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‘California Zephyr’ detour opens rare mileage to long-distance passengers
I got to go over Tennessee Pass & through the Royal Gorge due to a rockslide on the Moffat Tunnel route in Spring 1997. We were a few miles east of Dotsero when we were held due to the slide. After a lonnnggg wait we backed up to Dotsero and then proceeded to Gypsum or somewhere else where there was a convenient grade crossing to pick up a pilot. We also let off all the Denver passengers at that point, who took the bus into Denver, saving them many hours but costing us some time to get the bus there, IIRC.
Then we were over the highest pass and down the Arkansas, through the Royal Gorge, into Pueblo. Of course, by the time we headed up the hill, it was dark. 
It was not hard to know we were in the tunnel at Tennessee Pass, so there was that, but the Gorge was just darkness. Up the Joint Line and into Denver many hours late.
We ate up the copious schedule pad and were into Chicago close to midnight - 8 hrs late or so. I got a free night in Chicago thanks to my friends at Amtrak.
I didn’t get much out of the scenery, but I’ve been over those rails!
To add insult to injury, #6 was held at Oxford, NE for five hours waiting on a new crew. The train was delayed leaving Denver due to a derailment there. It is now about twelve hours late.
I can top that one. YEARS ago, while on the CZ eastbound, a freight derailed miles ahead of us, fouling the main. We detoured through NORTHERN IOWA. It was in the late 70’s, so it wasn’t THAT LONG since A-day, but the crowds still turned out in droves, as we stopped at grade crossings to get stocked with pizza, chicken dinners, subs, and beverages. We were OVER 24 hours late into The Windy, as we had to run very slow on some very rough track.
The Empire Builder is frequently over 12 hrs late without derailments. Just slow orders and freight train traffic jams.
When the superliners first came out I took the west bound zephyr out of Denver. We headed north towards u.p. tracks then ran into a problem , a stalled coal train in front of us. I asked the conductor what’s going on, that is what he said. They needed to make a decision as what to do. The three options were brake the train in 1/2 and double the hill, call helpers from denver or push the coal over the hill. We were delayed about an hour but they decided to just get behind and push. The zephyr did have 3 locos in the front and enough excess power to help the coal train over the hill. They went on a siding and we just kept on going and waved good by.
There was also a Zephyr detour in Illinois recently down through Joliet, through Chillicothe and back over to Galesburg.
When I was a little kid, I got to ride with my family on the origional CZ but we had to be detoured over the Royal Gorge route and, from what I was told over the years until my parents both passed away, we didn’t get into Oakland until 1:00 in the morning but we did get a free mean because of it. I can still remember waking up while it was still dark outside and seeing my dad up and already dressed out in the hallway of our sleeper and then being in the coach yard with the train already getting maintenance while were were still on it.
The “Superliners” were called “Hi Level” cars when the Budd Company of Philadelphia designed and built them exclusively for the Santa Fe –
El Capitan, Texas Chief and San Francisco Chief in the mid 1950’s.
The route through North Platte was being considered as a route extension for Amtrak’s Desert Wind in the early 1990’s. I still have a book detailing the info and results of a study conducted of a long-term plan to expand long distance services on new routes and restore some others that had been previously discontinued. Over 95% of this probably won’t happen due to Amtrak’s chronic equipment shortages.
Any pics/videos of this detour?