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.