The name Reno was given to the city by Central Pacific Railroad construction superintendent Charles Crocker, named after the Union Major General Jesse Lee Reno who was killed in the Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain in Maryland. Jesse Lee Reno wasn't actually from Nevada as he was born in Wheeling in what was then Virginia, and now within West Virginia. Fort Reno Park in Northwest DC was also named after him! Reno was founded by Myron C. Lake who purchased a log toll bridge, proceeded to develop a community, and called it Lake's Crossing. He deeded the land to the railroad in exchange for a depot there! "Imagine having a place named after you except it's not your real name" kinda like how there are places named after people, but people don't think they are. Like how Snowflake in Arizona isn't named after a snowflake, it's named after William J. Flake and Erastus Snow! Or how the Outerbridge Crossing between NJ and Staten Island isn't named such because it's the southernmost crossing in NYC, but because of Eugenius Harvey Outerbridge, first chairman of the Port Authority! Or how the Holland Tunnel between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan isn't named for the region's New Netherland heritage but rather after the tunnel's initial chief engineer Clifford Milburn Holland!
Or like how no one knows for sure who Georgetown in DC is named after. It could be King George II, it could be founders George Beal or George Gordon. The one person it’s not named after is George Washington, since Georgetown predates DC by several decades!
Whenever I go home, I always take BART to Richmond to catch the Amtrak San Joaquins train to Fresno. It's a 4 hour trip for $26. It takes 3 hours to drive and traffic is terrible, so Amtrak is a great value. The San Joaquins and Capitol Amtrak lines do proceed into Oakland, with the Capitol line going on to San Jose. You can transfer to BART at Oakland Coliseum via a connecting bridge, but it's not as convenient as Richmond. From the Oakland Jack London Amtrak station (Capitol and San Joaquins lines) you can walk to the Oakland Ferry Terminal, about a 1/2 mile along the Water St promenade, to catch a nice cross-bay ferry to San Francisco's Ferry Bldg on The Embarcadero.
Martinez is named after Ygnacio Martínez, a ranchero who served as the fourth Alcalde of San Francisco from 1837 to 1838, or then known as Yerba Buena. Benicia was named such after Mexican General Mariano Vallejo sold the land from his vast land grant to Robert Semple, and General Vallejo asked that they name the city after his wife! Richmond, California on the other hand got its name from Richmond, Virginia! Edmund Randolph, originally from the one in Virginia, represented the city of San Francisco when California's first legislature met in San Jose in December 1849, and he became state assemblyman from San Francisco. Out of fondness for his hometown, Randolph persuaded a federal surveying party, surveying and mapping the San Francisco Bay, to place the names "Point Richmond" and "Richmond" on their 1854 geodetic coastal map. The map was used at the terminal selected by the San Francisco and San Joaquin Valley Railroad. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad purchased the railroad making their terminus at Richmond. The first post office opened in 1900, and finally the city of Richmond was incorporated in 1905.
This was my first long distance train I took in its entirety. I loved every minute of it. One thing is I wished there was still a passenger train that ran through the Feather River canyon like WP did. It is gorgeous
Thank you for this excellent series on the California Zephyr. I’ve watched other videos about Amtrak and people seem to think that viewers want to see them eating their food 🥘 in the dinner car. I appreciate that you show the AMAZING scenery passing by as well as the excellent narration that you give. As I commented in your first episode in this series I will be taking this train next week staying in a roomette. I am so excited.
The next time you’re in Northern California, be sure to check out the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART). You can also connect with the AMTRAK bus connections via SMART.
I have seen a lot of videos about the California Zephyr, and yours is right up with the best. I've never seen anybody do it coach but it seems it wasn't too bad. I have never been on an Amtrak Trip and because of of my age and medical problems I never will. The California Zephyr would my choice.
Wow what a great trip!... Cool... Lindsay on the camera today at least for the Salt Lake City station bathrooms...jeje beautiful scenery of the Nevadas.... Love it! Amtrak is always delay.... Thanks for sharing.
We enjoyed this whole series but I forgot to write a comment on Day 3. We hope to take a few of these cross country trains someday. The rail pass seems like the pass we would use. Not sure how well we would do in coach for 3 days but maybe we can get lucky and get a companion ticket and use it towards a roomette. The views on this journey are amazing! I love the western states.
I get the fact that some parts of the western United States get snow in the summer. It makes sense with the mountains and I think I’ve seen that once when I was at Lake Tahoe 13 years ago over the summer during a family reunion. My best friend used to travel there a lot.
Wow what a spectacular trip and travelogue and great bit about the history as well. The scenery is amazing. Looks like there may be market for an aditional Reno to Bay Area frequency and so true about the long distance trains serving so many intermediate markets which is so often misunderstood. Always love your content, thanks for posting!!
Love seeing these videos. From the UK but I love travelling on the Amtrak long distance routes when I visit the US. I use the 15 or 30 day travel pass when I come over. I have been on the Zephyr from Emeryville, I was hoping to get to Chicago but we were delayed for so long I had to get off early in Denver. At least I got to see the best part of the trip going through the Rockies. Next time I will perhaps start in Chicago. I think I preferred the Empire Builder best but it does make a difference in which direction you travel to ensure you get the best views in daylight. I have used both coach and roomette while travelling. I am very content just to sit and watch the scenery change. You have to be flexible with timings when travelling by Amtrak but I love the overall experience and it is great way of seeing different parts of the US.
Wow, can't wait to see your adventures in the Bay Area! If these tunnels and rails could talk, the stories they could tell. As you mentioned, this third leg crosses through some truly historically significant sections of the Central Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad. Incredibly dangerous and difficult work to get through the Sierra Nevadas. Apparently at one point they had to cook up their own (technically illegal!) liquid nitroglycerin on site because black powder was proving far too slow get through the granite peaks. I would love to see some sort of north south connection train earlier than California, perhaps bringing back portions of the Pioneer and Desert Wind. We'll see.
Emeryville being the end of the line while not having a BART connection seems like a HUGE disadvantage for travelers. I hope there are plans for station and track improvements at Oakland which will enable it to serve as the terminus again in the future.
@@Thom-TRA Well that may be a difficult problem to fix. We all know how excited government leadership is about taking space away from cars to make room for trains.
A well produced and informative video. We got off the Zephyr in Sacramento, but likely we’ll ride on to Emeryville when we take our next California Zephyr trip. I’m eager to see the remaining legs of your ten segment trip.
Yeah traveling down (or up in the other direction) from the Sierra Into the Nevada desert is just impressive. Form lush green and cold to dry and hot in such a short time. I remember this from a road trip at did. We did drove down from Lake Tahoe to Reno.
I am from Sacramento, so I am glad that you mentioned the Capitol Corridor because that’s what I use to travel from Sacramento to Oakland/Emeryville/Richmond to visit my sister while she was living in Oakland a few years ago. She now lives in NYC.
Really enjoyed this trip and looking forward to many more!!! Thank you for the research and information you put in your videos. Awesome!!!I always wondered why Emeryville was the endpoint. And go UIC!
Thank you so much for this great video, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I completely agree that the California Zephyr is Amtrak’s most scenic route, and offers so much amazing variety. I was amused at your choice of BART to go over to San Francisco, as I could not miss out on the. Bay crossing by connecting Bus ! I fully understand your reasoning, and look forward to your adventures during your vacation in California !
While we're on the subject of how things got named, there are two theories of how the martini cocktail got its name. The better-known theory is that it's named after Martini vermouth (known as Martini and Rossi here in the States). The other theory is that it was invented in Martinez, California and named after the town. Who knows for sure?
When I took this train in 05 they were just building the new station and cutting through Reno but we were on the old street level line. No doubt it’s better for trains and cars but the view of Reno was better. It’s one of the trains I would take again at some point but as usual too many routes and not enough time.
Do they make a Donner Pass snowglobe? Very well done video, informative as well. Did you ever see the movie Broadway Limited? Its a good movie that takes place on that train.
Can you sometime ride a steam train. It would be very awesome. I was thinking of riding the polar express in Ashley Michigan. It would be very cool if you can do a video on that
INFO : Reno is 4500 ft, Truckee is 6200 feet, and west of Truckee up on "The Hill" the train will reach 7500 feet. There is snow year 'round almost every year. As of April 1, this year, 2024, there is about 8 feet of snow still in Truckee. They have had about 25 feet of snow since last November. I did this trip in 1986, to D.C. and back. Great video !! Writing from Sacramento but I lived in San Jose in the 80's. The ONLY (reasonable) way by rail around the bay area is by BART. EDIT #2: At 18:05, the Old Sacramento station is in the background. Too Bad ! It was a Beautiful station and now we have just a 'Platform' 1/2 a mile away !! Yuck, Amtrak !
Nice job Thom! Great tip about disembarking at Richmond. For a fascinating anecdotal and historical account about the construction of the transcontinental railroad I'd highly recommend "Nothing Like It In The World" by Stephen Ambrose.
@@Thom-TRA You bet. 👍 So it's not exactly a short read, but... if you want to enjoy an equally amazing historical account by the same author, it would make more sense to start chronologically with his anecdotally-rich account of the Lewis & Clark expedition "Undaunted Courage". It really sets the stage for how the railroad went from vision to reality. Fun fact: the Civil War is what made the building of the railroad a reality. Up until then, every time Congress met the Northern and Southern states would bicker about where the first route should go, and they could never agree. Guess what resolution passed during the war when no Southern States were in attendance...? Not to mention, Abraham Lincoln signed the standard gauge into law during the war. Railroad technology exploded during the war and afterward you had all these young guys needing work who knew how to build railroads.
I've seen snow pretty much on the Equator.We were flying from Johannesburg to Luxembourg with Lux Air and we flew east of a very high mountain in either Kenya or Tanzania and you could see snow on it's top.I was only a child at the time so didn't know what mountain it was but it must have either been Kilimanjaro or Mt Kenya.Most likely Mt Kenya as we'd landed at Nairobi and I see Mt Kenya is north east of Nairobi.
Waiting area not being open in the day is so weird. The two different single line routes being operated together like a double track is really cool though, great way to increase capacity
@@Thom-TRA haha yeah true 🤣 I haven't been to this part of America but I have been to NYC Penn station sitting on the floor waiting for an NJTransit train while Amtrak seating areas stayed empty
I've seen many videos about the California Zephyr and this is the first video I've watched that didn't skip over the Sierra Nevada stops, didn't call Suisun Bay the San Francisco Bay, didn't call the San Pedro Bay the San Francisco Bay, and showed the Sacramento Valley (Central Valley).
And, Yes the SLC Amtrak station looks like a rundown bus station out in BFE. I wonder when the tumbleweed is going to come by? At the end of this video it would have been nice if you had a short video of you riding the BART train even if it was to your hostle? I feel like i am hanging.
honestly, that Amshack isn't so bad at all. Definitely not a pretty building, but it looks functional and clean at the very least. SLC definitely deserves a "Union Station" type hub but it could definitely be worse
A few comments and then a question I love to see the respect you show for your wife. That’s nice! Thank you for explaining the tracks that are used depending on direction. That was interesting. It’s too bad Ogden is cut out! The train station there is beautiful! Last Winter we had so much snow in California! We had snow up to July 04 Taking Bart downtown is the way to go! I live in SF and it’s easier access to Market Street I am planning on traveling on a rail pass in May 2024. When do I purchase that? In January, taking into account the 120 day travel limit
Just buy it when you know when you want to travel. You don’t have to know exactly where you are going, but knowing when you have the time off is a good time to pounce. And it there’s a sale, I’ll let you know!
You make the best decision, from Richmond to San Francisco in the BART is really easy, I've done it before from the last station of the BART and it takes you wherever you want to go, most of the Central area of San Francisco you can get down in Powell station. And why you ask the conductor to switch your tickets to Richmond? you just get down on the stopvyou want to go, even if your train keep going to the end. Am I right? The USA Rail pass is very flexible.
The key question I've never seen answered on any California Zephyr trip reviews is this .... Can you get an emery stick in Emeryville? You'd think someone would want to file their nails either before or after a long train trip.
After I left the US and moved to Europe, while I feel a lot better about my daily transport here, but I reeeeally regret not to get a chance to have a wonderful long distance Amtrak trip like this video. But anyway, still thank you for sharing your great experience.
Yes! A quick photo of the Davis Station, the town that was my home for nine years. I took Capital Corridor down to Berkeley most weekdays that whole time. One of these days I'll be back, and finally ride the Zephyr. Great videos!
If you ever find yourself in Sacramento again, you should get off the Amtrak, ride the light rail from the Amtrak station to Folsom and go for a hike along the American River, it’s really pretty up there.
You said it was pretty comfortable to sleep on the train. Was it in the coach service? Am I right there are only two options - coach and pricey private rooms? Are there different classes in seating? I mean all the chairs in coach are the same in comfortability or there are some options? Thanks for the video!
I'm obviously missing something, I really don't understand why you had to ask to get off the train one stop *earlier*. If your ticket is valid at least as far as where you get off, why can't you just get off? Did you have checked luggage, something like that?
Amtrak conductors keep a strict manifest of who is on their train or not. Sometimes they will stop only for a few seconds at a station if nobody is getting on or off. To make sure we could get off with our bags in enough time, we informed the conductor of our changed plans. Plus it’s just considerate and polite to communicate.
Fairly new subscriber here. Love your videos ! I love taking Amtrak - it IS so relaxing !! The train and the Ocean are 2 things that can keep me still for a while and relax. When one of my boys joined the USAF this was what got me started into taking the train and i fell in love with it. Been as far as Texas (from Boston) but i hope to make it out to California by rail some day soon!
You may not know it but your clip of the Bart train was one of the old cars. They were just retired a couple of months ago. Now it’s all modern fleet with three doors. They have cut down to eight cars except this week there is a major thing going on with President Biden, the President of China and the entire circus is coming to town. They are increasing the number of cars and accommodating for increased traffic. Now is the time for public transportation to shine!
Amazing stuff, thank you! Looking forward to seeing your Bay Area content and also how your next Amtrak leg matches up to what you've already done! 2 thoughts arise: firstly, from what I heard on the PA, the planners seem to aim to confine boarding in SLC to the rear 2 cars, presumably to minimise disturbance to sleeping customers; secondly, would the onboard staff really have taken issue if you'd simply hopped off at Richmond without warning? Thanks again for sharing this odyssey \m/
Lindsey and Thom, as always, a very informative video! As a relative train novice on Amtrak, please let me know why you had the conductor change the ticket to Richmond? Is that standard procedure I should know about? Danke!
