The California Zephyr from Sacramento to Denver

Homeward bound, this is the last leg of the trip. It has been really fun but I'm ready to go home.

This is a logo from the benches at the Sacramento Amtrak depot.

The California Zephyr pulling into Sacramento.

An old train car near Roseville California.

Going over the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Still a lot of snow up there.

Nice scenery.

Near Trukee California. I thought the highway framed the mountains nicely.

Stopped in Grand Junction Colorado.

Nearing the Rocky Mountains.

Here's some shots of Glenwood Canyon...

Around Glenwood Canyon the batteries in my camera died. I had anotther pack but when I opened it I realized I'd brought AAA instead of AA batteries. Oh well, we were less than 100 miles from Denver and it would be dark soon.

What a fun trip! I'm already planning next years. I think I'll go

Denver> Chicago on the California Zephyr;

Chicago> New Orleans on the City of New Orleans;

New Orleans> Los Angeles on the Sunset Limited;

Los Angeles> Seattle on the Coast Starlight;

Seattle> Chicago on the Empire Builder;

Chicago> Los Angeles on the Southwest Chief;

Los Angeles> Sacramento on the Coast Starlight;

Sacramento > Denver on the California Zephyr

Keep it West of Chicago so I can ride on Superliners exclusively.

The Coast Starlight from LA to Sacramento

The Coast Starlight is a very scenic line. It goes along the ocean much of Southern California. I also upgraded to a sleeper for this leg because sleeper passengers can access the Pacific Parlour Car. Here's Union Station in Los Angeles.

Exterior shot, Union Station LA.

A mural on the freeway. In Japan it is considered impolite to point at people.

On Olivera Street they were going to bless the animals that day.

Then it was time to board the train. As I mentioned the Coast Starlight features the Pacific Parlour Car.

The PPC is a 1956 train car built by the Santa Fe line for it's El Capitan train. Only six were ever built and all six are in use daily on the Coast Starlight. Let's see the rest of the train.

Here's the trainset, locomotives 134 & 150.

Coast Starlight in LA.

Another view of the PPC.

At the end of our train they were pulling two private cars. Old California Zephyr cars from the famous UP line. Here's a few pics.

Long live the Zephyr.

Next some shots inside the Pacific Parlour Car.

This is the movie theatre downstairs. On this day they were showing Bolt and Casino Royale.

I found my all day Metro pass from DC.

This is my sleeper on the Coast Starlight. North side.

South side.

The Pacific Ocean. The train goes right along the coast.

There's some people riding boards propelled by kite like sails. They were going pretty fast.

There's a missle on the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

One more sleeper perk, showers. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, towels all provided.

The Coast Starlight at San Luis Obispo, looking North.

Looking south.

A long curve on Cuesta pass.

Comfy chair, Pacific Parlour Car.

My room in Sacramento.

The Southwest Chief from Chicago to LA

The next leg of the trip turned out to be my favorite, the Amtrak Southwest Chief. It could be because I had a sleeper on this leg too. Well fed & well rested.I set up my laptop/GPS rig in my private room.

Here's a shot out the rear of the train.

Here's my bed, nice & comfy.

Leg room galore.

If I got bored in my room I could relax in the dome car.

When you are in a sleeper all your meals are free in the dining car. Of course I had the $22 steak every night. There's an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Locomotive.

The Southwest Chief runs on AT&SF rails all the way from Chicago to LA.

The train stopped at La Hunta Colorado early in the morning.

Looking towards the front, then the back. Big train.

An old Santa Fe caboose.

Out of Trinidad Colorado on Raton pass. I opened a window on the lower level for this shot. That's something I only did once. You could get kicked off the train if you get caught.

My chair in my sleeper. Temperature control and light switch next to my head.

Raton pass follows the Santa Fe Trail over the Rocky Mountains. There's the Santa Fe Trail.

Raton New Mexico.

Here's the Southwest Chief in Raton New Mexico.

The train depot in Raton. Dirt roads are the norm in New Mexico.

I realize beauty is in the eye of the beholder but the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico has the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Some folks would prefer mid town Manhattan but I'm a country boy and I'd rather live a mile from my nearest neighbor with a starry sky at night. This is the place for that.

High Chaparral. Looks like heaven to me.

This was next to the depot at Lamy New Mexico. There was another car converted to a restaurant I didn't get a picture of.

When you upgrade to a sleeper you can bring your own supply of alcohol. I brought an assortment of microwbrews from Chicago and Boston. Here's a couple examples.

Here is the stop t Albuquerque New Mexico. We had an 1.5 hours to stroll around.

Amtrak is famous for being late. Once in 1978 I caught the North Coast Hiawatha out of Missoula Montana and it was 18 hours late. Sadly that line was discontinued in 1979.

Anyway the trains I took on this trip were never late, not once, and came into most stops early. That made the smokers happy. Since the train is no smoking any stop longer than a few minutes allowed smokers to step off & smoke.

I asked if Amtrak had a new agreement with the freight lines they were rolling on giving passenger trains priority and was told no. More likely the reason was due to the current depression slowing down freight shipping so much we traveled unencumbered.

In fact, the Southwest Chief is the only long distance Superliner that hits 90 miles per hour along the way. The GPS says 91 mph but in reality it was probably 90.5 to 90.9 mph. The laptop rounds off, the portable GPS device shows tenths. Engineers are not supposed to exceed 90 mph.