The City of San
Francisco East Bound as it glides over the Bencia Bridge on the San
Francisco Bay / San Jouaquin Delta. This is the early 1950's, and this
could be the historic train caught in the blizzard a few months later.
The Southern Pacific Railroad operated the City of San Francisco until
Amtrak assumed operations of passenger rail service in the early 1970's.
Amtrak California
Zephyr operates on much of the same railroad right of way as the City
of San Francisco. Today, Train
#5 & Train #6 operates from Emeryville to Chicago using Superliner equipment.
Anytime is the right time of year for the Zephyr.
Rolling out of Emeryville,
pass through historic Berkeley, once to be the site of the Bay Area
Airport, before the San Francisco International Airport, and Oakland
International Airport. Berkeley is the home of UC Berkeley, Cal Football,
and the free speech movement of the the early 1960's.
Spectacular view
of the bay silhouettes on Alcatraz Island. Until 1963, Alcatraz was
a federal penetery, housing the likes of Machine Gun Kelly, Al Capone,
and the Birdman of Alacatraz. During the Civil War, Alcatraz was a Army
Defense post. Find out why the Army gave up Alcatraz, and the Department
of Corrections gave up "the rock" as a penitentiary.
Just past Berkeley,
is the little town of Albany, just past the Golden Gate Fields. Albany
hill is visible from the right hand side of the train, and one wonders
what created this mount on the side of the tracks. Find out the story
behind Albany Hill on the 'Blizzard on the City of San Francisco Tour."
Gliding along the
San Francisco Bay, view Richmond and the industrial factories of World
War II. Just past Richmond BART is Point Richmond, on the left hand
side of the train. Point Richmond has historical background, as an ammunition
loading for military ships. Find out the rest of the details on the
tour.
Shortly after Point
Pinole, the train winds under the new Bridge. Ever wonder why it is
the Carqinez bridge, and not the Crockett or Vallejo bridge? On the
left is the C+H sugar factory. Why would the once highly productive
sugar processing facility be closed?
There is a strong
chance of seeing the Coast Starlight with two 200 ton locomotives displacing
a wall of air current speeding towards Los Angels from Seattle. The
California Zephyr and the Coast Starlight share the Central Pacific
tracks between Emeryville and just past Roseville, and generally pass
between Richmond and Sacramento.
There are several
tunnels before Martinez,
with scores of oil docks and refineries covering the landscape. Martinez
is the home for John Muir, the statesman, environmentalist, and author.
John Muir was instrumental in inclusion of Yosemite National Park into
the National Park Service, and lobbied tirelessly to prevent Hetch Hetchy
from becoming a scenic wonder to a flooded valley for the convenience
of San Francisco for power and drinking water.
Just across the
Bencia Bridge is Benecia, the first capital of California. In 1853,
Bencia was named as the capital of California for less than one year.
Benecia was the wheat capital of California, storing wheat for delivery
to the Central Pacific railway. For a short time, Bencia was a post
for the infamous Pony Express. If the rider missed the steamer in Sacramento,
the rider would gallop to Benecia to take the ferry to Martiez. In 1879,
Central Pacific rerouted the transcontential railroad from Oakland to
Livermore to Modesto, and onto Stockton to a route from Oakland to Martez,
ferried across the straights to Benecia, and onto Sacramento.
Although the Zephyr
does not stop in Bencia, it is a forty minute cruse to Davis, home to
University of California's Davis campus, home of 50,000 bicycles. Twenty
minutes pass until pulling into the historic Sacramento Southern Pacific
Station. Sacramento is the capital of California, and the river system
provides barge and cargo ship access to the Port of Sacramento.
Two blocks from
the station is the California Railroad Museum.
A short stop will
ensure a slow departure out of the station rolling towards Roseville.
Crossing the American River, there will be panoramic views of the river
from about 5,000 feet in a couple of hours.
ROSEVILLE is Union
Pacific's largest rail yard in the west. Roseville has been home to
many high technology firms including major facilities for ATT and Hewlett
Packard. Just East of Roseville, the Central Pacific northern link to
Marysville and onto Chico and Redding splits from the eastern mainline.
Rolling through New Castle Auburn appears across the last trestle across
highway 80. Here in 1848 gold was discovered at at Sutter's Run, starting
the California Gold Rush.
The historic Auburn
courthouse was built in 1894. The elevation is about 1,000 feet, from
Auburn to Donner Pass is the mountain zone on the Central Pacific Railroad.
Pulling into Colfax, a turn of the century boom town with connections
to the White House and presidential politics.
Right after Colfax,
the Zephr crosses the
Long Ravine Trestle rolling towards Cape
Horn, the steepest slope in California on the route of the Zephyr.
Gold Run was a major
hydraulic mining site until outlawed in 1884. Mountain streams flumed
was funneled into eight foot brass nozzles, referred to as the monitor.
Water scarred away soil, leaving heavier metals exposed.
Water is a precious
resource, and today, water that was funneled into the flumes for hydraulic
mining is used for irrigation in Roseville and Loomis.
Fifteen hundred
to two thousand feet below the ledge is the valley
of the North Fork of the American River flowing into Sacramento and
into the Sacramento river on to the great delta and San Francisco Bay.
Emigrant Gap opens
the vista to Bear Valley. Lake Spalding was dammed to provide water
for hydraulic mining, now provides hydroelectric
power and drinking water for communities below the dam. In this area
of the trackage, the famed City of San Francisco was snowbound for nearly
a week, and the passengers were rescued and walked to safety on highway
40.
The Zephr rolls
under the ski lifts for Sugar Bowl. In the 1950's skiers would cross
the tracks and cross country ski to the lifts at Sugar Bowl.
At approxemently
7,000 feet, the Zephyr enters a tunnel avoiding the peaks of Mt. Judah,
and at the Eastern end of the tunnel Donner Lake is visible. Imagine
spending winter at the Eastern end of Donner Lake with little or no
provisions.
Truckee has been
referred to as the coldest place in the Continental United States several
times. There are many ski resorts in the Truckee Region, and it is the
gateway to Lake Tahoe. Below Truckee is Boca, once ice fields for keeping
produce iced on the way to the East from the great central valley of
California. At one time there was a brewery sporting Boca Beer, served
all the way to Europe before the turn of the century.
Verdi made history
in 1870, when the first Central Pacific East Bound train was robbed
of gold from the California Gold fields. The gold never circulated,
and there are some that believe that the gold is still buried in the
foothills of Verdi.
RENO is Known as
the "Biggist Little City in the World." Once a small rail stop, Reno
has become a bustling logistic center, with major transportation and
telecommunications connections to California to the West.
The Blizzard on
the City of San Francisco is produced by Global Rail Tours, and ends
in Reno. Global Rail Tours provides ticketing, onboard narration, and
Reno accommodations. Return to San Francisco is on the California Zephyr.
Global
Rail Tours
775 358 1085
info@global-rail-tours.com
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