Trip Report: October 24 to October 31, 2006
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
GrandLuxe Express to Denver
Monday, October 30, 2006
Salt Lake City to Sacramento on Amtrak
With that extraordinary on-time run from Denver, with its early arrival into Salt Lake City, we could have been traveling on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad in the days of yore, rather than the melted down remains of the once magnificent Union Pacific Railroad.
We leave Salt Lake City on time at 11:59pm Mountain Standard Time, and are warned by the crew and by the notice posted on the lobby wall of the sleeping car that the Union Pacific will delay us at least 4 or 5 hours before we ever reach our destination, due to the numerous slow orders required by the unmaintained former Southern Pacific and the former Western Pacific Railroads' Salt Lake Basin to California lines. This turned out to be very optimistic.
Although the Union Pacific Railroad has owned these lines for many years, little or no maintenance has been done to keep them up to standards for fast passenger trains, in spite of the fact that they are required to keep them up to standard by Federal law. Since the UP is a major contributor to the Republican Party, no one in the Federal government has had the nerve to enforce the law in defiance of the President, the Attorney General, and the Department of Transportation. Look what happened to the former President of Amtrak, David Gunn, when he defied George Bush and Norman Mineta by insisting that he run Amtrak properly. Fired!
Another excellent breakfast at 6:30am.
True to prediction, we arrive in Winnemucca, NV, late, by 2.5 hours at 8:45am. This is a crew change stop, and we are allowed to enjoy the freezing wind on the platform to get some exercise and fresh air. We have boarded the Zephyr here on more than one occasion in the past, as it is only a 6 hour drive from Klamath Falls. If we had our car here today, we would be home in time for cocktail hour, instead of at some unpredictable time tomorrow.
We inspect the miserable small bus stop style shelter which passes for an Amtrak Station here, and find that it has been improved by the replacement of the torn plastic sheets that formed the windbreakers that protected waiting passengers form the chill morning or evening air. A current timetable is posted and there is a trash can outside. All in all, it would be considered a quite comfortable amenity in outer Siberia .
The new conductor intoduces himself on the PA and announces that there are 17 slow orders between Winnemucca and Reno, and that it will take us 4 ½ hours to make this run of 189 miles, which the timetable calls for 3 hours and 1 minute. He advises us to pay no mind to the automobiles and trucks passing us by, that we are keeping our speed reduced for safety reasons.
According to MicroSoft Streets and Trips 2006, it is 165 miles by Interstate 80, and can be covered in 2 hours and 21 minutes.
Another excellent lunch at 12 noon.
We reach Reno 4.5 hours down, at 1:45pm. The outside air is balmy as we stroll along the platform in the 30 foot deep, concrete lined trench that has diverted the trains from blocking the streets of downtown Reno. Even the Reno Amtrak Station is down in the trench, with escalator service to the world above, unfortunately Out of Order. (The escalator or the world, you get to decide which is out of order, or both.) There are also two elevators inside the station, of which one is in working order. Of course it is impossible to see the Biggest Little City in the World sign down here, or indeed to see anything else of Reno .
A docent boards the train and begins telling the usual tall tales as we begin the climb up the Eastern Scarp of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, beginning the route along the fast flowing Truckee River, stopping briefly at Truckee, then battling the grade that stopped the Donner Party one winter in another time long ago.
It is stop and go across the Sierras, and at Blue Canyon we come to a dead halt for one hour, due to a UP work crew blocking the main line. (Remember, there is only one main line across the mountains now; SP pulled out the rails of the second track years ago for their scrap value.) When we resume our journey, we arrive in Colfax at 6:26pm, six hours behind schedule. Our estimated arrival into Sacramento is now 9pm instead of the 2:15pm scheduled arrival.
Fortunately, due to the light passenger load on today's train, there are dinners still available in the dining car, and we both enjoy the salmon. The waiter explains that when these UP delays first began, Amtrak would pass out power bars to the passengers in lieu of dinner. But this did not go over well. Now, if they run out of dinners, they try to find a KFC, although this is very difficult where there are no towns.
I check with Amtrak Reservations (Julie, the automaton), to learn that the Coast Starlight is due in to Sacramento on time tonight at 11:59pm. This does not give us much time to enjoy our hotel room at the Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza , but is better than sitting in the dark and miserable Sacramento Amtrak Station.
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