Riding on the California Zephyr - Day Two

The next day, I woke up to the sights of Utah.  For the most part, Utah was very similar to Nevada.  It was just about as deserty.

 We found ourselves passing through a mountain valley as the sun rose.

 Another meal in the dining car.  As I said, the food on the train is quite good.  Breakfast on the Zephyr is kind of a treat because they make a really good French toast.

 And we continue through the desert.  There are people that don't really like the desert, since I don't get to see the desert all that often, I thought it was pretty neat.  I would imagine like anything else, you could tire of it though.

 For something that is so devoid of life, it is still pretty colorful.  I just love all the oranges, reds and little bits of green.

 The mountain formations are pretty interesting looking too.

 I really like the looks of this one.  I am not sure of the geological reasons for this ocurring though.  I want to say it's from erosion from years ago.

 A river that we passed, unfortunately I wasn't taking notes or I would have known what river it was.

 A pretty typical group of mountains for the desert.

I believe this is the Colorado River.

 Slowly it snakes through the valley.

 Another shot of the river.

 I kind of liked the lone tree against the mountain backdrop.

 Probably one of my favorite stations along the way is the Grand Junction station.  Although this isn't it.  There is a neat little gift shop with all sorts of railroad paraphenalia.

 The folks that used to run this line.

 A shot of our engines.

 The old train station.  I am hoping that they are renovating this because I'd love to see what its like on the inside.

 A Union Pacific Engine.

 A Southern Pacific engine in its original colors.  I think they are owned by the Union Pacific now.

 And back to the mountains.  We are now in Colorado and the mountains start to look a little greener.

 A truss bridge passing over the Colorado River.

 I think this is the Colorado Hotel in Glenwood Springs.  There is a spa here that uses the springs.  There used to be a regular train run between here and Denver.

 This is a ranch that was started by Paul Newman.  I think it is used for wayward boys.  Proceeds from his products still go here.

 More mountains.

 A mountain with a river in front of it.

 I really love the more reddish looking mountains.  Eventually these give way to the more granity mountains of the east.

 Another shot of the Colorado River as it snakes through the valley.

 We are still on the western side of the Continental Divide.

 Another shot of the Colorado.

 A few snow capped peaks off in the distance.

 A shot of the train.

 Another shot of the river.

 I think this is a Bronco that ran off the road.  The people in it survived but they were hurt pretty bad.  There are a few other wrecked cars here.  Apparently this is a popular spot to try to get rid of cars.

 This is very similar to one of my favorite shots from the last time I passed through this way.  In it you can see the three highways of history - the river, the rail and the highway.

 Somewhere in this shot you can see the entrance to the Moffat Tunnel.  It is named after David Moffat who was an early Colorado Railroad pioneer.  It passes under the continental divide.  the tunnel was completed in 1928 and cut almost 200 hundred miles off the trip from Denver to the Pacific.

 The tunnel itself is 6.2 miles long and passes under the continental divide.  I forget how long we were going through it but we couldn't move between the cars as an effort to keep diesel fumes from getting into them.

 A shot of the Boulder dam.

 Another set of snow covered peaks.

 Overlooking the Great Plains.

 Another shot overlooking the plains.

 Off in the distance, you can see Denver.

 In order to get down the mountain, there is a series of switchbacks.  The average grade on the rail is about 3%.  This is one way they keep the grade down.

 And we approach Denver.  As we do, we pass through a pretty major railyard.  This is a switcher engine.

 Another Union Pacific engine.

 And then we pass through a fairly major BNSF yard.

 Another BNSF engine.

 And Denver.

 Another shot of Denver.

A shot of the former stockyards.  Shortly after this picture, I went to dinner and was treated to a pretty fantastic sunset.

Good Morning from the California Zephyr

So we awaken on the California Zephyr and are greeted by the sight of Eastern Utah.  While not as spectacular as some of the views of California or the views I'll be seeing in Colorado, it is still pretty cool as I don't often get to see deserts.

I will likely post later depending on cell signals and what not.

On the California Zephyr - Part II

After a couple of days in Denver, it was back on the train and the continuation of my journey on the California Zephyr. The next day and a half or so would treat me to some of the more beautiful scenery on the rails. This next part covers the portion of the Zephyr from Denver to roughly Salt Lake City. The portion that goes through western Colorado is really nice.

As I said before, they are in the process of renovating the Denver Station so they are using a temporary station. This is a shot of the train as we get ready to board.

The Denver rail yards is a major hub for the BNSF railroad.

The BNSF railroad stands for the Burlington-Northern-Santa Fe railroad and is a merger of the Chicago-Burlington and Quincy, Great Northern and Atchison-Topeka-Santa Fe Railroads. It is the second largest railroad in the country. The railroad itself dates all the way back to 1849 with the creation of the Aurora Railroard which eventually grew into the CB &Q. The ATSF was formed in 1859.

Denver is also a major hub for the Union Pacific Railroad which is the largest in the country. This railroad was incorporated in 1862 and was one of the railroads involved in the golden spike.

These engines are operated by the Union Pacific but are still in the livery of their former names. The Rio Grande was the original owner of the Zephyr line. The Denver Rio Grande and Western was incorporated in 1870. It originally used narrow gage rail to cut costs and construction times. It went from Denver to El Paso. In 1996, it merged with the Union Pacific.

The Southern Pacific was founded in 1865 as a land holding company. It eventually acquired the Central Pacific. It was taken over by the Rio Grande in 1988.

Looking down a valley from the mountains.

Looking at another valley. One of the things I find pretty cool about Colorado is the mountains.

Another mountain.

I'm not sure what river this is but I think it may be a tributary of the Colorado.

Looking at the side of another mountain.

I was amazed to still see snow on the mountains.

There was still a bit of fog an mist as we were leaving. I kind of liked the effect, so I took a picture of it.

A snow covered mountain.

This is as we were stopped in Fraser, Colorado. Fraser is the stop for the Rocky Mountain National Park.

This train was pretty amazing. It had three engines at the front, three in the middle and two in the back.

I thought this mountain was pretty neat. I liked the red rocks.

I believe this is the Colorado River. I didn't see too many rafters on the river this time so didn't get any surprises.

Another shot of the Colorado River.

Looking through another valley.

I really liked this shot for the contrast. The nice blue sky, the red rocks in the foreground, the darker mountain in the background with the snow caps.

Another shot of the Colorado River. We followed the Colorado River for a long time.

I kind of liked the look of this bridge. One of the annoying parts about taking the train is that I can't stop when I see something I like.

Another mountain.

A canyon. I really like this shot.

Another shot that I like.

This is a shot of Glenwood Springs as we stopped again.

A shot of the train station in Glenwood Springs. It looks like they restored the old train station which is nice as so many of the stations are not.

I kind of liked the looks of this mountain.

I believe this is in Eastern Utah. You can see the snowcapped mountain off in the distance.

As it was getting later.

Sunset over Utah. I didn't have a good shot of the train station in Salt Lake City though.