# Latest Excursion on Amtrak



## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

My wife an I took a recent trip on Amtrak's California Zephyr through the Rocky Mountains from Salt Lake City to Denver and back. It was truly "Springtime in the Rockies" and the scenery was beautiful.









Our eastbound train #6 at Grand Junction, CO.









A brief stop at Glenwood Springs, CO.









One of the 27 tunnels the train passes through in a 35-minute period. This includes the famed Moffatt Tunnel which is 6.2 miles long and took about 9 minutes to get through.









It was a nice trip on the way over to Denver. By plane it takes about 65 minutes. But by train, it's a 15 hour ride due mostly to the route, which goes south and east to Helper, UT and Grand Junction, CO. Spending time in the dining and observation cars help pass the time in the evening hours.

On the return trip, our westbound train #5 was delayed 6 hours due to being held up (not robbed :laugh in Nebraska because of recent flooding backing up Union Pacific freight trains. 

That's the problem with traveling on Amtrak, you're at the mercy of the freight railroads that own the tracks. Regional Amtrak trains, at least in the West, such as the San Diegans and Surfliners in Southern California and the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest are for the most part, on time and fun to ride. I also noticed that our seats on the California Zephyr were rather uncomfortable and the cars were older than on the Cascades, San Diegans, and Surfliners. Amtrak's long-distance overland trains also frequently run late. 

So from now on, I think we'll stick with Amtrak's shorter-distance regional trains and just fly the longer distances.

Anyone else taken any Amtrak trips lately that you'd like to comment on?


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Nice pictures. If you wouldn't mind telling, what did it cost you? I've always heard that that trip is a beautiful ride. Does it all take place during the daytime?


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

Fire21 said:


> Nice pictures. If you wouldn't mind telling, what did it cost you? I've always heard that that trip is a beautiful ride. Does it all take place during the daytime?


$151.00 per person, with the senior citizen's discount (10%) round-trip, upper coach class.

Leave Salt Lake City at 3:30 am, arrive Denver at 6:38 pm. 
Return trip: leave Denver 8:05 am, arrive Salt Lake City 11:05 pm.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Thanks Vern. So, you never get to see Salt Lake City in the daylight! LOL :smilie_daumenpos:


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

You're welcome, Kurt. I guess not, unless you arranged to stay over in SLC a night or two. We stayed in Denver a couple of nights before returning and enjoyed it. Went on a tour of the Denver Mint and some other places. But we didn't stay one more night to catch the Garth Brooks Concert at the Bronco (Mile High) Stadium. It was sold out at almost 80,000 tickets.


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## prrfan (Dec 19, 2014)

View attachment 498176














Anyone else taken any Amtrak trips lately that you'd like to comment on?[/QUOTE]

That looks like a wonderful trip. 
Yes, a few years back my wife and I took the Silver Meteor from NY to West Palm Beach FL. To make things more interesting we had our one year old grandson with us. 

I reasoned that my mom and dad used to do that regularly with my sisters and I and we should be able to do it. Yeah. 

Well, we got through it but it was a bear. We had a bedroom but they are very small. 
I had never been on Amtrak before, just the old Fallen Flag railroads. 
The PRR, RF&P and Seaboard did it much better, back in the day. The old equipment was much nicer. 
I would still do it again, but not with a baby. And we definitely flew back lol.


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

prrfan said:


> View attachment 498176
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That looks like a wonderful trip. 
Yes, a few years back my wife and I took the Silver Meteor from NY to West Palm Beach FL. To make things more interesting we had our one year old grandson with us. 

I reasoned that my mom and dad used to do that regularly with my sisters and I and we should be able to do it. Yeah. 

Well, we got through it but it was a bear. We had a bedroom but they are very small. 
I had never been on Amtrak before, just the old Fallen Flag railroads. 
The PRR, RF&P and Seaboard did it much better, back in the day. The old equipment was much nicer. 
I would still do it again, but not with a baby. And we definitely flew back lol.[/QUOTE]

You nailed it, prrfan. The Fallen Flag Railroads DID do it better and nowadays, taking an Amtrak long-distance train one way, then flying back is the way to go. :thumbsup:


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