hotel, and then cabbed it to Emeryville. Allow time if you do this, my driver was a little confused finding the station. The fare was about 15 dollars. I probablly should have reserached the bus service a little more carefully.
The Emeryville station is modern, and there are benches located outside to facilitate train watching. The southbound starlight passed through close to on-time, and I noted the Pacific Parlor car in the consist. No Freight on the back.
As 6 rolled into Emeryville moments later, I noticed that god and the Chicago yard was on my side, car 632 was the last passenger car on the train. Room 8 was on the right side for this trip, which gave me good views of the Colorado River on Sunday. Car 631 was the strangley reconditioned George M. Pullman. The economy bedrooms had blue seats, the deluxe had green, and the hall way had superliner II carpeting. However, in alot of ways, the superliner I lineage was obvious. It looked strange, but those seat cushions would have been nice to sit on. The ones in my room had dents in them from heavy use! The diner was a superliner II, and I never really ventured in to the sightseer enough to determine its lineage.
We left about 15 minutes late, due to a late arriving bus from San Francisco. Traffic? A pleasant ride along the bay, over the bridge at Martinez, and then across the flatlands to Sacremento. Then it was time for lunch in the diner. It was the same standard menue, but the clam chowder and cheeseburge was good. Throughout the trip the dining car crew was friendly. Gwendolyn was the friendliest, as she past through the lounge before on Sunday, she notice me reading and turned on the overhead light. Then patted me on the shoulder. Small gestures, but big steps in providing great service.
The trip over Donner pass highlights the subtle pleasures of mountain railroading. High bridges, sweeping vistas, reverse curves and a winding route that twists in nearly each direction on the compas before the afternoon is complete. I noticed a rotary plow in colfax, but it aparently was not needed at this time. Several locals commented that the snow fall had been much less than usual this year.
Throughout the afternoon and evening, the Zephyr nursed a 30 minute delay that grew to about 45 minutes someplace after Salt Lake City. The run over the Wasatch mountains was spectacular, with show falling at the top, and then the sun shining as the train pulled into Helper. Grand Junction has a good store that sells already popped microwave popcorn. I bough two bags. The afternoon ride along the colorado river was enhanced by ny scanner. The engineer and conductor teemed up to give passengers advance notice of wildlife. Thus, I got a picture of two Eagles sitting in a tree between Glenwood Springs and Bond. Later, I heard the engineer provided warnings that the conductor failed to relay to passengers. I photographed a herd of Elk, and later, a lone coyote. Between Granby and Winter Park, we were delayed by track work for an hour, thus we were about 90 minutes late into Denver.
I enjoyed a relaxing day reading and watching DVD's on my portable player as the Zephyr crossed Iowa into Illinois. There is alot of trackwork in easter Iowa. We received slow orders near Ottumwa. I saw them improving the bridges by fixing them so that they could lay balast on them. This should make for a smother ride in the future.
We pulled int o Chicago an hour late. Over all, I had a great trip. If I had the money, I would be booking another one right now!!