OVERNIGHT, EVERY NIGHT. That was the
Denver Zephyr slogan, and it offered a more business-friendly schedule with a late afternoon departure and a 10 am arrival, apparently tolerable in an era when sending a visiting consultant or other high official was a costly and rare event. The
California Zephyr had a more touristy schedule with an early evening departure from Denver and a midafternoon arrival in Chicago. Amtrak's version is marginally slower than the private railroad's version.
The ride that
began in Emeryville on July 3 and
transited the Rockies on July 4 winds up on a rainy day. Morning comes with the noise of the train crossing a river. Looks like the Missouri, open the door, there's an Omaha paper outside, must be Iowa outside the window. Shower, breakfast time, stop Creston 7:44 (close to time); Osceola 8:25 (still at breakfast, skimpy notes, still on time), pick up provisions to provide fresh fruit to all coach passengers. Again the carrier's efforts to compensate for mechanical failures in the Sightseer Lounges is commendable, but a lounge service for coach passengers that doesn't have life-expired air conditioning would be preferable.
There's been a lot of rain. This park west of Ottumwa is underwater.

Rising waters did force detours of the
Zephyr onto the Union Pacific through DeKalb a few times late in July and early in August. Ottumwa 10:15:43 - 10:26:43, rains affecting our timekeeping; Mt. Pleasant 11:28:10 - 11:33:43; lunchtime; dining car is down to the hamburger and one or two other entrees and out of childrens' meals; Burlington about
12:20; rain lets up on the Illinois side, held west of the Galesburg station
12:56; last smoke stop Galesburg, arrive
12:59:38.

The Burlington 4-6-4 and a few cars are Galesburg's railroad museum, which (along with a swap meet) are the rail interest at Galesburg Railroad Days. Leave Galesburg
1:03:43.
The hill on the horizon is the tailings pile from the Cherry Mine, site of one of Illinois's
most deadly mine fires. In those days, mine illumination was a candle or a lantern at the seam face, and transportation used 0-2-2-0 hayburners. One account of the fire reported a load of hay for the mules on fire, initially so small a fire that Anybody could have put it out, but Everybody thought Somebody Else was going to put it out, and Nobody put it out, and 259 miners died.

Princeton
1:53:32 -
1:53:59; stop Montgomery
2:49, Five by with 147 - 202 - one bag, nine Superliners (same 4 sleepers, 3 coaches, diner, lounge as my Six), moving again
2:52, Naperville
3:08:10 -
3:10:13; unimpeded run into Chicago Union Station, arrive on track 30
3:45:56. Metra is running the holiday schedule, the next train back to Elburn is the
4:40 all-stopper, but because everybody is treating July 5 as a holiday, there's no parking meter enforcement at Elburn and my 10 day parking permit is good for eleven days. Now to work on the train projects that came home with me.