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OTOL Rockies RailFest 2014 Trip Report


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#1 KevinKorell

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Posted 04 April 2016 - 11:10 AM

Trip Report
OTOL Rockies RailFest 2014
July 12-19, 2014
by Kevin Korell
with photos by Jishnu Mukerji and Steve Weagant



Chapter 0: Introduction
 
Another weeklong summer railfanning event has taken place, and once more we bring back memories of a wonderful week on the rails. Rockies RailFest (RRF) 2014 was conceived several years ago, to make use of the transit opportunities available to us in the Salt Lake City and Denver areas, as well as taking the scenic ride on Amtrak's California Zephyr to, from, and between those cities. Originally this Fest was being planned for the Summer of 2011. When it became apparent that additions to those transit systems (such as UTA TRAX Airport and Draper extensions, UTA S-LINE streetcar, UTA FrontRunner South, and Denver's West light rail line) were all set to be coming online between 2012 and 2014, it was decided to postpone this trip until 2014 to allow time for it to be refined to include the newer segments that would be coming online by then.

When the initial trip was put together we found that to just do Salt Lake City and then go east to Denver would result in an uncomfortable eastbound departure time, scheduled to leave Salt Lake City at around 3:30 AM. To avoid that, it was decided to instead leave Salt Lake City in the westbound direction at around 11:30 PM, go to Reno, and then return east on the Zephyr from Reno that afternoon. While this would add almost 1200 extra miles to each person's round trip, the feeling was that it would result overall in better calling times for us, and also better fill out our week of activities on the rails.


Kevin Korell


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#2 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 April 2016 - 10:48 PM

Chapter 1: Preparation

As the exact dates and activities for RRF 2014 came into focus, the event was officially announced, and access was given to all for the homepage which provided a synopsis of the week as well as links to many other helpful pages. To facilitate planning, this trip's tentative itinerary was also made available. As always, the itinerary carried the "temporary" prefix until we executed it. And as readers will see, some minor changes did have to be made.

As was the case on previous Fests through Chicago, no official Fest trip segments were created for travel east of Chicago. While a high percentage of our participants do live along the East Coast, traditionally they prefer to travel to and from the Fest on different days and even different trains.

After folks made their Amtrak travel plans, it became apparent that six of us would be on the westbound Lake Shore Limited leaving New York. So with so many together, that trip will be reported on here, even though the first "official" trip of the Fest was the first westbound run on the California Zephyr.

Several months in advance, Bill Magee began to track the on-time performance of the trains involved in our Fest, as well as others that participants might be interested in. He published the results on our board. Unfortunately as we got closer to our event, Amtrak trains were going through a particularly difficult period with timekeeping. The California Zephyr was not doing well especially across Nebraska, and a freight derailment there in early July did not help things. Even the Lake Shore Limited was not doing well, habitually losing time westbound across New York State.

Therefore, our ability to make connections became a major concern to us. Our talk about this Fest became more pessimistic than ever before as we had to at least think about considering a "Plan B" just in case we got stranded in, for instance, Chicago. Some of us even made an extra backup hotel reservation at a hotel near Chicago's Midway Airport just in case our Lake Shore Limited might arrive after the California Zephyr had already left.

Keeping hopeful, the Fest participants set out from their respective homes and headed out for what we anticipated would be an interesting week on the rails full of at least close connections.


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#3 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 April 2016 - 10:50 PM

Chapter 2: Getting to the Fest

For Penny Jacobs and Dick McCauley, travel began on Thursday, July 10th as they left the Orlando and Winter Haven stations respectively and headed north on Amtrak's Silver Meteor. They would arrive in New York on Friday to meet the others travelling west from there.

As usual for me, I parked in Cherry Hill, NJ. When I got there, I was surprised to see Bill (who lives in that town) had come to see me off. We walked together to the train platform and talked until my train came. By combining air travel with train travel, Bill would make two other appearances at RRF at different times along the way; I'd next see him the following day in Chicago.

My NJ TRANSIT train left Cherry Hill four minutes late, and then was further delayed at the Pennsauken station by an opening of the Delair Bridge just ahead. Arrival into Philadelphia was 10:46 AM, which was 19 minutes late. I still had about an hour until my next train, and I used the time to have lunch within 30th Street Station. Then I took Amtrak Keystone Service #646 from there into New York, arriving at 1:01 PM, nine minutes early.

Once at New York's Club Acela, I met Penny and Dick, whose train had arrived on time from Florida. One successful connection for them, but many still ahead to worry about. The three of us went across to the Stage Door Deli where we had a meal that for me would be a second lunch.

Later back at the Club Acela, we were joined by Jishnu Mukerji, at that time still a Short Hills, NJ resident but in the process of moving to Florida. Also Alan Burden came in from Queens, and his mother Grace arrived by bus from Pennsylvania. That made our initial group of six complete for the Lake Shore Limited adventure.

Chapter 2.1: Amtrak Lake Shore Limited, Train #49(11), New York, NY to Chicago, IL

We got the boarding call for Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited at about 3:30 PM, and by five minutes later, we were all in our rooms. Coach passengers were being loaded from the main waiting room to the other end of the train, so that it should have been ready to depart on time at 3:40 PM. But it wasn't; we dwelled another two minutes before getting the okay to proceed. At 3:42 PM, what should have been about an 18-hour trip had begun.

Lake Shore Limited, Train #49(11)

713 P-32AC-DM locomotive (NYP-ALB)
104 P-42 locomotive
88 P-42 locomotive
1754 Baggage
62036 Viewliner sleeper
25091 Amfleet II coach
25054 Amfleet II coach
28019 Amfleet II Diner Lite
25055 Amfleet II coach
25105 Amfleet II coach
25110 Amfleet II coach
8400 Viewliner diner
62040 Viewliner sleeper *
62014 Viewliner sleeper **
1754 Baggage



Boston section (BOS-CHI)
New York section (NYP-CHI)
* 4911 car: Penny, Dick, & Jishnu were here NYP-CHI
** 4912 car: Grace, Alan, & I were here NYP-CHI

About 20 minutes into our trip, we were passed by Empire Service train 284. Shortly after that, the Lead Service Attendant from our dining car came by to take dinner reservations. Our group had already agreed to take the 5 PM seating, to avoid having to wait until after the long Albany stop. That would prove to be a worthwhile decision.

The first of many intermediate station stops was Croton-Harmon, NY. Three of the four people who took a quick Monday morning points run round trip during our January fest were aboard this train returning to the scene. However this time there was of course no snow on the ground. Five minutes late departing Croton-Harmon, we had lost three more since leaving New York City.

Another Empire Service train, 242, passed us at 4:50 PM. Those of us in the 4912 sleeper had by now met our attendant, Coco, who was very talkative and helpful to our needs. She was arguably one of the better attendants we would encounter on the entire weeklong journey. Come 5:00, our team of six headed for the dining car, and were pleased to see that we had lucked out once more in getting the 8400 prototype Viewliner dining car.

The parade of opposing Empire Service trains continued as Train 244 was stopped next to us at Poughkeepsie. We left there at 5:19 PM, now nine minutes down. More time lost, and it would never get better. We left our next station stop, Rhinecliff, NY, at 5:34 PM, five minutes late. Then later we passed through the Hudson station at 5:53 PM. Just a few minutes later, we passed the Adirondack, Train 68, headed from Montreal to New York.

Our Lake Shore Limited's New York section arrived into Albany at 6:24 PM, just four minutes behind schedule. With that performance we should get out of Albany right on time! Wrong! While we had arrived on time, the eastbound Lake Shore Limited was several hours late. It arrived on an adjacent track right after we did. And the westbound Boston section of our train (449) occupied the third of the three available tracks. Since multiple tracks are needed by each train in their splitting or assembling operations, this had to pose a problem.

While there is simply too much to recount happening here that all contributed to our delay, suffice to say that besides handling the two sections of both Lake Shore Limiteds, during our time in Albany the eastbound Maple Leaf, Train 64, arrived from Toronto and left for New York. Also, not one but two northbound Empire Service trains, 255 and 237, arrived and then had to be shuttled into the yard. (The former must have been delayed since it should have come into Albany before us.) The Boston section of our train had to move forward onto a yard track to allow the eastbound Lake Shore Limited's activities as well as those other arrivals and departures to take place before it could back onto our New York section.

The newly combined westbound Lake Shore Limited (Train 49/449) departed from Albany at 8:11 PM, now one hour 6 minutes behind schedule. About half an hour later, we were leaving Schenectady after a double spot, causing us to lose another few minutes. By Utica, with our beds now down for the night, we departed at 10:07 PM, one hour 23 minutes off the advertised. At this rate we could not have any renewed optimism on our making our connection in Chicago as we turned in for the night.

Overnight, another double spot in Syracuse greeted us. We departed from that station at 11:29 PM now one hour 48 minutes down. We will rejoin this trip the next morning as the adventure continued!


Kevin Korell


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#4 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 April 2016 - 10:54 PM

Chapter 3: Saturday, July 12, 2014

The first official day of Rockies RailFest 2014 would see six people arriving into Chicago on the Lake Shore Limited, while another four would join for the trip west on the California Zephyr.

Chapter 3.0: Amtrak Lake Shore Limited, Train #49(11), New York, NY to Chicago, IL (continued)

Awakening shortly before 6 AM to make the first call for breakfast, one would have hoped we would already be in Toledo or close to it. Instead, the city of Cleveland was outside our windows. When we left there at 5:49 AM, we had surpassed the two hour mark, at two hours 4 minutes late. At least we would be able to eat breakfast and then have time to stretch our legs at the eventual Toledo station stop.

Elyria, OH came at 6:17 AM, which put us just under two hours late. at 7:05 AM, we met the next day's eastbound Lake Shore Limited, for which we unfortunately had to yield to on a siding thus losing even more time. By the time we departed from Sandusky, OH after another double spot at 7:20 AM, we were two hours 25 minutes off the mark. We still had yet to see the Toledo crew change point or the expected delays across Indiana.

We finally came into Toledo at 8:14 AM and had time to spend off the train walking around. The dwell ended at 8:38 AM as our fresh crew took us west now two hours 23 minutes late. Unfortunately for us, about 20 minutes out of Toledo we again went into the hole, this time for a freight train to pass. We spent another 20 minutes making no progress at all before proceeding once more.

Waterloo, IN came at 10:22 AM, followed by Elkhardt, IN at 11:39 AM. By now our tardiness had surpassed the three hour mark. It was 12:07 PM Eastern Time when we left out last intermediate stop, South Bend, IN. We were three hours 18 minutes late at that point. The only question was whether padding would bring us back to about three hour late, or would we lose even more time?

The former would end up being true. Now in Central Time, we passed through LaPorte, IN at 11:26 AM, and Chesterton, IN at 11:43 AM. We finally came to the bumping post at Chicago's Union Station at 12:45 PM CDT, exactly three hours down. Gone, therefore, was one worry about making our connection to the California Zephyr. We all detrained and made our way to the Metropolitan Lounge.

Chapter 3.1: In Chicago

Once in Chicago's Metropolitan Lounge we met up with other participants. Steve Weagant lives in Chicago, so he was simply beginning his trip there. Mike Hammond along with his new wife Kim were there too, having arrived from hometown Cleveland by bus. And there was Bill once more, who had flown earlier that day from Philadelphia to Chicago. Our travelling party had now reached ten people.

First order of business as we came into the lounge was to cancel those emergency hotel reservations we had made for Chicago, since we had arrived with enough time to make our first connection. Lunch had not been served on the Lake Shore Limited despite the delay, and we were resigned to going without a meal until dinnertime on the next train. However, fate would deal us another blow with a silver lining.

An announcement was made in the lounge that not only our train, but also the Empire Builder and Texas Eagle would all be departing late. The lounge attendant making this announcement was honest enough to give us the reason: No engines with which to operate them. Amtrak obviously had a serious an engine shortage worsened by the perpetual delay conditions. Our train's delayed departure meant that some of us who were hungry could take a walk through the station and get a quick lunch to bring back to the lounge. The other two trains eventually loaded, and then shortly past 3 PM, it was finally time for us to queue up in preparation for boarding.

Chapter 3.2: Amtrak California Zephyr, Train #5(12), Chicago, IL to Salt Lake City, UT

California Zephyr, Train #5(12)

199 P-42 locomotive
837 P-40 locomotive
1161 Baggage
39023 Superliner II Transition sleeper
34091 Superliner I coach
34100 Superliner I coach
34066 Superliner I coach
33029 Superliner II Sightseer Lounge
38059 Superliner II diner
32029 Superliner I sleeper *
32109 Superliner II sleeper "South Dakota" **
32062 Superliner I sleeper ***


* 531 car: Steve, Jishnu, Dick & I were here CHI-SLC, & Bill DEN-GJT
** 532 car: Grace, Alan, & Penny were here CHI-SLC
*** 530 car: Kim & Mike were here CHI-SLC, & Bill CHI-DEN

The California Zephyr departed at 3:36 PM from Chicago, making us already one hour 36 minutes down at the start of this journey. As things turned out, had the Lake Shore Limited been as much as 4-1/2 hours late, we still would have made this connection. It would only get worse -- much worse -- as we went along.

Our Naperville stop at 4:10 PM came at the same deficit. Then shortly past Aurora, we found ourselves sitting on a siding for 23 minutes, while we waited for the eastbound California Zephyr, Train 6, to pass. Meanwhile, the ten of us all agreed upon a 5:30 PM dinner seating, for which we informed the dining car staff when they came around taking reservations. Over the course of our trip we got to know the pattern the Lead Service Attendant would follow, so that we could ensure that our large group got the desired meal seating.

We passed through Leland, IL at 5:15 PM. A bit after that, we assembled from our three sleeping cars and made our way towards the diner. During our meal we also passed through Mendota, IL at 5:33 PM and made a station stop at Princeton, IL at 5:54 PM -- now two hours 10 minutes late. We passed through the town of Kewanee, IL at 6:25 PM, as we were just completing our dinner.

By Galesburg, still more time was lost. When we departed from that station at 7:07 PM, we were now two hours 29 minutes off the mark. We also were holding up the eastbound Carl Sandburg (Train 382) from entering the Galesburg station. Our next potential obstacle ahead would be the Mississippi River, which we would cross at Burlington, IA and which had recently flooded due to heavy rains.

We crossed the river bridge at about 7:55 PM. Initially the river did not look too swollen. However when we stopped at the Burlington station there was water very close to the station building. We left Burlington 8:03 PM, now two hours 34 minutes off the advertised. More rain was encountered as we made our way across Iowa. We had lost a few minutes each at the Mt. Pleasant and Ottumwa stations. We heard as we left Ottumwa that our host railroad, BNSF Railway, had imposed slow orders due to signals being out. Just what we needed, but it would turn out to be a good thing, as we would find out just past Osceola.

When we left that station at 11:33 PM, we were three hours 24 minutes late. Not long after that departure, those with scanners heard the crew talking about a fallen tree blocking the tracks. One of the conductors happened to have a chainsaw, which he used to cut the tree and remove it from the right-of-way. Another delay, but our slow orders did pay off!

Chapter 3.3: End of Saturday's activities

Aboard the westbound California Zephyr we retired for the night and looked forward to an entire day on the rails as we continued west.


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#5 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:09 PM

Chapter 4: Sunday, July 13, 2014

Sunday saw ten of us travelling west on the California Zephyr. Nine of us made it all the way to our destination, but Sunday night would come and go before we got there!

Chapter 4.0: Amtrak California Zephyr, Train #5(12), Chicago, IL to Salt Lake City, UT (continued)

Awakening on Sunday morning was confusing. The dining car crew had told us that they would be operating on Mountain Time, but when we awoke our train was so late that we were still in Central Time. Upon arising we already knew we were very late, but we wondered how much further damage to our timekeeping we had incurred overnight. That answer came as we stopped in Hastings, NE - a place we never expected to see by daylight. When we left there at 6:48 AM Central Time, we were just over FIVE hours late! So with the fallen tree incident and continued slow orders, meets with other trains, plus the concern of a recent freight derailment site in Nebraska that we had passed, we lost another hour and a half since we went to sleep. One could say that late trains provide more quality time aboard, but when one is facing an unfriendly arrival time and almost no sleep before a day full of planned activities, some of the fun does diminish from the trip. Already facing an 11 PM arrival into Salt Lake City, being five hours late would put us in there at around 4 AM.

As we walked to the dining car for breakfast, we passed through the appropriately named Nebraska town of Funk at 7:29 AM Central, which was 6:29 in the Mountain Time we would not see for another several hours. A few minutes later after we were seated in the dining car, we made a station stop at Holdrege, NE. We left there at 7:34 AM, still exactly five hours behind schedule.

About an hour after Holdrege, we passed through the town of Indianola, NE. Then a few minutes later we came to a stop at McCook, NE. When we departed from McCook, our last scheduled station stop in the Central time zone, it was 8:45 AM and we were still over five hours behind. The next town we could distinguish was Wiggins, CO, which we passed through at 9:38 AM Mountain Time. The next and only station stop remaining before Denver was Fort Morgan, CO. We departed from that station at 10:19 AM, which put us five hours 14 minutes tardy. We should have been well beyond Denver by now, in fact up in the Rockies having left Fraser-Winter Park. We were in this trip for the long run, so all we could do is sit back and endure it.

Our ten participants agreed to have dinner around 12 Noon Mountain Time, which at this point we figured would be around the time of our train's calling at Denver. As we began to see more civilization as we moved into the Denver suburbs, our crew announced that we should be arriving there around 11:30 AM, and to expect some short and reverse movements as we positioned ourselves to back into Denver Union Station. We were also told that our station time would be kept to a minimum, in an effort to make up some of the time we had lost along the route. That would never happen!

We came to a stop at the Denver platform at 12:03 PM. With padding we had arrived a mere four hours 48 minute late. Ah, maybe there was some potential after all that we could get to Salt Lake City before 4 AM! Nevertheless, some of us called our respective Salt Lake City hotels during our Denver stop to inform them that we were still coming, albeit very late. Our Denver stop did indeed find us at our lunch tables in the dining car. We never got the needed chance to stretch our legs in Denver, but we would have plenty of time on the ground in this city later in the week. Eating was important too, particularly with many of us now two time zones from home. Our entire meal ended up taking place while we were stationary, which sure simplified the pouring of drinks.

We appeared to be departing from Denver at 12:52 PM which if that were the truth we would have indeed made up time being four hours 47 minutes late. But we weren't really leaving! Instead we moved forward a bit, and then backed down an adjacent track. We were picking up four private cars that our train was hauling west from here. This added more time to our Denver dwell. We therefore didn't really leave town until 1:17 PM, which put us back at five hours 12 minutes down. Whatever time was made up at the platform and with arrival padding was lost with the private car operation.

On our way out of Denver, we saw heavy construction of the new RTD commuter rail lines adjacent to our track. It became obvious that the commuter rail will rely on heavy grade separation including no interaction with the freight lines that Amtrak uses. As we turned west towards the mountains, construction of one of the lines -- the G (Gold) Line to Wheat Ridge -- continued next to our track. By 2 PM, we began the twists and turns that represented our climb into the Rocky Mountains. This for some is the highlight of the trip; as we turned in various directions we could see Denver and its suburbs fading into the distance. The name of this Fest had now been validated!

We heard from Kevin Noell of Michigan, who would be joining us later in the week. He was headed west from Chicago to California on the California Zephyr that was supposed to leave one day after we did. He reported that this train was once more delayed in Chicago due to a lack of available engines. Our next trip would be on the following westbound Zephyr, and with this trend we could not be optimistic about our next Amtrak trip from Salt Lake City to Reno.

Slow running through the mountains with our extra cars on the rear made our deficit even worse. Our train was close five hours 50 minutes late as we made our stops at Fraser-Winter Park and Granby. Dinner came around 5 PM Mountain Time, as the ten of us enjoyed the mountain scenery from the dining car. Then back in our accommodations, we stopped at Glenwood Springs at 7:41 PM.

One scenic aspect of the downhill westbound trip from the Rockies is that it follows the Colorado River. The river alternates on either side of the train as the tracks cross on bridges over it. A big summer sport on this river is rafting. And an off-shoot of this sport is the rafters taking down their pants and mooning the train. Despite the unreliable timekeeping of the train, the rafters seem to know it is coming and are prepared to bare their backsides. Had our trip been any later, we would have been spared this spectacle by darkness.

As we approached Grand Junction, the crew announced we would be making a ten-minute stop there. We arrived at 9:28 PM. Bill left us here, to travel to a hotel and then fly home the next day. He would resurface with us later in the week. He reported that he had to wait a while for an available taxicab, but when he finally left, our train was still sitting in the station. He was at his hotel before our train got out of town. There was no explanation from the new crew why we were there for so long. When we finally left Grand Junction at 10:14 PM, we were five hours 55 minutes down.

Together we contemplated various scenarios where we might make up some time with padding, or get even worse being out of our scheduled travel window and arrive in daylight Monday morning. As a group we decided to try to go to sleep as we would any other night on the train, and then make sure we were all awake after passing Provo, the last Amtrak stop before Salt Lake City.

Meanwhile, aware that we would be arriving at an unpleasant time with broken sleep, I decided to use my alone time to reschedule our first activity, our light rail trip on the UTA Green Line to the airport. We could instead get this segment on Tuesday following our second FrontRunner trip. This would give us an extra hour to catch up on some sleep in our hotel rooms whenever we finally got to them.

Chapter 4.1: End of Sunday's activities

So Sunday night, which should have found us already in our hotels in Salt Lake City by midnight, ended up being an all-nighter as we attempted to sleep on the train knowing we would have awaken in the wee hours to detrain.


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#6 KevinKorell

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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:12 PM

Chapter 5: Monday, July 14, 2014

Monday was truly a very long day. Our arrival into Salt Lake City happened in the wee hours. During the day we would still accomplish all but one of our intended transit rides. The goal of the ten people involved was to ride the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) TRAX light rail, as well as their S-Line Streetcar.

Chapter 5.0: Amtrak California Zephyr, Train #5(12), Chicago, IL to Salt Lake City, UT (continued)

Most of us were aware of the stop in Provo, UT, which came at 3:32 AM. By that time we were six hours 6 minutes late. We made sure everyone was awake and prepared to detrain upon arrival in Salt Lake City. Padding into that major station earned us back 40 minutes, so our 4:31 AM arrival was five hours 26 minutes down.

Once at the station, some took cabs or hotel shuttles, or walked to their respective accommodations. Checking in around 5 AM, despite the later start time we still only had several hours to catch up on sleep in a stationary bed.

Chris Wyatt, who originally was going to be coming in on the eastbound California Zephyr due in Salt Lake City in the wee hours about 4 hours after our westbound was due, was itself running very late, and did not get there until 8:45 AM. Meanwhile, Chris had already decided to fly rather than take this train so he could get a full night's sleep before the busy day's activities. He joined us at Central Station.

We had agreed to reassemble at 10:30 AM at Central Station, to begin our light rail activities for the day. Not everyone in the group was there however, as some would join us at stops closer to their hotels.

Chapter 5.1: UTA TRAX Blue Line, Central Station to Arena

Our revamped itinerary still called for us to take the UTA TRAX Green Line to West Valley City, but we would join it downtown rather than doing the airport turn first. To get to it at Arena station, we had to take the Blue Line first. Six of us (Grace, Alan, Penny, Jishnu, Dick, and I) left as scheduled at 10:42 AM, and got to Arena six minutes later. After detraining, we then had to wait about ten minutes to make our connection.

Chapter 5.2: UTA TRAX Green Line, Arena to West Valley Central

The initial half dozen at Arena boarded the Green Line at 10:58 AM. At the Temple station, Steve, Kim, and Mike boarded. And then Chris got on the same train at Gallivan Plaza. Our travelling party was back up to ten people. The Green Line shares trackage with the Red Line and Blue Line between downtown and the Central Pointe station in South Salt Lake. Half an hour later, we had wound our way through Salt Lake City's southern suburbs and had come to the line's end at the West Valley Central station in West Valley City. This put us across a busy street from the Valley Fair Mall, our designated lunch location.

Chapter 5.3: Lunch in West Valley City

We split up and went to various locations around the Valley Fair Mall for lunch. The mall has an indoor food court, and there are also many restaurants in its outparcels. We agreed to meet on the street corner across from the light rail station at around 1 PM to resume our day of transit riding.

Chapter 5.4: UTA TRAX Green Line, West Valley Central to Central Pointe

Dick left the group after lunch, to return directly downtown and handle some personal business of shipping belongings home. That left nine of us to proceed with the remainder of our rail activities.

After reassembling with our bellies full, we were ready to resume our program for the day. We left on the Green Line at 1:18, headed inbound. We only rode for 15 minutes to the junction at Central Pointe, which is also where the S-Line streetcar meets the rest of the system. Off this train, we negotiated the narrow connecting walkway to the streetcar platform, which is offset from those serving the light rail lines.

Chapter 5.5: UTA S-Line, Central Pointe to Fairmount

The S-Line streetcar uses vehicles just like the TRAX light rail lines, only they are painted silver. They make more frequent stops than the light rail lines. Two vehicles running on a coordinated schedule use a single track, with one double track station at the halfway point allowing them to pass one another. We left Central Pointe at 1:40 PM, and got to the other endpoint (Fairmont) at 1:52 PM, just 12 minutes later. Our layover at the endpoint we just 8 minutes, during which the operator changed ends.

SLINE.jpg
Group shot at Fairmount end of the S-Line Streetcar in South Salt Lake City. Photo by Jishnu Mukerji.

Chapter 5.6: UTA S-Line, Fairmount to Central Pointe

An identical 12 minute trip left Fairmont at 2:00 PM, and returned to Central Pointe at 2:12. We then walked back to the light rail platforms, and found the southbound one for our next ride down to Draper.

Chapter 5.7: UTA TRAX Blue Line, Central Pointe to Draper

The Blue Line is the main north-south element of the TRAX light rail system. It was originally built down to the city of Sandy, but was recently extended further south to Draper. Our trip left Central Pointe at 2:19 PM, and took half an hour from there to Draper Town Center. While there, we remained on the same train for its nine minute layover.

Chapter 5.8: UTA TRAX Blue Line, Draper to Fashion Place West

Having now reached the southernmost TRAX station, it was time to head north and see more of the area. This time we would go to Fashion Place West, where the Red Line meets the Blue Line. We left Draper at 2:58 PM, and by 3:16 PM we were at Fashion Place West.

Chapter 5.9: UTA TRAX Red Line, Fashion Place West to Daybreak Parkway

Our Red Line train left Fashion Place West at 3:21 PM. This line was built to serve a new self-sufficient housing community in the city of Jordan called Daybreak. But on the way it traverses wilderness, which brings about questions as to why this line was built with few ridership generators. While at one of the intermediate stations (South Jordan), a brave deer came right up to our train. The end of this line is at Daybreak Parkway, which we reached at 3:43 PM. Again the nine of us remained on board the train to escape the heat while our operator changed ends.

Chapter 5.10: UTA TRAX Red Line, Daybreak Parkway to Medical Center

Since the morning Green Line segment to the airport was moved to Tuesday, this Red Line trip became the longest TRAX light rail segment of our day, and the only one that we would be riding from one end to the other. We left Daybreak Parkway at 3:49 PM, and we would be on this run for exactly one hour. Our trip retraced our way back to the Fashion Place West station, where we rejoined the Blue Line, and then past Central Pointe once more. We headed downtown, and then branched off the trunk line past the Courthouse station to head east towards the University of Utah.

The line snakes its way up a hill, gradually running through the University itself, which is set on a plateau overlooking the city. The last stop, still within the University, is Medical Center. We got there at 4:49 PM, and once more remained on board since to take advantage of the train's air conditioning but also because the line was well patronized in both directions and we would have otherwise lost our seats.

Chapter 5.11: UTA TRAX Red Line, Medical Center to Trolley

Now the final segment that brought our group of nine to dinner was a rehash of the Red Line through the University, and down the hill to the Trolley station. We left Medical Center 4:58 PM, and got to Trolley at 5:10 PM. We had to walk a long block south from there to the Trolley Square mall.

Chapter 5.12: Dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory in Salt Lake City

Once at Trolley Square, we found the Old Spaghetti Factory on the upper level, and enjoyed dinner there. After a long, hot day it was nice to recharge and have a good, filling sit-down meal.

Chapter 5.13: UTA TRAX Red Line, Trolley to various downtown stops

Following dinner, we walked back to the Trolley station. Some opted to go to a place for dessert and thus took a later train. Meanwhile, the sky was getting dark and cloudy and it appeared we would be getting a severe storm. The six people who made the earlier Red Line train left Trolley at 6:55 PM, got to Courthouse at 7:01 PM, and walked the rest of the way to our respective hotels. The others left 15 minutes later, and then at Courthouse they switched to another line which took them closer to their hotel. Everyone luckily made it back indoors before the thunderstorms hit the area.

Chapter 5.14: End of Monday's activities

After a pre-dawn arrival in town and a long day of riding trains, we all deserved a full night's sleep in our respective hotel rooms. Our FrontRunner day in Salt Lake City awaited us, followed by what we already knew would be another very late night/early morning train departure.


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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:14 PM

Chapter 6: Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Tuesday was the fourth day of Rockies RailFest 2014, and the second full day in Salt Lake City. Today was our UTA FrontRunner commuter rail day. In addition we would make up the one TRAX trip that was postponed from Monday.

Chapter 6.1: UTA FrontRunner, Salt Lake City, UT (Central Station) to Provo, UT

Our group met once more at Central Station, getting there around 9:30 AM. The ten of us came by foot, light rail, and hotel shuttle to get there. We then located the southbound platform, noting that although most of the line is dedicated single track (separate from the adjacent Union Pacific freight line), this section has two tracks and they are situated on a left-handed basis. We departed on a southbound FrontRunner train at 9:41 AM, riding the newer half of the route towards Provo first.

This trip continued to run on time throughout our journey, getting to Provo after a little over an hour of travel at 10:42 AM. Just before arrival, we passed by the Provo Amtrak station, which is located a couple of blocks away and on the other side of the Union Pacific freight line. We only had an eight minute turnaround here, so we did not spend much time on the platform.

Chapter 6.2: UTA FrontRunner, Provo, UT to Salt Lake City, UT (Central Station)

At 10:50 AM we began to return northbound towards Salt Lake City. This trip also remained perfectly on time, bringing us back to Central Station at 11:50 AM.

Chapter 6.3: Lunch in Salt Lake City

This brought us to our lunch break, which most of us decided would be at The Gateway, a shopping and entertainment complex a few blocks east of Central Station. Because of the high temperatures and the long blocks, we used the Blue Line to transport us there and back. During the two hours allocated for lunch (aside from the travel time), we split into smaller groups, and had time to eat comfortably where we desired to. Many went to Jason's Deli, while others ate at various eateries in the mall's food court. There was time to sit and talk, and even shop for a while. Everyone eventually made it back to Central Station on for our afternoon activities.

Chapter 6.4: UTA FrontRunner, Salt Lake City, UT (Central Station) to Ogden, UT

This time we headed northbound from Salt Lake City on the original FrontRunner operating segment. Our train came in from Provo three minutes late, so we left at 1:53 PM. Our train remained three minutes late through our arrival into Ogden Transportation Center at 2:57 PM. Our group remained aboard the train for its scheduled 15-minute layover, which turned out to be 17 minutes.

It was known ahead of time that we would not be able to achieve full coverage of FrontRunner. The line continues another six miles to Pleasant View, but the right-of-way was not wide enough to build a dedicated track for FrontRunner. So with trackage shared with Union Pacific, the freight railroad only allows several rush hour trips per day to travel north of Ogden. While a round trip to Pleasant View and back could have been scheduled for our Fest, it would have made having dinner anywhere near a conventional dinnertime impossible. It was thus impossible for our group to "ace" the FrontRunner system, but upon our arrival in Ogden we had ridden it as much as we could have.

Chapter 6.5: UTA FrontRunner, Ogden, UT to Salt Lake City, UT (North Temple)

Originally our inbound trip would have taken us back to Salt Lake City's Central Station, from which we would have completed our rail activities and sought dinner. However, since we had some unfinished business to ride the TRAX Green Line, we instead would get off FrontRunner one station sooner at North Temple Bridge/Guadalupe to utilize the transfer opportunity there.

FrontRunner left Ogden at 3:14 PM, five minutes late. A few minutes were made up as we went down the line, but just before our destination of North Temple Bridge/Guadalupe, we had to wait for some congestion in FrontRunner's yard area to clear. We therefore were still five minutes late when we arrived at 4:10 PM.

The transfer station depends on a long escalator from the commuter rail platform to the bridge above it where the light rail platforms are. However on our visit, the escalator was out of commission. Some of us walked it, while others too an adjacent elevator. We still had plenty of time to make our Green Line train. While we were waiting, the escalator repairman arrived.

Chapter 6.6: UTA TRAX Green Line, North Temple Bridge/Guadalupe to Salt Lake City International Airport

Our TRAX Green Line train bound for the airport came right on time at 4:21 PM, and we commenced our trip west along North Temple Street. The line runs in the street's median all the way out to near the airport. We had one potential opportunity for a delay when we passed a street closure due to a fire at a landmark sandwich restaurant, but we passed the scene unscathed. When we got to the airport on time at 4:34 PM, we had officially completed riding all TRAX light rail mileage with the exception of a short now non-revenue connection near Gallivan Plaza (where the former University Line once ran).

SLC1.jpg
We celebrate having "aced" Salt Lake City's TRAX light rail during our brief stopover at Salt Lake City Airport. Photo by Steve Weagant.

Chris left us here, as he was going to fly to California rather than await what we already knew would be another very late Amtrak train. His original plan did not include Reno, but he was originally going to turn at Truckee, CA instead. He became the second person after Bill to leave the Fest who would later return. The rest of us remained aboard the light rail train for our final official transit segment together for the day.

Chapter 6.7: UTA TRAX Green Line, Salt Lake City International Airport to various stations

Now down to nine once more, our group left the airport on time at 4:42 PM, and continued on time to downtown Salt Lake City. We passed by the site of the earlier fire, but it had by then been extinguished; traffic on the street had returned to normal. Depending on where people were going, they either got off at Temple Square or City Center. Since we had no single location set for dinner this evening, we split into smaller groups to eat and eventually return to our hotels and await our wee hours Amtrak departure.

Chapter 6.8: More in Salt Lake City

The largest portion of our group went to the downtown City Creek Center to have dinner at its restaurants. I went with Mike and Steve back to West Valley City on the TRAX Green Line for the privilege of eating dinner at In-N-Out Burger (something that doesn't exist in the East).

Again knowing that our westbound Amtrak train to Reno was delayed several hours, some in our group extended their hotel stays another night, planning to awaken periodically to check the train's status in order to get to the station on time. Others felt more comfortable remaining awake, deciding we would just catch up a few hours once aboard the train. The largest contingent of our group, having stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn (HGI), sat in that hotel's lobby since they were promised 24-hour shuttle service and could therefore get to the station in advance of the train. After hanging out with Mike and Steve for a while, I went back to my Hampton Inn to retrieve my luggage and then walked over to join the others at the HGI.

Chapter 6.9: End of Tuesday's activities

By Amtrak's timetable we should have been well on our way west from Salt Lake City before midnight. However, the train was running several hours late and when the day officially ended we were still at various hotels either sleeping or passing the time in a hotel lobby.


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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:16 PM

Chapter 7: Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Every day is a travel day at our Fests, but for Day Five of RRF we put on a lot of Amtrak mileage in two different directions on the California Zephyr. We left Salt Lake City in the wee hours the same way we had arrived, and went west to Reno. After some well-deserved downtime in Reno, we then travelled east from there. Nine RRF participants took the westbound trip and visited Reno, and then we rose to eleven for the eastbound trip.

Chapter 7.0: Still in Salt Lake City!

The largest group of six coming from the Hilton Garden Inn left in the hotel shuttle for the Amtrak station around 2 AM. The rest who had stayed in other hotels came over in taxicabs later.

One dismaying thing we found about Salt Lake City's Amtrak station is that although it became an integral part of the larger Salt Lake Central intermodal station, the old Am-shack was not replaced. We had expected that Amtrak would share space with the bus terminal just north of it, but that was not the case. In the station, which is only open at night when the California Zephyrs in each direction are scheduled to call there, we found a crowd of people awaiting both trains. The eastbound was not as late as the westbound, but both were set to arrive at about the same time. We were happy to hear that our westbound train would be brought in first on the single station track.

Just before we were called outside to line up for our train, a conductor who was coming on duty entered the station to scan our tickets. The train showed up at about 3:30 AM, and its detraining and boarding process commenced.

Chapter 7.1: Amtrak California Zephyr, Train #5(14), Salt Lake City, UT to Reno, NV

California Zephyr, Train #5(14)

165
P-42 locomotive
100 P-42 locomotive
1855 Baggage
39041 Superliner II Transition sleeper
31036 Superliner I coach/baggage
34034 Superliner I coach
34028 Superliner I coach
33022 Superliner I Sightseer Lounge
38061 Superliner II diner
32059 Superliner I sleeper *
32055 Superliner I sleeper **
32049 Superliner I sleeper ***

* 531 car: Dick, Grace, & Alan were here SLC-RNO
** 532 car: Kim, Mike, Steve, Jishnu, & I were here SLC-RNO
*** 530 car: Penny was here SLC-RNO

We finally left Salt Lake City at 3:57 AM, four hours 27 minutes behind schedule. We had little concern about making our eastbound trip at Reno because we had about 7-1/2 hours scheduled there. Our beds were obviously already made for us, so we all went to sleep. Entitled to one meal, breakfast, some in our group awoke to have this meal, while the rest opted to remain asleep a little longer.

Although I elected to remain in my room and look forward to our later lunch buffet in Reno, I was aware of our stop in Elko, NV at 7:19 AM PDT. However I was wide awake when we made our station stop in Winnemucca, NV at 9:43 AM PDT. We were a little over four hours late here. This was a "garbage stop", with crew putting out trash from the train into a dumpster, and then that dumpster being handled by a waiting garbage truck.

Our train passed through the town of Lovelock, NV at 10:48 AM. Then about an hour later we began hearing announcements for our Reno arrival. We passed through Sparks at around 12:00 Noon. Finally, arrival into Reno happened at 12:23 PM, making us just under four hours late.

Chapter 7.2: In Reno

Kim, Mike, and Steve went to a pizza restaurant by cab for lunch. The other six of us walked across the street to Harrah's Reno which became our base for what was now a four hour stay in town. We were able to have the hotel store our luggage, and then we partook of their brunch buffet. It was a little pricey but quite filling.

Although Chris was not with us in Reno, he had previously suggested that one train-related activity while in town was the hotel tram at Circus Circus Reno. This ride acts as a means of travel between that hotel's casino and its hotel tower. For means of taking a walk, Penny went with me to Circus Circus to ride this tram. There were no other takers as it was around 100 degrees outside.

Back at Harrah's many of us played slot machines to pass the time. Around 3:30 PM we went back to the desk to retrieve our luggage, and then walked across to the Amtrak station. Nine of us then awaited our eastbound California Zephyr, which we knew was running close to schedule. Just like we had seen in Salt Lake City, a conductor entering duty at Reno scanned our tickets in the waiting room.

How did we know our train was not very late? Besides watching Amtrak online, we had two members of our group already aboard that train. Remember Kevin Noell who had been 24 hours behind us going west? He had since been in the Bay Area and was now aboard this train going east. Also, Chris had flown to the Bay Area, and had taken an Amtrak Thruway bus to Truckee, where he could keep the eastbound Truckee-Denver reservation he had before he had cancelled the westbound Salt Lake-Truckee segment. Chris was in a sleeper, while Kevin was in coach.

Chapter 7.3: Amtrak California Zephyr, Train #6(16), Reno, NV to Denver, CO
 

California Zephyr, Train #6(16)

31
P-42 locomotive
99 P-42 locomotive
1762 Baggage
32028 Superliner II Transition sleeper
31015 Superliner I coach/baggage
34079 Superliner I coach
34039 Superliner I coach
33026 Superliner II Sightseer Lounge
38034 Superliner I diner
32027 Superliner I sleeper *
32003 Superliner I sleeper "Edward Ullman" **
32075 Superliner II sleeper "Connecticut" ***




* 631 car: Grace, Alan, Kim, Mike, Penny, Steve, & I were here RNO-DEN
** 632 car: Dick & Jishnu were here RNO-DEN
*** 630 car: Chris was here TRU-DEN

Our third California Zephyr segment left Reno at 4:40 PM, just 34 minutes behind schedule. With padding, the expectation at the time was that we could arrive into Denver the next evening on time. With Chris and Kevin N with us we were now up to 11 people travelling together. However, not long into our trip there was some type of police activity along the line in nearby Sparks that delayed us at the outset of our trip. When we were allowed to pass the site, it appeared that a vehicle had hit and knocked over a crossing gate. We already were in the dining car having our dinner by that time.

Winnemucca was again a trash stop. When we left there at 8:00 PM PDT, we were 52 minutes down. About two hours later, as some were already retiring for the night, we stopped at Elko, NV. We had made up some time across Nevada, as we left Elko 32 minutes off the advertised.

Chapter 7.4: End of Wednesday's activities

As Wednesday ended we had accomplished quite a lot for one day, and happily slept a full night on the train.


Kevin Korell


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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:18 PM

Chapter 8: Thursday, July 17, 2014

Our group spent our Thursday mostly heading eastbound on the California Zephyr. Travel for today's eleven participants culminated with our evening arrival into Denver.

Chapter 8.0: Amtrak California Zephyr, Train #6(16), Reno, NV to Denver, CO (continued)

Overnight as we crossed back into Utah and the Mountain Time zone, we slept well aboard the train. After our two previous station stops in Salt Lake City during uncomfortable hours, we gladly slept through this one. Breakfast began at 6 AM Mountain time, and six of the eleven were there at or close to opening time. We saw Provo once more by daylight, leaving there at 6:14 AM - now one hour 39 minutes late. Something obviously had delayed us further while we were sleeping.

The majority of us in the 631 car also awoke to the bad news that our restrooms were out of service due to a water problem. For the remainder of this trip we had to go to one of the other sleeper cars to use those facilities. There was also a problem with lack of air conditioning in some sections of our sleeper.

The Utah towns of Helper and Green River came at 8:13 AM and 9:36 AM respectively. We were still over an hour and a half behind schedule. And we hoped that the upcoming station stop at Grand Junction, CO would not be as long as the one we had made on the westbound journey. During the day we saw Kevin Noell, at times when he was also enjoying the lounge car.

Our departure from Grand Junction ended up being at 11:57 AM, still one hour 34 minutes down. Soon after this, we headed for lunch in the dining car. There, we once again had the entertainment of river rafters flashing the train on cue. One female rafter in the distance showed something more than her backside.

Then at 1:48 PM we left Glenwood Springs after a crew and leg stretch stop, now one hour 38 minutes late. At exactly 3 PM, well into the Rockies by now, we passed our westbound counterpart California Zephyr. Next came Granby, CO at 4:48 PM, after which we went to our 5 PM dinner. During our mealtime we made our stop in Fraser-Winter Park at 5:29 PM. No more time had been made up, but we still thought of having a respectable Denver arrival with downhill travel and schedule padding. Announcements also came about the Moffat Tunnel, with warnings not to walk between the train cars due to darkness and diesel fumes.

Following Moffat Tunnel we returned to our rooms to prepare for the scenic approach down the Front Range into Denver and our arrival there. Denver's Union Station came at 7:59 PM, making our arrival time one hour 21 minutes late. Ten of us detrained, while Kevin Noell remained on board to Chicago. Upon arrival, Bill Magee met us, along with his wife Marie who he had brought along for this leg of his trip. That made 12 Fest participants now in Denver. Soon after arrival, we went our separate ways to six different hotels within the area. Some were downtown, while others had to take the RTD E Line light rail to stops south of downtown.

Chapter 8.1: End of Thursday's activities

A relatively early arrival into town (compared to the one in Salt Lake City) allowed us to reflect on a lot of Amtrak mileage under our belts while resting up in our hotels for a full day on the rails within Denver.


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Posted 08 April 2016 - 11:20 PM

Chapter 9: Friday, July 18, 2014

The seventh day of RRF was our only day in Denver. Our host would be the Regional Transit District (RTD). We did their entire light rail system, and also partook of a heritage trolley line known as Platte Valley Trolley. Finally, Friday would end with us aboard another eastbound Amtrak train.

Chapter 9.0: Meeting in Denver

The plan was for our group to begin our travels for the day at Union Station at 8 AM. Since the first trip was along the E Line, some of those staying in hotels they had travelled to last night on this same line decided to join us later as we passed by. However, I wanted to store my luggage at Union Station for later, and also wanted to begin the day from the starting point, so I did travel back up to the station. My trip was delayed, and it also included a change of trains since I boarded an F Line train first so I had to make a transfer on the way. The result was that I got to Union Station later than intended. I ran through the station and succeeded in having my luggage stored, and then ran back two blocks to the light rail platform to join the rest. Amazingly, we still made the intended 8:13 AM train.

Chapter 9.1: RTD E Line, Union Station to Lincoln

Our first official transit conveyance in Denver began aboard the E Line, which left Union Station on time at 8:13 AM. Aboard this train were Bill, Dick, Jishnu, Penny, Kim, Mike, Steve, and me. (Marie would join us later in the day.) Chris joined us at the Belleview, and then Grace and Alan got on at Orchard. This brought our travel party up to 11 people.

We rode south on this line, which parallels I-25 most of the way, to the Lincoln station in Lone Tree. We got there a minute early at 8:52 AM, giving us eleven minutes before our vehicle would head back northbound towards the city.

Chapter 9.2: RTD E Line, Lincoln to Southmoor

Our northbound trip left Lincoln at 9:03 AM. We went as far as Southmoor, where we arrived on time at 9:18 AM. Southmoor is located just north of the junction with the I-225 rail line that goes to the Nine Mile station in Aurora, and will within a couple of years run further into that city. There used to be a G Line that ran over a southeast connection directly from Lincoln to Nine Mile, but it was eventually decommissioned due to lack of ridership, necessitating the transfer at Southmoor. When the I-225 line is extended well into Aurora, the connection will once more be used in revenue service, but it will be known as the R Line since the new commuter rail Gold Line will get the G designation.

Chapter 9.3: RTD H Line, Southmoor to Nine Mile

Our H Line outbound train came at 9:26 AM, and we were on our way east for a quick seven minute trip to Nine Mile, all within the median of I-225. At Nine Mile we remained on the same vehicle for our inbound trip.

Chapter 9.4: RTD H Line, Nine Mile to I-25/Broadway

We departed from Nine Mile at 9:49 AM, right on schedule. This segment of our day's journey brought us to I-25/Broadway at 10:09 AM. This is where the Southeast and Southwest Lines diverge. We would now be changing to the D Line to Mineral station in Littleton.

Chapter 9.5: RTD D Line, I-25/Broadway to Mineral

Our itinerary had intended for us to wait about 14 minutes until the next outbound D trip. However, the previous trip was running late, so we only spent about one minute on the platform before boarding the earlier trip. This put us approximately 15 minutes ahead of our itinerary from here until lunchtime. We therefore left I-25/Broadway at 10:10 AM on a more scenic line that runs alongside U.S. 85 and the BNSF-Union Pacific Joint Line for most of its length. We arrived into Littleton's Mineral station at 10:24 AM, at which time we stretched our legs on the platform for what would be a 9-minute layover.


Littleton.jpg
Group pauses at Littleton/Mineral station at the end of the D Line. Photo by Steve Weagant.

Chapter 9.6: RTD D Line, Mineral to 30th & Downing

After our brief time outside, we boarded the same air-conditioned light rail car for an end-to-end ride on the D Line. After leaving at 10:33 AM, we retraced our path back to I-25/Broadway and continued inbound. After the 10th & Osage station, it was time once more to explore tracks new to us as we veered to the right towards downtown Denver, rather than the branch we had travelled on this morning on the E Line from Union Station.

Something that I didn't know before getting there in person was that although the main trunk line runs on parallel streets through the downtown area, it runs counter-flow to the traffic. Thus while the light rail runs northbound on California Street, the traffic runs southbound. Conversely on parallel Stout Street, the light rail trains run southbound and the street traffic goes north. This appeared to be working well, though in some cities it could be a recipe for disaster.

After the stop at 18th & California, the tracks split, with all F and H cars (as well as some rush hour runs on the D Line) taking the left track to loop back southbound, while most D Line trains take the right track to run up Welton Avenue to 30th & Downing. Essentially this segment is a one-track line, so trips are scheduled accordingly. Based on that fact, I figured a three-minute dwell here before our return trip would be easy for us. However, the station itself has two tracks each with side platforms, so the next car out happened to be the one on the other side. Once we arrived at 11:11 AM, we had to walk around the two light rail vehicles in the station on a designated track crossing and we got to our next ride on time.

Chapter 9.7: RTD D Line, 30th & Downing to 16th & Stout

By now we had "aced" all of the RTD light rail system with the exception of the newest line, the W, which we would ride in the afternoon. Meanwhile, it was time to make our way to lunch. We left 30th & Downing at 11:14 AM, and returned on the D Line back to downtown. After riding on the southbound split track along Stout Street, we got off at 11:22 AM. Again we had completed our morning's activities 15 minutes earlier than planned giving us plenty of free time for lunch, souvenir shopping, and making our way to the agreed-upon meeting place back near the light rail platform at Union Station.

Chapter 9.8: Lunch in Denver

Once downtown, we essentially were on our own for lunch, although the majority went to another location of Jason's Deli (remember Salt Lake City?). I went on my own, which included riding a small piece of light rail trackage that we would not cover as a group. That was the downtown loop which is open to revenue service. I also ate at a Subway restaurant on Colfax Avenue near the Colfax at Auraria light rail station, before making my way via two more light rail segments back to Union Station.

Over the course of the lunch break, Bill left us to spend time with Marie, and Dick left us, planning to join us again later for the last light rail round trip. At about 1:15 PM, nine of us reconvened at the Union Station RTD light rail platform to continue our day's rail activities. However our next one would not be light rail, but rather a tourist trolley. To get there, we had to walk about 5 blocks and over the Platte River to the trolley's northern endpoint station near Confluence Park.

Chapter 9.9: Platte Valley Trolley

Platte Valley trolley is a fun trip along the west bank of the Platte River, passing the Denver Children's Museum, Downtown Aquarium, and Sports Authority Field at Mile High (with a station at each). One can, however, easily see sights of the city on the river's east bank, such as the Elitch Gardens amusement park and the Pepsi Center arena. The trolley ride in an open air car is accompanied by humorous and knowledgeable commentary. The entire round trip is 25 minutes in total, so it only takes about 11 minutes each way plus a few minutes for the operator to change ends by Mile High. The line used to run beyond the stadium, but part of its right-of-way was taken over by the RTD W Line. There are plans to re-extend it to meet the same light rail line at the Decatur-Federal station.

Fare for the ride is a flat $5.00, payable onboard to the conductor. We were able to buy our tickets at a table set up at our boarding station closest to downtown. The line runs seasonally, during summer Fridays through Sundays, and for home Denver Broncos football games in autumn.

Once we got back to where we began our trip, we made our way back to Union Station for our final rapid transit activity in Denver. At Union Station we met the Magees, who would take the ride out to Golden with us on the W Line.

Chapter 9.10: RTD W Line, Union Station to Jefferson County Government Center

Now back to twelve people, we boarded the W Line, leaving Union Station right at our scheduled time of 3:02 PM. The trip was uneventful, but quite scenic as we rode mainly towards the mountains. The line runs basically to the west, but it takes a jog south to serve Federal Center in Lakewood. After that station, the double track line goes down to just one track, a move necessitated by budget cuts to get the line built and opened. There are, however, two tracks at the last two stations, Red Rocks College and Jefferson County Government Center.

Arrival there was on time at 3:40 PM. We had only four minutes before our inbound departure, and unfortunately that departure was represented by another vehicle on the next track. With side platforms, that meant a quick walk across a pedestrian crossing to the opposite side.

Chapter 9.11: RTD W Line, Jefferson County Government Center to Union Station

Once aboard the next light rail vehicle, we were soon on our way. We left Jefferson County Government Center at precisely 3:44 PM, sticking to our itinerary. Our inbound trip was uneventful. Along the way, some detrained at intermediate stations in Denver, in order to transfer to another line to pick up luggage left at their hotels. The rest of us got back to Union Station on time at 4:22 PM. Thus ended our transit experiences in Denver.

Chapter 9.12: More in Denver

Back at Denver Union Station, we split up and went separate ways to have dinner on our own. There was also time to explore this recently renovated gem, which will see much more activity once commuter rail starts in 2016. Fest participants began to reassemble in the station after having dinner and collecting luggage, as we prepared for our last official Amtrak trip of the Fest, which we knew was running close to its schedule, a refreshing change from what we were used to on this trip so far!

Marie and Bill came by on their way to dinner to say goodbye. That left ten of us who would be travelling together on this California Zephyr to Chicago.

Chapter 9.13: Amtrak California Zephyr, Train #6(17), Denver, CO to Chicago, IL


The train, whose consist was the same one we had on the westbound segment from Salt Lake City to Reno, backed into the station on time as predicted. We had some confusion at boarding, as there were bad ordered rooms in our train's 631 car. That led to all of us being in either the 630 or 632 car.




California Zephyr, Train #6(17)

165
P-42 locomotive
100 P-42 locomotive
1855 Baggage
39041 Superliner II Transition sleeper
31036 Superliner I coach/baggage
34034 Superliner I coach
34028 Superliner I coach
33022 Superliner I Sightseer Lounge
38061 Superliner II diner
32059 Superliner I sleeper *
32055 Superliner I sleeper **
32049 Superliner I sleeper ***

* 631 car: None from our group
** 632 car: Dick, Penny, Grace, Alan, & I were here DEN-CHI
*** 630 car: Jishnu, Kim, Mike, Chris, & Steve were here DEN-CHI

We left Denver on time at 7:10 PM, which made us all happy. However, it did not result in happiness for one woman who had left the train and didn't make it back in time for the departure. Her family had alerted the crew, and we were informed of the incident. We made a rather long stop at the interlocking a few blocks from the station, and the woman was driven to the train to be reunited with her family. And just like that, so much for being on time!

At our first stop, Fort Morgan, CO, the time was 8:57 PM, and we were 32 minutes behind schedule. After this, we left Colorado and Mountain Time behind and eventually went to sleep expecting to awaken somewhere in Iowa for breakfast.

Chapter 9.14: End of Friday's activities

Friday night found ten of us on the last official Amtrak segment of our summer Fest.


Kevin Korell


OTOL Board Leader


Lakewood, NJ





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