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For those dedicated foamers with idle computer time on their hands, #6 is parked at Grand Junction Amtrak on Google Maps satellite view.
Currently there is a bus bridge Grand Junction to Denver due to the flooding. I was just curious where they had a wye at GJT.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Good eye Twinstar -
On another forum which I frequent when things get too slow here, there is a 'boots-on-the-ground' update from the fellow who owns the little store in the Grand Junction Depot. He is hearing 'unofficially' that it will likely take about a month to restore the traditional D&RGW route. Once UP completes repairs north of Denver expect the CZ to begin operating as a through train again...... albeit with the Wyoming detour in place for another 4-6 weeks.
Had I not just last week made arrangements to go to Pennsylvania next month for a concert, I'd be tempted to book a trip on the CZ for an early October Sherman Hill joyride.
notelvis Member # 3071
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And a PS for those who may wonder -
My trip next month only barely includes Amtrak. There are some service cancellations and temporary reschedulings due to CSX trackwork impacting Amtrak service on the days I needed them. Gotta admit that I wasn't too wild about another couple of trips through the CSX blackhole between Rocky Mount and Richmond to begin with however.
Therefore - I'll be flying the USAir regional to and from Philadelphia, hopping a Keystone Corridor train to Middletown, and renting a car from the airport at Harrisburg for a drive up to the arts center at Lehigh University.
Why such a convoluted trip? Well....... I couldn't resist the urge to work in a train ride somehow BUT it was mostly about finding the least expensive way to reach the Harrisburg airport where, for some reason, a rental car can be procured for about a third of the cost of getting such at BWI, Philadelphia, or Newark. We're talking roughly $75.00 (from Hertz) at MDT for the same vehicle that would run just over $200.00 at BWI, PHL, or EWR.
So Mr. Norman....... I am more and more becoming a budget curmudgeon. For awhile I believed that I was not but as I continue to be frozen at the same salary level for another school year..... well there is no denying it any longer.
AND....... for that matter, acceptable hotel rooms in the Harrisburg area ARE also a bit less expensive than the comparable room in Philly or Newark. I think I'll be booking a Choice Hotels property with a view of Enola Yard!
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Mr. Presley, while I'm not certain what prompts your journey to Mr. JP 1822's Alma Mater, if thi8 is being funded by some penny pinching school district, then I guess there is no choice.
I'm not above same strategic planning myself. When I have occasion to visit my friends who reside along the perimeter of Fort AP Hill (Fredericksburg), I'm not above flying into KRIC rather than where I'm sure any corporate travel desk would route such traveler - namely through KDCA or KIAD. One reason for former, any major's auto rental daily rate is about half that prevailing at the latter.
gibg Member # 2565
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There is a wye just southeast of the GJT depot. The old D&RGW branch to Delta, Montrose, and the coal mines of Somerset takes off and follows the Gunnison River. #6 can leave the depot on the main line (towards Denver), then back onto the wye and pull back into the depot as #5 headed west. The old depot, however, remains closed with the Amshack next door.
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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A California friend just boarded 6 at Sacramento, headed for Glenwood Springs, where he says the train will be turned to become 5. Bus bridge from GSC to Denver, he added. But the Amtrak website says he can't get to GSC. Wonder who's right.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Not a penny pinching school district Mr. Norman!
A penny-pinching me this time!
The event is a concert by an Austrian Brass Septet called Mnozil Brass. The members are world-class musicians who began playing with one another in school at the Vienna Conservatory twenty years ago. Their act is tongue-in-cheek in a Spike Jones kind of way...... born of entertaining in Austrian Beer Halls.
I've been keeping my eye out for a couple of years hoping for a US visit in a time or place I could go hear them live. Next month we finally get 6 concerts and hearing them in a 1,200 seat recital hall in Bethlehem, PA seems to be just the proper venue for what they do...... even manged a seat near the middle 8 rows back.
I would have liked to have taken the train one way and flown the other BUT there simply is not an airport in the Carolina's which is reasonably accessible to an Amtrak station using public transit. The shifting schedules which would have taken me northbound out of Raleigh on #92 at 2:30am were also unacceptable this time.
I would have liked to have flown in and out of BWI using my good friend Southwest Airlines but the rental cars there are more costly than any I have ever seen before. Same is true for rentals in Philly and Newark. Yes - BWI is a good three hours driving from Bethlehem but I am familiar with that airport and surrounding highways having gone to graduate school in College Park, MD.
BUT...... in playing with my computer I found remarkably affordable rental cars (as in about $29 per day before taxes) in Harrisburg.
Of course getting an affordable airfare (or a non-stop flight for that matter) into Harrisburg from the Carolinas isn't happening anymore. USAir used to have one from Charlotte but it disappeared shortly after I last used it in 2005.
However - thanks to some kind of quirk in the big reservation computers...... USAir actually had non-stop regional jets flying to Philadelphia from RDU beating Southwest's best fare by $25 and putting me a reasonably priced train ticket away from Middletown, PA and the Harrisburg airport. I snatched that flight (midday in each direction) right up because the computer kindly informed me that only a handful of seats at that price remained.
Adventure on.
notelvis Member # 3071
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I'm guessing that #6 will turn in Grand Junction Henry. I'm not sure if the wye in Glenwood Springs is in good enough shape for Amtrak to risk their equipment on.
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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Just heard from my California friend (the rail photographer Carl Morrison). He said the conductor on today's No. 6 told him passengers for Glenwood Springs will be bused from Grand Junction.
Amtrak's website isn't allowing booking from Emeryville to Glenwood Springs.
Geoff Mayo Member # 153
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quote:Originally posted by notelvis: Once UP completes repairs north of Denver expect the CZ to begin operating as a through train again...... albeit with the Wyoming detour in place for another 4-6 weeks.
Which leads me to wonder how I can shoehorn a Wyoming diversion into my schedule...
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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Where do Nos. 5 and 6 meet on the original line when they are diverted through Wyoming? Amtrak is not allowing booking from Chicago to Grand Junction. This suggests No. 5 doesn't enter regular CZ territory until, perhaps, Salt Lake City.
gibg Member # 2565
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Henry: I don't think the wye at GSC has been used since 1985, when Randy Parten tried to create his "luxury" train between Denver and Aspen, using old D&RGW equipment such as the privaye car Kansas. I eode a smaple run from Carbondale to Denver, wyeing at Glenwood. but becauswe of the condition of the wye at that time, everyone had to disembark when the train ran through the wye as there was some
gibg Member # 2565
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Henry: I don't think the wye at GSC has been used since 1985, when Randy Parten tried to create his "luxury" train between Denver and Aspen, using old D&RGW equipment such as the private car Kansas. I rode a sample run from Carbondale to Denver, wyeing at Glenwood. but because of the condition of the wye at that time, everyone had to disembark when the train ran through the wye as there was some concern about the rails. Of course there is a wye at Dotsero, at the east end of Glenwood Canyon.
The only time I have seen the GSC wye used since then was in the mid-1990's, when the CZ developed a sick engine. The engineer left the engine on the wye track towards Aspen, climbed into the other unit and went full steam ahead. I never did find out how Amtrak retrieved that engine.
gibg Member # 2565
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Sorry about the double post. Blame it on a new computer!
RRRICH Member # 1418
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Twin Star -- on my current Google Earth image, the CZ is not parked at the GJT station; only a few freight engines are visible. But on the Google Maps satellite view, which is linked to from Google Earth, yep, there's the CZ right there!! I always thought the satellite images in Google Maps were the same as the current images found in Google Earth, but apparently not.
notelvis Member # 3071
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Interesting find -
I'll go have a look at Google Maps right now.
I remember when I first discovered Google Earth finding the image of Amtrak's short-lived 'Kentucky Cardinal' consist laying over in Jeffersonville, IN.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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In prepaing my route guides for my web site, I use Google Earth as well as other references. On several occasions, I have seen an AMTRAK train traveling somewhere on my Google Earth images.
notelvis Member # 3071
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A quick google earth look at the Gateway Rail Services yard in Madison, IL - a second-hand rail equipment dealer - will answer that question about whatever happened to the ex Santa Fe Hi-Level coaches which are no longer on Amtrak's roster too.
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Hey David -- I didn't know about Gateway Rail Services in Madison -- I believe that is either right on the Lincoln Service corridor route, or at least clearly visible from the AMTRAK line, isn't it? I didn't even mention it in my latest railroad guide!!!
palmland Member # 4344
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Interesting site. I'm surprised Iowa Pacific hasn't scooped up a few. Now for just $15k I can buy ex B&O's Cardinal. One of the 16 duplex roomette-4DBR cars that ran on the National Ltd that entered service in 1954. I rode on one as a young boy a month or so after they began service - does that make me feel old! All were named for state birds in B&O territory.
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