Riding the Zephyr proves a breeze
By Melanie Carroll |
March 16, 2013, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE journey east on Amtrak's California Zephyr train is as good as the destination. Riding the rails from the San Francisco Bay area to Reno, Nevada, offers beautiful views and a sense of history on the route over the Sierra Nevada mountains that helped bring America together after the Civil War.
Marking 30 years of service this year, the Amtrak train leaves Emeryville, California, every morning. The Zephyr's ultimate destination, 51 hours later, is Chicago. Between Sacramento and Reno, a five-hour trip, it follows the same course as the historic Transcontinental Railroad.
Now 144 years after the Transcontinental Railroad's completion, train-loving children and picture-happy tourists pack the train's observation car to take in the Sierra Nevada and the mountain passage known as Donner Pass, which was once thought impossible to cross by locomotive.
Prior to federally subsidized Amtrak taking over the route in 1983, the California Zephyr was privately run by three train corporations. From 1949 to 1970, the so-called "Silver Lady" boasted five sightseeing cars topped by semi-circular glass domes, with fine china and real silver in the dining cars. It also featured young hostesses in uniform, known as Zephyrettes, tasked with making the trip more pleasant by doing everything from helping families with young children to announcing scenic spots.
"Amtrak is nothing like the historic Zephyr," said Cathy von Ibsch, 63, who worked as a Zephyrette when the private service came to an end in 1970. "It (Amtrak) didn't have the same class or same feel. They modernized it."
I recently rode the Amtrak train for the first time. My husband and I were enthusiastically led onto the platform by our four-year-old son, a train fanatic. We boarded the train just after 9am in the small city of Emeryville, 18 kilometers east of San Francisco. It's the Zephyr's departure point on the 380-kilometer journey to Reno. The train wasn't packed, which meant we could occupy a few extra seats, spread out and relax. This made for a much better experience than air travel. During the 2012 fiscal year, the Zephyr's passenger numbers increased to 376,459 from 355,324 in 2011, according to data from Amtrak.
The first leg of the seven-hour journey to Reno took us northeast of San Francisco, where we witnessed the light dancing off San Pablo Bay.
By mid-morning, we were rolling across flat farmland and orchards, arriving in Sacramento, the state capital, just after 11am along the route.
The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad over Donner Pass got under way after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. It took six years and the labor of more than 12,000 Chinese workers who laid track eastward from Sacramento. In 1869, the 2,858 kilometers of track, one from the east and the other from the west, joined in Promontory Summit, Utah.
Riding through the tunnels toward Reno, it was hard not to imagine the backbreaking labor involved.
Lucky for us, all we have to do is hop onboard and enjoy.
If You Go
Zephyr: An Amtrak train from Emeryville, California, near San Francisco, to Chicago. Rates vary for unreserved coach fares for the California Zephyr route (Emeryville to Reno, Nevada), with tickets as low as US$49 and US$61 depending on the time of year. Be warned, some trips do sell out though. http://tickets.amtrak.com.
Marking 30 years of service this year, the Amtrak train leaves Emeryville, California, every morning. The Zephyr's ultimate destination, 51 hours later, is Chicago. Between Sacramento and Reno, a five-hour trip, it follows the same course as the historic Transcontinental Railroad.
Now 144 years after the Transcontinental Railroad's completion, train-loving children and picture-happy tourists pack the train's observation car to take in the Sierra Nevada and the mountain passage known as Donner Pass, which was once thought impossible to cross by locomotive.
Prior to federally subsidized Amtrak taking over the route in 1983, the California Zephyr was privately run by three train corporations. From 1949 to 1970, the so-called "Silver Lady" boasted five sightseeing cars topped by semi-circular glass domes, with fine china and real silver in the dining cars. It also featured young hostesses in uniform, known as Zephyrettes, tasked with making the trip more pleasant by doing everything from helping families with young children to announcing scenic spots.
"Amtrak is nothing like the historic Zephyr," said Cathy von Ibsch, 63, who worked as a Zephyrette when the private service came to an end in 1970. "It (Amtrak) didn't have the same class or same feel. They modernized it."
I recently rode the Amtrak train for the first time. My husband and I were enthusiastically led onto the platform by our four-year-old son, a train fanatic. We boarded the train just after 9am in the small city of Emeryville, 18 kilometers east of San Francisco. It's the Zephyr's departure point on the 380-kilometer journey to Reno. The train wasn't packed, which meant we could occupy a few extra seats, spread out and relax. This made for a much better experience than air travel. During the 2012 fiscal year, the Zephyr's passenger numbers increased to 376,459 from 355,324 in 2011, according to data from Amtrak.
The first leg of the seven-hour journey to Reno took us northeast of San Francisco, where we witnessed the light dancing off San Pablo Bay.
By mid-morning, we were rolling across flat farmland and orchards, arriving in Sacramento, the state capital, just after 11am along the route.
The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad over Donner Pass got under way after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act of 1862. It took six years and the labor of more than 12,000 Chinese workers who laid track eastward from Sacramento. In 1869, the 2,858 kilometers of track, one from the east and the other from the west, joined in Promontory Summit, Utah.
Riding through the tunnels toward Reno, it was hard not to imagine the backbreaking labor involved.
Lucky for us, all we have to do is hop onboard and enjoy.
If You Go
Zephyr: An Amtrak train from Emeryville, California, near San Francisco, to Chicago. Rates vary for unreserved coach fares for the California Zephyr route (Emeryville to Reno, Nevada), with tickets as low as US$49 and US$61 depending on the time of year. Be warned, some trips do sell out though. http://tickets.amtrak.com.
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