Amtrak Trip Report #16 by Doug Ohlemeier

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AMTRAK TRIP REPORT

The following is a travelogue of my return trip from Kansas City to San Francisco via two great Amtrak long distance trains, the Southwest Chief (westbound) and the California Zephyr (eastbound). I figured it would be a good idea to return via a different route, since I have traveled the Southwest Chief several times already. Plus I had only traveled on the California Zephyr westbound from Galesburg, IL to Los Angeles via the Desert Wind. I wanted to see what the scenery looked like going eastbound, as the sun sets on the westbound California Zephyr west of Grand Junction, Colorado.

The purpose of the trip was business and pleasure. I had to attend a computer publishing conference in San Francisco. Believe it or not, the round trip rail fare was almost half of the air fares we were quoted, although the inquiry came about a week before departure. I preferred to take the train, as it was my idea. I would even use vacation time to travel by train.

The trip was two days out and 2.5 days return, counting purely hours. A return flight would have taken nearly a day, figuring in all the time changes from Pacific to Central time. As it turned out, I only had to take a couple of vacation days, as I was allowed one travel day each way. I departed late on a Friday night, so I used my weekend.

I won‚t go into a lot of detail concerning consist, car numbers, scanners, etc., as a lot of this has been covered adequately in previous travelogues. I will attempt to highlight areas I believe deserve mention.

This eastbound trip on the California Zephyr was the second part of my Kansas City - San Francisco business trip I took in August, 1998. I came west via the Southwest Chief. I wanted to take the California Zephyr, even with a throughway bus connection from Omaha to Kansas City, to view what is perhaps Amtrak's most spectacular scenery.

I arrive early at the Oakland station and am disheartened to learn that checked baggage for the Zephyr is not available. Emeryville is the nearest station for checked baggage. I had stayed at a hotel in Jack London Square for the convenience to the Oakland station. I hail a cab to take me to Emeryville, where the cab gets stuck in morning traffic. I arrive in time to check the luggage. Next time, however, I will just carry on my luggage.

The California Zephyr appeared to be on time leaving the Bay area. I enjoyed the bay scenery and the many fishermen along the shores. I was a little disheartened to see the light passenger load out of Oakland. The coaches I walked through seemed somewhat empty. They would fill up, however, as the train sped east.

The California Zephyr is delayed at Roseville. We are stuck in a freight yard for more than a half hour awaiting Union Pacific freight trains to clear up.

The California Zephyr arrives Truckee at 4:50 p.m., an hour and a half behind schedule. I am intrigued by the scenery the California Zephyr travels through. Donner Lake is nice, as are the mountains and forests. Reno isn't that impressive though, with its glitzy and artificiallights.

The sun shines on the salt beds of the Nevada desert as I dine in the dining car. The sun is setting and the California Zephyr will travel through the desert at night.

After dinner, a conductor I talk with tells me we'll be lucky if we aren't delayed in Elko for up to an hour and a half. He tells me this is usually the case, as Union Pacific freights congest the main line. Guess what happens? We remain in Elko until 11:00 p.m. PT. This puts us into Salt Lake City at 5:35 a.m., an hour later than the Zephyr's scheduled departure time.

I didn't get much sleep overnight in the coach seat, though I had no passenger next to me. I wasn't necessarily uncomfortable, as I had brought an army blanket and used several coach pillows. Perhaps it's the excitement a railfan always feels when traveling on a route he/she has not traversed before. I awoke early, probably an hour west of Salt Lake City. I saw from my window, which was on the right side of the eastbound coach (south side of tracks) what appeared to be the Great Salt Lake. The moon reflected off of the water and waves. I could also see cliffs and mesas.

Travelers have almost an hour at Salt Lake City, as this is a servicing stop. There does appear to be much less activity here, now that the Desert Wind and Pioneer Zephyr are no longer involved in switching, as they were on my August 1988 trip westbound. A surprising number of passengers are out walking around the station. One of them, Bill, calls a taxi to visit a convenience store for bottled water and snacks. The driver appears to floor the acceleration. Bill seems to be living recklessly. Later, en route to Glenwood Springs, many of us learn that Bill will serve a jail time for an unknown civil court case. Bill plays a guitar in the lounge car later in the afternoon.

The later arrival into Salt Lake City doesn't disappoint me, as I'm in no big hurry. Plus, I wanted to see what Utah scenery looks like, as the westbound California Zephyr travels through the state mostly in darkness. Though Colorado scenery is grand, Utah still has much scenery to offer as well. Plus a 3:45 a.m. scheduled arrival in Salt Lake City is at an ungodly hour. I reviewed past Amtrak timetables and found later arrivals - such as 5:35 a.m.

The scenery between Salt Lake City and Provo is average, a mixture of urban and plains. But east of Provo and towards Ruby Canyon west of Grand Junction is a blend of desert, mountains and spectacular canyons. There are numerous rock formations and mesas. These all make for wonderful photographic opportunities.The lounge car was full of people viewing the scenery. The red rock walls are impressive. And you can usually see rafters on the whitewater.

I was in heaven admiring the wonderful scenery. I spent most of the day east of Provo taking pictures. I probably spent 5-6 rolls of film taking shots of the desert, cliff, rock formations, Ruby Canyon, Glenwood Canyon, Gore Canyon and many other scenic spots. I avoided shots of Interstate 70, as this I felt disrupted the scenery.

In the sightseer lounge, which was full, Amtrak showed a children's movie. This was around 2:00 p.m. between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs. Amtrak apparently likes to play the movie VERY LOUD. I tried to ignore the sound, but realized it was interfering with conversation. Plus I noticed no one, not even the few children in the lounge, was watching the movie.

I approached the lounge car attendant, "Oh, no, we can't do anything about the sound," he insisted. Back upstairs, I was getting a headache. Other passengers didn't like the blaring sound either.

And I did notice a certain non-customer service attitude among the California Zephyr crew. Rich Kimmel describes a recent eastbound trip on this train where the train chief was almost nowhere to be found, among other crew attitude problems. His description is located at this address:

http://trainweb.com/cgi-bin/top/tw_do.cgi?travelogues/rrrich/index.html+whatsnew.html

Like my trip, Rich also relates how the lounge car steadfastly refuses to lower the video volume.

Certainly, the experience I had with being given the runaround regarding sleeping car space from Salt Lake City ALL THE WAY PAST DENVER didn't help either. Maybe I'm getting older, but after sleeping only an hour or so the night before in coach, plus the headache I got from the blaring movie, the attitude of certain crew members was not helping my attitude either.

At the Grand Junction stop, you will usually have enough time to walk to the east end of the platform and visit a model railroading shop that's next to the tracks. A Kodak film sign hangs near the doorway. This store has lots of model railroading supplies, books, magazines and film. I wish I had more time to shop.

Sundown came east of Winter Park. It was too dark for photos entering Moffat Tunnel. I visited the dining car during the long tunnel trip and enjoyed a steak, a dessert as well as a glass of wine. I enjoyed conversation with a woman from California traveling to Denver. As the train descended down the Rocky Mountains in darkness to Denver, this woman told me how she had retired at a very young age from a state agency due to a medical condition which I cannot remember. I was very tired from the long day.

Amtrak on-board crew really needs to improve its service when customers request sleeping car upgrades. I inquired about upgrading at Salt Lake City. The conductor told me he'd check into it. A couple of hours later, when I saw him pass by me in the train, I asked again. He said it wasn't important. I then asked the next conductor, and others including sleeping car attendants. They told me they would check on it and would know more at the next stop. This occurred several times all the way until Denver.

Before we arrived Denver, I was told to check with the main desk inside Denver Union Station, which I did promptly. There was a very long line of passengers waiting to board. Then when the person I was supposed to talk with finally arrived, he told me I needed to ask the conductor on-board, after the train departed.

This was too much. Not only did I have to wait in a very hot station, but I lost all the time I could have spent walking around Union Station grounds. Here I had been inquiring all day. If Amtrak p didn‚t have space available, train personnel should have told me. No sense getting your hopes up. Plus I went through this all day long. Still, as a railfan, I put up with this nonsense. You wonder what non-railfans who may experience such a hassling runaround would think of Amtrak.

I was able to secure an upgrade, about 45 minutes east of Denver. I slept more comfortably in the standard (economy) bedroom than I had any other night of the trip. Although the room was on the car's lower level,it still provided a comfortable ride.

I awoke around 4:00 a.m. when the train appeared to be stopped at Hastings, Nebraska. I was too tired to get up and look on the other side of the car to see if this was indeed Hastings. I was on the south side of the train, so you can only see a rail yard there. I wanted to see what Hastings looked like from the train, as I lived in that town in 1985.

It was good to awake to the Nebraska farmland zipping by my window. A heavy amount of fog appeared over the early morning farm fields.

The Zephyr arrived my Omaha destination about one hour and 50 minutes behind schedule, but this was okay as it allowed me time to visit the dining car, which provided a satisfying and filling meal of biscuits and gravy. The old CB&Q station is decaying. Amtrak does, however, have a decent but smaller station just east of the Burlington station. The Omaha facility is much better than "St. Louis Union Trailer." A shuttle van soon arrives to take about a half a dozen passengers for a comfortably short ride on I-29 to the Kansas City Amtrak station. We would depart sooner but there is a delay in retrieving my checked baggage.

A couple of the passengers did not arrive Omaha via the Zephyr, but rode the van to Kansas City to connect to the westbound Southwest Chief, which departs at Midnight. The driver and I tell them what kind of things they can do around town between their noon arrival and later departure. The driver is friendly and helpful in those type of things. Though the shuttle van is nice, passengers wanting to travel from St. Louis or Kansas City to Denver, Salt Lake City, Reno and San Francisco should have a rail option. Amtrak should extend the St. Louis-Kansas City trains to Omaha. Or even better, extend the service to Denver via western Kansas, with connections in Denver to the Zephyr.

Make sure you don't get stung when you park at the Union Station. The covered parking lot is next to the Union Station. However, make sure you know the rate. I had called the station a couple days before departure and asked about parking. An Amtrak agent told me the cost was $5-$6 a day, which would have made my parking $40. When I arrived, I was told to pay double, $80. The toll booth person said they didn't work with Amtrak anymore. To top it off, my car was covered with pigeon droppings. I had to spend about an hour cleaning my car at the car wash.

Despite this ending, the California Zephyr was a wonderful trip which I hope to make again soon.