The ''San Francisco Zephyr'' was an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

passenger train that ran between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and Oakland from June 1972 to July 1983.

History

From the start of Amtrak in spring 1971 until summer 1972, Amtrak service between Chicago and Oakland was provided by two trains: the ''

Denver Zephyr The ''Denver Zephyr'' was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad between Chicago, Illinois, and Denver, Colorado. In peak years it ran to Colorado Springs. It operated from 1936 to 1973. The ''Denve ...

'', which operated daily between Chicago and

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and the '' City of San Francisco'', which operated thrice-weekly between Denver and Oakland. After several false starts, Amtrak consolidated the two trains into one, the ''San Francisco Zephyr'', paying homage to the ''California Zephyr'' and ''The City of San Francisco''. Because of the refusal of the

Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to ''Rio Grande'', D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow-gauge line running south from D ...

to join Amtrak in 1971 and its decision to maintain its ''

Rio Grande Zephyr The ''Rio Grande Zephyr'' was a passenger train operated by Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (D&RGW or Rio Grande) between Denver, Colorado and Ogden, Utah from 1970 until 1983. In operation after the creation of publicly-funded Amtrak, th ...

'' between Denver and

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

, the ''San Francisco Zephyr'' used the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

's Overland Route between Denver and Ogden. The ''San Francisco Zephyr'' and the ''Rio Grande Zephyr'' were scheduled as to facilitate a connection between them in Ogden (but not Denver). The ''San Francisco Zephyr'' traveled over rails owned and operated by three railroads: the

Burlington Northern The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadin ...

between Chicago and Denver, the

between Denver and Ogden, and the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

between Ogden and Oakland. In July 1980, the ''San Francisco Zephyr'' was outfitted with Amtrak's new bi-level Superliner passenger carsone of the last western trains to receive themand began exchanging through cars at Ogden with the Seattle–Chicago ''

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

'' and the Los Angeles–Chicago ''

Desert Wind The ''Desert Wind'' was an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that ran from 1979 to 1997. It operated from Chicago to Los Angeles as a section of the ''California Zephyr'', serving Los Angeles via Salt Lake City; Ogden, Utah; and Las Vegas. ...

''. Between Ogden and Chicago, the ''Zephyr'', ''Desert Wind'', and ''Pioneer'' operated as a combined train. In 1983, the D&RGW chose to join Amtrak, citing increasing losses in passenger operations. Amtrak re-routed the ''San Francisco Zephyr'' over the D&RGW's line between Denver and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, which was its original preference in 1971. The change was scheduled for April 25, but a mudslide at Thistle, Utah, closed the D&RGW's main line and delayed the change until July 16. With the change of route, Amtrak renamed the train ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...

''.

In media

In an episode of the British program ''

Great Railway Journeys ''Great Railway Journeys'', originally titled ''Great Railway Journeys of the World'', is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television. The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figur ...

'', broadcast in 1980, the presenter

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans an ...

travels from New York to Los Angeles by rail, riding on the ''San Francisco Zephyr'' between Chicago and Oakland.

References

External links

{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes Night trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Passenger rail transportation in Iowa Passenger rail transportation in Nebraska Passenger rail transportation in Colorado Passenger rail transportation in Wyoming Passenger rail transportation in Utah Passenger rail transportation in California Railway services introduced in 1972 Railway services discontinued in 1983 Former long distance Amtrak routes