Round The World and other travel

This is: Amtrak Adventure 2019

Trains

Train 1: Texas Eagle
Full route: Chicago - San Antonio
Section travelled: Chicago - St Louis
Scheduled departure: Sat 18 May 1345 Actual: 1538
Scheduled arrival: 1921 Actual: 2254
Accommodation: Roomette

After finally getting underway nearly two hours late, it took a further fifty minutes to get out of the station throat and onto the main CN lines. We experienced long wait after long wait to the point that after 2.5hrs, we had travelled just 6 miles. Chicago's downtown skyscrapers were still clearly visible - see photo 10. Not everything was bad, though. The journey's highlight was an excellent steak dinner. The meat itself was perfectly cooked and we had interesting company in the form of a couple from San Diego who were on a gigantic round trip going north-then-east away from home, followed by south-then-west back towards it.


TOP ROW: 1. Union Station, Chicago 2. Only in America! 3. Main concourse at Union Station 4. One half of our 'Roomette', from the other 5. Our powerful-looking locomotive 6. This is our car
BOTTOM ROW: 1. All aboard! 2. Bloody Mary to drown Amtrak-induced sorrows 3. Dining car before it is properly set up 4. 2.5hrs in, and downtown Chicago is still clearly visible! 5. The route out of Chicago has numerous examples of flat crossings 6. Arrival at St Louis

Train 2: Missouri River Runner
Full route: St Louis - *Kansas City, MO*
Section travelled: St Louis - Kansas City, MO
Scheduled departure: Mon 20 May 0915 Actual: 0915
Scheduled arrival: 1515 Actual: 1539
Accommodation: *Business Class Car*

An on-time departure - yay! We were travelling in 40-year-old single-deck cars, of which only three were open and in use (2 x coach and 1 business+café). It has to be said that none of the accommodation looked particularly clean! An early snack of wheat beer and popcorn helped pass the time, and a ham-and-Swiss sandwich provided lunch in due course. At one point, we stopped alongside an eastbound train for a crew-swap, allowing each crew to go home at the end of their shifts. This process also allowed us to see that the extra cars on the eastbound train were not just closed, but not in a usable condition. Apparently there is a minimum axle count for trains on this line, so these extra cars were little more than "ballast" (or more accurately, providers of axles) - what a waste of fuel!



TOP ROW: 1 and 2. Our locomotive awaits departure time at St Louis 3 and 4. Business Class car 5. We're off! 6. Washington, MO
MIDDLE ROW: 1 and 2. Washington, MO 3 and 4. Hermann, MO Feature picture: Kansas City Union Station
BOTTOM ROW: 1. Snack time 2. Typical view showing how the train got its name 3. Self-captioning! 4. Onboard lunch

Train 3: California Zephyr
Full route: Chicago - Emeryville, CA
Section travelled: Denver - Glenwood Springs, CO
Scheduled departure: Fri 24 May 0805 Actual: 1343
Scheduled arrival: 1355 Actual: 1923
Accommodation: *Family Bedroom*

Our train was nearly six hours late, but at least we knew about it well advance and were able to reorganise our time accordingly. Once boarded, it felt good to be in an Amtrak Family Bedroom again, offering views to both sides. The first job was to clean the window on the 'boarding' side of the train, using a facecloth and some bottled water. We wasted no time in getting started on our packed lunch, bought at the station, plus wine from the onboard café/shop. The initial part of the journey was a spectacular climb featuring hairpin bends - or as close as a railway can get to them - with views of Denver far below in the distance. At around 1520, we entered the eastern portal of the Moffat Tunnel. We spent 9.5mins in there, passing under the Continental Divide at the highest point in the entire Amtrak network. Bizarrely, this was also the deepest tunnel, as we had 3,000ft of solid granite above our heads! After emerging from the western portal, we passed through the small Colorado towns of Fraser and Granby. Byer's Canyon provide some decent riverside shots prior to arrival in Glenwood Springs.



ABOVE: The journey progresses, around 5.5hrs late, from Denver (Union Station) to Glenwood Springs, CO

Train 4: California Zephyr
Full route: Chicago - Emeryville, CA
Section travelled: Glenwood Springs, CO - Reno, NV
Scheduled departure: Sat 25 May 1353 Actual: 1517
Scheduled arrival: 0825+1 Actual: 0816+1 (Pacific)
Accommodation: *Family Bedroom*

We begin with two incidents - and that's not counting a near-90min delay! Incident no.1 took place in the attractive station building prior to arrival of the train: an obviously mentally ill woman was making no secret of her intention to board the train without a valid ticket. Apparently she had been ejected from the previous day's train for her behaviour on board, and had been arrested on arrival at Glenwood Springs. The situation was very well handled by the senior staff member at the station and after her continued attempts to make a drama out of the situation, she didn't get to board. Incident no.2 happened on boarding: the cabin attendant took our luggage and sent us to the observation car initially. The reason? Your room has been trashed! Anxiously asking for more information, we were told that the previous occupants had left food lying all over the place. Lovely - some people are just such an absolute delight! We were relocated to our cleaned-up room soon enough. As on the previous day, we were soon enjoying some stunning scenes. The train reached Grand Junction at 1713, having made up some time. More wide-open spaces and spectacular scenery followed as we left Colorado behind and entered Utah - everything I love most about travelling through America. We soon decided that it was G&T time, and shortly thereafter enjoyed another Amtrak classic dinner of salad, steak and cheesecake. Beds had been made up on our return to the room, greatly decreasing the available space. Bruce volunteered to take the top bunk, as I had done it last time (in 2011/12). I read for a while before settling down. Much later, I had my first shower on board a moving train before breakfast, final packing and disembarkation in Reno, Nevada.



ABOVE: The journey eastwards from Glenwood Springs, eventually arriving at Reno, NV the following morning

Train 5: California Zephyr
Full route: Chicago - Emeryville, CA
Section travelled: Reno, NV - Richmond, CA
Scheduled departure: Mon 27 May 0845 Actual: 0902
Scheduled arrival: 1557 Actual: 1559
Accommodation: *Family Bedroom*

For our final Amtrak ride of the trip, we found ourselves in Car 32003 'Edward L. Ullman', a Superliner I, and one of only two such cars to be named. Although built in 1979, it appeared to be in better condition than the two other sleeper cars that we had experienced on this trip. The scenic journey across the Sierra Nevada progressed via Truckee (for Lake Tahoe), Colfax, Roseville, Sacramento and Davis, with lunch between Colfax and Roseville. Although our tickets were valid to Emeryville, we decided to get off at Richmond and use the BART trains to reach downtown San Francisco.



ABOVE: Another scenic daytime journey in a Family Bedroom, with uninterrupted views to both sides of the train