Somewhere in the middle of the tunnel we can feel the train cease climbing and begin to descend. we have crossed the Continental Divide while inside the tunnel at an altitude of 9,239 ft.
I took a flash photo of the inside of the tunnel - not very inspiring, but unique :-)
As we left the tunnel, we began our descent into Denver. The light was fading and I was unable to take anymore photographs. We decided to skip dinner on the train today in favor of dinner at the Oxford hotel in Denver. That's why I missed tasting the honey glazed chicken...
Denver at night is very pretty - as we descended the eastern slope of the Rockies in the dark, Denver looks like a lake of light -first off one side of the train and then the other.
Unlike our other stops, Denver apparently had some rule requiring the restrooms to be 'inhibited' while the train is inside the city limits. Of course you know what happens the moment the bathroom doors are locked :-) It made for a more interesting 30 minutes.
Denver Union Station - we backed into Denver and coupled on to the 'Pioneer' section of the train - leaving one very long Zephyr to go on to Chicago without us. I was sorry to see it go, but pleased at the prospect of having a warm bath in the evening. As we walked along the train to the station we recognized and said our good-byes to all the Amtrak folk we had met - I think they were sorry to see us go as well.
Union Station is a grand old station in the best tradition of rail travel. I'm glad they are restoring the station and the city around it. As recommended by the vast majority of rec.railroad readers, we stayed at the Oxford hotel - just one short block from the station. The Oxford is a rebuilt turn of the century hostelry with an air of quiet elegance. Good service, good food, nice rooms.
I was thinking of dressing for dinner when I suddenly remembered that my one good shirt was still neatly tucked away in that closet on board the Zephyr. Luckily, Denver is a service stop for the train and it is scheduled to be there for an hour.
We hiked back to our sleeper and Judy explained to Randy that we had so much fun that we wanted our sleeper back for the trip to Chicago. The poor fellow was in misery for a few minutes as he tried to think of a way to explain that the room was to be given to someone else! :-) We told him about the shirt and we all trooped up to retrieve it and make our final departure from number 6.
Wednesday morning - breakfast at the Oxford and then back to Union Station to board the Desert Wind section of the California Zephyr. This time we have an economy sleeper and are in the last car on the train.
Our attendant for the trip to Los Angeles is Lee, a 12 year Amtrak veteran wise in the ways of rail. He is acutely aware of the political situation and unsure if even someone with his seniority will make it through the budget cuts. Despite that, he is cheerful, and, if anything, even more attentive and helpful than Randy - something I wouldn't have thought possible.
He builds 1/4 scale model planes in his spare time and showed us photographs of his excellent work. He also took the time to point out bits of local scenery and were too obscure for announcement for the general population. - For example, when entering Glenwood Springs, just for an instant, you can see a house built on the side of a sheer cliff. It was assembled by a Vietnam vet who chose the perfect place to retire from society. He has a greenhouse up there and grows most of his own food - only coming to town occasionally for supplies.
When he found out that I was a photographer, he made a special effort to point out places of special interest.
Taking the same route back from Denver to Salt Lake allowed us to see all of those areas in the daylight that we had missed the previous night.
As we wound down from the Rockies, I knew that the Eastbound Zephyr must be close. Lee and Judy and I were chatting when our train pulled onto a siding. Now the siding at this particular location was against a sheer cliff and curved such that you could see our entire train from the window of our sleeper. At this moment we could see the Eastbound Zephyr approaching in the distance. We all piled into the vestibule and, with a warning to not be too long, Lee opened the vestibule window and I popped my head out and got several great shots of the two Zephyrs curved against each other against the mountainside - Genesis locomotive in the lead. Perhaps I should send a copy to 'Trains' magazine :-)
Since we were the last car on the train, I was able to get a number of photographs out the rear window showing the tracks curling off in the distance between the canyon walls - often with a freight on a siding.
Economy sleepers - well, we were already spoiled. During the day we had no problem finding space for all of our belongings. The suitcase perched nicely on the step that would lead to the upper bunk at night. The rest of the stuff fitted under the seats. The facing seats were quite comfortable and the room allowed us the privacy that we had come to enjoy. There are no bathrooms in economy sleepers. However, since we were on the lower level of the sleeping car this time, the bathrooms and the shower were right down the hall. When I discovered this I was extremely pleased that I had been unable to switch to an upper level economy as I first wanted to do. I must have called 30 times looking for an opening, so we were extremely lucky that I failed to do so.
At night, the economy bedroom just didn't quite work for the two of us. It was very comfortable and we had no problem getting to sleep - however, with all the water we had to drink and the vibration of the train... it was a pain to have to get dressed in a very small area and then (for me in the upper bunk) climb down and go out to use the facilities... bleh.
The large shower on the lower level was nice, but we will still opt for the deluxe sleeper in any future travel.
Lunch on the third day was broiled chicken sandwiches for Judy and me. Our dining companions were Bob and Holly - an elderly couple returning to Sacramento after visiting their children. They didn't seem inclined to talk so the meal passed without much conversation. This was the only meal where the servers really messed up. Judy ordered a salad with ranch dressing and received soup. It then took awhile to get the salad delivered and then it had French dressing - oh well. The food was still good and filling.
Again the scenery was still spectacular...
Dinner on the third night was a salad starter, filet mignon cooked to order and German Chocolate cake for dessert- again, yum. I don't know how they do it with so many people to serve in such a small place in such a short time. Watching the wait people and cooks move past each other was watching poetry in motion. Our waiter for lunch and dinner was a big, friendly gruff gentleman who could effortlessly fill a moving cup with hot coffee while the train ran over a bad stretch of track... amazing.
Our dining companions for this last dinner were the most interesting yet. The man was a rail fan we had previously met in the lounge car - we stayed together for dinner to continue the conversation. The woman was a recent resident of Alaska who regaled us with takes of living near the bush in sub-zero weather. An interesting revelation was that the characters in the TV series Northern Exposure are based on real residents of Alaska. The producers lived in Alaska for a year gathering information for the show. It appears that the people Ruth Ann and Maurice are based on are actually suing the show for stealing their personae :-)
This last night I changed the sleeper into night-mode myself. The economy sleeper just pulls down with no struts or supports to assemble. We got ourselves tucked away in separate berths and settled down for the night.
We pulled into Salt Lake City about 11:30 pm. Both Judy and I woke up and we stepped out on the platform to get some fresh air and watch the Emeryville bound Zephyr be uncoupled from our Los Angeles bound Desert Wind.
We had to re-board before the engines were coupled back on our section of the train, so we went back to our room and to sleep.
In the morning we awoke to rain on the desert - It was really coming down and we could watch it stream down from the tops of the cars and down the windows. Dry lakebeds outside of Las Vegas had a thin film of water covering them and looked as if they were real, immense lakes. The rain only lasted until mid-morning and the sun came out for our trip through the rail yards at Barstow and the descent through Cajon pass.
The Desert Wind consist was our Genesis engine helped by another F40ish looking beast, the crew coach/dorm, a combined diner/lounge, two coaches, and our sleeper. I was delighted to see that we had a diner (even a small one), since Amtrak reservations had led me to believe that we would only have a snack bar on this leg of the trip.
Even though we only had breakfast on this last day, it was nice having china and linen.
Breakfast was more French toast, eggs, grits, and coffee. Our companions were two college aged girls who were headed south to visit friends.
During breakfast we pulled into Las Vegas. Amtrak must leave a lot of people behind there since the conductor harangued us for quite awhile about there not being time to run in and put money in the slot machines :-)
So the last run of the day began. We were well out of the snow covered mountains and racing across the high desert. There was little sense of speed, but I knew from the radio that we were clipping along at a steady 79 mph most of the time. As we stared out of the window, the time seemed to flow by until, before we knew it, we were descending Cajon pass into the Los Angeles Basin.
I collected a few last photographs - several of the burned locomotives from the last derailment in the pass, and a going-away shot of our last meet with the Eastbound 'Wind
Going through LA, the engineer must have been in a hurry to get home. We banged and rattled over the tracks as we had never done over the mountains. :-) Lee was busy making up the rooms so he could go home as well - Amtrak dumped the cleaning crews that used to make up the trains for the next run out - now the car attendants have to do it before that can go home. So we stayed out of his way :-)
We pulled into the Los Angeles Union Station On Time where we were met by the in-laws for the drive back home. We could have taken the Starlight, but the in-laws were in LA anyway and we could help them with the driving.
So, all in all, it was a wonderful vacation. We both want to do it again soon. I hope there is an Amtrak in our future.
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Richard Hyde
RaH@netcom.com
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