NEW VIDEO SERIES! Chicago to San Francisco on Amtrak's California Zephyr - Round Trip, Dec 2023

[Hiawatha Pete]

An upcoming 2-part Youtube series documenting our journey across the U.S. by rail in December of 2023.

Hop aboard for a short preview of my upcoming documentary on the "California Zephyr" - Amtrak's Transcontinental passenger train - which runs from Chicago to Emeryville in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This preview of our round trip (with stopovers in Reno, Las Vegas & San Francisco) was recorded during our scenic land cruise across the U.S. in Dec of 2023. Watch my YouTube channel for the full-length video coming soon - or see it on my website at
https://northamericabyrail.info/

[sdfernando]

1. I'm taking this trip in the opposite direction

over the new year! 2 1/2 days from Emeryville to Chicago. Leave on Saturday and arrive in Chicago in the afternoon of the 1st. We booked a full room, not a roommate. Really looking forward to it.

[Hiawatha Pete]

2. Awesome! You won't be disappointed.

I will be posting a 2 part video on my YT channel once I'm done editing, (Part 1 for the westbound & part 2 for the eastbound trip)

The preview above, however, has clips taken from both directions of the trip.

Thanks for checking out my post!

[PlutosHeart]

3. Wow! Thanks! Went to your website

and I can tell I will be spending a lot of time there! Love Amtrak.

[Hiawatha Pete]

4. No problem, my pleasure! Thanks for checking out my post, PlutosHeart!

[mnhtnbb]

5. Love it!

There was surprisingly little snow on the ground in the Rockies!
Thanks for sharing your trip. I've been a fan of train travel since I was a child. We lived in NJ and grandparents on both sides lived in California, where my parents grew up. My dad hated flying, so we went by train if we went to visit: 20th Century Limited to Chicago and then the SuperChief to L.A. it was quite an adventure in the '50's and early '60's. Then we moved to CA in 1965 when my dad retired.
Looking forward to the full video.

[Hiawatha Pete]

8. That's awesome that you were able to ride those trains!

I believe the Century Limited and Chief had some of the fastest, if not THE fastest, schedules.

You can still ride those same routes - the Lakeshore Ltd and Southwest Chief are Amtrak's direct replacements for those trains.

Interestingly the Southwest Chief is the only western Amtrak train allowed to travel over 79mph on parts of its route. 90 mph is allowed by the FRA because back in the day the Santa Fe (operator of the Super Chief) installed automatic train stops as an add on to their signalling system. (Today, Positive train control (PTC) provides much the same function nation-wide as automatic train stops)

Thanks for checking out my post!

[Siwsan]

6. I've taken the Southwest Chief twice, to Los Angeles

And there was a route - I think it was called The Pioneer? It ended up in Washington or Oregon. As I recall, sections of the train were detached in Denver and maybe Salt Lake City to head to different locations and the remainder went to Los Angeles. My memory is foggy on exactly where.

The section of the trip through Colorado was absolutely breathtaking. It remains my favorite Amtrak trip and rivals the ones I took in Wales and Scotland.

[Hiawatha Pete]

7. That's right - The California Zephyr-Desert Wind & Pioneer were combined as 1 train...

and the train split at either Denver or Salt Lake (I think the location of the split might have changed over the years), with the California Zephyr heading to San Fran, the Desert wind heading to LA by way of Las Vegas, and the Pioneer headed to Portland, OR.

Here is a pic of the combined train I found on flickr:


As well as a description of the photo:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/151089709@N08/52090569580

Awesome that you were able to ride it!