CZ-page-1
Tickets and Photos from our California Zephyr trip in 1968
This may be of interest to fans of the Western Pacific and California Zephyr.
In 1968, my family went to Ohio to visit my mom's relatives. We took the California Zephyr both ways, in Pullman, the only time I rode Pullman operated sleepers. The next time I rode in a sleeping car, the Pullman Company was long gone and the train was run by Amtrak.
This was the original WP-Rio Grande-Burlington CZ. Today's Amtrak train follows the same route east of Winnemucca, Nevada, but uses the former SP route west of Winnemucca. The WP line runs through the Feather River Canyon, crossing the Sierra about 2000 feet lower in elevation than SP's Donner Pass.
We left Sacramento on 18 Jul, arriving in Chicago 20 July. Our return trip was 31 July to 2 August.
At the time we left, the ICC was considering WP's petition to discontinue their portion of the train, which had been losing money for some years. We thought that we might have to go home on the Milwaukee-UP-SP City of San Francisco, the SP leg of which was also up for discontinuance, or the Santa Fe's San Francisco Chief. In the event, the ICC told the WP to continue running the train, and it lasted until March 1970 on the WP.
I had more photos of the trip, but sometime after I moved out, my mom or dad went through all the family photo albums and consolidated a bunch of albums into fewer books. While I really don't mind them having gotten rid of old photos from their Navy days of people whom I never knew, unfortunately, they also got rid of some photos from the CZ trip that I remember having seen in the old albums for years.
Our trains had typical power for the period, an FP7 and 2 B units, either F3B or F7B, on WP, an ABBBA formation of Fs on the Rio Grande and 3 E units on the Burlington.
The CZ's standard consist that summer was baggage car, flat top coach, 3 dome coaches, dome dorm buffet lounge (Cable Car Room), diner, 5 or 6 sleepers and the dome sleeper observation car.
Our trains both had odd cars. The eastbound train had an NP sleeper right behind the baggage car that was used as the crew dorm because the dome buffet car had a coach section instead of a dorm. It was a Burlington substitute car that had a couple of cable car models but was missing the big photo mural of the Hyde Street hill in the regular cars.
The CZ had a 6 bedroom-5 compartment car, and the schedules for that summer also show an 11 bedroom car. Eastbound, the 11 BR car, was, IIRC, a Burlington car that looked like the regular CZ cars. Westbound, we had an SP 11 BR car just ahead of the obs, which was different inside and out from the CZ cars. Between Denver and SLC, we also had one of the Rio Grande's Chessie dome coaches between the flat top coach and the baggage car that showed in one photo that is no longer with us. That car, too, was quite a bit different from the CZ cars.
The service was everything that the books say that CZ service was, with attentive crews, good food in the diner and buffet and, of course the domes and the scenery to look at from the domes.
Funny enough, once we boarded the train, I never got off until Chicago. These days, I'll join the crowds taking stroll on the platform at stops, but Mom, Dad and I stayed on the whole way.
I seem to recall us being a bit late into Chicago, but not much. Westbound was another matter as when I awoke the last morning, somewhere east of Portola and went to the dome, we stayed stopped in a siding somewhere in the desert for over an hour waiting for a freight. We were about 3 hours late getting into Sacramento and I remember the Zephyrette coming around offering to send telegrams to people to warn them the train was late.
It was quite the trip.
CZ-page-1
Tickets and Photos from our California Zephyr trip in 1968
This may be of interest to fans of the Western Pacific and California Zephyr.
In 1968, my family went to Ohio to visit my mom's relatives. We took the California Zephyr both ways, in Pullman, the only time I rode Pullman operated sleepers. The next time I rode in a sleeping car, the Pullman Company was long gone and the train was run by Amtrak.
This was the original WP-Rio Grande-Burlington CZ. Today's Amtrak train follows the same route east of Winnemucca, Nevada, but uses the former SP route west of Winnemucca. The WP line runs through the Feather River Canyon, crossing the Sierra about 2000 feet lower in elevation than SP's Donner Pass.
We left Sacramento on 18 Jul, arriving in Chicago 20 July. Our return trip was 31 July to 2 August.
At the time we left, the ICC was considering WP's petition to discontinue their portion of the train, which had been losing money for some years. We thought that we might have to go home on the Milwaukee-UP-SP City of San Francisco, the SP leg of which was also up for discontinuance, or the Santa Fe's San Francisco Chief. In the event, the ICC told the WP to continue running the train, and it lasted until March 1970 on the WP.
I had more photos of the trip, but sometime after I moved out, my mom or dad went through all the family photo albums and consolidated a bunch of albums into fewer books. While I really don't mind them having gotten rid of old photos from their Navy days of people whom I never knew, unfortunately, they also got rid of some photos from the CZ trip that I remember having seen in the old albums for years.
Our trains had typical power for the period, an FP7 and 2 B units, either F3B or F7B, on WP, an ABBBA formation of Fs on the Rio Grande and 3 E units on the Burlington.
The CZ's standard consist that summer was baggage car, flat top coach, 3 dome coaches, dome dorm buffet lounge (Cable Car Room), diner, 5 or 6 sleepers and the dome sleeper observation car.
Our trains both had odd cars. The eastbound train had an NP sleeper right behind the baggage car that was used as the crew dorm because the dome buffet car had a coach section instead of a dorm. It was a Burlington substitute car that had a couple of cable car models but was missing the big photo mural of the Hyde Street hill in the regular cars.
The CZ had a 6 bedroom-5 compartment car, and the schedules for that summer also show an 11 bedroom car. Eastbound, the 11 BR car, was, IIRC, a Burlington car that looked like the regular CZ cars. Westbound, we had an SP 11 BR car just ahead of the obs, which was different inside and out from the CZ cars. Between Denver and SLC, we also had one of the Rio Grande's Chessie dome coaches between the flat top coach and the baggage car that showed in one photo that is no longer with us. That car, too, was quite a bit different from the CZ cars.
The service was everything that the books say that CZ service was, with attentive crews, good food in the diner and buffet and, of course the domes and the scenery to look at from the domes.
Funny enough, once we boarded the train, I never got off until Chicago. These days, I'll join the crowds taking stroll on the platform at stops, but Mom, Dad and I stayed on the whole way.
I seem to recall us being a bit late into Chicago, but not much. Westbound was another matter as when I awoke the last morning, somewhere east of Portola and went to the dome, we stayed stopped in a siding somewhere in the desert for over an hour waiting for a freight. We were about 3 hours late getting into Sacramento and I remember the Zephyrette coming around offering to send telegrams to people to warn them the train was late.
It was quite the trip.