DSC_0434-Truckee-UP-1943
Amtrak to Truckee, California, 7 February 2020
My wife and I took Amtrak's California Zephyr from Roseville to Truckee, California for the weekend of 7 to 10 February.
Our trip marked the 45th year in a row that I've ridden Amtrak over Donner Pass. In February 1975, I was one of several fans on the San Francisco Zephyr en route to Denver for a UP 8444 excursion. That was the trip when the big 4-8-4 had valve problems and could not restart the train on Sherman Hill. UP backed us down to Cheyenne and rescued the train with a couple of E-units.
Since then I've gone at least one way between Colfax and Truckee every year. I had another trip to Reno in 1975 where I met several British railfans with whom I'm still in touch and which resulting in my 1980 trip to Europe, India and Sri Lanka. On Halloween 1976, a friend and I hoped aboard the Zephyr in Colfax when we discovered about a dozen cars on the end that would be returning that night...it was the first day the Zephyr stopped in Colfax under Amtrak and the Colfax Chamber of Commerce ran an excursion back that night. The last two ex-SP FP7s were on that trip along with SDP40Fs.
In 1977, the Zephyr was the frist leg of a USA Rail Pass trip. In 1978, it was my vehicle home from Air Force tech school.
There were 17 years of trips with the CSRM docent on the train program, numerous trips Anne and I made to Truckee for weekends away, usually staying as we did this time, at the Truckee Hotel a block from the station. There have been 6 trips to the east coast to visit Anne's family, 3 with the kids when they were small. Trips to Chicago, Denver or Utah for railfan events, or vacations.
The mountain remains much the same, although SP pulled out the double track at a couple of spots in 1993 and the Norden shed complex is smaller than it used to be. But the view from Cape Horn hasn't changed since Alfred Hart took stereo photos of the C P Huntington stopped on the cliff and Donner Lake still is a gem in the snow of winter or the green of summer.
As often happens with Amtrak, our train was late on 7 February. It left Sacramento on time, but his a trespasser shortly after leaving the station. The trespasser was not badly injured and ran off, but the train had to stop and the police were notified and investigated. In the meantime, freights and light engines, including a Canadian Pacific unit came and went. Eventually a P5 horn was heard in the distance and the train arrived, about 2 1/2 hours late. We settled in and enjoyed the ride, arriving in Truckee after the sun had dipped behind the mountains.
The railfan websites had been reporting that UP 1943 was coming west and was supposed to be in Latrop, California that evening. I figured that we had missed the unit, but I was out on the balcony of the Truckee Hotel when a westbound passed with the WW2 commemorative unit in the lead. Not the best photo of the unit, but it was well after dark.
DSC_0434-Truckee-UP-1943
Amtrak to Truckee, California, 7 February 2020
My wife and I took Amtrak's California Zephyr from Roseville to Truckee, California for the weekend of 7 to 10 February.
Our trip marked the 45th year in a row that I've ridden Amtrak over Donner Pass. In February 1975, I was one of several fans on the San Francisco Zephyr en route to Denver for a UP 8444 excursion. That was the trip when the big 4-8-4 had valve problems and could not restart the train on Sherman Hill. UP backed us down to Cheyenne and rescued the train with a couple of E-units.
Since then I've gone at least one way between Colfax and Truckee every year. I had another trip to Reno in 1975 where I met several British railfans with whom I'm still in touch and which resulting in my 1980 trip to Europe, India and Sri Lanka. On Halloween 1976, a friend and I hoped aboard the Zephyr in Colfax when we discovered about a dozen cars on the end that would be returning that night...it was the first day the Zephyr stopped in Colfax under Amtrak and the Colfax Chamber of Commerce ran an excursion back that night. The last two ex-SP FP7s were on that trip along with SDP40Fs.
In 1977, the Zephyr was the frist leg of a USA Rail Pass trip. In 1978, it was my vehicle home from Air Force tech school.
There were 17 years of trips with the CSRM docent on the train program, numerous trips Anne and I made to Truckee for weekends away, usually staying as we did this time, at the Truckee Hotel a block from the station. There have been 6 trips to the east coast to visit Anne's family, 3 with the kids when they were small. Trips to Chicago, Denver or Utah for railfan events, or vacations.
The mountain remains much the same, although SP pulled out the double track at a couple of spots in 1993 and the Norden shed complex is smaller than it used to be. But the view from Cape Horn hasn't changed since Alfred Hart took stereo photos of the C P Huntington stopped on the cliff and Donner Lake still is a gem in the snow of winter or the green of summer.
As often happens with Amtrak, our train was late on 7 February. It left Sacramento on time, but his a trespasser shortly after leaving the station. The trespasser was not badly injured and ran off, but the train had to stop and the police were notified and investigated. In the meantime, freights and light engines, including a Canadian Pacific unit came and went. Eventually a P5 horn was heard in the distance and the train arrived, about 2 1/2 hours late. We settled in and enjoyed the ride, arriving in Truckee after the sun had dipped behind the mountains.
The railfan websites had been reporting that UP 1943 was coming west and was supposed to be in Latrop, California that evening. I figured that we had missed the unit, but I was out on the balcony of the Truckee Hotel when a westbound passed with the WW2 commemorative unit in the lead. Not the best photo of the unit, but it was well after dark.