DAY 12 – (29/6/16) – Only 29 hours from Chicago…(sing to tune of Only 24 hours from Tulsa)

At 10:30p.m. yesterday we passed through Glenwood Springs where John Henry “Doc” Holliday is buried – he was 35 when he died. Sheriff Pat Garrett is also buried nearby. We’ve passed through Grand Valley and we are only sorry it wasn’t by day. Because of the train’s lateness we are missing such incredible scenery because it’s dark. However, I’ll post some library pictures so both you and I can see what we missed.

Grand Valley:



Red Canyon (Spaniards called this place Colorado - meaning red):



Hot Sulphur Springs – thermal springs which draw in thousands of bathers every year:



Around 1:30 in the morning we travel through Granby. The Trail Ridge Road runs through the Rocky Mountains here and is the world’s highest car road.

We pass through Moffatt Tunnel which is 6 miles long and at 9,239 feet it is the highest rail road track on Amtrak’s network. Before the tunnel opened in 1927, reducing the distance between Salt Lake City and Denver by 65 miles. Trains took 5 hours to cross the Continental Divide around James Peak prior to the tunnel being built. Now it takes around 10 minutes. In case you don’t understand the term Continental Divide it is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea such as the Pacific and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea such as the Atlantic.

Moffat Tunnel:



Gross Reservoir is next. Its 340 ft tall dam provides Denver with 14 billion gallons of water.



The train now takes S shaped curves to lose height make its way down to the foothills. The Zephyr descends a 2% gradient and enters a tunnel. Winds can reach 100m.p.h. here and so the curves are protected by old railroad cars filled with sand!

Dawn is breaking as we approach the suburbs of Denver. It’s around 5a.m. We now revert to some of our photographs in this report.



Denver was a gold rush town founded in 1858 when flakes of gold were discovered at nearby Cherry Creek. Many narrow gauge railroads ran to the miners’ camps. George Pullman, a miner here, came up with the idea for train sleeping cars – Pullman coaches. The union pacific rail-road had bypassed Denver on its transcontinental route so the citizens built their own rail-road to meet it at Cheyenne.

Denver invented the cheeseburger and brews more beer (Coors) than anywhere else in the world. Coins in the US are either minted in Philadelphia or Denver – look for the initial P or D the next time you handle them. The Mint here is at 320 W. Colfax located in an Italian Renaissance building where it produces ten billion coins a year and boats more gold bullion (an estimated $100 billion) than anywhere outside Fort Knox.

Pike’s Peak at over 14,000 feet is visible on the right. I was at the peak of this mountain that in 1893 that Katherine lee Bates was inspired to write the words of “America – The Beautiful”. The Rockies are now some 80 miles away to our left.



After Fort Brook we cross the Colorado / Nebraska State line and we change our watches by putting then forward one hour from Mountain to Central time. At Kenesaw we cross the Oregon Trail once used by pioneer wagon trains. By lunchtime we pass through Hastings, home to the manufacturing of farm machinery and by afternoon teatime (unfortunately it’s coffee) we have reached Omaha. This was the birthplace of Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Cliff. Malcolm X and Henry Fonda.

From its source in the Montana Mountains (where the Gallatin, Jefferson and Madison rivers converge the Missouri comes through here to join the Mississippi at St Louis. Crossing the Missouri takes us from Nebraska into Iowa.



Council Bluffs is home to the Union Pacific railroad Museum. Artefacts, photographs and documents trace the development of the rail-road into the American West.

Stanton is famous for its coffee pot water tower complete with handle:



The connection is Virginia Christine, an actress who was, for many years, Mrs. Olsen in Folgers coffee advertisements.

We are now treated to field after field after field after field……………………of corn (maize).



The monotony of these scenes are broken by the odd windmill. We eventually reach Creston with its beautiful yellow brick rail depot.



It’s around 7:30p.m. We have been on this train now for 22 ½ hours.

As dusk starts to form we reach Osceola. John Wayne was born here.

Burlington is next. It’s claim to fame is that this is where a men called George Westinghouse invented the air break.

We now cross another famous river. The Mississippi – the world’s 4th longest river draining one third of the United States.



By now the sky is dark and we nod in our seats as we travel through Galesburg. I love the way each American town is famous for something. This one was the home twon of one George Washington Ferris inventor of the Ferris wheel. His brother Olmsted Ferris would invent an efficient way of producing popcorn.
At half midnight we trundle through Princeton – “The pig capital of the World”. Piano, Sandwich, Somonauk and Mendota all blur. We are just so wanting to lay in proper beds.

Finally at 1:30a.m. we creep through Naperville, Chicago’s main western suburb. We are in commuter train territory. By 2a.m. we finally pull into Union Station at Chicago.



There is an almighty scrum trying to get luggage followed by fisticuffs amongst some trying to get taxis. By 3 a.m. we are in our hotel room.


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Love the coffee pot water tower...another good day.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the new days, I'm really enjoying all the places you pass through. I am so surprised about the length of the delays, it's not something I'd considered.

Literally a long haul! How did you sleep on the train Geoff? One suspects you were woken up travelling through the Moffat tunnel?
Such a lot of detail in here especially about the famous people such as Ferris and Fonda etc
That coffee pot tower is hilarious
Do they change drivers on the move or as they pull into different stations?

A very informative read, well done.

I assume driver changes are made at "service stops" - usually about a 15 to 20 minute period. They let you get off but you musn't go further than about 5 yards from the door.
It certainly was a long day and a quarter! I'm afraid you have to expect this with Amtrak.
Think you are going to love the story at Chicago Station coming next...

We often ride the train from Palatka to Savannah (it's part of the fun for my husband). They change drivers at Jacksonville on the service stop. They fill the water tanks, pump the "other" tanks, add fresh food, etc.

"The pig capital of the world" Love it

Lesley and Melvin

Judging by the guide book it would seem lots of places boast "egg capital of the world", "melon capital of the world", "turkey capital of the world" and so on...

a long long journey