5 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

This thread is for discussion of our travels together on Train #5(12), the westbound California Zephyr, from Chicago to Salt Lake City.

[pennyk]

CZ 5 is running 5+ hours late. Chris may well arrive in SLC before the 9 of us.

[KevinKorell]

It turned out that while 49 was 3 hours late, it could have been 4 or 4-1/2 hours late and we still would have made the California Zephyr westbound. The Metropolitan Lounge was its usual bedlam when there are multiple long distance trains departing. An announcement was made that trains 5 and 21 were not ready, and that it would be another 45 minutes to an hour before they would be boarded. Then 21 (the Texas Eagle) was boarded. The a further announcement warned it may be another hour for 5 as well as 7/27, the Empire Builder. They also boarded 3 (Southwest Chief). Finally Train 5 was called, and off we went. We ended up leaving Chicago 3:36 PM, so we were 1 hour 36 minutes down out of the starting gate. The only reason publicly given for the delay by the lounge staff was that there were mechanical issues. It was heard over a scanner that our train was missing an engine. Knowing the Zephyr has recently been having timekeeping issues, we did not appreciate the late start, clearly the fault of Amtrak. Almost another half hour was lost in western Illinois where we stopped before a segment that had double track but BNSF had parked some freights on it. Coming in the other direction was an also-delayed eastbound Zephyr, #6. We had slipped to three hours late by Iowa, some slow running due to storms in the area. Just west of Ottumwa there were some signals out so we crept for certain stretches. Awoke this morning to a FIVE hour delay, so we crept more than most of us realized. Hoping now to get into Denver before lunchtime, and dreading a possible 3 or 4 AM arrival into Salt Lake City. More updates to follow!

[KevinKorell]

The 10 of us had our entire lunch in the train's diner while at Denver Union Station, thus we never got to go outside. The Denver station stop was longer than the timetable calls for despite the promises by the crew try to make up some time. Then as we thought we were leaving, we pulled up and then backed once more to pick up 4 private cars. Great, more weight for our engines to pull uphill. We did lose a little more additional time going up the Front Range. We noticed that our consist has one P42 and one P40, rather than two P42's, which could have been the difference in how we climbed the Rockies especially with the private vehicles in the consist. At Granby and Glenwood Springs, we were almost 6 hours late. One other factor was a meet with #6, which strangely is one of the California Zephyrs that was running on time at that moment. Currently we're on the downswing from the Rockies, headed next for Grand Junction and then across the desert in Utah, which will be in darkness anyhow. We are estimating an arrival somewhere between 3:30 AM and 5 AM, depending who you talk to, so it's going to be a rough night. Some of us will try to get some of that sleep while still aboard the train. I also decided to change our Salt Lake City itinerary to eliminate riding the Airport TRAX Green Line on Monday, to give us a later start. Instead we can ride it after FrontRunner and before dinner on Tuesday.

[KevinKorell]

Bill got off at Grand Junction, CO as his most recent plans called for. He will resurface with us in Denver later this week. Group down to 9 the until we get to Salt Lake City. We supposedly worked out logistics of how we will sleep on the train and then ensure we are all awake in time to detrain in Salt Lake City in the wee hours. We hopefully have each other covered to ensure that 9 of us detrain together and don't leave any fellow participants or belongings behind.

[KevinKorell]

Amtrak gave Bill plenty of time to detrain in Grand Junction, sitting there almost an hour. I'm sure he had time to catch a cab, get to his hotel, and commence sleeping before we were out of there. So at that point Train #5(12) exceeded the 6 hour mark. We made sure all were awake after we left Provo. Once in Salt Lake City the total damage for us was 5 hours 26 minutes late, as we arrived 4:31 AM. Off we went to respective hotels, promising to meet 6 hours later back at the same station.