The special is northbound today to Portola on the WP from Jack London Square Station pulled by #184.
100th year anniversary WP Zephyr to Portola and returning on the 1st of November to Oakland.
CZ car CB&Q Silver Solarium seems right at home in California! Where exactly was the photo taken at, though? And what were the two other cars? Thanks for posting about such a rare event.
…Nice photo of some historic equipment…
Thanks for looking. This run is for the 100th anniversary of the WP and it is a long way to the second one so it is rare. They were doing track speed of 70mph and blew right pass in a hurry.
This picture was taken on the WP line, now UP north of Sacramento. I normally go out Main street west from Roseville until I cross the tracks. This picture was taken one street north of the main street out of Roseville to the airport. It is about eight miles east of the Sacramento International airport on that road that runs back into Roseville and becomes main street in Roseville.
Silver Lariat, Silver Rapids and the Silver Solarium bringing up the rear. These are the same private cars that went east with the 4449 on its trip to Trainfest. I caught them out of Portland on the 3rd of July also and got to see them about a month ago on a train to Reno.
Camas Washington, July 3rd, 2009
Maryhill Washington, July 3rd, 2009
Nice. If only there could be enough CZ original cars cobbled together to make alonger more reminiscent train with more domes, and a inter too.
CAZEPHYR (11-1):
It is hard to believe this year is the 100th anniversary of the Western Pacific!
While it was previously known that WP got its start in 1909, it took your topic for me to get the sense of where we were in the stream of time.
The WP was young (only 40) when the CZ started running. Now, the CZ is 60, and the WP is 100. Unbelievable! Where has the time gone?
It is fascinating that some CZ domes and other cars exist intact, though scattered throughout the country, while others are scrapped and gone forever. Dome end car Silver Horizon is on display in the scorching heat of Maricopa, AZ, far, far away from its old home rails of a cooler climate.
Both photos above were taken September 4, 2009. The first is featured in the “Sunset Route Two-Tracking Updates” topic at this forum.
Unfortunately, the special WP commemorative event somehow managed to get by this forumist. But, thanks to you, CAZEPHYR, and with all your photos herein, the memories of the WP and CZ can live on, even down to someone’s detail of a bright neon California Zephyr tail-car sign in one of your posted photos!
There were two domes at Portola and a Diner the last time I was up there to run the GP9E. It just takes money to make such a train happen again.
CZ
Yes it takes money. Money is why the CZ ceased operating - I sure wish I could have ridden it while it was still in operation. I can imagine a little with the lovely BLI cars in HO now.