RAILforum: Zephyr vs. SW Chief - which would you choose?

This is topic Zephyr vs. SW Chief - which would you choose? in forum Amtrak at RAILforum.

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Posted by a1 (Member # 2808) on :

Hi Gang -

I will be traveling to the Midwest soon & have the option of taking the Zephyr from Emeryville to Omaha or the Chief from LA to Kansas City. Apart from the Zephyr's superior scenery, which train would you choose & why?

Thanks in advance.

Posted by UncleBuck44 (Member # 2049) on :

Zephyr seems to be known for its great scenary.
I was on the Desert Wind and for the ride with the Zephyr it was great scenary.

The Southwest Chief is a cool ride but Id say CZ.

Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :

You do not inform us of criteria that may or may not be important to you, and whomever you may be traveling with, like:
1. Omaha & KC are 180 +/- miles apart so where is your destination? 2. LA and Emeryville present the same type question, how far must you travel to board? 3. How important is being close to on time at your destination?
Discussions at this site indicate that the SWC is more reliable regarding schedule compliance. Also, we are told that the Zephyr
will be going through Wyoming instead of the Colorado Rockies for some period this year so the opportunity to see the scenery between Salt Lake and Denver may not be available, depending upon your schedule.

Posted by Southwest Chief (Member # 1227) on :

I'd choose the Chief....but maybe I'm a little biased

Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :

Two points to consider; first if an EB Zephyr is late, the best scenery, the Colorado Rockies descent will be at best dusk at worst after dark.

Secondly, if you are traveling Sleeper (which I for one hope you are), the 715AM Kansas City arrival of #4 is a bit more palatable than the 530A arrival at Omaha of #6.

Posted by a1 (Member # 2808) on :

Thanks to those who have responded. Perhaps a little more info would be helpful.

My eventual destination is eastern Ohio. Once I get off the train I will be renting a car to arrive at my final destination.

RRChina, time is important so I want to arrive at either location as close as possible to the scheduled arrival time. I need to be there by no later than late Friday night and plan on departing from either EMY or LA on Wednesday. Since I know that most EB trains experience some kind of delay, I can absorb a minor delay of an hour or two but not as long as five or six hours or more.

Mr. Norman, one of the reasons why I don't have a problem with the scheduled early arrival in Omaha is because I can pick up a rental car @ 6am and arrive at my destination faster than if I were to take the Zephyr all the way to Chicago and drive from there. One of my goals is to minimize travel costs so I won't be paying for a sleeper.

Thanks again for the helpful advice. Any other comments?

Posted by kjkober (Member # 1423) on :

If you take #6 and #30, you can make it to Cleveland by 1:00 Saturday morning. Otherwise...the drive to eastern ohio from way over in Nebraska or Missouri will be nuts.

It may look close to you guys way over on the left coast, but it is a beastly drive through lots of nothing.

Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :

Omaha-Cleveland (without checking my Rand McNally) is 820 miles; "good time' would be 14hrs over the road - 15hours "on the watch".

And you are going to do this after having spent two restless nights on a Coach?

Too much for me, my friend.

Lastly, one piece of advice, if you plan on using a "local" auto rental concern (Enterprise et al), check carefully to ensure your Rental Agreement permits interstate use of the vehicle. With the "majors", not a problem, but others check carefully.

I think this is a "back to the drawing board", if I may be permitted to say.

Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :

How about being a little more specific for origin and destination? If you do not want to be so specific as to say from West Cowpath, California to East Podunk, Ohio, you could at least tell us within 50 miles of Mediumsizenutzcity, California to within 50 miles of Midsizerustcity, Ohio.

I agree with all concerned that to plan to get in a car and be a 12 to 15 hour road warrior after two nights in coach is somewhere between insane and dangerous to both yourself and others on the road. Please rethink that. However, if you persist, Kansas City would be better because it reduces your driving distance by about 120 miles. Not knowing your destination, I picked Columbus as the Ohio end of a search in Mapquest since it is about in the middle of the state, and I do not know whether your eastern Ohio means close to Cleveland or Zanesville or Portsmouth. Anyhow, you get

Omaha to Columbus, 780 miles on I-80, 74, 70 by way of Davenport and Indianapolis

Kansas City to Columbus 660 miles on I-70 by way of St. Louis and Indianapolis.

Your California end: Where are you? Since it seems that Oakland at 9:35am is equal to Los Angeles at 6:45pm, can we assume that you are closer to SF? Since time is a factor, could you make the Chief at Barstow at 10:43 Tuesday night? If you are in the valley, that should be about as reasonable as Emeryville on Wednesday morning. That should take out your time crunch.

Still do not understand Omaha instead of all the way into Chicago. Stay on the train and 500 miles and 10 hours later you are in Chicago. Yes, you could save a little time by driving fast, but not enough to make any difference. Or, if on Chief, and you want to avoid Chicago, check on car rentals at Galesburg, IL. Chief scheduled arrival at 11:46am. Why not get as close as you can?

Both Chief and CZ connect at Chicago with all these trains listed below, and if you can get the Chief on Tuesday night at Barstow these will be Thursday night / Friday morning times. With a Wednesday departure, these are Friday nigth / Saturday morning times, and train 50 does not run, but you can get to Indianapolis at 12:20am.

There is
Train 30, lv Chi 5:35pm, arr Cleveland 12:59am
Train 48, lv Chi 7:20pm, arr Cleveland 3:31am
Train 40, lv Chi 10:30pm, arr Youngstown 7:10am
Train 50, lv Chi 7:30pm(TuThSa), arr Cincinatti 4:40am(WeFrSu), arr So Portsmouth KY 7:04am(WeFrSu)

I promise that you will feel a lot better after the trip if you do not attempt the long drive.

Note: Also agree with the warning on checking the rental contract. Other than the high priced "majors" a lot of the contracts include a provision that the vehicle not be taken out of state, or may limit it to adjacent state only or beyond a certain distance of the rental point.

Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :

Perhaps you would wish to go as far as Galesburg IL. Both trains arrive there and the fare beyond OMA or KC would be insignificant You will be substantially closer to Ohio and the train will get you that far faster than you can drive, and less expensive.

Posted by JONATHON (Member # 2899) on :

From my ride on the South West Chief, I wasnt to inpressed by it, guess it was because I was on board during the night only, Although I would say The California Zefer

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JONATHON D. ORTIZ

Posted by CoastStarlight99 (Member # 2734) on :

The Chief has terrible scenary, but serves excellent destinations and is a nice train I hear. But the Zephyr has excellent scenary! What about the Texas Eagle?

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--Anton L.
pillsbury09@excite.com
AIM: pillsburyMN

Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :

Yes, Galesburg should be better for both trains. Train time for easbound CZ and SWC is so close,
Train 4, 11:46am
Train 6, 12:06pm
that if close to schedule it makes no difference which train you take on the east end, so go for the one that would give you the best scenery, if that is your priority or the one most likely to be on time, if that is your priority.

Per Mapquest, Galesburg IL to Columbus OH is 430 miles. Following mapquest directions from Omaha would have put you right through here, so why not do it by train? Mapquest fell down on finding car rental agencies in Galesburg, but finally at www.galesburg.org clicked on Business Directory, then Automotive, then Rentals and it gave me one, but only one:

Enterprise Rent-A-Car
165 S. Seminary Street
Galesburg, IL 61401
Phone: 341-1000

None of the outfits on that web site seem to believe in putting the area code on their phone numbers, but from another location, it appears that the Galesburg area code is 309, so Enterprise would be: 1-309-341-1000. Since the Amtrak station is at 225 S. Seminary St., Enterprise should be close to the station.

For your return, the times are also similar:
Train 5, 4:57pm
Train 3, 5:52pm
Since by now I think that with some prodding from others, I have given it my best shot, so I will shut up.

Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :

To CoastStarlight99: The Sunset / Eagle would take almost another full day, so would not be practical for our a1. Plus, not to forget, the Sunset has lousy timekeeping.

Posted by CoastStarlight99 (Member # 2734) on :

I learned something new---Thanks for that George Harris!

------------------
--Anton L.
pillsbury09@excite.com
AIM: pillsburyMN

Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :

Another thing to consider: the Interstate speed limit in Iowa is only 65 mph and I-80 is extremely busy even in remote areas. Both the CZ and SWC travel at very high speed on the day they run into CHI.

Smaller city locations such as Galesburg may not offer unlimited miles on rentals.

Another thing to consider is how long it may take to get from your depot to your rental. This often involves a cab ride. You may be able to rent from Hertz in Chicago Union Station, and you can ask for an Amtrak discount.

[This message has been edited by TwinStarRocket (edited 04-25-2004).]

Posted by espeefoamer (Member # 2815) on :

There is very little scenery on the Eagle route,also the timekeeping is terrible.The Chief has excellent timekeeping.I don't know about the Zephyr.Scenery is excellent over Donner Pass.You may be rerouted through Wyoming.Check on dates before you decide.

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Trust Jesus,Ride Amtrak.

[This message has been edited by espeefoamer (edited 04-25-2004).]

Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :

As the old yellow pages ad used to say, "Let your fingers do the walking!" Do not guess what the car rental options will be at Galesburg / Chicago / elsewhere: Call the places and find out, then get it set up ahead of time.

From my own perspective, unless there are some serious negatives in the car rent deal at Galesburg, I would far rather be getting in the car and trying to head out of Galesburg at noon to 1:00pm than trying to fight traffic out of downtown Chicago at 4:00pm or later. Chicago rush hours!

Posted by MOKSRail (Member # 3163) on :

Someone here stated they thought the SW Chief wasn't a very scenic route.
The train is one of Amtrak's most scenic, especially in southern Colorado and New Mexico.

The scenery, while not as dramatic as the Rockies, is still pretty, with many canyons, red bluffs, etc.

A peek of which can be found here... http://www.trainweb.org/moksrail/trains/swchief/main_pic_page.htm

pic of SW Chief at Marmon - Mesita, NM
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[This message has been edited by MOKSRail (edited 04-29-2004).]

Posted by Rheboi (Member # 2994) on :

Nice picture MOKSRail! I'll be there in June..

To a1:
I've already chosen which train I'm taking... it's the SW Chief! Actually it was chosen for me by Amtrak but I can hardly wait!!!

Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :

We all hope we were helpful. Now that your choice has been made it would be appreciated if you would give this site a brief trip report after you return.

Posted by MontanaJim (Member # 2323) on :

Mind if i ask how you picked your name, rrchina?

i lived in china for 3 years. just came back to the states

Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :

My name is derived from my hobby.
I collect authentic railroad dining car china and have an extensive collection on display in my home. I also collect related railroad dining car items like silver holoware, menus, calendars. Any of you interested in more communication about this hobby may contact me: jackelly@northlink.com

Posted by UncleBuck44 (Member # 2049) on :

quote:
Originally posted by RRCHINA:
We all hope we were helpful. Now that your choice has been made it would be appreciated if you would give this site a brief trip report after you return.

But has A1 chosen his train?

Posted by amtraxmaniac (Member # 2251) on :

From an economic stand point,assuming that you're about the same distance (give or take 100 miles or so) from EMY as you are from LAX, The Chief is usually cheaper and has greater availability. I considered a trip on #6 in late June. 2 months ahead and sleepers are already sold out!!!!! I've noticed that from Fresno to Chicago (Fresno would be about the 1/2 between EMY and LAX) the #4 is about $40.00 cheaper than the #6 in coach.

Also, my whole purpose for taking #6 was to see the Colorado Rockies. Thanks for the info on the re-route. I'll make other plans. I WAS going to check out Glenwood Springs.

Patrick

Posted by panamaclipper (Member # 3058) on :

I read on another site that the CZ won't be getting an extra sleeper this summer. Instead, they will be selling rooms in the crew dorm. How will that work? Are they that short on sleepers? Seems like a shame given demand for the CZ in the summer.