California Zypher

[Guest_Bob]

Please provide me any positive or negative feedback on the CZ from Chicago to Emeryville. Especially concerned about, Roomette's, Food, Bathrooms, sightseeing quality, movies ratings, etc.

 

[AmtrakFan]

Negative It's late 9.9 out of 10 times, Sleepers it depends somedays the cars are overhauled and some cars there a piece of junk.

 

[jccollins]

That's a rather general request Bob, and something we have covered extensively on this forum through various posts over the last few years. You will probably be able to find many of your answers over on the trip reports section of this forum and by searching for "California Zephyr trip reports" on a search engine like Google. You can search for specific info on this forum as well with the search feature. A good search on your part will probably turn up more information than any of us can provide by posting right here. Good luck, and overall the California Zephyr is a spectacular train so I hope you will take the time to look into traveling on it.

 

[davlor]

Yes, taking this train to Emeryville is one of the most beautiful non-athletic things you can do in America, I think. You will see the best of mountains, desert, and strange railroad towns. The interior of the train itself, though, is the same as the rest of Amtrak--don't expect much comfort. You have plenty of leg room but the seat's aren't very comfortable; food is terrible; don't plan on movies as the TV may not even be working; you'll definitely be late; etc. But probably most of us here on this forum would agree that it's worth it! A little discomfort on the train can make the scenery seem even better; and it's all the little problems on Amtrak that make it so distinctive and memorable, besides.

 

[RKA]

To me the West bound CZ has the best scenery of any Amtrak train and is beat only by The Canadian in North America. Next would be the east bound Empire Builder and then The Coast Starllight. I mention these three as you can get connections on all three in one round trip from Chicago. Good Luck.

RBK

 

[jccollins]

...food is terrible

Do you eat in the dining room or the roach coach (sightseer car's lower level snack bar)? While a bit pricey, (not outrageous or unreasonable) the food served in the dining room is excellent. The snack bar serves prepackaged snacks and sanwiches similar to those you would find in your local Circle K or gas station mini mart; those who do not care for them are welcome into the dining room to purchase full high-quality meals if traveling in coach.

Amtrak cannot be blamed for how prepackaged food they sell tastes since they offer much better and healthier food in the dining room. Sleeping car passengers are given free meals in the dining room. I would suggest that all passengers traveling any substantial distance on a longhaul train have their meals in the dining room and patronize the snack bar if they want an additional snack or beverage. If I had to eat all my meals out of the snack bar I would agree that the food would be terrible... but it would be my fault since that would be what I would be choosing to eat.

 

[Ed.]

I am rather surprised by the post from davlor, as davlor himself asks in another post about train seats, & now is suddenly qualified to describe them as not very comfortable! They are better than bus, car, airline, so whats left to be unhappy about ?

I suspect some of the posters here are not Amtrak's friends...

Ed.

 

[PRR 60]

Some quick comments based on a trip from Chicago to Emeryville last August:

Train was an oldie but our Sleeper was OK. Everything worked as advertised. The bedding was comfortable. The on-board staff on our train was very good. Our car attendant was super and the Diner staff was more than competent. I second the food comment concerning the Dining Car: it was quite good, better than I expected. If you are in a roomette, your meals are free. In short, our Zephyr was worn but well staffed and a nice train.

The route is about as scenic as Amtrak gets. From plains to mountains to prairie to more mountains and finally the Bay: if you don’t like the view from this train you best just fly and ask for an aisle seat. One issue is the single lounge. Depending on time of year and the train passenger count, getting a seat in the lounge can be difficult in the scenic areas. But even the view from a room is still fine. A problem with a roomette is that you only have access to views on one side of the train. The full bedroom affords access from both sides using the aisle window just outside the room door.

Don’t expect much from the on-board entertainment. The “movie” is shown on small monitors in the lounge and is not very watchable. It is best to take a DVD player or a laptop and have your own entertainment options. During certain times of the year there is historical commentary provided between Reno and Sacramento, but it was nothing to get excited about. And recognize that this is a very, very long ride as scheduled (much longer than the Empire Builder or the Chief) and it typically runs several hours late. So set yourself up for a long haul.

 

[jccollins]

During certain times of the year there is historical commentary provided between Reno and Sacramento, but it was nothing to get excited about.

The commentary is provided by docents from the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento and they provide narration on the Zephyr, in both directions daily year-round between Sacramento, Calif. and Reno, Nev. The only time you won't have the narration onboard the train is if the westbound Zephyr is running extremely late and the docents decide to take an Amtrak California Thruway Motorcoach back to Sacramento instead of waiting for the train. This is usually only the case when the train is 5+ hours late but there isn't a set rule on it.

That said, I am disappointed to see this provided commentary played down in your post, PRR 60. All the docents have extensive knowledge on the rail history over Donner Pass and most do an excellent job of providing additional details not typed in the script. They break up the monotony of what I consider to be a very slow and somewhat frustrating (because of the slowness) portion of the route and can answer most questions about the territory thrown at them by passengers and really enjoy working on the train.

 

[PRR 60]

Maybe the gentleman who provided the commentary on our trip was having a bad day, but his style of speaking bore a striking vocal resemblance to the high school economics teacher in the movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (played by Ben Stein). I was really expecting him to call roll and say, in that hilariously monotone style from the movie, "Bueller.....Bueller.....Bueller".

Lets just say the commentary on our trip was somewhat less than compelling.

 

[spot1181]

Just remember, if you are late, you may go through the Rockies, and or Sierra's in the dark.

 

[t.winx]

I thought the commentary through Donner was very good. He did however keep saying the railroad ran 30-40 FRIEGHT TRAINS PER DAY!!! We passed 2 westbounds over donner and all he said was, "Wow, I can't believe we have only passed two trains today". Hmmm... It made me wonder if his other information was accurate. It's not that big of a deal. He was a good guy though and did a good job of captivating the audience!

 

[jccollins]

He did however keep saying the railroad ran 30-40  FRIEGHT TRAINS PER DAY!!!

The number has declined over the last decade to about half that number. Twenty freight trains a day can seem like twenty too many though when you have the You Pee Railroad running them, though. Up until about two weeks ago when our Reno train trench was completed it was not uncommon for the You Pee to stop their freight trains in our downtown blocking every one of our major crossings for 45-60 minutes at a time. Their actions and hostile attitude toward our city officials when we tried to come to some kind of solution to avoid using the tracks crossing our downtown streets as a parking lot is what ended up forcing Reno officials to construct the train trench and lower the trains below our city streets. I am confident that the trench would not ahve been necessary or constructed if we had a COMPETENT railroad (such as the BNSF) dispatching and operating the trains through our city.

Rant over... with about twenty freights operating over Donner per day it seems about right that you passed two westbounds. That would be about four freights per five hours (considering both directions) for roughly twenty freights or so a day over the pass. Their information on the current script is accurate and the script is updated at least quarterly. I suspect that the docent on your train may have been reading off an old script since the new one is updated with the correct number of freights and mentions that the number has declined by about half over the last decade. In any event I agree that the particular docent on your train can make or break the mood and learning experience during your trip over the pass. I have taken the Zephyr over Donner Pass between California and Reno so many times that I have most of the written script memorized but I keep an open ear for the commentary that docents add on their own.