California Zephyr over the Holidays

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Madzoo

Train Attendant
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
51
Location
CHI
I was fortunate to take my first trip on the California Zephyr over the holidays. I hope it won't be my last.

I started my voyage in the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago. I do like the new lounge, but I have to admit I liked the old lounge better when it was decorated for the holidays. The new lounge just didn't have the same warmth. While I was waiting, a woman asked me to watch her stuff while she used the rest room. She said she didn't wan't anyone to put something in her coffee. I guess Chicago's reputation is even worse than I imagined.

We were called to board and all along the way to the train, there were Amtrak employees pointing out the way. I liked that, but yes, it was just a straight line to the track.

On the way out west, I was in the last car in a roomette on the lower level. I had never been on the lower level before. I booked the trip pretty late so the upper rooms were already taken. It was very quiet down there for most of the trip. Something I've never noticed on trips before is that the conductors announced the names of everyone whose tickets weren't lifted. I don't know if that's a new policy or just a Zephyr thing.

I know most people like eating in the diner, but I'm shy, so it's always a stressful part of the trip for me. I was very happy that this time no-one made a comment about having to share with me. There's usually one on every trip, but it didn't happen to me in either direction this time. Yay. Without that added stress, I was better able to enjoy all the chocolate lava cake I ate. One annoying thing was that one woman wanted to talk about politics. I'm not really interested in talking about politics with people I just met. It doesn't matter if I agree with them or not.

The scenery of course was beautiful. Often, the conductors announced when there was interesting wildlife to see. Round trip I saw wild mustangs, bald eagles, and one coyote. The coyote was in Iowa of all places.

We got into Emeryville a little late, but not too bad. The Thruway bus was waiting, so there were no problems. The ride across the bay was beautiful too.

I just stayed a couple days in San Francisco, and it was low key. I did a couple walks with City Guides, and I did some walking on my own. This trip was really about the train.

On the way back, I started with the Thruway bus to Emeryville. We arrived at the station pretty early. I don't know what would happen if the bus was late. I know the bus waits for the train, but does the train wait for the bus?

I was in the last car again, but in an upper level roomette this time. I was on the same side scenery-wise as I was heading out, but that was fine with me. I was on the side of the Colorado River. I told my neighbors if they ever wanted to see something on my side just to come on over. They did a couple times, so that was nice. Westbound had more clouds and they completely changed the look of some places. It was really interesting to see the difference. With the clear skies eastbound, the stars were gorgeous. I have a lot of light pollution at home, so I don't normally get to see them.

We made very good time eastbound. At one point the conductor announced that Union Pacific (if I remember correctly) performed an efficiency test. Everything was fine, but we had to wait for that. If anyone knows what an efficiency test entails, I would appreciate it if you would comment about it.

We got into Chicago a little early, and I got off the train wishing I were getting on another one.

If anyone is interested, my photos from the Zephyr are posted on Flickr here and some pictures of San Francisco are here.
 
Glad you enjoyed your trip on the CZ. I have enjoyed every one of the more than 40 I have taken -- including one in 1969 on the original CZ pre-Amtrak.

The train will always wait for the connecting buses bringing passengers to Emeryville from San Francisco, and late westbound arrivals into Emeryville will always be met by connecting buses no matter how late. (I had one trip that was 15 hours late into Emeryville), and another that I detrained early in Sacramento and overnighted in a hotel there rather than arrive Emeryville at 3 AM when all public transit to my home destination was shut down.
 
Glad you enjoyed your trip. Your photos of San Francisco are very good and very interesting. You made good use of your days in the city,

Thanks for sharing.
 
Great trip report! Thanks. Great pics, too! Interesting about the conductor announcing names of those whose tickets were not lifted. That has not happened on any of my trips heading west from Chicago on the Zephyr. I will see if it does on my next Zephyr trip during the first week of February.
 
If we're on the same page, an efficiency test is a Red Flag test. A field rep for the railroad stakes out a point of track and as the train approaches, he sets a Red Flag; that means STOP NOW. He then has a visit with the engineer to review his/her performance; I guess if it was unsatisfactory they get pulled right then and there.

I experienced one on the Sunset and it was quite interesting to listen to it discussed on the scanner.
 
Thank you for the replies everyone. I'm envious of anyone who can take this route fairly often. I think it will be a while before I get to travel west again, but I'm hoping to go to New Orleans again in a couple months.

I've been thinking about getting a scanner. It would have been interesting during the efficiency test, and one thing I forgot to put in my trip report was that we had to go around one damaged rail and ride over another one going west.

Thanks again.
 
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