Trackside sights of- and from Amtrak’s “California Zephyr” route, which I took in late February 2017 whilst participating in Train Jam. This route connects Union Station in Chicago with Emeryville in California, travelling via Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Colorado and Nevada. Passengers can then swap to a coach in order to reach San Francisco.
When we took this journey we were the train’s only passengers, but heavy weather in the Sierra Nevada almost threatened to divert us onto part of the “Southwest Chief” route, which ordinarily runs from Chicago to Los Angeles via Kansas. As it was, our train was instead preceded by a snow-clearing locomotive to get us through the mountain pass. We made it through to a flooded California with plenty of time to spare.
Union Station, Chicago
Amtrak #26 (destination unknown) 
Nebraska & Colorado
Refuelling at Omaha, Nebraska 
Union Station Denver 
RTD Silverliner V at Denver 
RTD Silverliner V at Denver 
Amtrak #406 “Winter Park Express” at Denver 
Track 7, Union Station Denver 
BNSF Sidings outside Denver 
BNSF #7627 outside Denver 
Pufferbelly Restuarant at Grand Junction, Colorado
Ohio, Nevada & California
Amtrak #133 & #135 at Salt Lake Central 
UTA Trax platforms, Salt Lake Central 
FrontRunner Bi-level VII at Salt Lake Central 
UTA 1040B (Siemens SD-100) at Salt Lake Central 
Sidings at Sparks, Nevada 
Emeryville station platform, California
Chicago (Union Station) – Galesburg – Burlington – Omaha – Denver (Union Station) – Fraser Winter Park – Glenwood Springs – Grand Junction – Provo – Salt Lake City (Central) – Reno – Sacramento – Emeryville
See Also
- Train Jam 2017: photo album & blog write-up (external)
- Chicago ‘L’ photo album
- GDC (San Francisco) photo album