Nostalgia & History > 2 Amtraks Coming Off Donner the Same Sunday

These are Roger Puta's taken at Yuba Pass, CA in March 1980.  It must have been a Sunday since Roger caught the westbound Zephyr and the westbound Reno Fun Trains just minutes apart.

1. SP 9157 with Amtrak Train 5, the California Zephyr, just before the train got Superliners

2. AMTK 295 with the Reno Fun Train. Note the steam generator cars because the F40s could not produce steam.

Thanks to Brian Jennison for the captions. Brian was with Roger that day and agrees with me that Roger took several more slides of the trains.  If I find them, I'll show then to you.

Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/16 13:47 by MartyBernard.

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Lots of pointless arrow passenger cars still in 1980 and original paint SDP40F too!  Much to like!

Cheers, Jim Fitch

#5 looks like a pair of bags, five coaches including domes, then two diners (perhaps one as a lounge) (ATSF & UP) and then sleeping cars (first looks like a ATSF Palm series).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/25/16 14:40 by MEKoch.

And the first SD45 Tunnel Motor the SP purchased.
G

And no more of the ex-SP Daylight passenger cars visible in the Fun Train consist at this late date.  Most had been retired by then.

Minor correction on the captions -- in 1980 Amtrak operated the "San Francisco Zephyr", not the "California Zephyr".  

The Rio Grande didn't relinquish rights to the California Zephyr name until it folded its Rio Grande Zephyr into Amtrak in 1983.  

(I wasn't chasing trains at the time, so I don't know what folks on the ground referred to the Amtrak train as -- maybe it was commonly called the California Zephyr regardless of that the official term was)  

Great pics, thanks for scanning and sharing.  

Ted in OR

From wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Zephyr

Eventually, however, after several false starts, Amtrak began operating a single train, dubbed the San Francisco Zephyr, homage to both the California Zephyr and the San Francisco Chief, between Chicago and Oakland. The Rio Grande continued to operate the Rio Grande Zephyr between Denver and Ogden.[12]:136–137

In 1983 the D&RGW elected to join Amtrak, citing increasing losses in passenger operations. Amtrak re-routed the San Francisco Zephyrover the D&RGW's Moffat Subdivision between Denver and Salt Lake City, its original preference from 1971....  With the change of route, Amtrak renamed the train as the California Zephyr.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/16 10:13 by gobbl3gook.

Thanks Ted.