Amtrak California Zephyr Day 3: Snow in the Summer
Вставка
- Опубліковано 25 лип 2024
- Watch Part 1 here: • Amtrak Across America:...
Watch Part 2 here: • Is this Amtrak’s Most ...
Welcome to the third and final installment of our trip report aboard Amtrak's most scenic train, the California Zephyr. Today, we are boarding the Zephyr in Salt Lake City, UT, and riding it all the way down to Richmond, CA. Though the Rocky Mountains may be behind us, there's still plenty of desert, mountain, and ocean scenery ahead of us. Join us as we snake our way through the Sierra Nevada and cruise down to the Bay Area. Along the way, learn a little more about the history of this awesome train.
Trains Are Awesome!
Support us on Patreon: / trainsareawesome
Our Instagram: / tra_channel
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:56 Salt Lake Central Station
3:30 Boarding the train
4:53 Crossing Nevada
9:20 Truckee, California
10:29 Traveling through the Sierra Nevada
14:19 Colfax, California
15:49 Confronting a dilemma
18:04 Sacramento to Richmond
21:28 Next Video: BART - Авто та транспорт
The name Reno was given to the city by Central Pacific Railroad construction superintendent Charles Crocker, named after the Union Major General Jesse Lee Reno who was killed in the Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland. Jesse Lee Reno wasn't actually from Nevada as he was born in Wheeling in what was then Virginia, and now within West Virginia. Fort Reno Park in Northwest DC was also named after him! Reno was founded by Myron C. Lake who purchased a log toll bridge, proceeded to develop a community, and called it Lake's Crossing. He deeded the land to the railroad in exchange for a depot there!
"Imagine having a place named after you except it's not your real name" kinda like how there are places named after people, but people don't think they are. Like how Snowflake in Arizona isn't named after a snowflake, it's named after William J. Flake and Erastus Snow! Or how the Outerbridge Crossing between NJ and Staten Island isn't named such because it's the southernmost crossing in NYC, but because of Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, first chairman of the Port Authority! Or how the Holland Tunnel between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan isn't named for the region's New Netherland heritage but rather after the tunnel's initial chief engineer Clifford Milburn Holland!
Or like how no one knows for sure who Georgetown in DC is named after. It could be King George II, it could be founders George Beal or George Gordon. The one person it’s not named after is George Washington, since Georgetown predates DC by several decades!
See mom ! UA-cam IS educational ! You Both get a Thumbs Up for the History Lesson !!
Martinez is named after Ygnacio Martínez, a ranchero who served as the fourth Alcalde of San Francisco from 1837 to 1838, or then known as Yerba Buena. Benicia was named such after Mexican General Mariano Vallejo sold the land from his vast land grant to Robert Semple, and General Vallejo asked that they name the city after his wife! Richmond, California on the other hand got its name from Richmond, Virginia! Edmund Randolph, originally from the one in Virginia, represented the city of San Francisco when California's first legislature met in San Jose in December 1849, and he became state assemblyman from San Francisco.
Out of fondness for his hometown, Randolph persuaded a federal surveying party, surveying and mapping the San Francisco Bay, to place the names "Point Richmond" and "Richmond" on their 1854 geodetic coastal map. The map was used at the terminal selected by the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad purchased the railroad making their terminus at Richmond. The first post office opened in 1900, and finally the city of Richmond was incorporated in 1905.
Ah, I never knew Richmond was one of those west coast cities with an east coast name!
Whenever I go home, I always take BART to Richmond to catch the Amtrak San Joaquins train to Fresno. It's a 4 hour trip for $26. It takes 3 hours to drive and traffic is terrible, so Amtrak is a great value. The San Joaquins and Capitol Amtrak lines do proceed into Oakland, with the Capitol line going on to San Jose. You can transfer to BART at Oakland Coliseum via a connecting bridge, but it's not as convenient as Richmond. From the Oakland Jack London Amtrak station (Capitol and San Joaquins lines) you can walk to the Oakland Ferry Terminal, about a 1/2 mile along the Water St promenade, to catch a nice cross-bay ferry to San Francisco's Ferry Bldg on The Embarcadero.
I’d love to go back and explore the Central Valley. Perhaps when the new hydrogen trains come!
@@Thom-TRACross Valley or HSR?
This was my first long distance train I took in its entirety. I loved every minute of it. One thing is I wished there was still a passenger train that ran through the Feather River canyon like WP did. It is gorgeous
It's amazing just how scenic every hour is
Fantastic scenery and lots of information. I found the agreement to use one track eastbound and the other westbound interesting.
There’s a few other places in North America that do this as well!
Ooo, if you haven't done it and go back, and if no one else mentioned it in the comments, the railway museum in Sacramento is really cool.
Thom and Lindsey are precious and professional. Thank you, friends.
The two “Pr” words. I love it.
I want to take this someday. Just wish the eastbound trip had a more convenient time in SLC.
Nothing says Amtrak quite like stopping at a major city in the middle of the night.
The next time you’re in Northern California, be sure to check out the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART). You can also connect with the AMTRAK bus connections via SMART.
We enjoyed this whole series but I forgot to write a comment on Day 3. We hope to take a few of these cross country trains someday. The rail pass seems like the pass we would use. Not sure how well we would do in coach for 3 days but maybe we can get lucky and get a companion ticket and use it towards a roomette. The views on this journey are amazing! I love the western states.
Love seeing these videos. From the UK but I love travelling on the Amtrak long distance routes when I visit the US. I use the 15 or 30 day travel pass when I come over.
I have been on the Zephyr from Emeryville, I was hoping to get to Chicago but we were delayed for so long I had to get off early in Denver. At least I got to see the best part of the trip going through the Rockies. Next time I will perhaps start in Chicago.
I think I preferred the Empire Builder best but it does make a difference in which direction you travel to ensure you get the best views in daylight.
I have used both coach and roomette while travelling. I am very content just to sit and watch the scenery change. You have to be flexible with timings when travelling by Amtrak but I love the overall experience and it is great way of seeing different parts of the US.
Am Shack, I love it.
No better way to describe it
Thank you. I’ll be doing a cross country on Amtrak in 2024. Thank you. 🚂
I learned so much about this route from your video. Very informative. Thanks!
I’m so glad to hear that!
You make a nice video and I love your narration
Thank you!
Wow, can't wait to see your adventures in the Bay Area! If these tunnels and rails could talk, the stories they could tell. As you mentioned, this third leg crosses through some truly historically significant sections of the Central Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad. Incredibly dangerous and difficult work to get through the Sierra Nevadas. Apparently at one point they had to cook up their own (technically illegal!) liquid nitroglycerin on site because black powder was proving far too slow get through the granite peaks.
I would love to see some sort of north south connection train earlier than California, perhaps bringing back portions of the Pioneer and Desert Wind. We'll see.
Great vid dude
Thank you!
Great video! I am a big fan of your channel. Keep up the good work!!
Appreciate it!
I have seen a lot of videos about the California Zephyr, and yours is right up with the best. I've never seen anybody do it coach but it seems it wasn't too bad. I have never been on an Amtrak Trip and because of of my age and medical problems I never will. The California Zephyr would my choice.
Aww, I really appreciate this!
@@Thom-TRA You gained another Subscriber!
Wow what a great trip!... Cool... Lindsay on the camera today at least for the Salt Lake City station bathrooms...jeje beautiful scenery of the Nevadas.... Love it! Amtrak is always delay.... Thanks for sharing.
I enjoy that video👍👍
I haven’t been on Amtrak since 1973. Your channel is inspiring me to book a trip.
You should! I’m sure it’s changed quite a bit since
At 19:57, that "Mothball Fleet" used to be 100's of ships, from WW2. Now down to 10 or 15.
What a delightful trip!
It was great!
Good series!
Thanks!
Thanks for showing this. Well done!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow what a spectacular trip and travelogue and great bit about the history as well. The scenery is amazing. Looks like there may be market for an aditional Reno to Bay Area frequency and so true about the long distance trains serving so many intermediate markets which is so often misunderstood. Always love your content, thanks for posting!!
Really enjoyed this trip and looking forward to many more!!! Thank you for the research and information you put in your videos. Awesome!!!I always wondered why Emeryville was the endpoint. And go UIC!
Thank you so much for this great video, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I completely agree that the California Zephyr is Amtrak’s most scenic route, and offers so much amazing variety. I was amused at your choice of BART to go over to San Francisco, as I could not miss out on the. Bay crossing by connecting Bus ! I fully understand your reasoning, and look forward to your adventures during your vacation in California !
Emeryville being the end of the line while not having a BART connection seems like a HUGE disadvantage for travelers. I hope there are plans for station and track improvements at Oakland which will enable it to serve as the terminus again in the future.
I think the problem with Oakland is the trains would have to backup through a street-running section
@@Thom-TRA Well that may be a difficult problem to fix. We all know how excited government leadership is about taking space away from cars to make room for trains.
Yeah traveling down (or up in the other direction) from the Sierra Into the Nevada desert is just impressive. Form lush green and cold to dry and hot in such a short time. I remember this from a road trip at did. We did drove down from Lake Tahoe to Reno.
Excellent thorough researched information on this beautiful trip!
Thank you!
Mooie video!
Bedankt!
Great videos I hope to do the same trip one day ❤❤❤❤
You don't see snow in the summer very often, you took some great videos, thanks for the update
May 10 isn't summer.
There is usually skiing through the end of May. Until early July last year.
Thank you for showing that long distance train travel in coachclass is a wonderful experience..
I always do coach! While my body can handle it lol
I get the fact that some parts of the western United States get snow in the summer. It makes sense with the mountains and I think I’ve seen that once when I was at Lake Tahoe 13 years ago over the summer during a family reunion. My best friend used to travel there a lot.
I’m loving all of this train travel! Makes me want to book a rail pass myself. I wonder if I should really make it an occasion and wear my tuxedo?
Only if you’re comfortable wearing the same tux 3 days in a row!
While we're on the subject of how things got named, there are two theories of how the martini cocktail got its name. The better-known theory is that it's named after Martini vermouth (known as Martini and Rossi here in the States). The other theory is that it was invented in Martinez, California and named after the town. Who knows for sure?
You should meet my good friends Avery and Kim, they love conversations like this!
sugoi you went with the thumbnail by popular vote
When I took this train in 05 they were just building the new station and cutting through Reno but we were on the old street level line. No doubt it’s better for trains and cars but the view of Reno was better. It’s one of the trains I would take again at some point but as usual too many routes and not enough time.
INFO : Reno is 4500 ft, Truckee is 6200 feet, and west of Truckee up on "The Hill" the train will reach 7500 feet. There is snow year 'round almost every year. As of April 1, this year, 2024, there is about 8 feet of snow still in Truckee. They have had about 25 feet of snow since last November. I did this trip in 1986, to D.C. and back. Great video !! Writing from Sacramento but I lived in San Jose in the 80's. The ONLY (reasonable) way by rail around the bay area is by BART. EDIT #2: At 18:05, the Old Sacramento station is in the background. Too Bad ! It was a Beautiful station and now we have just a 'Platform' 1/2 a mile away !! Yuck, Amtrak !
I've seen snow pretty much on the Equator.We were flying from Johannesburg to Luxembourg with Lux Air and we flew east of a very high mountain in either Kenya or Tanzania and you could see snow on it's top.I was only a child at the time so didn't know what mountain it was but it must have either been Kilimanjaro or Mt Kenya.Most likely Mt Kenya as we'd landed at Nairobi and I see Mt Kenya is north east of Nairobi.
Do they make a Donner Pass snowglobe? Very well done video, informative as well. Did you ever see the movie Broadway Limited? Its a good movie that takes place on that train.
Oh wow I didn’t know Lindsey went to UIC. I’m a grad student there. Small world.
If you two are ever in Sacramento again I would recommend going to the California State Railroad museum as a Oaklander
I have yet to properly visit Sacramento!
Richmond, California
The story about Truckee was interesting and funny. I wonder if they ever found out his real name.
Can you sometime ride a steam train. It would be very awesome. I was thinking of riding the polar express in Ashley Michigan. It would be very cool if you can do a video on that
Ah I didn’t catch your train in Roseville (I live in Rocklin)
I wonder what the replacement for these trains would look like! Maybe an adapted Bombardier Bi-level for the low platforms?
I’m sure once the corridor ID program is further along they’ll get a better sense of how much they need and announce an order
Last time I took the Capitol Corridor it was pretty much completely flooded and it looked so different!😂
Oof
I am from Sacramento, so I am glad that you mentioned the Capitol Corridor because that’s what I use to travel from Sacramento to Oakland/Emeryville/Richmond to visit my sister while she was living in Oakland a few years ago. She now lives in NYC.
I’d like to come back and try it someday!
Amshack. Funny. I wish Amtrak still went from LA to SLC because you can take a city bus right to the ski slopes there.
I'm cautiously hopeful that train might return someday
great video! can't wait for the BART report 👌🏼🙏🏻
It features the recently retired trains!
Nice job Thom! Great tip about disembarking at Richmond.
For a fascinating anecdotal and historical account about the construction of the transcontinental railroad I'd highly recommend "Nothing Like It In The World" by Stephen Ambrose.
Thanks for the recommendation!
@@Thom-TRA You bet. 👍 So it's not exactly a short read, but... if you want to enjoy an equally amazing historical account by the same author, it would make more sense to start chronologically with his anecdotally-rich account of the Lewis & Clark expedition "Undaunted Courage". It really sets the stage for how the railroad went from vision to reality.
Fun fact: the Civil War is what made the building of the railroad a reality. Up until then, every time Congress met the Northern and Southern states would bicker about where the first route should go, and they could never agree. Guess what resolution passed during the war when no Southern States were in attendance...? Not to mention, Abraham Lincoln signed the standard gauge into law during the war. Railroad technology exploded during the war and afterward you had all these young guys needing work who knew how to build railroads.
The Richmond stop has been eliminated on The California Zephyr!
No it hasn’t.
I have plans to ride the California Zephyr soon but for right now I railfan the bnsf Omaha Sub to catch the zephyr in Omaha
Emeryville is excellent
I’ll have to go there someday
Is the Emeryville bus included with your Amtrak ticket or is it a separate cost?
Originally the Zephyr traveled through the Feather River Canyon rather than the current route over Donner Pass.
Which you would know if you watched my previous video
You make the best decision, from Richmond to San Francisco in the BART is really easy, I've done it before from the last station of the BART and it takes you wherever you want to go, most of the Central area of San Francisco you can get down in Powell station. And why you ask the conductor to switch your tickets to Richmond? you just get down on the stopvyou want to go, even if your train keep going to the end. Am I right? The USA Rail pass is very flexible.
It’s better to notify the train staff what your plans are so they can accommodate you
Oohh ok...
Oh, wow, so it's not the same scenery headed East or West. Guess you have to do both legs to take it all in.
For most of the way they run next to each other but there are a few areas where the tracks are several miles apart
How would you change Amtrak’s boarding process?
Depends on the station
Smash the like button, please!
You said it was pretty comfortable to sleep on the train. Was it in the coach service? Am I right there are only two options - coach and pricey private rooms? Are there different classes in seating? I mean all the chairs in coach are the same in comfortability or there are some options? Thanks for the video!
You are correct, those are the two options. There is only Coach class in seating. It’s very comfortable, like a recliner.
Emeryville is where Pixar is headquartered
Wow I didn’t know that. Home of the Pixar mom.
@@Thom-TRAyeah, also that Amtrak station shack there was meant to be a temporary structure
A well produced and informative video. We got off the Zephyr in Sacramento, but likely we’ll ride on to Emeryville when we take our next California Zephyr trip. I’m eager to see the remaining legs of your ten segment trip.
A few comments and then a question
I love to see the respect you show for your wife. That’s nice!
Thank you for explaining the tracks that are used depending on direction. That was interesting. It’s too bad Ogden is cut out! The train station there is beautiful!
Last Winter we had so much snow in California! We had snow up to July 04
Taking Bart downtown is the way to go! I live in SF and it’s easier access to Market Street
I am planning on traveling on a rail pass in May 2024. When do I purchase that? In January, taking into account the 120 day travel limit
Just buy it when you know when you want to travel. You don’t have to know exactly where you are going, but knowing when you have the time off is a good time to pounce. And it there’s a sale, I’ll let you know!
@@Thom-TRA Awesome! Thank you!
honestly, that Amshack isn't so bad at all. Definitely not a pretty building, but it looks functional and clean at the very least. SLC definitely deserves a "Union Station" type hub but it could definitely be worse
Definitely have seen worse
What date was this filmed?
If you can manage to watch all the way until the 1:20 mark you’ll find out!
Waiting area not being open in the day is so weird. The two different single line routes being operated together like a double track is really cool though, great way to increase capacity
There’s no trains during the day so they probably don’t wanna pay for staff
@@Thom-TRA That makes sense! I assumed there were commuter / local trains where people might appreciate the seating
@@supermanifolds that’s a good point. But far be it from agencies to work together…
@@Thom-TRA haha yeah true 🤣 I haven't been to this part of America but I have been to NYC Penn station sitting on the floor waiting for an NJTransit train while Amtrak seating areas stayed empty
This is a bucket list trip for me. Smart move on getting off at Richmond and taking the BART to downtown San Francisco.
BART seemed like less stress
@@Thom-TRA I am happy that you and your girlfriend can do travels like that!
@@trainglen22 she’s my wife, actually!
@@Thom-TRA my mistake. Glad you two do amazing videos.
@@trainglen22 no worries! Appreciate it
Are you planning to see the CP Christmas Train in December at Chicago? I'm Zach.
I sadly don’t think I’ll be able to make it this year!
The key question I've never seen answered on any California Zephyr trip reviews is this .... Can you get an emery stick in Emeryville? You'd think someone would want to file their nails either before or after a long train trip.
As long as they don’t do it in their seat…
@@Thom-TRA Haaa! Yes! Indeed!
After I left the US and moved to Europe, while I feel a lot better about my daily transport here, but I reeeeally regret not to get a chance to have a wonderful long distance Amtrak trip like this video. But anyway, still thank you for sharing your great experience.
Love your channel. Thanks for taking us along on your adventures.
Glad you could come along :)
I'm obviously missing something, I really don't understand why you had to ask to get off the train one stop *earlier*. If your ticket is valid at least as far as where you get off, why can't you just get off? Did you have checked luggage, something like that?
Amtrak conductors keep a strict manifest of who is on their train or not. Sometimes they will stop only for a few seconds at a station if nobody is getting on or off. To make sure we could get off with our bags in enough time, we informed the conductor of our changed plans. Plus it’s just considerate and polite to communicate.
I've seen many videos about the California Zephyr and this is the first video I've watched that didn't skip over the Sierra Nevada stops, didn't call Suisun Bay the San Francisco Bay, didn't call the San Pedro Bay the San Francisco Bay, and showed the Sacramento Valley (Central Valley).
Inclusion starts here lol
You may not know it but your clip of the Bart train was one of the old cars. They were just retired a couple of months ago. Now it’s all modern fleet with three doors. They have cut down to eight cars except this week there is a major thing going on with President Biden, the President of China and the entire circus is coming to town. They are increasing the number of cars and accommodating for increased traffic. Now is the time for public transportation to shine!
I was very lucky to ride the old cars before they left!
@@Thom-TRA I heard somewhere they’re selling off the old cars. They would make a cool coffee place
@@davidjackson7281 LOL! Doom-Loop talk! Bart is doing well and ridership is up. Just on Bart today. No problems
@@davidjackson7281 looks like you would know
If you ever find yourself in Sacramento again, you should get off the Amtrak, ride the light rail from the Amtrak station to Folsom and go for a hike along the American River, it’s really pretty up there.
I love that it’s called the American river. Thanks for the recommendation!
Yes! A quick photo of the Davis Station, the town that was my home for nine years. I took Capital Corridor down to Berkeley most weekdays that whole time. One of these days I'll be back, and finally ride the Zephyr. Great videos!
Glad to provide a bit of nostalgia!
Fairly new subscriber here. Love your videos ! I love taking Amtrak - it IS so relaxing !! The train and the Ocean are 2 things that can keep me still for a while and relax. When one of my boys joined the USAF this was what got me started into taking the train and i fell in love with it. Been as far as Texas (from Boston) but i hope to make it out to California by rail some day soon!
Boston to Texas is nothing to scoff at, impressive!
Lindsey and Thom, as always, a very informative video! As a relative train novice on Amtrak, please let me know why you had the conductor change the ticket to Richmond? Is that standard procedure I should know about? Danke!
To make sure they would stop at Richmond long enough. Sometimes if you’re the only passenger they kind of stop for a few seconds, then keep going.
@@Thom-TRA Natürlich, makes sense! Thank you for your quick reply!
AMSHACK 😂
The only appropriate name
@Thom-TRA The SLC Amshack is a shame because the old Rio Grande station in downtown SLC is buetiful. Too bad Amtrak doesn't use it.
Amazing stuff, thank you! Looking forward to seeing your Bay Area content and also how your next Amtrak leg matches up to what you've already done! 2 thoughts arise: firstly, from what I heard on the PA, the planners seem to aim to confine boarding in SLC to the rear 2 cars, presumably to minimise disturbance to sleeping customers; secondly, would the onboard staff really have taken issue if you'd simply hopped off at Richmond without warning? Thanks again for sharing this odyssey \m/