|
|
California ZephyrThe California Zephyr is a train route operated by Amtrak in the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. It runs from Chicago, Illinois in the east to Emeryville, California in the west, passing through the states of Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. This route is one of the longest and most scenic routes run by Amtrak.
The pre-Amtrak California ZephyrBefore Amtrak operated a train with this name, the California Zephyr was operated jointly by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (CB&Q), Denver & Rio Grande Western (DRGW) and Western Pacific (WP) railroads. This train was the first in the nation to use Vista Dome cars. The first train was christened in San Francisco by Eleanor Parker while California's Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight and WP's President Harry Mitchell watched. For the inaugural run in 1949, every female passenger on the train was given a corsage of "silver" and orange orchids that were specially flown in from Hilo, HI. The women who worked as car hostesses on this train were known as Zephyrettes. The train traveled the route's 2,525 miles (4064 km) in 2 1/2 days. Communities servedFrom east to west, the communities with regular station stops on this train included:
Equipment usedThe passenger cars used when the train was inaugurated in 1949 were as follows:
The forward section of the first Vista-Dome car was partitioned off and reserved for women and children only. There was a door in the corridor under the dome just behind the women's restroom that provided access to the reserved section. In later years, the reserved section was opened up to all passengers and the door and partitions were removed. Like the train's operation, ownership of the cars was split between the three railroads almost evenly across all car types. Each car was owned by a single railroad, but the ownership of the cars on any specific day's run of the train depended more on what equipment was available at the terminals than whose railroad the train was operating over at the time. In 1952 an additional Pullman sleeper (6 double bedrooms) was added to regular service on this train. With the new cars delivered that year, cars arriving in Chicago on the California Zephyr were made available for use on the Ak-Sar-Ben Zephyr for an overnight round trip to Lincoln, NE. When the cars returned from Lincoln the next day, they were placed back in the westbound California Zephyr's consist for the next train out of Chicago that afternoon. Timeline
Amtrak's California ZephyrCommunities servedFrom east to west, the communities with regular stops on this train include:
Timeline
ReferencesExternal links
|
|
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. How to see transparent copy
|
BiologyDaily.com 2005. Legal info Privacy |