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I drove to Reno to bowl in the National Bowling Stadium and found that the Amtrak station is sandwiched between the stadium and my hotel, Harrah's. Reno recently trenched the tracks much to the delight of the citizens trying to drive around town. The station is new but still attached to an older station. I took a few pictures. I went over hoping to get a picture of the Zephyr arriving from the west but alas, it was late. The Amtrak station pictures are in the midst of my scenic mountain shots. You might find those interesting too. Here is the link: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=118xqhnm.9e44n8s6&x=0&y=etk7pv
I am preparing for my long train trip this June, LAX-CHI-MSP-ESM-PDX-LAX. I will have some questions for you all soon on some aspects of the trip.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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That's a very pretty station, thanks for posting those. Nice mountains, too.
I only saw the Reno station once, in 2000, from the door of a sleeper, which was stopped a block east of the station. Our door opened onto the sidewalk at an intersection. The sidewalk, as well as the street, had a crossing gate. As you can see from the photo below, passengers had to walk down the sidewalk to the sleepers.
On the return trip, when we were stopped at the station, we were again straddling an intersection blocking traffic. A woman who was stopped in her car got out and ran into a nearby store for a minute or two. The trench is probably a very good thing.
The good condition of the station in your photos suggests that Reno is a big supporter of Amtrak service. Since the Zephyr is the only train that serves Reno, I would thus venture that Reno is actively supportive of long distance Amtrak service. That is good.
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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Vicki, your photos remind me of my journey north from sunny dry Death Valley to Mammoth in winter. On the distant southbound lanes of US395 we saw so many cars with what we thought were large white cartop carriers. Whoops, those weren't cartop carriers. It was 2 feet of snow on any vehicle that had stood motionless. We ended up stranded in a 2 day 7 foot snow dump in Mammoth. Loved every minute of it, including wondering where to start digging for our car somewhere in front of our motel door.
mr williams Member # 1928
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Reno is very supportive of Amtrak and has been lobbying hard for two extra trains a day each way by extending the Corridor service from Sacramento. I remember reading several years ago that they hoped to have them running by 2009 but it got out put back a) due to budget cuts and b) serious oppsition from Union Pacific who are apparantly adamant that no extra passenger trains will run on the line without double-tracking some sections. So for the foreseeable future, apart from the CZ, there are only the three daily roundtrip Thruway buses to Sacramento.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Nice Pictures Ms. Vicki,
No ponies or bagpipers (or sheep which are popular in other quarters I hear) but still nice none-the-less.
Seriously though -
I'm curious whether the waiting room in the old Reno station with that beautiful arched ceiling is still the waiting room used by Amtrak passengers? I know there is a new lower waiting area at trackside which is certainly OK BUT nothing as attractive as the room I'm seeing here.
HopefulRailUser Member # 4513
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I believe it is still the waiting room. It was open, the restrooms are at that end. The desk was not staffed as there is a desk in the new wing. I didn't see what there was down stairs at trackside other than the little you can see from the overpass. But the buildings were continuous with the museum collection and pictures of the project and it's history in the connecting part.
George Harris Member # 2077
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quote:Originally posted by mr williams: Reno is very supportive of Amtrak and has been lobbying hard for two extra trains a day each way by extending the Corridor service from Sacramento. I remember reading several years ago that they hoped to have them running by 2009 but it got out put back a) due to budget cuts and b) serious oppsition from Union Pacific who are apparantly adamant that no extra passenger trains will run on the line without double-tracking some sections.
The line used to be fully double tracked. The SP pulled up part of the second track and used the material on the Sunset Route after UP took over the WP. At the time they did that, a lot of the former through traffic had been diverted to the ex WP line by UP, reducing significantly the traffic volume across Donner. Now that UP has taken over SP, quite a bit if traffic is back. Not only because of total rail traffic growth, but also because the Donner Pass route is quite a bit shorter than the Feather River route.
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