A Train Odyssey 7, AMTRAK "California Zephyr" (eastbound) Part 7
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- This is Part 7 of an 8-part mega-train Odyssey, consisting of my eastbound 3-day trip on AMTRAK's "California Zephyr" from Emeryville, California to Chicago's Union Station in August 2022.
Because the weather was so fine, and the time of year provided a lot more spectacular scenery during daylight hours, I decided to take a LOT of video, and edit to preserve as much good content as possible. I also decided to edit so that each of the 8 parts (except the shorter Part 1 "Prologue") was about 1.5 hours duration, rather than make a smaller number of longer video segments.
I have a MUCH shorter RUclips video of the California Zephyr, taken on a westbound train in late December, and that is only about 1.5 hours long by itself, if you want a shorter viewing experience or want to see the route in the Winter with snow-covered mountain passes.
I am so exited to watch part 8 of this journey on The California Zephyr I want to see the mega ending of this trip I hope it comes out soon! 😃😃😃😃😃😃
Thanks for the narration
Those cars on the track next to the Zephyr at the end of the video are for Denver's only heavy rail service, RTD's airport line. They are Silverliner 5s, which are also used by SEPTA here in Philadelphia. A couple of months after they went into service someone found a problem with the 5s here and they were all removed from service for several months until they could be fixed. There was some concern that the 5s in Denver would have the same problem but apparently they didn't because they kept running.
(RTD stands for Regional Transportation District, Denver's public transportation. All the trains other than the airport line are light rail. I was living in that area when the light rail was put in but have been in PA since 2012.)
Nice videos
I do so hope you will do more “in the snow” train trips. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful as the Cascades in your Empire Builder video. I’ll bet the California Zephyr would also be beautiful. I absolutely love all the train trips and think yours are the best ones I’ve seen. I love all the snow videos, possibly because it’s about 98° here, and also the summer storm video.
Carolinezook, my first train video is of the CZ in the winter with snow in the plains and mountains.
Thank you. Somehow I’ve missed it.
A wonderful trip as usual for your talents. Thank you
Very beautiful, I wanna to take a trip on the rails! thank you for your videos !
The California Zephyr is one of my favorite Amtrak routes that I have Tolkien other than the Empire Builder, Southwest Chief and the Texas Eagle and I am so exited to see part 8 of this Journey! 😃😃😃😃
@@conniecai9045 "Tolkien"?
Interesting to see because I have never been to the rockies but the difference from east to west tree coverage is due to a condition called "rain shadow" where one side of a mountain gets more rain than the other. The windward side (east of rockies) pushes air against the mountain causing rising air mass which cools and produces precipitation but air rising over the rain clouds drops down the other side (leeward rain shadow side west of rockies). This descending air dries leaving a rainless area. Thank you for taking me there 🙂
You have it backwards. Westerly winds blow moisture from the Pacific into the Western Slope of the Rockies, especially in winter and early spring, where the moisture is stripped from the atmosphere as elevation increases. Winter is generally dry on the Eastern Slope. In winter and early spring, is when the Western Slope gets much of its moisture. In March-June, especially, south and southeasterly winds will pump moisture into Eastern Colorado on the Eastern Slope, but relatively little of that get over or even up to the Continental Divide. I've studied climate in the Rockies and Great Plains for over 50 years.
Very good, subtitles on this video (!). JMS
Excellent money shot of the west portal of Moffat Tunnel at 36:34!! Yes, I'm watching again.
wow is all i can say lovleyl views of the rockies
There is a camera in one of those houses overlooking the Big 10 curve. It's a livestream from the Virtual Railfan channel, and the camera is good enough to track the train for a long way. If anyone would like to see the complete Big 10 curve from above do search for that channel's Arvada location. (Note: I'm not affiliated with that channel.)
Your odysseys were all wonderful as usual. (Including the dining car lol). I do watch them many times.
Every state has its beauty parts, but it's hard to beat Colorado
1:04:50; View slightly fogged over. You can see the curve of the earth.
At 1:28:37 crossing over 20th Street, the large structure to the left is Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies MLB team. Sorry, I'm a huge baseball fan. :D
Middle Park (early mountain men named large mountain valleys "parks") from Kremmling to Winter Park is one of the coldest places in the continental United States. Until recent years Fraser, Colorado almost always had the daily lowest temperature in winter in the lower 48 states--sometimes down to -50° F. The National Weather Service decided that Fraser, at 8,500 ft. elevation, was too high in elevation to be used as a point to record "official" temperatures. So, now, Alamosa, Colorado (7,546 ft. elevation) and Gunnison, Colorado (7,703 ft. elevation) now regularly vie for the national daily low winter temperature. Both towns, like Fraser, are located in high alpine "parks" or valleys. The canyon east of Kremmling is Byers Canyon, where the railroad shares the canyon with the Colorado River and U.S. Highway 40. Hot Sulphur Springs is called just "Sulphur" by the railroad. Until the coal mining industry nearly collapsed in Colorado, up to two dozen or more freight trains a day went between Grand Junction or Craig to Denver, plus the two California Zephyr trains. Today, that is down to about 6 trains a day, plus Amtrak, with trains going between Bond and Craig down from up to 10 per day down to 2-4 a week. I remember when the "real" California Zephyr (pre-Amtrak) derailed in Fraser Canyon in 1968, with the locomotives going into the river. The person saying that trees across the track can't derail a locomotive is full of it--a large tree across the track can derail a locomotive. Unbeknownst to most passengers, a track patrolman in a hy-rail pickup will regularly patrol the track in the mountain areas to check for any hazards on the track. Before the ski area was built, Winter Park was known by the railroad as West Portal (for the West Portal of the Moffat Tunnel), with the telegraph abbreviation of "WP". When the ski area was built a few years later, "Winter Park" was selected as the name, in part, because the railroad abbreviation for the station could remain ""WP".
You have taken the zephyr and the empire in both east and west & at different times of the year. What is your favorite for scenery both directions and both trains. Love your train videos.
Zephyr is equally great either direction; taking it in winter gives the 'winter wonderland scenes, but in the warmer months with the longer daylight allows enjoying spectacular scenes in Utah. Empire builder is better in summer, because it allows seeing the Mississippi, Glacier, etc; and while going on the Seattle branch gives views in the Cascades, I prefer the scenery along the Columbia River that one gets while on the Portland branch.
1:10:58 Any idea why tbe train has to crawl down the mountain at 15 mph? I remember going down to Denver probably in 1975 back before Amtrak ran the San Fransisco Zephyr and the train just crawled down the mountain. It seemed like we'd never get to Denver even though it had been visible for a long time.
Douglas Engle, it is due to the railroads speed restrictions on each stretch of track, and that in turn is based on a number of practical and safety concerns.
@@youtuuba Granby town looks really shoddy.
Is this dude Reverand Lovejoy off've the Simpsons?