Zephyr detour

I wanted to come back from Emeryville home to Chicago on June 1. I'm thinking of just flying. I love going through the Rockies. Is there anything pretty to look at like the Rockies on the detour? Would you compare it to the view on the Southwest Chief?

I even thought about taking the Coast Starlight down to L.A. and taking the Chief to Chicago, but the Coast Starlight gets to L.A. at 9 at night, so my favorite restaurant there won't be open, and if it's late at all, my friend in L.A. won't come and eat with me

I recall the scenery on the detour being lots of plains with some mountains off to the south.

The only way to make a same day connection from EMY to the SWC involves the San Joaquin to Bakersfield and a 2:20 bus trip to Los Angeles.

The SWC leaves long before the CS gets there.

I bought a ticket from Chicago to Glenwood Springs for late May. Is there *currently* a detour on the Zephyr? Wouldn't they tell you that if they can't deliver you to your stop? Help?

[email protected] said:

I bought a ticket from Chicago to Glenwood Springs for late May. Is there *currently* a detour on the Zephyr? Wouldn't they tell you that if they can't deliver you to your stop? Help?

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The detour will affect westbound trains departing Denver May 16 through 22 and June 1 through 8. If your trip is departing Chicago May 22 through May 30, you will not be detoured.

junebug said:

I wanted to come back from Emeryville home to Chicago on June 1. I'm thinking of just flying. I love going through the Rockies. Is there anything pretty to look at like the Rockies on the detour? Would you compare it to the view on the Southwest Chief?

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All the more spectacular scenery on the detour is at its west end as it ascends through the Wasatch Range through Echo and Weber Canyons.

But by the time you are past Evanston and get to Green River WY, things are relatively flat and desolate with a few landmark peaks poking up here and there.

If you are a railroad buff you get to see the famous Sherman Hill Summit which is at different locations on different tracks and you really have to know where to look between Laramie and Borie. A little north of this location is the original location of the Sherman Summit on UP, which was abandoned. There used to be a town called Sherman which was also abandoned. A few miles further north of there is the highest spot on Interstate 80 and Route 30 at over 8,600'. Frankly, it is more fun exploring this area by car than just passing through on a train.

You can also try to locate the Borie Slab which used to be the station stop for Cheyenne WY, and is still there.

If your eastbound CZ is on time leaving SLC, you are likely to arrive DEN several hours early, giving you time to detrain and explore Lower Downtown Denver.

I forgot to say, I am leaving from San Jose, California.

Whoa!

"The train will depart Salt Lake City and detour through Wyoming. The train will not make any stops until arriving at Denver".

Wha??????? That's got to be 8 hours. So this will take longer than the Zephyr normally does?

junebug said:

Whoa!

"The train will depart Salt Lake City and detour through Wyoming. The train will not make any stops until arriving at Denver".

Wha??????? That's got to be 8 hours. So this will take longer than the Zephyr normally does?

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No, it will be quicker because it won't be winding through the mountains and won't be making numerous stops (except for crew changes.

SLC to DEN is well over 12 hours I believe on the regular route.

I really like the re-route. Interesting scenery and a heck of a lot faster than the Colorado canyon crawl where you can inspect a rock cut 20 feet outside your window at low speed for hours on end. A lot of history and wildlife out the window, and the Utah end is pretty spectacular for scenery. Getting into SLC and Denver with time to walk around is a big plus. Although when I went on the Colorado route a month ago the train SEEMED to be going faster than it did on previous trips, if I had the option of taking the City of San Francisco over the California Zephyr I would

Thanks! I recall getting into SLC at 3 in the morning but maybe that was westbound. I never heard of City of San Francisco. Does that still exist? Where do you walk around in Denver? I usually just call a restaurant and order food while I am on the train and go pick it up.

I like the idea of taking the Zephyr on this reroute because I would love to ride through the beautiful Morgan Valley, down Weber Canyon, and into the railyards of Ogden (Junction City of the west!). It saddens me that passenger trains no longer go through Ogden.

I'm guessing that most of the time the CZ is rerouted via southern Wyoming, it's dark by the time it reaches Utah. However, this scheduled reroute in early June may be the perfect storm for being able to see everything until the train reaches Ogden. The sun will be setting late, and because this reroute is scheduled and not last-minute emergency routing, there may be less delay due to freight traffic.

I would love to experience this rare mileage, as well as the chance to roll into Ogden by Amtrak (even if it doesn't *stop* in Ogden). I'm seriously tempted to buy a ticket for that first Saturday in June (and pray really hard to the rail gods that there's no major delay).

Our first trip on Amtrak in 2009 involved the detour. I loved it! We felt quite at home on the range. We saw buffalo roaming in the distance, deer and antelope playing beside the track, and seldom a discouraging word was heard. In fact, there were many passengers on board that were there specifically for the rare milage.

Don't miss this opportunity. Yes, it's not as dramatic as the Colorado River route, but is beautiful in it's own spectacular way.

DesertDude said:

I like the idea of taking the Zephyr on this reroute because I would love to ride through the beautiful Morgan Valley, down Weber Canyon, and into the railyards of Ogden (Junction City of the west!). It saddens me that passenger trains no longer go through Ogden.

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You won't see much of Ogden since the train will not go anywhere near the station and the yards. It will take the southwest leg of the wye at Bridge Jct. and get onto the Front Runner trackage headed south towards SLC. If you are paying attention you will be able to spot the station building in the distance to your right (assuming you are traveling westwards on the Zephyr on the detour).

junebug said:

Thanks! I recall getting into SLC at 3 in the morning but maybe that was westbound. I never heard of City of San Francisco. Does that still exist? Where do you walk around in Denver? I usually just call a restaurant and order food while I am on the train and go pick it up.

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City of San Francisco was a train run by UP before Amtrak. It did not go to Denver though, and ran straight through on UP way north of Denver. The only place it touched in Colorado was Julesburg way up in the northeast corner of Colorado.

Amtrak's train to Oakland upon its inception was the San Francisco Zephyr which ran on what is now the detour route through Wyoming between Denver and Ogden. It did not go to Salt Lake City. There was first a bus connection and then connection by the Desert Wind. Initially it used to serve downtown Cheyenne involving a backup move. That was discontinued at some point with the inception of a stop at Borie (on the Borie cutoff) with connecting bus to Cheyenne.

The station in Denver is right at one end of the downtown area so one can walk a few blocks to the downtown, or take the free circulator bus. If things are running without delay you should get into Denver by about 4pm or so, leaving you well over an hour, maybe even an hour and half or more to go out and explore.

junebug said:

Thanks! I recall getting into SLC at 3 in the morning but maybe that was westbound. I never heard of City of San Francisco. Does that still exist? Where do you walk around in Denver? I usually just call a restaurant and order food while I am on the train and go pick it up.

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Union Station in Denver is in the heart of "LoDo" which is the main pedestrian-friendly activity center of the city. It is at one end of a long pedestrian mall in an area full of dozens (hundreds?) of restaurants, bars, art galleries, entertainment, Coors Field, microbreweries, etc. All within a few minutes walk. Plenty to keep you entertained, exercised and well fed for many hours ;>)

jis said:

City of San Francisco was a train run by UP before Amtrak. It did not go to Denver though, and ran straight through on UP way north of Denver. The only place it touched in Colorado was Julesburg way up in the northeast corner of Colorado.

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It may have been a connecting train, but I'm sure there is or was a picture in Denver Union Station showing two streamliners, the CZ and CoSF lined up side by side in the station. The caption mentioned they were getting ready to race each other to Chicago.

PaulM said:

jis said:

City of San Francisco was a train run by UP before Amtrak. It did not go to Denver though, and ran straight through on UP way north of Denver. The only place it touched in Colorado was Julesburg way up in the northeast corner of Colorado.

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It may have been a connecting train, but I'm sure there is or was a picture in Denver Union Station showing two streamliners, the CZ and CoSF lined up side by side in the station. The caption mentioned they were getting ready to race each other to Chicago.

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The Union Pacific ran the City of Denver between Chicago and Denver. While the California Zephyr also ran between Chicago and Denver, the Burlington's fastest Chicago to Denver train, and the one designed for business travel, was the Denver Zephyr. The Denver Zephyr and the City of Denver would have been the trains to "race to Chicago."

PaulM said:

jis said:

City of San Francisco was a train run by UP before Amtrak. It did not go to Denver though, and ran straight through on UP way north of Denver. The only place it touched in Colorado was Julesburg way up in the northeast corner of Colorado.

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It may have been a connecting train, but I'm sure there is or was a picture in Denver Union Station showing two streamliners, the CZ and CoSF lined up side by side in the station. The caption mentioned they were getting ready to race each other to Chicago.

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As PRR explained you saw the City of Denver in Denver. The City of SF did not touch Denver and took the routing that I explained. There was a period near the end when AFAIR, the four City trains (Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland) ran as a single train between Chicago and Julesburg where the Denver section was split off. The rest were split at Ogden. This train was jokingly called the City of Everywhere.

I am old enough to remember the time before air travel (and interstates) when competition was rail on rail. What is failing me is my memory that the old Denver station was a marvelous monolith. I will be interested to see the new version when I take the CZ this summer. From the photos all the curved steel seems incongruent with my old marble memories. Perhaps Mother was right in claiming the only consistency in life is change.

andersone said:

I am old enough to remember the time before air travel (and interstates) when competition was rail on rail. What is failing me is my memory that the old Denver station was a marvelous monolith. I will be interested to see the new version when I take the CZ this summer. From the photos all the curved steel seems incongruent with my old marble memories. Perhaps Mother was right in claiming the only consistency in life is change.

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It's interesting to see Denver Union Station used for a couple of early scenes in 1995's "Under Siege 2: Dark Territory." For reasons that I've never understood, the filmmakers felt compelled to optically process wrought-iron Victorian-era supports into the interior.