California Zephyr - Timeline

Timeline

• March 12, 1949: Public exhibition of equipment that will be used on the California Zephyr begins in Oakland, California. The exhibition travels through along the WP portion of the train's route to Salt Lake City, Utah before returning to San Francisco, California the following week for the inauguration.
• March 19, 1949: The inauguration ceremony for the California Zephyr is held in front of the Pier 3 Ferry building in San Francisco. This is the only time the train is moved into San Francisco, proper; the ceremony is attended by Pacific Opera Company soprano Evelyn Corvello (who sang the Star Spangled Banner to open the ceremony), San Francisco Mayor Elmer Robinson, Western Pacific President Harry A. Mitchell, California Lieutenant Governor Goodwin Knight and Warner Brothers actress Eleanor Parker (who officially christened the train with a bottle of champagne).
• March 20, 1949: The first eastbound California Zephyr leaves Oakland for Chicago.
• March 1, 1955: The eastbound California Zephyr, while traveling through Ruby Canyon, sees its first on-train birth as Peter Zars is born.
• February 13, 1970: The Interstate Commerce Commission approves the discontinuation of the California Zephyr.
• March 22, 1970: The last westbound California Zephyr through to the west coast leaves Chicago; the train terminates in Oakland. A remnant of the California Zephyr continues to operate Chicago to Ogden, Utah on the CB&Q and D&RGW on a tri-weekly schedule, with a cross platform transfer in Ogden to the City of San Francisco for passengers to Oakland.
• April 24, 1983: The final "Rio Grande Zephyr", a remnant of the California Zephyr, operates between Grand Junction, CO and Denver, CO. A brass band met the final train in Denver.
• 1983: The California Zephyr returns to service when the D&RGW agrees to join Amtrak.
• October 29, 2000: Service on Amtrak's California Zephyr is upgraded to daily.
• June 24, 2011: Train 5, the westbound California Zephyr, was hit by a semi truck about 70 miles east of Reno, Nevada. The resulting fire destroyed at least two rail cars, and six people were killed, including the truck driver and an Amtrak conductor. Dozens more were injured. Witnesses reported that the crossing gates were functioning properly and that the truck driver tried to stop prior to the collision.