Last Friday I took the Amtrak train, The California Zephyr, from Reno to Emeryville just across the bay from San Francisco. On Sunday I took the California Zephyr for the return trip. I was going down to Oakland to celebrate my daughter’s birthday with her. I have been wanting to make this trip for some time. The round trip cost for the train was $92. The driving distance is about 420 miles. At 20 miles per gallon and with gas costing $3.85 driving would have cost me $80.
The route over the Sierras is basically the same route that the first transcontinental railroad took. The trip was incredibly scenic, very relaxing and comfortable. I enjoyed the trip immensely.
This train has a reputation for rarely being on time and often being hours late. I don’t know if that is an accurate representation of its record but for my trip we were only about an hour late on Friday and coming home we were only a few minutes late. Since the trip takes about six hours I just relaxed and didn’t worry about any schedules.
Next time I am going to try another train route. Amtrak offers bus service from Reno to Sacramento where you can catch the Capitol Corridor train. The cost is the same.
I’m really surprised about the cost… probably AMTRAK will be increasing prices with a fuel surcharge, don’t you think?
One of the original transcontinental tunnels near Donner Pass (across from Sugar Bowl) was replaced in recent times with a ‘better’ tunnel… so the original tunnel is unused. My wife and I hiked through it a few years ago, although I now understand it may be blocked off.
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I imagine you are right they will probably raise the cost to account for higher fuel costs. My husband and I hiked through the old snow sheds on Donner Pass last year but have not gone through any old tunnels. It sound like fun.
http://marionvermazen.blogs.com/marions_blog/2007/11/sierra-canyon-m.html
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