A trip of a lifetime, for me at least.

A little over a year ago, I encountered an opportunity to take an excursion on a dome/observation car from the California Zephyr. Not the current Amtrak California Zephyr, which is nice, but the original CZ operated by the CB&Q, D&RGW and Western Pacific, "America's most talked-about train." This was the tag line that was applied to the train back in the day. The dome observation car brought up the rear of the train and was the best seat in the house. There were four other domes in each consist but the tail end car was the one everybody noticed. The dome had coach seating but the seats were not assigned and people came and went. The round end observation lounge had individual movable chairs and directly under the dome area was a small buffet /bar with a seating area.  Also under the dome area were four bedrooms, the only revenue area on the car.

Of course the car I was going to ride in was not exactly like the original, over the years and several owners it had been modified.  The dome area was converted to a dining area with six tables for four. The buffet seating area was converted to additional bedrooms but the small bar remained. The porters area was converted to a galley.  And the trip was not going to be over the original route from Chicago to Oakland but rather from Los Angeles to Portland while riding behind Amtrak's Coast Starlight and then behind the Empire Builder to Glacier Park. Not many Amtrak routes could be said to challenge that combination for scenery, not even the original CZ route.

The trip was going to be very expensive so I thought about it overnight and went back to sign up.  Sure enough my hesitation got me onto the waiting list. But a month or two later I got moved to the passenger list and sent in my deposit. That was almost a year ago and I have been dreaming about the trip ever since. Now I am one week away from boarding my silver chariot and can hardly stand it.

However, the trip starts in LA and I have to get there first so my trip actually starts in just five days when I board the Texas Eagle for the trip to LA. A night and a day and a night on the Eagle and I'll be in La La Land. The Coast Starlight will not depart until the next morning but rather than a hotel I will be able to sleep on the train in the Amtrak coach yard and be part of the Starlight consist when it's moved to LA Union Station the next morning.

Silver Solarium

One other note, there will be 24 people plus crew on the trip so it's easy to see that we can't all sleep on the Silver Solarium.  There will be a second car, commonly known as a 10-6 sleeper, that will accompany us and will provide a home away from home for most of the passengers.  10-6 means that it has or had 10 roomettes and 6 bedrooms. A roomette sleeps one and a bedroom sleeps two.  Two of the roomettes however have been converted to a shower room and a community bathroom so it's really an 8-6 sleeper. Although not as glamorous as the Silver Solarium, the Silver Rapids has it's own special history which I'll write about later.