Entering California
The terrain and landscape that was passing outside our windows had changed. The changes were obvious. When we checked our gear and timetables, we found that we had passed into California.
We had a speedometer app running in our roomette... an altimeter app running... and, when we could get cell service, an active map. Will had his GPS Garmin running across the hall in his roomette. I also had a scanner so I could listen in to any necessary train radio chatter or even any emergency radio chatter.
Actually, writing about all these electronics reminds me that we had a little problem somewhere in the middle of that expansive west that I wrote about in my previous blog entry. In the middle of nowhere, we heard a thump and then the train came to a stop. This is when having the scanner would provide us some information.
By listening to my little handheld scanner, I learned that we had hit a stacked pile of rocks on the track. Clearly, someone had deliberately piled these rocks on the tracks. (Idiots.) The rocks went flying and took out some hoses between the cars. The broken hoses meant we lost brakes.
A freight train noticed we were having a problem and stopped, according to railroad regulation, to offer assistance as necessary. After some time of talk between the trains, engineers and conductors about summoning help, the crew eventually fixed the problem well enough for us to be on our way. In all, I believe we sat there in the middle of nowhere for two hours as the crew worked to get us moving again. The freight train didn't continue on until we had moved out of the area.
So now, many hours later, we noticed a distinct change in the landscape and we found that we had entered California!
Meandering through Donner Pass...
and, past Donner Lake...
At this point in the journey, we needed to lose a lot of altitude. The snow was towering about 20 feet alongside the tracks as well as alongside the highway we could see in the valley next to us. The snow was smoothly cut at least twice as high as the tractor trailers passing alongside. The snow next to the tracks was cut smoothly on one side of the tracks at more than double the height of our train. The other side of the tracks was mostly plowed. Other areas were sheer cliffs where no snow could pile.
We crawled at a relatively slow speed of 35 mph as we wound down these mountains. We had been traveling at between 80 mph and 90 mph most of the time so 35 mph felt agonizingly slow. We passed under and through a lot of wood frame tunnels known as snow sheds. We passed over trestles clinging onto the side of the mountain high above the valley below. The train's brakes squealed holding us to 35 mph as we bled off more and more altitude...
As we approached Sacramento, California where Adam would be meeting us, we had a 30 minute delay getting into the station. I think there were some homeless people on the tracks but I'm not sure. It is entirely possible that we were really just waiting for a track assignment to pull into the station.
After bleeding off all that altitude with brakes squealing as we came out of the frighteningly deep snow and steep cliffs, we finally arrived in sunny and warm Sacramento and were greeting by Adam and Joi!
Up until now, almost all of our sightseeing was inactive sightseeing... the sights simply passed outside our windows as we watched. Now it was time for active sightseeing which means we had to go find the sights. We already had a long list of things we wanted to see so it was just a matter of fitting it all in... and we had a lot to fit into our schedule!
Next up will be the California State Railroad Museum and Old Sacramento....
We had a speedometer app running in our roomette... an altimeter app running... and, when we could get cell service, an active map. Will had his GPS Garmin running across the hall in his roomette. I also had a scanner so I could listen in to any necessary train radio chatter or even any emergency radio chatter.
Actually, writing about all these electronics reminds me that we had a little problem somewhere in the middle of that expansive west that I wrote about in my previous blog entry. In the middle of nowhere, we heard a thump and then the train came to a stop. This is when having the scanner would provide us some information.
By listening to my little handheld scanner, I learned that we had hit a stacked pile of rocks on the track. Clearly, someone had deliberately piled these rocks on the tracks. (Idiots.) The rocks went flying and took out some hoses between the cars. The broken hoses meant we lost brakes.
A freight train noticed we were having a problem and stopped, according to railroad regulation, to offer assistance as necessary. After some time of talk between the trains, engineers and conductors about summoning help, the crew eventually fixed the problem well enough for us to be on our way. In all, I believe we sat there in the middle of nowhere for two hours as the crew worked to get us moving again. The freight train didn't continue on until we had moved out of the area.
So now, many hours later, we noticed a distinct change in the landscape and we found that we had entered California!
Meandering through Donner Pass...
and, past Donner Lake...
At this point in the journey, we needed to lose a lot of altitude. The snow was towering about 20 feet alongside the tracks as well as alongside the highway we could see in the valley next to us. The snow was smoothly cut at least twice as high as the tractor trailers passing alongside. The snow next to the tracks was cut smoothly on one side of the tracks at more than double the height of our train. The other side of the tracks was mostly plowed. Other areas were sheer cliffs where no snow could pile.
We crawled at a relatively slow speed of 35 mph as we wound down these mountains. We had been traveling at between 80 mph and 90 mph most of the time so 35 mph felt agonizingly slow. We passed under and through a lot of wood frame tunnels known as snow sheds. We passed over trestles clinging onto the side of the mountain high above the valley below. The train's brakes squealed holding us to 35 mph as we bled off more and more altitude...
As we approached Sacramento, California where Adam would be meeting us, we had a 30 minute delay getting into the station. I think there were some homeless people on the tracks but I'm not sure. It is entirely possible that we were really just waiting for a track assignment to pull into the station.
After bleeding off all that altitude with brakes squealing as we came out of the frighteningly deep snow and steep cliffs, we finally arrived in sunny and warm Sacramento and were greeting by Adam and Joi!
Up until now, almost all of our sightseeing was inactive sightseeing... the sights simply passed outside our windows as we watched. Now it was time for active sightseeing which means we had to go find the sights. We already had a long list of things we wanted to see so it was just a matter of fitting it all in... and we had a lot to fit into our schedule!
Next up will be the California State Railroad Museum and Old Sacramento....
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