The Zephyr stalks a freight train

Interesting experience on the eastbound California Zephyr today, as I head from Sacramento to Salt Lake City. We leave Sacramento at 11:28 a.m., 19 minutes late, then Roseville 22 minutes late and Colfax (at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range) 24 minutes late.

We aren't far from Colfax when we begin to noticeably slow. The conductor comes on the PA to say we're following a freight train for at least a bit. I look at the Union Pacific Roseville Area employee timetable and figure it will be for more than a bit, and it is. From Colfax to Emigrant Gap, 29 miles, is double track but with each track signaled in only one direction. That means there will be no way to get around that freight for quite some distance.

We get to Emigrant Gap at 3 p.m., now more than an hour late, but due to westbound trains we still can't get around the freight. And let me tell you, folks, it is crawling. I'm surprised to look out my roomette window and see the rear locomotive of the freight moving perhaps 200 feet ahead of our train. We are stalking the freight, in other words. I've never seen a following train so close to the one ahead of it. I estimate both trains are doing 5 or 6 mph.

Now I am furious at myself for not bringing a radio receiver with me. I could be listening to the play by play as the engineers of the two trains talk their way through this. Meanwhile, we're at 6,000 feet or higher, still below the summit of the Sierras, and it is snowing heavily. Truth is, I didn't expect to be on the San Francisco Zephyr three days ago, or any other train, for that matter. I was going to fly home to Virginia from Los Angeles this morning. At this very minute, I'd be home, being licked and jumped on by my dogs. But my wife suggested I meet her in Salt Lake City, near where she is going to ski this weekend, and I thought not only is that a good idea, but also but also a chance to ride the San Joaquin and Zephyr.

So that's why, at 3:40 p.m., I'm on the Zephyr, happy as can be. We are now stopped because the freight ahead of us is stopped, at East Norden. Ahead of it is a four-mile section of single track, which means we're probably both waiting on one or more westbound freights. And by the way, we were due to stop at Truckee a bit more than an hour ago. It lies 13 miles ahead.

I haven't told you my little secret: The Zephyr is due into Salt Lake City at 3:05 a.m. The later we get there, the more sleep I'll manage. So let it snow, let it snow, let is snow in the Sierras. Let freight trains get in our way.

PS: A westbound freight goes by at 3:45 p.m. We start moving, first at a crawl. But once over the summit of the Sierras, the freight picks up speed, and so do we. Now on bidirectionally signaled double track, the dispatcher puts around around the freight (a domestic intermodal train with 236 53-foot containers and three locomotives). The Zephyr departs Truckee two hours late. And I am grateful we remain two hours late all the way to Salt Lake City.--Fred W. Frailey