I've given up trying to upload it to my website. Instead, here's just the text version.23rd October 2002
San Francisco, CA to Memphis, TN
California Zephyr and City of New Orleans
23rd Oct
By the time I'd gotten up, waited for the hotel staff to find me a taxi, and survived a terrifying trip through Union Square to the Ferry Building, it was 8:35am, only 5 minutes before the bus arrived. It was actually there as I arrived but pulled away again. I think it was going off to pick people up from other places first. The people lining up didn't seem too bothered about it pulling away.
It duly arrived back about 10 minutes later and we set off to Emeryville where the train originates. We arrived about 9:05am, plenty of time to catch the train. Or was it? The lady behind the Amtrak ticket counter didn't seem to know how to redeem my voucher in exchange for a USA Rail Pass. Myself being foreign to the USA, I can get a 15-day Western pass for $200 - unlimited coach travel in 15 days from Chicago and New Orleans westwards. You only have to pay extra for sleeping accommodation or meals. Still, with the help of somebody else, I got the ticket and boarded the train at 9:30am.
Julias, my car attendant, greeted me and directed me to my room, number 3 on the top level. Yet again, I was on the odd-numbered side, I have yet to go on the opposite side!
The train left pretty much on time at 09:37. Shortly afterwards Julias took my ticket, told me the usual "bathroom down the hall, shower downstairs", that kind of stuff. Then he noticed a tug towing a barge in the bay area - it was the first time he'd seen it happen, which surprised me.
Emeryville dep 09:37 - 00:02 late
Martinez arr 10:15, dep 10:19 - 00:03 late
After crossing the Suisan Bay Bridge, the conductor pointed out the ships to the right, mostly mothballed. There were some pretty big aircraft carriers and warships there.
Shortly after I heard an exchange between the engineer and the dispatcher. There was a slow order coming up and "Roseville's screwed and the Valley is blocked". That does not sound good as we're due through Roseville in a couple of hours!
10:54 UP Detector, MP 63.2 track 2, 76 axles, 45mph, no defects
Davis arr 11:09, dep 11:12 - 00:13 late
Sacramento arr 11:31, dep 11:39 - 00:04 late. Some padding here methinks, especially taking into account the slow order. A guide from the California State Railroad Museum joined us here to narrate the passing scenery and points of interest.
Roseville arr 12:06, dep 12:12 - 00:03 late.
To the right of Roseville, and for a couple of miles before the station, there's a large yard. One of the biggest in the area apparently. Look to the right if heading eastwards.
The scenery started getting interesting as we started the proper assault on the first mountain range. That also meant the track started getting very rough - not good while having lunch! I had the chicken pot pie, nice but nothing special.
Colfax arr 13:10, dep 13:11 - 00:16 late (2424ft above sea level)
Shortly after Colfax we did a tight horseshoe curve to the right, then to the left around the mountain. The views from up here were spectacular.
Shortly after this is the location of Gold Run. We arrived at 13:41 and waited. There was track work ahead closing one of the lines, leaving 25 miles of single track. The conductor informed us that we would be waiting for the westbound Zephyr and a freight train to pass in the other direction before we could continue. The Zephyr passed a few minutes later but the freight didn't pass until 14:33. A couple of minutes later we were on the move again.
At Emigrant Gap the guide informed us that we were now a mile above sea level on a ruling grade of 2.42%. That's 1 in 41 in English if my maths is correct.
At 15:34 we reached Cisco where the single track returned to double track. There were two UP freights waiting to go west. The dispatcher had his work cut out doing flights of trains in each direction, bearing in mind that it took us over an hour to traverse the single line section.
At Donner Summit we passed through a long tunnel. It was 16:13 at this point, 7000ft above sea level and the highest point on this mountain range.
After leaving the tunnel, we were treated to a sight of Donner Lake on the left side of the train. It was here over a hundred years ago when travellers to the west became snowbound. Many died while waiting for help.
Truckee arr 16:36, dep 16:40 - 01:39 late (5900ft)
UP detector, MP221.7, track 2, 76 axles, 37mph, 56°F.
We crossed over the state line from California into Nevada at 17:14, 4920ft above sea level.
Reno arr 17:37, dep 17:44 - 01:28 late, while blocking several road crossings!
Sparks arr 17:51, dep 18:04 - 01:07 late. This was a service stop so we were able to get out and stretch out legs. One lady stretched hers a bit more than intended as she foolishly strayed away from the train and had to run to get onboard before the doors closed!
I went to have dinner about 7:30pm. I was sat with three individuals, one from Nebraska, the other two from California. The poor bloke from Nebraska was having the micky taken somthing chronic - "do they have electricity in Nebraska?"! He took it in good humour though. We had a good long talk between the three of us about life, the universe, everything, comparing US and UK politics, schools, etc. All in all it was we all had a good time with good food (I had the Filet Mignon - superb!).
At about 11pm I decided to go to bed. I pulled the Call Attendant button but nobody came for ages. I saw the conductor walking past and asked him. Apparently Julias had already gone to bed, so the conductor set up the bed for me. It took a while to get to sleep though - all that swaying always gets me the first night on the train.
24th Oct
I woke up the next morning about 7.30am and had breakfast. While having breakfast it was still a little dark as it was raining and we were in a valley/canyon with high walls. There was a coal loading plant to the left of the train, quite busy and very dirty!
Helper arr 08:22, dep 08:35 - 01:30 late
Around the Desert area (the location, not the type of area!) we got a slow order.
Green River arr 10:02, dep 10:03 - 01:33 late
At 10:25, at Brendel, we overtook a UP freight waiting in the siding. It was headed in the same direction. I don't know how long it had been there, but we weren't delayed by it (good move, dispatcher!).
At Cisco (yes, another one!) we passed a ghost town. Apparently parts of Thelma and Louise was filmed around here somewhere.
At 11:15 we crossed the state line from Utah into Colorado. Around the same point we entered Ruby Canyon, a pretty canyon that is a reddish colour (but I suppose you guessed that already?!).
11:33 UP Detector MP467.6, 76 axles, 80mph, 47°F.
Grand Junction arr 11:52, dep 12:04 - 01:19 late
13:46 UP detector MP365.0, 48mph, 51°F.
Glenwood Springs arr 13:56, dep 14:00 - 01:23 late.
Shortly after Glenwood Springs the engineer reported that he'd passed a rock slide detector signal which had been activated. We proceeded at low speed, under 10mph, for a while. The engineer spotted the problem: some small boulders had broken one of the trip wires but were not fouling the track. Soon after we started going back up to normal speed, a dizzying 25mph or more! We passed Dotsero at 14:51, a place that seems to have two alleged origins to its name, one from an Indian word for the area, the other for a milepost marker put in by the railroad builders. Anybody know the truth - or another origin? This is also where the Tennessee Pass route diverges, sadly now closed, which was supposed to be very scenic.
We passed several coal trains along this stretch of track - both full and empty ones. One or the other I could understand, ie empties in one direction, full loads in the other, but both full and empty in the same direction, several of each? Strange.
At 16:39 at Gore we pulled into a siding to let the westbound Zephyr pass us. That must have meant that that train was nearly 4 hours late! We only stopped for a couple of minutes, a very good meet.
Another dozen miles later and we stopped again, this time to let some UP engineers on board head back to Denver. They thought it would be a quick ride down (how wrong they were - keep reading!).
Granby arr 17:27, dep 17:27 - 01:35 late.
Fraser - Winter Park arr 17:56, dep 17:56 - 01:34 late
I was a little disappointed that there was no snow up here. Just a few days later it really did snow, so I missed it by a few days!
The UP engineers were in the lounge car talking to the other passengers. They were quite friendly, telling them about the area, answering questions, pointing out sights, etc. One was a little full of himself at times but it was pleasant talking to them anyway.
We then passed into the Moffat Tunnel, 6.2 miles long. It takes around 15 minutes to traverse the tunnel which apparently cut up to 8 hours off the journey time going over Rollins Pass before the tunnel was built.
At Tolland, shortly after leaving the tunnel, we pulled into a siding to wait for a westbound freight. The time was 18:35 and now dark. I went off for dinner at 19:30 and had the steak again. Perfect again!
In the meantime, one freight had passed but we still weren't moving. We were apparently waiting for a second freight. This eventually turned up at 20:42. Over two hours after pulling into the siding, we pulled out again. Apparently the second freight had broken down on a section of single track. The engineers announced "Clear Amtrak" to which the conductor responded "What does a clear look like?". I don't think they quite understood his joke as they, rather suprised-sounding, said "Uh... green?". Duh.
We passed one eastbound and two westbound freights while coming down the hill. At Plainview we stopped to get a relief crew. They should have boarded in Denver but we were so late, the old crew were about to run out of time. We left Plainview at 21:42. The view outside was quite a sight to see, as there were clouds covering Denver (we couldn't see it) while we were above them in moonlight - quite a dreamy kind of scene! You could tell how steep the hill was by the lack of time it took to descend through the cloud level. The grade is something like 2% downhill at this point (1 in 50).
We eventually backed into Denver at 22:51. It was pretty cold but nice to get out and stretch my legs again. We left at 23:17, 03:27 late. I bet those UP engineers, who disembarked here, wished they'd got a ride on the road instead!
I went to bed not long after leaving Denver, sleeping slighty better this time.
25th Oct
I awoke at 06:15 to the sound of air raid sirens (at least that is what it sounded like). We were stopped and were still there at 06:30 when the conductor announced that we'd hit a car. Oh dear, somebody tried to beat the train across a crossing or just plain didn't see it coming.
I eventually determined, during breakfast, that we'd hit a female driver at just after 6am. It was just about light at the time and we'd not long left Hastings, Nebraska. So it was a built up area and all the crossings we later passed had barriers and lights, so I don't know why it happened.
The driver was killed unfortunately.
At 08:15 we were allowed to continue on our way. Had this been the UK, we would still have been there 12 hours later, but it took just over 2 hours to do the necessary crime scene investigation, check the train, and continue on our way.
However, we only got about 5 miles further on when we stopped again because our crew had run out of hours. There we waited for slightly over an hour for the relief crew to be driven to our train. We left the Saronville area at 09:47.
Lincoln arr 11:04, dep 11:23 - 06:36 late. This delay is getting bad. It now means I've missed my connection in Chicago, unless we make up over 2 hours of time. That is not as impossible as it sounds, for I was on the Empire Builder a few years ago, 2 hours late passing Essex, Montana, and bang on time arriving in Seattle.
11:57 BNSF detector, MP39.0, 88 axles, 35°F, track 2.
Omaha arr 12:44 dep 13:03 - 06:48 late.
While we were stopped in Omaha, I had lunch with possibly the most boring tablemates ever. The old lady sitting opposite me had a grand total of about 8 parents and dozens of kids by the time she'd finished. Hmmm. I'm not kidding!
Ottumwa arr 17:07, dep 17:37 - 07:04 late. I'm not sure why we stopped so long.
The conductor announced that Customer Service Agents from Amtrak would be boarding in Galesburg, IL to assist in those passengers missing connections in Chicago.
Mount Pleasant arr 18:26, dep 18:30 - 07:12 late.
Burlington arr 19:15, dep 19:17 - 07:27 late. The CSAs actually boarded here in Burlington.
Galesburg arr 20:21, dep 20:24 - 07:46 late.
Princeton arr 21:14, dep 21:15 - 07:46 late
I got to speak to one of the two CSAs. I had a choice of taking the Greyhound down to Memphis tonight or catch the City of New Orleans tomorrow night instead. I, of course, opted for the latter. Amtrak gave me a voucher for $33 for taxis and meals, plus a hotel voucher.
Naperville arr 22:25, dep 22:29 - 07:48 late
Chicago arr 23:08 on track 24 after dropping off the mail/boxcars off the rear at 14th Street. Total delay: six hours and 58 minutes (now there's some padding!).
We went into the station head-first (ie engine first). There was quite a crowd of passengers inspecting the front of the lead engine. There was no physical damage whatsoever, from what I could see, apart from some white scrape marks to one side. Just goes to show that a 2 tonne car is no match for a 100+ ton engine, plus the train's tonnage.
26th Oct
I put my large rucksack into the Metropolitan lounge first thing in the morning. I didn't want to cart it around Chicago for the day. I didn't do much except buy a few clothes and wander around the downtown area.
We boarded the train at the North Concourse at 19:45. It was on the north tracks because the train which forms it is the Empire Builder, which arrived earlier in the afternoon. Similarly, the northbound City of New Orleans forms the westbound Empire Builder.
The train left promptly at 20:03, 3 minutes
late. We passed around the south tracks and started braking as we passed the Amtrak yards. One train was sitting outside, which I determined to be the eastbound Lake Shore Limited which had left at 19:45. It had just finished picking up cars and it then passed us a few minutes later.
The City of New Orleans takes an unusual route to get out of Chicago. Because it cannot get to the Memphis line directly, it has to go past a triangular junction ("Wye"), back up, and then go forward over a bridge which crosses over the track we were first on. We then end up on the Metra line formerly owned by the IC railroad company (and now CN if I remember correctly).
Mark, my car attendant, informed me that we would be a little late arriving in Memphis because of a bridge washout on the normal route. He said he'd wake me about an hour before arrival.
At 20:52 we stopped at Homewood to take on passengers and a new crew. It would appear that the first crew is only qualified to take us from Chicago Union Station to the Markham Yard area, which is where Homewood is located. We left at 21:10, 16 minutes late.
Somewhere between University Park and Kankakee we got put onto a siding for half an hour to await a northbound freight. I was having dinner at the time with two silent men, so I don't know exactly where it was.
22:59 Detector MP106.2, train length 928 feet, 89 axles, 44mph, 46°F.
Centralia arr 00:31, dep 00:31. Those times may not be right, as it now passed into Winter time rather than Summer time, so the clocks went back an hour. The conductor stated earlier that we'd sit in a siding for an hour to prevent us being early. Since we were late, we didn't bother and kept going! In any case I got confused about what time it was!
Trying to get to sleep, I'd forgotten how rough these tracks were. Either that or they have deteriorated in the last five years since I last rode them.
Mark woke me the next morning while we were going around Memphis. I grabbed some cereal and a hot cup of tea in the snack bar and was ready by the time we started backing into Memphis. It appeared that we'd come off our normal route at Woodstock, gone around the eastern line around Memphis, passed the Grenada wye where we picked up a pilotman, and backed into Memphis from there. I think there was an additional pilotman on the front to guide the engineers around Memphis.
The one on the rear radioed instructions and signal aspects to the engineers as he was effectively on the front of the train from Grenada to Memphis.
We finally arrived in Memphis at 07:05, just over half an hour late. We would have been an hour and a half late had it not been for the time change. Apparently it has taken three hours to get around Memphis on previous days, so we were lucky.
I watched the train depart at 07:35, 40 minutes late.
That was the end of Amtrak for this trip. It was a shame, I'd like to have gone on more trains. However, time was not on my side and so that was it.
30th Oct
On a pre-arranged visit, I went to the BNSF Network Operations Center in Fort Worth, Texas. It was an amazing place, dispatching trains hundreds of miles away. Almost the whole BNSF network was controlled from one room, the only exceptions being Southern California, Houston, Kansas, and a few yard areas. My thanks go to BNSF for being so accommodating to me. I'd love to show some photos of the place but (a) they didn't come out so well, and (b) BNSF preferred me not to publicly show them.
Geoff Mayo, November 5th 2002.
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