The ''San Francisco Zephyr'' was an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...

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 = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

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 San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

'', 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 De ...

to join Amtrak in 1971 and its decision to maintain its '' Rio Grande Zephyr'' 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 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'' 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 and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, which was its original preference in 1971. The change was scheduled for April 25, but a

mudslide A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a signific ...

Thistle, Utah Thistle is a ghost town in Spanish Fork Canyon in southeastern Utah County, Utah, United States. During the era of steam locomotives, the town's primary industry was servicing trains for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (often shortene ...

, 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'', 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