Zephyr (5&6) Schedule Changes Sept/Oct 2017

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I'm picturing what would happen if Amtrak told NJT and LIRR they were going to do something like this. Their minds would melt!
 
Is the detour through Wyoming? I have been wanting to do the detour for quite a while. It may be too late to change/make plans for September/October.
 
Rawr. I've never been to Wyoming. The detour ends a week before my vacation time starts. :-/
 
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Is the detour through Wyoming? I have been wanting to do the detour for quite a while. It may be too late to change/make plans for September/October.
The way it reads the Detour Days are between Salt Lake City and Denver which necessitates the Route being the UP through Wyoming!
 
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I've heard some parts of Wyoming are pretty but most of the videos I've seen of UP's mainline looked kind of dull and mundane to me. If there was a way to see whatever remains of their home shops along the way it would be a nice, but I think I read that UP doesn't allow any passengers to disembark while in Cheyenne, WY. Does the Feather River Route still exist? And if so do any passenger trains ever go down there? I wish Amtrak would end up on the Feather River Route once in a while. I'm not normally excited by rare mileage but I'd make an exception for that.
 
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I've heard some parts of Wyoming are pretty but most of the videos I've seen of UP's mainline looked kind of dull and mundane to me. If there was a way to see whatever remains of their home shops along the way it would be a nice, but I think I read that UP doesn't allow any passengers to disembark while in Cheyenne, WY. Does the Feather River Route still exist? And if so do any passenger trains ever go down there? I wish Amtrak would end up on the Feather River Route once in a while. I'm not normally excited by rare mileage but I'd make an exception for that.
It is still there and still has freight service. Amtrak infrequently detours over that line, as it misses the station in Reno (I think).
 
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When I last rode the CZ over the Wyoming route, the only stop in Wyoming was for a crew change in Green River, WY -- and passengers were not allowed off for a fresh-air break, as the train stopped inside the active yard and not at the former UP train station platform.

And the train did not go through Cheyenne, but instead took the "Borie Cutoff" several miles west of Cheyenne.

That said, the Wyoming route is MUCH faster than the Colorado route, so westbound CZs had a several hour stop in SLC. And the same for eastbound CZs at DEN.
 
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The Feather River routing misses CZ station stops in Reno, Truckee, and Colfax.
 
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Where is the bay subdivision? Iirc the subdivisions in Wyoming have names such as Laramie, Rawlins, rock springs.
I don't think there is a Bay Subdivision. There is no Rock Springs Sub in Wyoming. West of Green River where the Rawlins Sub ends, it's the Evanston Subdivision to Ogden, UT.
 
Where is the bay subdivision? Iirc the subdivisions in Wyoming have names such as Laramie, Rawlins, rock springs.

I don't think there is a Bay Subdivision. There is no Rock Springs Sub in Wyoming. West of Green River where the Rawlins Sub ends, it's the Evanston Subdivision to Ogden, UT.

Sounds like the Bay Subdivision is around Emeryville.
The Bay Subdivision isn't a freight route or designation. It is an Amtrak Subdivision ( e.g., Bay Subdivision, Northeast Subdivision, Hudson Subdivision, Southwest Subdivision, Michigan Subdivision, New Orleans Subdivision) that I believe is the former Pacific Division. If nothing has changed in the last year, it covers a great deal of California, a small part or Oregon and the Zephyr's route out to Grand Junction.
 
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Out/into Denver does the detour route go through Greeley (Greeley sub) or Ft. Collins (Front Range sub)?
Or is it a crap shoot as directed by dispatch.

Looking at OpenRailwayMap.org I don't see a junction between the Laramie sub and the Front Range sub south of Cheyenne.
There is a Greeley/Laramie sub junction south of Cheyenne that provides easier access to the Borie Cutoff.
 
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In the detour route the cz follows the route of the San Francisco zephyr. Leaving Denver it heads north to Greeley towards Cheyenne. Rather than going through cheyenne it goes on the borie cutoff. Then the tracks roughly follow I 80 to Ogden Utah. At Ogden it follows the front range route to slc. IMHO it's better west bound because you might get a daylight ride over the Wasatch mountains and through echo canyon.
 
One word of caution for those planning to take the Wyoming detour. I had the privilege of doing that tour couple years ago going from SLC to DEN. Since the detour is for track work in Colorado, in addition to passenger trains freight trains are also detoured. Due to massive freight traffic we were delayed and it took from the normal departure time early morning from SLC to after midnight arriving in Denver some six plus hours late. I happened to be detraining in Denver so had the privilege of showing up at my hotel in a heavy thunderstorm almost 2 AM. And as some have pointed out, passengers were not allowed off the train at all from SLC to DEN. I don't smoke but I like to get off for fresh air and the walk some when I Amtrak.
 
Not that much freight traffic on the Moffat Tunnel route anymore, so I wouldn't expect CZ delays on the Wyoming route unless there was a freight train breakdown. And even then, the route is double track from Ogden to Borie, so runarounds on the other main can and do occur to get the CZ past slower moving freights -- given good dispatching.
 
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