Part I, July 16 & 17, 1966

This is my 1966 railroad trip on the California Zephyr. The Zephyr runs between San Francisco and Chicago. The passenger cars were owned by three individual railroads spread across the United States. It was inaugurated on March 19, 1949 with four sleeping cars and five Vista Dome cars. The three railroads were The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (Burlington Route), the Denver and Rio Grande Western (Rio Grande), and the Western Pacific-through some complicated arrangement of locomotives, right-of-way, coach cars, Pullman cars, dining car, china, and so on. My trip was part of a three-week temporary duty (TDY) assignment to ferry a C-47 twin-engine World War II era transport from Sacramento, California, to Saigon, South Vietnam. This plane had been redesignated AC-47, meaning that it was to be used as an attack aircraft with 7.62mm miniguns mounted inside the plane and pointing left through the open windows. During a combat sortie, the aircraft would bank steeply to the left with guns blaring at 50 or 100 rounds per second at the Viet Cong. The crews affectionately nick-named this lethal aircraft Puff the Magic Dragon, and the name stuck.
So how did I happen to take the Zephyr? While an aircraft maintenance officer at Glasgow AFB, Montana, I flew the C-47 for navigator flying time and supposedly to maintain proficiency. Since the C-47 really had no navigation equipment, and since the pilots had all the radio instrumentation they needed, my navigation was somewhat superfluous. I did fill out a navigator log and kept up with the plane’s position by map reading. I was technically qualified in the C-47, in fact I was an evaluation instructor (whoopee). I suppose it was natural that Glasgow AFB received a message requesting my personal presence on a special and unusual mission. My job was to get to McClelland AFB in Sacramento, meet the pilots and crew chief, navigate the aircraft over the Pacific to Vietnam, and return home to Glasgow, Montana, any way I could. How I got home and how long it took is quite an interesting story, but for this purpose I shall confine myself to the portion concerning the California Zephyr. When I made it eastbound across the Pacific returning to San Francisco, the trunk airlines (i.e., the large ones such as United) were on strike. The local airlines (i.e., the small regional Airlines) were still flying. I needed to get back to Utah where I could catch the closest local, Frontier Airlines with their Convair 580s and DC-3s which flew into Montana. Thus the train came into play for me from California to Utah. For my entire return trip from Saigon to Glasgow I was traveling by military TR meaning transportation request. This gave me unlimited power and flexibility although I was too serious-minded to delve into any exotic transportation (e.g., via Australia or Europe). For a description of my Pacific Ocean trip on the ultra-slow, low-flying twin-engine C-47 transport, see my separate report.

From the tiny town of Suisun near San Francisco to Salt Lake City, the California Zephyr was an overnight trip, and military TRs call for a bedroom. Thus I had my own railroad compartment with a sink, toilet, shower, and bed. To me this was real living-riding on a famous train through God’s scenic wonders with sleeping accommodations and meals included. During daylight during the most scenic portion of the trip through the Sierrra-Nevada Mountains, I kept my eyes glued to the window. (Actually if you ever see a window with two eyes glued to it, it’s a pretty funny sight.) Overnight I was zonked out and soothed by the clickty-clack of the rails and wheels. I enjoyed the whole train-the Vista-Dome cars, my first class meals in the dining car, the Pullman cars, and the observation car at the tail end. Being a rail fan, I naturally wanted to-and did-experience all the pleasures of passenger train travel that I possibly could.

After the rail venture, and a taxi ride from the Salt Lake City train station to the airport, the non-striking Frontier Airlines took me on its Convair 580 to Great Falls, and their DC-3 (same as the military C-47) took me on to Glasgow. Ah, the life of a part-time navigator. Our youngest daughter Lindsay was developing a very serious and life-threatening case of measles while I was traipsing half-way round the earth. Marianna had to deal with Lindsay’s hospital stay and nursing her back to health, but I did eventually return home. She did recover completely.

California Zephyr Part II, October 19-21, 2009

Traveling friend, let me tell you about our ride together on the California Zephyr. This is my second trip, today, October 19, 2009. It is Marianna’s first trip on the Zephyr. Lord willing, we’ll get off on October 21, and I will conclude this report. But I wanted to date it with the first day.

Let me spend a couple of sentences on the history of the California Zephyr in between my two trips (see Part I). In the 1960s two unstoppable forces were attacking passenger rail-the comfort and reliability of air-conditioned passenger automobiles and the proliferation of jet passenger airliners. By the late 1960s, luxury, long-distance rail was all but over. Railroads were desperate to terminate their expensive and now-unprofitable passenger trains. The California Zephyr lasted barely 20 years-1949-70; then it was all over. With the creation of government owned and run Amtrak, cross-country passenger rail was restored in 1971 with much hoopla but also with much suspicion and disappointment.

Today Marianna and I maneuvered to downtown Chicago via a couple of rapid-transit lines. These trains do not intersect with the underground railroad tracks like they do in New York City. After a short walk with bags-on-wheels, we arrived at the Union Station with our first-class tickets. We were permitted to use the Amtrak first class lounge to store our bags, relax, or do anything we wanted until about 1:30pm. Then we boarded the Amtrak California Zephyr (which backs in to Union Station) and departed on time at 2:00pm. (Please refer to the movie Silver Streak for some great shots of the station interior and a train that “forgot” to back in.) The modern-day Zephyr is pulled by a pair of other-world-looking General Electric P42 locomotives. Our speed on the open road is to be 79 miles per hour. The cars are described as Superliners, the Amtrak designation for very modern two-level cars. We are in car 531 in room 11, a roomette on the lower level just ahead of the dining car. This type car has both roomettes and bedrooms. Such cars are said to be first class. We pass from car to car on the upper level. In my opinion a roomette is nothing more than an old-fashioned upper and lower berth (the kind with a curtain), but roomettes have doors between the curtain and the aisle.

First class cars (our train has three such cars) are at the front of the train right behind the baggage car. Next was the dining car, then the lounge car with swiveling easy chairs-captain’s chairs, as it were. Finally, three coach cars behind the lounge for a total of nine cars. The last car was not different from the other two coach cars, that is, it did not have a rounded back or an observation deck. All passengers may use the diner and the lounge cars, but only first-class passengers dare set foot in the sleepers.

We left Chicago deep underground right in the middle of down town Chicago southbound for a little way before we turned west. I forgot to specify that we wanted to sit on the right side. On the left side the low winter sun shown in our eyes, and furthermore, any photos would be back-lighted. I explored the parlor car with swivel easy chairs and big picture windows on the upper deck and determined that I’d take my photos through the picture window on the north side of the train. The parlor car was especially nice and fortunately was rarely full.

We crossed Illinois and entered Iowa as we crossed the Mississippi River at around 5pm, on time. Nice and wide! Reminded me of our river cruise out of New Orleans in 2007 on the American Queen. This is a land full of crops-corn, corn, and more corn. All the stalks had been cut and the corn harvested so all we saw was stubble.

Dinner was by reservation, and at 6:15 we went to our seating in the dining car. Tables seat two couples, and it’s a nice way to meet people and talk of other train trips. With the introduction of jet aircraft in the 1960s, America is a different place. Train travel is no longer routine. It is now special and worthy of conversation. No one talks about a special or unique airplane flight. We just want “to get there and get there fast.” Train travel is still slow, and that is part of the charm of course, for how else could one enjoy the beauty if one does not have a moderate speed with which to watch?

The meal was nice but not gourmet and not unique. Gone is the beautiful china when individual train lines prided themselves in superior service. The “china” is now throwaway plastic with the Amtrak logo. It was not very pretty but not ugly. Salad, roll, meat, and baked potato were fine. Mixed vegetables were overcooked. Dutch apple pie was delicious but could have been hotter. While sitting at table, the sun set and the windows became black, as it were. City lights invited speculation as to what was going on.

At most stations on the Zephyr route we stopped only for a matter of minutes. At a few stops we were there for maybe 10 minutes, long enough for the puffing travelers to indulge outside. Trains are 100% smoke-free. At Omaha, Nebraska, we arrived at 10:30 pm and stayed for 20 minutes, long enough to “water the cars and fuel the engines,” as our attendant said.

So now it is time for bed. While stopped at Omaha the attendant dropped the upper berth and made up the two beds. WDC III volunteered for the top, and climbing is no longer Marianna’s pastime as it was when she was Sheena of the Jungle. The tiny rest rooms were down the aisle a few feet and the roomy shower was across the aisle. We found undressing for bed to be tortuously uncomfortable, so we decided showers were out of the question. Our suitcases were on a platform about two feet from our roomette and we could access them easily. We both had sweaters and winter jackets although we were never cold in Chicago. They sure made for bulk in our 6-inch-wide closet in the roomette though. With our berths in place for sleeping we had about eight inches clearance between the bottom berth and our sliding door. The door had a large window, so we were provided with a sliding curtain inside the door. In order to turn around or do anything while standing up and maintain privacy, we had to open the door and push the curtain out into the aisle with our body. After brushing our teeth and so forth we squeezed into our beds. We had done this once before in Thailand in 1970 when we rode from Bangkok, Thailand, to Chang Mai, a resort town. We decided to go one way on first class with a full bedroom and the other way on second class with a roomette and upper and lower berths. We were smaller then and we elected to both sleep on the lower berth. After a while we decided that was a little cramped so WDC III moved to the upper berth. Apparently that trip 39 years ago set the precedent for future train trips, i.e., this one. Today the roomette had no ladder but did have strange built-in steps to climb. ‘Twern’t easy! At Lincoln, Nebraska, around midnight, we were sound asleep, but several passengers got off and others got on. We know that only because our attendant told us. For us, getting out of the upper berth and going to the bathroom at 4:45am was another exercise in torture. This woke Marianna up but eventually we were able to go back to sleep.

We woke up for good around 7am as the train approached Denver and Billy struggled to get out of the upper berth again. We laboriously put on our clothes and shoes in our cramped quarters and made our way to the lavatory. The time zone changed to Mountain Time, and we gained an hour. At 7:15am we backed into the Denver station. Backing is a colossal waste of time, but that is done in some stations including Tampa. The train debarked and boarded passengers for about 15 minutes. While there we could see the beautiful Union Station, a common name used in places like Chicago, Denver, and Tampa. Denver is known as the mile-high city because it is 5280 feet above sea level (measured at the 13th step of the capitol building).

Within about 30 minutes of departing Denver, we began entering the Rocky Mountains and 30 tunnels including the famous Moffat. This is a tunnel worthy of special note because it is the longest in the United States and also the highest at 9239 feet at its crest and penetrates the Continental Divide. It was constructed in the 1920s because the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railroad got tired of wasting money on a long series of switchbacks and steep grades to get over the Continental Divide. The tunnel was named after David Moffat, the chief railroad engineer. It is 6.2 miles long, 24 feet tall, and 18 feet wide, and was dug from both ends. A smaller parallel tunnel supplies water to the city of Denver. When the two digs met at the center, they were only 3.5 inches off-and this with 1927 technology. There is nothing for us travelers to see. Tunnels are pretty dark. The train remains lit, of course. (This is a flaw on the movie Murder on the Orient Express in which the train lights go out in a tunnel.) Both entrances are interesting in that the concrete portals have the name Moffat engraved with the date 1927, but they are visible only to the train engineer. To see them and learn more, one needs to check it out on the web or secure a video about the California Zephyr. I have several video tapes and DVDs, including one made in 1965 just before my first ride on the Zephyr.

After we exited the Moffat Tunnel but still within Colorado we ran through a series of stunning canyons and gorges. They were spectacular and were ablaze with natural rock colors adorned with an abondanza1 of fall foliage. Our gorges today included the Ruby, Glenwood, Red, and others. Some canyon walls were extremely rugged and jagged, some had monster boulders perched on top of canyon walls (quite like the fake ones at Disneyland), and some had very smooth walls extending straight up (literally) hundreds of feet and several thousand feet long. All the tracks were laid in the valley floors, along the Colorado River and parallel to the canyon walls. If you see a picture of Indian cliff dwellings in Arizona, you will see what I’m talking about. One famous gorge not on the Zephyr route is Royal Gorge. It is about two hours to the south. Marianna, the three girls, and I drove here during our 1967 vacation and walked across the Royal Gorge suspension bridge, 1053 feet above the Arkansas River and railroad tracks. On a future vacation we can ride the Royal Gorge Railroad along the river bank and later walk across the bridge again.

After the canyons we entered Utah at about 6pm Mountain time. Dinner is being served. We use the same menu each day but there are so many selections that there need not be any repetitions. Dinners are medium quality and tasty. Tables for four are designed for two couples. We enjoyed meeting and talking with six different couples. We said prayer for each meal, and five couples were happy to participate. One couple said they would be polite and listen. One couple was a Baptist minister and his wife. They were very happy to join in prayer and were eager to talk about their ministry, that of their son in Hawaii, and our experiences.

The dining staff is the same each meal. I don’t know how they keep up the pace, but they are not pleasant and never smile (not even once that I can remember). But they keep it beautiful and clean. The diner is on the upper level of the dining car. We have no idea what goes on downstairs in the kitchen (e.g., cooked on site or frozen and heated?). We were never rushed.

Although Utah has stunningly beautiful scenery and national parks, along our train route is plain desert. So as we enter nightfall we do not miss spectacular scenery. Our 30-minite stop at Salt Lake City is at 11pm, and we did not wake up. Likewise Nevada is desert. Our car attendant knows each passenger’s itinerary, so he wakes the right people at the right time.

And so we woke up on day three near Reno soon to be entering California with a time zone change to Pacific. We had the same struggle with tiny beds, miniscule room for dressing, suitcases nearby but down the aisle, and a bath room also down the aisle. From our breakfast table we could see that we were entering the Sierra-Nevada Mountain range. and crossing Donner Pass, 7085 ft. near Donner Lake and Truckee, California. Last year (Feb. 1, 2008) both the eastbound and westbound California Zephyrs were stranded by a snowplow that cracked and blocked the tracks for hours. But safely from our vantage point, the trees and brush in this northern region of the Sierra-Nevadas reminded me exactly of my Air Force survival school in May 1958 soon after I arrived at Castle AFB. The vivid memories from 51 years ago were amazing. Even though we were in the second highest mountain range in the US, we were not in the spectacular region with views of the distant snow-capped mountains like Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks somewhat to the south. Therefore our scenery was good but not stunning in contrast to the Rockies the day before. As we descended toward sea level we could see Travis AFB and hundreds of wind-driven generators. In Sacramento the station is in Old Sacramento and is across the street from the California State Railroad Museum. In 2007 during our California tourist train vacation (see separate write-up) granddaughter Patience and I spent several hours in the beautiful and comprehensive museum. After Sacramento the Zephyr passed by the Navy’s mothball fleet of ships on our left and then pressed on into Oakland and our final stop at Emeryville. We arrived almost two hours early, a total miracle among train trips, but it was actually a schedule change for the better, not merely a fluke. Had we wanted to go to the Zephyr’s termination, San Francisco, we would have boarded a waiting bus to go across San Francisco Bay.

Because we planned to drive to Merced, Atwater, and Yosemite, our AAA travel agent had a Hertz rental car reserved, and we were to take a taxi to a remote agency, get our car, and apply for a $10 taxi reimbursement. Our cost for three days was to be $265 with no drop-off fee for San Francisco airport. I thought this whole scene was outrageous, so while still barreling down the tracks, I asked our attendant what he knew about rental cars. He said both Avis and Enterprise had offices at the depot. So we got an Avis car instantly for $39 per day plus a small $25 drop off fee. So much for AAA and their Hertz agreement.

Our early arrival was a real blessing. We drove to Merced and checked into our AAA Hampton Inn. This was really nice. On Wednesday we drove around town seeing things slightly familiar from 50 years ago. We then drove to Atwater, found our first duplex at 208 Mitchell Drive (base housing), found the first house we ever bought (138 Fortuna), and went to the Castle Air Museum. This is a wonderful museum with a wide range of WWII planes, jet bombers (e.g., B-45, B-47, and B-52), century series fighters, and last but not least, an SR-71. From here we drove to Mariposa and into the south entrance to Yosemite National Park. We stayed two nights in the historic Wawona Hotel, visited the giant sequoias, and spent lots of time in Yosemite Village, Yosemite Valley (probably the most beautiful scenery in the world-not exaggerating), the Wawona Tunnel, and lots of other things. But this is a California Zephyr report, so this is enough on Yosemite. We turned our car in at the San Francisco Airport and flew to Tampa. Now we rest on our memories and photographs.

1. For those not familiar with the word, abondanza is the opposite of skimpy-danza.