DSC_0067-6-Winnemucca
29-30 March 2015 Colfax-Winnemucca Trip
I hadn't stayed in Winnemucca, Nevada, since 1969, when we stopped there on a family vacation. The town has some neon signs on the old main drag and Amtrak goes there, so, with the girls on their vacation, I took a short trip myself.
Somehow, I was late enough getting out of the house that I missed the train at Roseville. so I drove up the hill and caught it with plenty of time to spare at Colfax. The trip over the Sierra showed just how little snow we have this year.
This trip marked the 40th year in a row that I've ridden Amtrak over Donner Pass, covering at least the Colfax-Truckee segment. Some years it has been Sacramento or Roseville to Truckee or Reno, in 1976 it was Colfax-Reno on the first day Amtrak stopped at Colfax, other years, the Donner crossing was part of trips to Denver, Chicago or the east coast.
After Reno, we were in the Nevada desert for 3 hours as the sun went down on the way to Winnemucca. At Parran, out in the middle of nowhere, UP had dumped an intermodal train all over the ground a few days earlier and we slow ordered through the spilled stack cars and containers.
A freight followed the Zephyr out of town, heading onto the paired track at Weso a few miles out of town. The Zephyr had received an unusual yellow over green signal, "Approach Clear 50", probably to keep the train from going too fast before slowing for the crossover to the ex-WP at Weso.
Winnemucca has some decent neon and the night I was there, an SD70M parked on the former WP. UP has replaced the WP depot with a new yard office building. Some old outfit cars were also parked nearby.
The westbound Zephyr is due through Winnemucca at 0540, and although it was a few minutes late, that made for a pre-dawn wakeup and walk to the station. Since I'd last been through Winnemucca in 2010, the plastic bus shelter at the Amtrak platform has been replaced with a more substantial shelter, still not a fully enclosed station, but enough to keep the wind away and with heaters in the ceiling. An eastbound freight stopped on the siding to await #5.
There was lively conversation in the lounge car on #5 and the trip went quickly, despite the train holding for an hour due to MOW work in Truckee River Canyon. My photo of Mt. Judah on the westbound trip shows just how little snow there is up there.
After getting off the train at Colfax, I stopped at Applegate and got a couple of last photos of it as twisted through the pines.
I probably don't have enough years to do another 40 years of trips over Donner, but hope to keep it up as long as I can.
DSC_0067-6-Winnemucca
29-30 March 2015 Colfax-Winnemucca Trip
I hadn't stayed in Winnemucca, Nevada, since 1969, when we stopped there on a family vacation. The town has some neon signs on the old main drag and Amtrak goes there, so, with the girls on their vacation, I took a short trip myself.
Somehow, I was late enough getting out of the house that I missed the train at Roseville. so I drove up the hill and caught it with plenty of time to spare at Colfax. The trip over the Sierra showed just how little snow we have this year.
This trip marked the 40th year in a row that I've ridden Amtrak over Donner Pass, covering at least the Colfax-Truckee segment. Some years it has been Sacramento or Roseville to Truckee or Reno, in 1976 it was Colfax-Reno on the first day Amtrak stopped at Colfax, other years, the Donner crossing was part of trips to Denver, Chicago or the east coast.
After Reno, we were in the Nevada desert for 3 hours as the sun went down on the way to Winnemucca. At Parran, out in the middle of nowhere, UP had dumped an intermodal train all over the ground a few days earlier and we slow ordered through the spilled stack cars and containers.
A freight followed the Zephyr out of town, heading onto the paired track at Weso a few miles out of town. The Zephyr had received an unusual yellow over green signal, "Approach Clear 50", probably to keep the train from going too fast before slowing for the crossover to the ex-WP at Weso.
Winnemucca has some decent neon and the night I was there, an SD70M parked on the former WP. UP has replaced the WP depot with a new yard office building. Some old outfit cars were also parked nearby.
The westbound Zephyr is due through Winnemucca at 0540, and although it was a few minutes late, that made for a pre-dawn wakeup and walk to the station. Since I'd last been through Winnemucca in 2010, the plastic bus shelter at the Amtrak platform has been replaced with a more substantial shelter, still not a fully enclosed station, but enough to keep the wind away and with heaters in the ceiling. An eastbound freight stopped on the siding to await #5.
There was lively conversation in the lounge car on #5 and the trip went quickly, despite the train holding for an hour due to MOW work in Truckee River Canyon. My photo of Mt. Judah on the westbound trip shows just how little snow there is up there.
After getting off the train at Colfax, I stopped at Applegate and got a couple of last photos of it as twisted through the pines.
I probably don't have enough years to do another 40 years of trips over Donner, but hope to keep it up as long as I can.