San Francisco Zephyr

When Amtrak was formed, their train that ran between Chicago and the San Francisco area was called the San Francisco Zephyr rather than the California Zephyr as today. The original pre-Amtrak California Zephyr ran on the CB&Q from Chicago-Denver, the D&RGW from Denver-Utah and then on WP to California. When Amtrak was formed, the D&RGW did not join so the Amtrak train did not use their rails. Instead the train went through Wyoming on UP and it used SP from Utah to California. This was in 1971.

In 1983, D&RGW finally joined Amtrak and they moved the train to D&RGW rails so that passengers could enjoy the more scenic although slower route. And they renamed the train back to the California Zephyr even though it still ran on SP out west.

Here is a picture of the SF Zephyr in 1981 passing through the Belmont station in Downers Grove, Illinois. I like this picture because of the lighting and the presence of the passenger platform between the rails. It has since been removed. The F40PH up front sports the original Amtrak paint scheme for these locomotives. It is known as Phase I. The second loco is also an F40PH but has the Phase 2 paint scheme - the stripes are different.

Passenger yard completed - sortof

The passenger yard has been completed. It has 4 tracks spaced apart 2.5 inches to allow for easy handling. I am not making use yet of the track closest to the abyss (a drop to the floor). There is no barrier between this track and certain doom for the little HO sized people inhabiting the passenger cars.

I had in mind creating a wall along there using cheap 1" by 36" pieced of wood - better known as yardsticks. I even bought a bunch of them and painted them (rendering them useless as yardsticks). But I have decided that I don't like this idea. Instead, I am going to buy a bunch of girders by Atlas to form a wall with them. These plastic girders will each be held in place by 4 small screws so it will take a while to drill and insert about 100 of them. But I think it will look better. I have used this technique elsewhere on the layout.

I bought one package of girders last time I was at Caboose Hobbies, their last one on the shelf. I need 6 more packages of 4 to complete the wall.

Work Has Begun

After much consideration, work has begin on the expansion of my passenger train yard from 2 to 4 tracks. Right now, what a mess! Sawdust everywhere, tools everywhere, loose track everywhere, cork, screws (not corkscrews), stray pieces of wood, etc., etc.