2017 Winter Park Ski Train

[daleratliff]

At the Fraser station the shuttle picks up every 30 minutes. It's the "black" shuttle line and makes 7 (I think) quick stops in Fraser & the town of Winter Park before it reaches the resort.

If the train were to stop at the resort instead, the pickup for the shuttle is a very long walk all the way through the resort village. I would not want to make this walk with a bunch of luggage! They would need to consider another shuttle stop closer to the train stop.

My son & I just returned from a ski trip in Winter Park. We walked from the train station in Fraser to the Holiday Inn (5-8 minute walk). We used the shuttle network extensively to get to the resort & back every day to ski.

 

[west point]

If the train were to stop at the resort instead, the pickup for the shuttle is a very long walk all the way through the resort village. I would not want to make this walk with a bunch of luggage! They would need to consider another shuttle stop closer to the train stop.

So it has not changed very much! That long walk certainly is unacceptable. Do you see any reason that a dedicated single lane road for shuttle could not go right to the platform or enclosed shelter ?

 

[chakk]

Prospector did not take the Moffat Tunnel thru Winter Park route. It took the Tennessee Pass route much farther south.

 

[railiner]

Prospector did not take the Moffat Tunnel thru Winter Park route. It took the Tennessee Pass route much farther south.

The Prospector took the same route as the CZ, thru the Moffat Tunnel, on an overnite schedule...

Can't give you the links to the schedule on my phone, but will do that later today, when I get home, unless someone else beats me to it....

The Royal Gorge took the Tennessee Pass route...

 

[Palmland]

I recall a camping trip in the 60's and I was standing at the east portal of Moffat tunnel at train time for the Prospector (around 8:00 pm since it was due at Winter Park at 8:07 as a flag stop, per 1965 OGR). It was moving slow enough to catch a glimpse of the very nice sleeper and cafe-lounge. That would have been preferable to a tent that night. Probably some of the cars were from C&O's stillborn Chessie that were spun off to various roads. The schedule called for a 6:25pm departure from Denver and 8:40am arrival in Salt Lake City. Not a very good schedule for tourists but great for the business traveler.

 

[railiner]

Prospector did not take the Moffat Tunnel thru Winter Park route. It took the Tennessee Pass route much farther south.

The Prospector took the same route as the CZ, thru the Moffat Tunnel, on an overnite schedule...

Can't give you the links to the schedule on my phone, but will do that later today, when I get home, unless someone else beats me to it....

The Royal Gorge took the Tennessee Pass route...

As promised..... http://www.american-rails.com/prospector.html

Scroll down for the timetable....

This next link shows how the Royal Gorge connected with the Prospector, for service on to Salt Lake City....

http://streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track8/royalgorge195705.html

Going further back into D&RGW history...the earliest thru train was its Scenic Limited, via the Royal Gorge and Marshall Pass, predating the merger with the Denver and Salt Lake (Moffat Road).....

 

[Agent]

Video by YouTube user riogrande5636 that has a few different shots of the Winter Park Express from January and February.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

What I'm mystified by is all the times we took the train or flew to Denver to go skiing at Winter park we never went all the way by train in the 70's or 80's. After that we drove, so a non-issue. would that have been because of the Zephyr still running?

 

[chakk]

What I'm mystified by is all the times we took the train or flew to Denver to go skiing at Winter park we never went all the way by train in the 70's or 80's. After that we drove, so a non-issue. would that have been because of the Zephyr still running?

Amtrak's Zephyr went west from Denver via Cheyenne, WY until sometime in the early 80's, when the route was changed to go thru Winter Park, CO after the Denver & Rio Grande Western RR discontinued its own remnant of the original Calif Zephyr, which ran 3 days per week westbound from Denver to Salt Lake City, and 3 other days per week eastbound from Salt Lake City to Denver. (The train did not run in either direction on Wednesdays.)

I don't think the Amtrak train from Chicago had a same-day connection with the D&RGW train in Denver. I believe there was a connection possible at Salt Lake City via a bus connection to Ogden with the Zephyr for cities west of Salt Lake City.

 

[railiner]

The Rio Grande Zephyr schedule, was timed to connect to and from Amtrak at its western terminus, Ogden or later, Salt Lake City. Connecting at Denver would require a long layover, overnight plus....

Rio Grande train service from Salt Lake City to Ogden was only operated for a very short period, after the CZ ceased operating over the Western Pacific, in 1970. The Burlington and Rio Grande ran "California Service" tri-weekly, to connect with SP's City of San Francisco at Ogden. This was the first time in a long time that the Rio Grande operated over its long-time freight-only route.

Not long after, when Amtrak began running the San Francisco Zephyr on its BN-UP-SP routing, the Rio Grande cut its train back to Salt Lake City, and provided bus or van service to Ogden for thru passengers...

Later, the Pioneer and Desert Wind ran over the UP line between Ogden and Salt Lake City.....

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Thanks, that's what I thought. I asked my mom last night and she couldn't remember. She did remember taking a train through Winter Park, but that was before my lifetime as I don't recall ever doing that.

 

[PaulM]

Later, the Pioneer and Desert Wind ran over the UP line between Ogden and Salt Lake City.....
later, Salt Lake City. Connecting at Denver would require a long layover, overnight plus....

I'm sure it was a typo, but I don't think the Desert Wind ran between SLC and Ogden, which is north of SLC. The DW turned south at SLC towards southern Utah, Las Vegas, and LA.

 

[railiner]

When the Desert Wind first started, it was a connecting train from the SFZ, from Ogden, thru SLC to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, just as the Pioneer was a connecting train, which started in SLC, thru Ogden, to Pocatello, Boise, and Portland, to Seattle.

Later, when the SFZ morphed into the CZ, the Pioneer and Desert Wind had thru cars all the way from Chicago combined with the CZ until the split at SLC (later the Pioneer split at Denver, returning service to Wyoming for a while)...

 

[Agent]

Amtrak #6(26) came through Agency, Iowa almost seven and a half hours late with the engines and Superliners from the Winter Park Express. You can tell the regular California Zephyr cars from the Ski Train cars by the change in the cars' shininess.

 

[Agent]

406 went west to Oakland to have its special wrap removed before getting sent back east on Amtrak #6(01). This California Zephyr was over seven and a half hours late at Agency, Iowa.

 

[Agent]

So the wrap ads weren't removed from the coaches, or at least not the one on Amtrak #5(12) I saw at Agency, Iowa this evening. Year-round advertising for Winter Park, I guess?

 

[Thirdrail7]

So the wrap ads weren't removed from the coaches, or at least not the one on Amtrak #5(12) I saw at Agency, Iowa this evening. Year-round advertising for Winter Park, I guess?

With equipment being tight, do you really want a car sitting around the shops to remove decals? If it makes you feel better, they did remove the wrap from the 406.

 

[Agent]

With equipment being tight, do you really want a car sitting around the shops to remove decals? If it makes you feel better, they did remove the wrap from the 406.

I know that. That was the post right above this one. I didn't notice this would be the start of a new page.