Nostalgia & History > San Francisco Zephyr leaving Denver -- Nov 76

#5 is passing thru the UP yard headed north to Cheyenne.

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After arriving in Denver on the BN, #5 was not turned but fresh engines were put on the rear so passengers rode backwards to Cheyenne where the engines were moved around the train to their proper positions for the trip west.
The SFZ has just left the Denver station for the trip to Cheyenne.

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Was it normal not to turn the train?


Todd

Todd,
Yes, that was the normal operation for the train. The route to Cheyenne joined the mainline at Borie, which was west of the CHY depot. The train pulled into CHY and after the power was run around it, it was in proper order to continue west.

Silver Sky

Yes, it was, due to the track layout at Denver and Cheyenne. In the early days of Amtrak, BN power handled the train between Chicago and Denver, where UP power was put on for the trip to Cheyenne and then west.

When the westbound pulled into DUS off the Burlington, the train was facing south. Rather than turn the entire train for the short jaunt up to Cheyenne on the UP, the power was put on the rear and the train hauled north "backwards." Upon arrival at Cheyenne (Chian, in UP parlance), the power was facing east. So, the UP units ran around and coupled to the "front," to continue the trip to California. The procedure was reversed for eastbounds.

I'd suspect that when the CZ is routed over the UP today, the same thing is done. Hmm, on second thought, maybe not, since they probably skip Cheyenne today, turning off the Sherman line at Borie, as the poster above noted. So now, the train might be hauled backwards east or west of Denver, depending on its direction.

Walt Lankenau

Now, Amtrak 5 off the BNSF Lincoln main arriving in Denver wyes on the wye at 23rd St. over the South Platte River, the power stopping just short of Prospect St., and backs into D.U.T., to leave forward on the ex-DRGW UP. It does the same to leave on the UP DP Line toward Chian when it is detoured, but indeed it takes the Borie Cutoff through Borie, as even Borie no longer is a station stop. As a side note, they stop to change road crews by crew van at Speer. The opposite happens on Amtrak 6. Yes, in the 1970's, the trains would both run backwards between Chian and Denver and vice versa. In Chian the daily ritual was to run around the train and change ends while the train sat at the depot (with all that wonderful steam-heated "heritage" equipment!), if the engine consist was one-ended as in no "A" unit on the rear, the consist would be turned on the Camp Carlin wye leading into Holliday Park across E. Lincolnway at the east end of the yard, the same stub-end track used to get the Big Boy into its resting place in the park. That wye is now torn out. They fueled and watered the units on the train at the west end of the station platform. I rode my bike there many times to watch it happen (I was 14), and many times 5 and 6 would be in Chian at the depot side-by-side. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- JLH