| California Zephyr | |
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 Having just arrived in Galesburg, Illinois, Train No. 5 — the California Zephyr, led by GE Genesis P42DC locomotives #132 and #167 — "cools its heels" for a few minutes before continuing west on September 27, 2004. |
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| Overview | |
| Type | Inter-city rail |
| System | Amtrak |
| Termini | Chicago, Illinois
– Emeryville, California |
| Train number(s) | 5 westbound 6 eastbound |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1949 |
| Owner | UP and BNSF (track) |
| Operator(s) | Amtrak |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 2,438 miles (3,924 km) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 81⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The California Zephyr is a 2,438-mile (3,924-km) long passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the midwestern and western United States.[1] It runs from Chicago, Illinois, in the east to Emeryville, California, in the west, passing through the states of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. This route is one of the longest and most scenic routes run by Amtrak, with views of both the upper Colorado River valley in the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada mountains.[1]
Prior to the formation of Amtrak, the California Zephyr (the CZ, or "Silver Lady") was a passenger train operated jointly by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q), Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW) and Western Pacific Railroad (WP). The CB&Q, D&RGW and WP christened "The most talked about train in America" on March 19, 1949 with the first departure to happen the following day. It was purposely scheduled so that the train passed through the most spectacular scenery in the daylight.
The original CZ ceased operations in 1970. However, the D&RGW continued to operate its own passenger train service, named the Rio Grande Zephyr, between Salt Lake City and Denver using the original equipment until 1983.
Since 1983, the California Zephyr name has been applied to a Chicago-San Francisco Amtrak service, which operates daily and is a hybrid route between the route of the original CZ and the route of its former rival, the City of San Francisco.
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Legend
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Before Amtrak operated a train with this name, the California Zephyr was operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad from Chicago to Denver, Colorado, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Western Pacific Railroad from Salt Lake City to Oakland, California. Trains ran with cars of mixed ownership; cars cycled in and out of the consists for service, repairs, and varying passenger loads with the seasons.
The first train was christened in San Francisco by Eleanor Parker while California Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight, Mayor of San Francisco Elmer Robinson, and WP President Harry A. Mitchell looked on. For the inaugural run in 1949, every female passenger on the train was given a corsage of "silver" and orange orchids that were specially flown in from Hilo, Hawaii. The women who worked as car hostesses on this train were known as "Zephyrettes."
The train traversed the route's 2,525 miles (4,064 km) in 2½ days.
The passenger cars used when the train was inaugurated in 1949 were as follows:
The forward section of the first Vista-Dome car was partitioned off and reserved for women and children only. There was a door in the corridor under the dome just behind the women's restroom that provided access to the reserved section. Early on however, this reserved section was opened up to all passengers and the door and partitions were removed. Like the train's operation, ownership of the cars was split between the three railroads almost evenly across all car types. Each car was owned by a single railroad, but the ownership of the cars on any specific day's run of the train depended more on what equipment was available at the terminals than whose railroad the train was operating over at the time.
Generally positioned as the second Vista Dome coach was the car referred to as the "Conductor's Car". This car was like the other Vista Dome coaches, except in the B end, was a small booth with a bench seat and desk for the Conductor's use.
In 1952 an additional Pullman sleeper (6 double bedrooms - 5 compartments) was added to regular service on this train. With the new cars delivered that year, cars arriving in Chicago on the California Zephyr were made available for use on the Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr for an overnight round trip to Lincoln, Nebraska. When the cars returned from Lincoln the next day, they were placed back in the westbound California Zephyr's consist for the next train out of Chicago that afternoon.
The California Zephyr was marketed (especially to families) as "...a vacation unto itself." Train hostesses, while not new to the industry in the late 1940s, were nevertheless elevated to a new level on the CZ in the form of the "Zephyrette." The "Zephyrettes" functioned as social directors, tour guides, babysitters, nurses—in short, they filled just about any role required to ensure that the passengers had a memorable trip. A pool of approximately twelve women was assigned at any given time to the CZ in this capacity. In 1983 Amtrak revived the California Zephyr and invited one of the original "Zephyrettes" to host the first trip.
A pair of the Western Pacific's Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs), operating as replacements for the discontinued Royal Gorge (trains No. 1 and 2) [1] between September 17, 1950 and October 2, 1960 also picked up the nickname "Zephyrette."
As ridership fell during the 1960s, the Western Pacific repeatedly petitioned the ICC to drop its section of the train west of Salt Lake City without success. On February 13, 1970, the ICC released an order stating that "operation of the train [on the Western Pacific] was no longer required". The final train departed Oakland, California on March 20, 1970, terminating at Chicago, Illinois on March 22, 1970. The California Zephyr had operated for 21 years and 2 days. East of Salt Lake City, the train was reduced from a daily to a tri-weekly schedule, operating as California Service on the Burlington and as the Rio Grande Zephyr on the Rio Grande. The Rio Grande portion of the train was extended beyond Salt Lake to Ogden, Utah, allowing Nevada and California passengers to connect to the Southern Pacific Railroad's City of San Francisco passenger train. This arrangement existed until the creation of Amtrak on May 1, 1971.
With the establishment of Amtrak in 1971, the new system began operating its San Francisco Zephyr over the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy route to Denver, and Union Pacific's "Overland Route" through Wyoming instead of Colorado, then over the Southern Pacific tracks west of Ogden, Utah.
The Rio Grande railroad initially opted out of Amtrak and continued to operate its section of the former California Zephyr as the Rio Grande Zephyr. In 1983 the Rio Grande Railroad reversed its decision and joined Amtrak.
In July 1983, Amtrak ceased operation of the San Francisco Zephyr and launched operation of a new California Zephyr over the CB&Q and Rio Grande legs of the original train route. West of Salt Lake City, the route operates on the Western Pacific track (now part of the Union Pacific Railroad) to Wells, Nevada. From Wells to Winnemucca the CZ can operate on either the Western Pacific track or the Southern Pacific as directed by the modern owner of both tracks, the Union Pacific Railroad.[3] West of Winnemucca the modern California Zephyr follows the route of the former City of San Francisco on SP track.
Heading westward from Chicago, there are many small towns along the right-of-way as the train crosses the great plains towards Denver.
The scenery changes dramatically at Denver as the train climbs the Rocky Mountains. After crossing the Continental Divide via the Moffat Tunnel, the tracks follow the Colorado River for several hours. Passengers can see the transition from a narrow, whitewater river (popular with rafters, who habitually moon the train as it passes) to a much wider stream past Glenwood Canyon and Grand Junction. The train finally departs the now much larger Colorado River after exiting Ruby Canyon which is also where the train enters Utah.
In Utah, the train follows the southern rim of the Book Cliffs to their end near Helper. The train then crosses the Wasatch Mountains, cresting at Soldier Summit. After passing the Wasatch the train arrives at the Wasatch Front where most of the population of Utah is located.
Once the train reaches Salt Lake City the train loosely follows Interstate 80 until the terminus of the train in California. Both the freeway and railroad pass along the south shore of the Great Salt Lake and across the Bonneville Salt Flats towards Nevada.
The Humboldt River provides the path across most of Nevada. However, before the train reaches the Humbolt river, it crosses through 2 mountain ranges, tunneling under the Pequop Mountains. Like all rivers in the Great Basin the Humboldt does not reach the ocean, but terminates in the desert. On the other side of this desert valley is the Truckee River which provides the train's path to Reno and up the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.
In California, the train crests the Sierra Nevada at Donner Pass and descends following a ridge between the American and Yuba Rivers. Eventually, the California Zephyr reaches the lowland areas of the California Central Valley. The trip terminates in Emeryville, a suburb of Oakland, where a free shuttle bus connects passengers to the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system. Passengers continuing to San Francisco transfer from the train to a Thruway Motorcoach which will take passengers to downtown San Francisco.
The original California Zephyr used the Feather River Route as its path through the Sierra Nevadas. The rails are still in use for freight; however, anyone wishing to see this portion of the original route must now use State Route 70 which runs parallel to the old Western Pacific track.
The high quality Budd built cars of the "California Zephyr" have proven to be popular with private car owners. Today, several former CZ cars operate in private charter service on Amtrak, including dome-observation car "Silver Solarium", dome-coach "Silver Lariat", sleepers "Silver Rapids" and "Silver Quail" and a dome-lounge now known as the "Sierra Hotel".
Six museums currently hold equipment once used on the CZ. The Illinois Railway Museum owns several Burlington locomotives that were used to pull the train on occasion. The Colorado Railroad Museum has two Rio Grande locomotives that also saw CZ and later Rio Grande Zephyr service.
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Florida owns two former Western Pacific Railroad CZ cars: baggage car "Silver Stag" and dome-observation car "Silver Crescent".
The Avon Park Depot Museum in Florida owns one former Western Pacific Railroad CZ car: Silver Palm originally a sleeper car, it is now a buffet dining car that the museum uses for dinner parties. The car was converted to its buffet car state by Auto-Train when they bought the car. More information about the Silver Palm can be found at http://www.hsaponline.org/diningcar.htm
The largest collection of preserved equipment can be found in Portola, California at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum. One locomotive and four cars are currently preserved there as part of the museum's Zephyr Project restoration program. Western Pacific 805-A is the last intact locomotive built specifically for the CZ. The cars are dome-lounge "Silver Hostel", dome-coaches "Silver Lodge" and "Silver Rifle" (on long term loan from the Golden Gate Railroad Museum) and the "Silver Plate", which is the last intact dining car left from the train's fleet.
A non-functional replica of the California Zephyr is located at Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, California. The train serves as the location of Baker's Field Bakery and Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream counter service cafes at the Sunshine Plaza main entrance area of the park.
 Two California Zephyr express trains meet at a railroad siding (Grizzly) in Garfield County, Colorado beside the Colorado River on March 21, 1949. The Denver and Rio Grande Western locomotives and passenger cars travel in opposite directions on parallel tracks. Placards on the dome cars read "Silver Hostel" and "Silver Pony." The "Silver Hostel" is today preserved and under restoration at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum. |
 "Drumhead" logos such as this often adorned the ends of observation cars on the California Zephyr. |
 This cover of a pre-inaugural brochure for the California Zephyr features a cutaway view of the train's famed "Vista Domes." |
 California Zephyr railcar located at the Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona the railcar reads "Silver Horizon". |
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This article is an itinerary.
The California Zephyr [1] is a daily long-distance Amtrak train connecting downtown Chicago to the San Francisco Bay area (Emeryville, near Oakland). The journey takes about 51 hours, longer if delays occur along the route. Equipment used is common to most Amtrak long-distance routes, with two-level Superliner passenger cars, sleeper cars, dining cars, an observation/snack bar car, and possibly several baggage/expedited cargo cars.
The California Zephyr begins its westbound journey at Chicago's Union Station [2]. Passengers see the Chicago River and central Chicago as the train eases out of the station. The train soon leaves the urban zone behind, and crosses the open prairie of central Illinois, southern Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado. The following morning, the train pulls into Denver's Union Station [3].
After Denver, the California Zephyr climbs the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, passing through resort towns like Winter Park and Glenwood Springs as it follows the path of the Colorado River. Soon, the East- and West-bound trains pass each other, high in the mountains. The train continues following the increasingly-larger Colorado River, leaving the Rockies behind. The train crosses into Utah after sunset, and stops in Salt Lake City (typically before Midnight).
The bulk of the night passes as the train clears the salt flats west of Salt Lake City before entering the Great Basin of northern Nevada. In the late morning, the train arrives in Reno, gateway to the Sierra Nevadas. Early afternoon of day three, the train goes through the extraordinary scenery of the Sierra Nevada mountains, gradually descending to Sacramento. A couple of hours later (approximately 6:00 PM) the California Zephyr arrives in Emeryville.
Passengers continuing on to San Francisco can use an Amtrak-provided bus or catch CalTran (San Francisco public transit) out of Oakland via a free shuttle out of Emeryville.
The California Zephyr is timed so passengers will see the most-scenic points of the Sierras and Rockies, regardless of direction traveled.
Total route length is just over 2400 miles.
From east to west:
   | ''California Zephyr'' Virtual Museum - California Zephyr Virtual Museum |
| | ''California Zephyr'' Museum Online - The California Zephyr Museum Online |
| | Amtrak - ''California Zephyr'' - Amtrak - Routes - West |
| | ''California Zephyr'' restoration effort - The Zephyr Project |
| | ''Western Pacific Railroad Museum'' - owns several pieces of CZ rolling stock - Welcome to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum at Portola |
| | Nevada Road and Recreation Atlas - Benchmark Maps Home |
| | The current Zephyr inside and outside in QTVR ( virtual reality) - AMTRAK Cross Continent |
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