Nostalgia & History > Amtrak in Glenwood Canyon, Co

In the summer of 1990 the family was on a cross county trip returning to the west coast. We were stopped in Glenwood canyon for road construction (the interstate was not finished on this section of the I70). We had been sitting here for 30-40 minutes when an Amtrak train came up the canyon. My wife found the camera and recorded this short segment. Commentary is from Carolyn (wife) for our then young kids.

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Nice, I remember the long Zephyrs's of the early 90s.........was that when the Desert Wind and Pioneer (and Zephyr) were one big train?

rms492 Wrote:
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> Nice, I remember the long Zephyrs's of the early
> 90s.........was that when the Desert Wind and
> Pioneer (and Zephyr) were one big train?


Sort of, at this time all three trains were still daily. This video is showing the Chicago-bound #6, so that means that the train seen here is only the Desert Wind/California Zephyr, the last four cars constituting the Desert Wind portion from Los Angeles, which would've been added to the back of the San Francisco-originated Zephyr early that morning in Salt Lake City, where those two trains met before dawn. The Pioneer, from Seattle, would not have joined the train yet as it was still racing east across Wyoming on the UP. The Pioneer would meet the Desert Wind/Cali Zephyr later that evening around 7 pm at Denver, where the Pioneer's 4 cars (the diner having been taken off upon arrival) would be added to the back of the Zephyr, making it one hell of a long string of Superliners speeding across Nebraska and Iowa, arriving at Chicago around 3 pm the next day!

God, I miss it when it was like that! Being a resident of Omaha, it provided so many options for train travel to the west, without having to change trains, I mean.I was lucky enough to ride all three trains for the full length of each route several times before (I even remember the date, I was so devastated) May 10th, 1997, when they were taken off the timetable. I still hold out hope for their triumphant return one day!

Great video!! Thank you for sharing!

Tom Loftus
Omaha, NE