Fantastic snow videos. I missed it all by being on a hiking trip in Patagonia in the area of the Northern Patagonian Ice Cap. The last leg of my trip was to ride Amtrak's California Zephyr from Sacramento to Grand Junction on the badly timed day of Tuesday, February 26. After a short visit to the California RR museum I boarded train 6 which left Sacramento on time, but stopped 20 miles later in Roseville. There were four rotary snow plows a few tracks over in Roseville. Two of them were coupled to a set of two diesels, one rotary in front and one in back. The front rotary was testing the wheel operation, multiple times spinning the wheel clockwise, then reversing to counterclockwise. We were told that we would follow the rotaries at some distance over Donner Summit - it was raining in Roseville, but reportedly snowing heavily on the Pass. The two rotaries left, and we were expecting an exciting trip over Donner. Well, that was about the end of the excitement. First there were reports of a flanger derailed, but not blocking our track. Then there were reports of boulders on the track. Our train pulled to the Roseville station to let people off and get some air (and rain). Then we were to wait for two relief crews to come from Oakland, one crew for us, and other for train 5 stopped in Reno. All this time we were told to stand by and get back on board as soon as the whistle blew. After four hours people started deserting the train, first a group of 50 who were to ride their tour bus back from Reno the next morning ( the interstate was closed also), then groups of 2 or 3. Finally, after 8 hours of pacing the Roseville platform (and excellent lunch and dinner in the diner), the word came that Donner summit was closed. The crew turned the train on the wye and headed back to Emeryville. I was lucky enough to snag a room in the Vagabond Inn across from the station, and a flight to Grand Junction via Phoenix the next morning (aside from a ticket refund Amtrak passengers were left to their own devices in soggy and dark Sacramento. Actually I felt kind of guilty picking up my refund - it 's another hit Amtrak doesn't need). It sure would have been awesome to get some glimpses of the double rotaries in action. So at least I get to enjoy some snow action in your awesome video!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2019 07:50PM by Olaf Rasmussen.
