1.
Book Cliffs
–
The Book Cliffs are a series of desert mountains and cliffs in western Colorado and eastern Utah, in the western United States. They are so named because the cliffs of Cretaceous sandstone that cap many of the buttes appear similar to a shelf of books. Stretching nearly 200 miles from east to west, the Book Cliffs begin where the Colorado River descends south through De Beque Canyon into the Grand Valley to Price Canyon, the Book Cliffs appear mostly along the southern and western edge of the Tavaputs Plateau. The cliffs are composed of sedimentary materials. The Book Cliffs are within the Colorado Plateau geologic province, in the Colorado stretch of the Book Cliffs, abandoned coal mines are present, as significant coal resources were present in the region. These mines are now generally capped for safety, but several fatalities of recreational hikers have occurred at these mines since 1989. In some places, wild horses can be found in the Book Cliffs, for example, the Book Cliffs are one of the worlds best places to study sequence stratigraphy. In the 1980s, Exxon scientists used the Cretaceous strata of the Book Cliffs to develop the science of sequence stratigraphy. The Book Cliffs have preserved excellent strata of the basin of the ancient Western Interior Seaway that stretched north from the Gulf of Mexico to the Yukon in the Cretaceous time. Components of deltaic and shallow marine reservoirs are very well preserved in the Book Cliffs, large mammals found in the Book Cliffs include coyotes, mountain lions, bobcats, mule deer, pronghorn, American bison as an extension of the Henry Mountains bison herd and bighorn sheep. In January,2009, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officials transplanted 31 bison from the Henry Mountains bison herd to the Book Cliffs, the new group joined 14 animals previously released in August,2008 from a private herd on the nearby Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. Since this herd is located approximately 100 miles north of the Henry Mountains, across mostly harsh, desert terrain, it should perhaps be considered as a separate herd, Cretaceous Paleogeography - Showing Western Interior Seaway The Soils of Western Colorado Mesa, Delta and Montrose Counties
Book Cliffs
–
The Spring Canyon sandstones in the Book Cliffs above the town of Helper, Utah. There are several sedimentary cycles visible in the cliffs (perhaps up to seven or eight)
Book Cliffs
–
Book Cliffs and Mt. Garfield (on right, approximate altitude 6,600') in Mesa County, Colorado
Book Cliffs
–
A
flute cast, one of many
sedimentary structures found in the Book Cliffs
2.
Inter-city rail
–
Inter-city rail services are express passenger train services that cover longer distances than commuter or regional trains. There is no definition of inter-city rail, its meaning may vary from country to country. Most typically, an inter-city train is a train with limited stops. Inter-city rail sometimes provides international services and this is most prevalent in Europe, due to the close proximity of its 50 countries in a 10,180,000 square kilometre area. Eurostar and EuroCity are examples of this and this use of the term appeared in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and has been widely imitated. The speeds of inter-city rail lines are diverse, ranging from 50 km/h in a mountainous area or on undeveloped tracks to 200–350 km/h on newly constructed or improved tracks. As a result, Inter-city rail may or may not fall into the category of higher-speed rail or high-speed rail, ideally, the average speed of inter-city rail service would be faster than 100 km/h in order to be competitive with car, bus and other methods of transport. 50–100 km The distance of an inter-city rail journey is usually at least 50–100 km, although in large metropolitan areas commuter. 100–500 km A distance of 100–500 km is a common journey distance for inter-city rail in many countries, in many cases, railway travel is most competitive at about 2–3 hours journey time. Inter-city rail can compete with highways and short-haul air travel for journeys of this distance. 500–1,000 km In journeys of 500–1,000 km, development of high-speed rail in some countries increases the share of railway for such longer-distance journeys. The Paris-Marseille TGV and Tokyo-Aomori Shinkansen are examples of type of journey. In conventional non high-speed rail, overnight trains are common for this distance, in many other countries, such long-distance rail journey has been replaced by air travel except for tourism or hobbyist purposes, luxury train journeys, or significant cost benefit. Discount Eurail Pass in Europe, Amtrak in the United States, New high-speed lines from 200–350 km/h operation are constructed, and many conventional lines are also upgraded to 200 km/h operation. Currently there are seven High-Speed Inter-City lines in China, with up to 21 planned and they are operated independently from the often parallel High-Speed-Rail-Lines. Japan has six main regional railway companies, known collectively as Japan Railways Group or simply as JR. Many other cities are covered by a network of JRs limited express inter-city trains on 1,067 mm, narrow gauge, major cities are covered by convenient train services of every one hour or more frequent. In addition to the JR Group, Japan has several major regional carriers such as the Kintetsu, almost every major town and city in South Korea is linked by railway, run by Korail
Inter-city rail
–
An InterCity 125 passes Ealing Broadway on its way to Swansea. This is the world's fastest diesel train and is used on various intercity services in Great Britain.
Inter-city rail
–
A Moroccan Inter-city train at Rabat station
Inter-city rail
–
Beijing-Kowloon Through Train, hauled by a
SS8 electric locomotive, passing through
Tai Po Market Station in Hong Kong
Inter-city rail
–
A
Rajdhani Express train, one of the fastest Inter-city services in India
3.
Western United States
–
The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West, the Far West, or simply the West, traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because European settlement in the U. S. expanded westward after its founding, prior to about 1800, the crest of the Appalachian Mountains was seen as the western frontier. Since then, the frontier moved westward and eventually lands west of the Mississippi River came to be referred to as the West. The West contains several major biomes, the Western U. S. is the largest region of the country, covering more than half the land area of the United States. Given this expansive and diverse geography it is no wonder the region is difficult to specifically define, a majority of the historian respondents placed the eastern boundary of the West east of the Census definition out on the eastern edge of the Great Plains or on the Mississippi River. The survey respondents as a whole showed just how little agreement there was on the boundaries of the West, within a region as large and diverse as the Western United States, smaller areas with more closely shared demographics and geography have developed as subregions. Meanwhile, the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington can be considered part of the Northwest or Pacific Northwest, West Texas in the Chihuahuan Desert may be considered as part of the Western U. S. Fort Worth has long laid claim to be Where the West Begins, the West is still one of the most sparsely settled areas in the United States with 49.5 inhabitants per square mile. Only Texas with 78.0 inhabitants/sq mi, Washington with 86.0 inhabitants/sq mi. and California with 213.4 inhabitants/sq mi. exceed the national average of 77.98 inhabitants/sq mi. The entire Western region has also strongly influenced by European, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Native Americans. African and European Americans, however, continue to wield a stronger political influence because of the rates of citizenship and voting among Asians. The West also contains much of the Native American population in the U. S. particularly in the reservations in the Mountain. The Western United States has a sex ratio than any other region in the United States. Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when conservation became an issue, agencies of the federal government own. National parks are reserved for activities such as fishing, camping, hiking, and boating, but other government lands also allow commercial activities like ranching, logging. The largest city in the region is Los Angeles, located on the West Coast, Other West Coast cities include San Diego, San Bernardino, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Bakersfield, Sacramento, Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland. Prominent cities in the Mountain States include Denver, Colorado Springs, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Boise, El Paso, and Cheyenne. Along the Pacific Ocean coast lie the Coast Ranges, which and they collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving in from the ocean
Western United States
–
While the West is defined by many cultures, the American
cowboy is occasionally seen as iconic of the region, here portrayed by
C.M. Russell
Western United States
–
Regional definitions vary from source to source. This map reflects the Western United States as defined by the
Census Bureau, which includes 13 states:
Alaska,
Arizona,
California,
Colorado,
Hawaii,
Idaho,
Montana,
Nevada,
New Mexico,
Oregon,
Utah,
Washington, and
Wyoming. In turn, this region is sub-divided into Mountain and Pacific areas.
Western United States
–
The West, as the most recent part of the United States, is often known for broad
highways and
freeways and open space. Here is a highway in Northern Arizona.
Western United States
–
The geography of the Western United States is split into three
major physiographic divisions:
the Rocky Mountain System (areas 16-19 on map), the
Intermontane Plateaus (20-22), and the
Pacific Mountain System (23-25).
4.
San Francisco Zephyr
–
The San Francisco Zephyr was the name adopted in June 1972 for the Amtrak passenger train between Chicago, Illinois, and the San Francisco Bay Area in California. For passengers wanting to use the Rio Grandes service and continue on Amtrak, in July 1980, the San Francisco Zephyr was outfitted with Amtraks new bi-level Superliner passenger cars, one of the last western trains to receive them. In 1983 the D&RGW chose to join Amtrak, citing increasing losses in passenger operations, Amtrak re-routed the San Francisco Zephyr over the D&RGWs line between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah, which was its original preference in 1971. The change was scheduled for April 25, but a mudslide at Thistle, Utah, closed the D&RGWs main line, with the change of route Amtrak renamed the train California Zephyr. Media related to San Francisco Zephyr at Wikimedia Commons
San Francisco Zephyr
–
An
EMD FP7 and two
EMD SDP40Fs pull the eastward San Francisco Zephyr through the Sierra in 1975
5.
Rio Grande Zephyr
–
The Rio Grande Zephyr was a passenger train operated by Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad between Denver, Colorado and Ogden, Utah. It operated from 1970 until 1983 and this iteration of the Zephyr ended operations on March 22,1970, when the Western Pacific discontinued its portion. The Rio Grande Zephyr commenced operation using the D&RGWs portion of the California Zephyr route from Denver, Colorado to Salt Lake City, Utah. The route was extended to Ogden, Utah to allow for California-bound passengers to connect to the City of San Francisco and later the San Francisco Zephyr, the Rio Grande Zephyr used mostly the same equipment and staff as was formerly used for the California Zephyr. Since the train was no longer an overnight affair, sleeping cars, the D&RGW sold their sleepers to the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México, while their one baggage car was sold to the Algoma Central Railway in Canada. Amtrak planned to resume operation of the original California Zephyr on May 1,1971, the Amtrak service was initially named the San Francisco Zephyr, as the route combined portions of the routes of the former California Zephyr and the City of San Francisco trains. For twelve years, the Rio Grande Zephyr operated three days a week in each direction, in 1983, the D&RGW reversed its earlier opposition and elected to join Amtrak, citing increasing losses in passenger operations. Amtrak re-routed the San Francisco Zephyr over the D&RGWs main line between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah, which had been the preferred route in 1971. The change was scheduled for April 25, but a mudslide at Thistle, Utah closed the D&RGWs main line. After the D&RGW tracks were re-opened, Amtrak brought back the California Zephyr name, the modern California Zephyr uses the route of the Rio Grande Zephyr from Denver to Salt Lake City, service to Ogden was discontinued. Intercity rail service between Salt Lake City and Ogden was still available via the Desert Wind and Pioneer passenger trains, passenger rail service between Ogden and Salt Lake City was restored in April 2008 with the startup of FrontRunner commuter trains. All cars carried the prefix Silver in their name, a hold over from their days in California Zephyr service, Silver Aspen and Silver Pine were rebuilt in 1962–1963 from 16-section sleeping cars. After the train was discontinued, several Silver cars were transferred to Amtrak, however, by this time Amtrak was moving to retire its older, inherited railcars. These cars are referred to as Heritage Fleet, as a result, the ex-Rio Grande Zephyr cars were never used in regular revenue service for Amtrak. The cars sent to Amtrak were dome coaches Silver Colt, Silver Mustang and Silver Pony, flat-top coaches Silver Aspen and Silver Pine, unfortunately, due to a center sill crack in Silver Banquets frame, the car was soon scrapped. In 1987, dome-buffet-dorm Silver Shop and dome-observation Silver Sky were traded to Via Rail Canada as part of a deal to re-equip the Rio Grande Ski Train with ex-Via Tempo cars and they were never operated by VIA. Silver Sky was sold in 2004 and Silver Shop was sold in 2006, Silver Sky is being renovated in Saginaw, MI by Bill Harman. Dome-coach Silver Bronco was retained by the D&RGW, subsequently becoming the property of the parent company Ansco
Rio Grande Zephyr
–
Rio Grande Zephyr in April 1983
Rio Grande Zephyr
–
Silver Sky on one of the last Rio Grande Zephyr runs in 1983
6.
Amtrak
–
Founded in 1971 to take over most of the remaining U. S. passenger rail services, it is partially government funded yet operated and managed as a for-profit corporation. Amtrak serves more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces, operating more than 300 trains each day over 21,300 miles of track, some track sections allow trains to run as fast as 150 mph. In fiscal year 2015, Amtrak served 30.8 million passengers and had $2.185 billion in revenue, nearly two-thirds of passengers come from the 10 largest metropolitan areas, 83% of passengers travel on routes shorter than 400 miles. Its headquarters is at Union Station in Washington, D. C, the name Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and trak, the latter itself a sensational spelling of track. From the mid-19th century until about 1920, nearly all intercity travelers in the United States moved by rail, historically, U. S. passenger trains were owned and operated by the same privately owned companies that operated freight trains. About 65,000 railroad passenger cars operated in 1929, from 1920 into the later 20th century, passenger rails popularity diminished and there was a series of pullbacks and tentative recoveries. Rail passenger revenues declined dramatically between 1920 and 1934 because of the rise of the automobile, in the same period, many travelers were lost to interstate bus companies such as Greyhound Lines. However, in the mid-1930s, railroads reignited popular imagination with service improvements and new, diesel-powered streamliners, such as the gleaming silver Pioneer Zephyr and Flying Yankee. Even with the improvements, on a basis, traffic continued to decline. World War II broke the malaise, passenger traffic soared sixfold thanks to troop movements, in 1946, there remained 45 percent fewer passenger trains than in 1929, and the decline quickened despite railroad optimism. Passengers disappeared and so did trains, few trains generated profits, most produced losses. Broad-based passenger rail deficits appeared as early as 1948, and by the mid-1950s, by 1965, only 10,000 rail passenger cars were in operation,85 percent fewer than in 1929. Passenger service was provided on only 75,000 miles of track, the 1960s also saw the end of railway post office revenues, which had helped some of the remaining trains break even. The causes of the decline of rail in the United States were complex. Until 1920, rail was the practical form of intercity transport. By 1930, the companies had constructed, with private funding. In 1916, the amount of track in the United States peaked at 254,251 miles, some rail routes had been built primarily to facilitate the sale of stock in the railroad companies, they were redundant from the beginning. These were the first to be abandoned as the financial positions deteriorated
Amtrak
–
The
Illinois Central Railroad 's
Panama Limited long-distance diesel
streamliner train
Amtrak
–
Geographic map of the Amtrak system
Amtrak
–
The
Boston and Maine Railroad 's
Speed Merchant Talgo train
Amtrak
–
The
Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad Rebel streamliner train
7.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
–
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Its primary connections included Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, because of this extensive trackage in the midwest and mountain states, the railroad used the advertising slogans Everywhere West, Way of the Zephyrs, and The Way West. It merged into Burlington Northern in 1970, in 1967, it reported 19,565 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 723 million passenger miles, corresponding totals for C&S were 1,100 and 10 and for FW&D were 1,466 and 13. At the end of the year CB&Q operated 8,538 route-miles, C&S operated 708, the earliest predecessor of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Aurora Branch Railroad, was chartered by act of the Illinois General Assembly on October 2,1848. The Aurora Branch was built from Aurora, through Batavia, to Turner Junction in what is now West Chicago, the line was built with old strap rail and minimal, if any, grading. The line from Aurora to Chicago was built through the towns of Naperville, Lisle, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Berwyn. It was opened in 1864, and passenger and freight service began, regular commuter train service started in 1864 and remains operational to this day, making it the oldest surviving regular passenger service in Chicago. Both the original Chicago line, and to a lesser extent. With a steady acquisition of locomotives, cars, equipment, and trackage, the Burlington Route was able to enter the trade markets in 1862. From that year to date, the railroad and its successors have paid dividends continuously, the B&MR continued building west into Nebraska as a separate company, the Burlington & Missouri River Rail Road, founded in 1869. During the summer of 1870 it reached Lincoln, the designated capital of Nebraska and by 1872 it reached Kearney. That same year the B&MR across Iowa was absorbed by the CB&Q, by the time the Missouri River bridge at Plattsmouth, Nebraska was completed the B&MR in Nebraska was well on its way to the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado. That same year, the Nebraska B&MR was purchased by the CB&Q, Burlingtons rapid expansion after the American Civil War was based upon sound financial management, dominated by John Murray Forbes of Boston and assisted by Charles Elliott Perkins. Perkins was an administrator who eventually forged a system out of previously loosely held affiliates. Ultimately, Perkins believed the Burlington Railroad must be included into a powerful transcontinental system, though the railroad as far west as Denver and Billings, Montana, it had failed to reach the Pacific Coast during the 1880s and 1890s, when construction was less expensive. Though approached by E. H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad, with its river line to the Twin Cities, the Burlington Route formed a natural connection between Hills home town of St. Paul, Minnesota, and the railroad hub of Chicago. Moreover, Hill was willing to meet Perkins $200-a-share asking price for the Burlingtons stock, by 1900, Hills Great Northern, in conjunction with the Northern Pacific Railway, held nearly 100 percent of Burlingtons stock. In 1901 a rebuffed Harriman tried to gain an indirect influence over the Burlington by launching a raid on the Northern Pacific
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
–
This article needs additional citations for
verification. Please help improve this article by
adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2008)
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
–
The CBQ system map.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
–
Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad steam locomotive built 1940 at
West Burlington, Iowa, in service until 1956, on display since 1962 in
Douglas, Wyoming
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
–
A Zephyr arriving at
East Dubuque, Illinois
8.
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
–
The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, often shortened to Rio Grande, D&RG or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, was an American Class I railroad company. The railroad started as a 3 ft narrow gauge line running south from Denver and it served mainly as a transcontinental bridge line between Denver, and Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rio Grande was also a major origin of coal and mineral traffic, the Rio Grande was the epitome of mountain railroading, with a motto of Through the Rockies, not around them and later Main line through the Rockies, both referring to the Rocky Mountains. The D&RGW operated the highest mainline rail line in the United States, over the 10,240 feet Tennessee Pass in Colorado, and the routes through the Moffat Tunnel. At its height in the mid-1880s, the D&RG had the largest narrow gauge network in North America with 2,783 miles of track interconnecting the states of Colorado, New Mexico. Known for its independence, the D&RGW operated the last private intercity passenger train in the United States, the Rio Grande Zephyr, the Rio Grande operated as a separate division of the Southern Pacific, until that company was acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad. Today, most former D&RGW main lines are owned and operated by the Union Pacific while several lines are now operated as heritage railways by various companies. The Denver & Rio Grande Railway was incorporated on October 27,1870 by General William Jackson Palmer, Narrow gauge was chosen in part because construction and equipment costs would be relatively more affordable when weighed against that of the prevailing standard gauge. Eventually the route of the D&RG would be amended and added to as new opportunities, feverish, competitive construction plans provoked the 1877–1880 war over right of way with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Both rivals hired gunslingers and bought politicians while courts intervened to bring settlement to the disagreements. In March 1880, a Boston Court granted the AT&SF the rights to Raton Pass, the D&RGs possession of this route allowed quick access to the booming mining district of Leadville, Colorado. By late 1880 William Bell had begun to organize railway construction in Utah that would become the Palmer controlled Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway in mid-1881, the intention of the D&RGW was to work eastward from Provo to an eventual link with westward bound D&RG in Colorado. This physical connection was realized near Green River, Utah on March 30,1883, General Palmer would continue as president of the Utah line until retirement in 1901. The D&RG built west from Pueblo reaching Cañon City in 1874, the line through the Royal Gorge reached Salida on May 20,1880 and was pushed to Leadville later that same year. From Salida, the D&RG pushed west over the Continental Divide at the 10,845 feet Marshall Pass, from Gunnison the line entered the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River passing the famous Curecanti Needle seen in their famous Scenic Line of the World Herald. The tracks left the difficult canyon at Cimmaron and passed over Cerro Summit. The line from Pueblo to Leadville was upgraded in 1887 to three rails to accommodate narrow gauge and standard gauge operation. Narrow gauge branch lines were constructed to Crested Butte, Lake City, Ouray, the route over Tennessee Pass was known for steep grades, and it was not uncommon to see trains running with midtrain and rear-end helpers
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
–
Map of D&RGW and
WP routes (ca. 1914).
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
–
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
–
Baldwin's Montezuma, 1871, The first locomotive built for the Denver & Rio Grande.
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
–
Unlike other lines with open observation cars for non first class passengers, the D&RGW operated theirs for an additional 25 cent charge. The cars were available during the summer months on both the Royal Gorge and the Black Canyon (Shavano) routes.
9.
Western Pacific Railroad
–
The Western Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was formed in 1903 as an attempt to break the near-monopoly the Southern Pacific Railroad had on rail service into northern California. WPs Feather River Route directly competed with SPs portion of the Overland Route for rail traffic between Salt Lake City/Ogden, Utah and Oakland, California for nearly 80 years, in 1983 the Western Pacific was acquired by the Union Pacific Railroad. The Western Pacific was one of the operators of the California Zephyr. The original Western Pacific Railroad was established in 1865 to build the westernmost portion of the Transcontinental Railroad between San Jose, California, and Sacramento, California and this company was absorbed into the Central Pacific Railroad in 1870. The second company to use the name Western Pacific Railroad was founded in 1903, under the direction of George Jay Gould I, the Western Pacific was founded to provide a standard gauge track connection to the Pacific Coast for his aspiring Gould transcontinental system. The Western Pacific Railroad acquired the Alameda and San Joaquin Railroad, in 1909 it became the last major railroad completed into California. In 1931 Western Pacific opened a line north from the Feather River Canyon to the Great Northern Railway in northern California. This route, the Highline, joined the Oakland – Salt Lake City main line at the Keddie Wye, in 1935, the railroad went bankrupt because of decreased freight and passenger traffic caused by the Depression and had to be reorganized. WP attracted rail enthusiasts from around the world and it operated the California Zephyr passenger train with the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The WP handled the Silver Lady from Oakland, California, to Salt Lake City, the Western Pacific owned several connecting short-line railroads. The largest was the Sacramento Northern Railway, which reached from San Francisco to Chico. Others included the Tidewater Southern Railway, the Central California Traction, the Indian Valley Railroad, at the end of 1970 WP operated 1,187 miles of road and 1,980 miles of track, not including its Sacramento Northern and Tidewater Southern subsidiaries. The Western Pacific was acquired in 1983 by Union Pacific Corporation, which in 1996 would purchase its long-time rival, in July 2005 Union Pacific unveiled a brand new EMD SD70ACe locomotive, Union Pacific 1983, painted as an homage to the Western Pacific. There were twelve presidents of this railroad, Walter J. Bartnett Edward T. Jeffery Benjamin F. Bush Charles M. Levey Harry M. Adams Charles Elsey Harry A. Mitchell Frederic B. Whitman Myron M. Christy Alfred E. Perlman Robert G. Mike Flannery Robert C
Western Pacific Railroad
–
c. 1914 Map of the Western Pacific and
Denver and Rio Grande Western systems.
Western Pacific Railroad
–
Western Pacific Railroad
Western Pacific Railroad
–
An
EMD FP7 leads the
California Zephyr east through
Altamont Pass in 1970
Western Pacific Railroad
–
A Western Pacific
EMD F7 locomotive on display at the
California State Railroad Museum in
Sacramento, California
10.
Union Station (Chicago)
–
Chicago Union Station is a major railroad station that opened in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois, replacing an earlier station built in 1881. It is the only remaining intercity rail terminal in Chicago, as well as being the primary terminal for commuter trains. The station stands on the west side of the Chicago River between West Adams Street and West Jackson Boulevard, just outside the Chicago Loop, including approach and storage tracks, it is about nine and a half city blocks in size. Its facilities are underground, buried beneath streets and skyscrapers. Chicago Union Station is the third-busiest rail terminal in the United States, after Grand Central Terminal and it is Amtraks overall fourth-busiest station. It handles approximately 120,000 passengers on a weekday and is one of Chicago’s most iconic structures, reflecting the city’s strong architectural heritage. In addition to standing out architecturally, Union Station has features that reflect its commitment to sustainability, in 2011, its lighting system was replaced with more energy-efficient light bulbs and motion sensors, reducing the station’s carbon footprint by 4 million tons annually. Chicago Union Station was designated as one of America’s “Great Places” in 2012 by the American Planning Association. The “Great Places” program by APA highlights places streets, neighborhoods, and public spaces around America that exhibit “exemplary character, quality, and planning. ”These places are unique in their cultural and historical significance, sense of community, and vision. Other criteria include “architectural features, accessibility, functionality, and community involvement. ”Chicago Union Station is considered a “Great Public Space” by APA and these spaces are safe and inviting, well-maintained, and attractive, both visually and in functionality. In addition, local culture and history are reflected within the space, Union Station is laid out with a double stub-end configuration, with 10 tracks coming into the station from the north and 14 from the south. Because passenger trains do not pass through Union Station, all passengers traveling through Chicago must change trains to reach their final destination. There are 2 through tracks to allow out-of-service equipment moves between the north and south side, including one with a platform to allow extra long trains to board, between the north and south sides of the station is a passenger concourse. Passengers can walk through the concourse to get from any platform to any other without stairs or elevators, odd-numbered platforms are on the north half of the station, and even-numbered platforms on the south half. The north tracks are used by Amtrak for the Hiawatha Service and the Empire Builder, and by Metra for the Milwaukee District West, Milwaukee District North, the south tracks are used for all of the other Amtrak and Metra services. Two station management structures, one on side of the terminal, monitor train-to-track assignments. The concourse also has a level between platform and street level, containing a food court featuring local vendors as well as national chains. Located west of Canal Street, Union Stations headhouse occupies a city block
Union Station (Chicago)
–
Chicago Union Station
Union Station (Chicago)
–
One of the two grand staircases, where famous movie scenes, such as in
The Untouchables (1987), were filmed.
Union Station (Chicago)
–
The Great Hall
Union Station (Chicago)
–
The first Union Station
11.
Chicago
–
Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
Chicago
–
Clockwise from top:
Downtown Chicago, the
Chicago Theatre, the
'L',
Navy Pier,
Millennium Park, the
Field Museum, and the
Willis Tower.
Chicago
–
Traditional
Potawatomi costume on display at the
Field Museum
Chicago
–
A 1903 painting of Chicago in 1833
Chicago
–
An artist's rendering of the
Great Chicago Fire of 1871
12.
Illinois
–
Illinois is a state in the midwestern region of the United States, achieving statehood in 1818. It is the 6th most populous state and 25th largest state in terms of land area, the word Illinois comes from a French rendering of a native Algonquin word. For decades, OHare International Airport has been ranked as one of the worlds busiest airports, Illinois has long had a reputation as a bellwether both in social and cultural terms and politics. With the War of 1812 Illinois growth slowed as both Native Americans and Canadian forces often raided the American Frontier, mineral finds and timber stands also had spurred immigration—by the 1810s, the Eastern U. S. Railroads arose and matured in the 1840s, and soon carried immigrants to new homes in Illinois, as well as being a resource to ship their commodity crops out to markets. Railroads freed most of the land of Illinois and other states from the tyranny of water transport. By 1900, the growth of jobs in the northern cities and coal mining in the central and southern areas attracted a new group of immigrants. Illinois was an important manufacturing center during both world wars, the Great Migration from the South established a large community of African Americans in Chicago, who created the citys famous jazz and blues cultures. Three U. S. presidents have been elected while living in Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, additionally, Ronald Reagan, whose political career was based in California, was the only U. S. president born and raised in Illinois. Today, Illinois honors Lincoln with its official slogan, Land of Lincoln. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is located in the capital of Springfield. Illinois is the spelling for the early French Catholic missionaries and explorers name for the Illinois Native Americans. American scholars previously thought the name Illinois meant man or men in the Miami-Illinois language and this etymology is not supported by the Illinois language, as the word for man is ireniwa and plural men is ireniwaki. The name Illiniwek has also said to mean tribe of superior men. The name Illinois derives from the Miami-Illinois verb irenwe·wa he speaks the regular way and this was taken into the Ojibwe language, perhaps in the Ottawa dialect, and modified into ilinwe·. The French borrowed these forms, changing the ending to spell it as -ois. The current spelling form, Illinois, began to appear in the early 1670s, the Illinois name for themselves, as attested in all three of the French missionary-period dictionaries of Illinois, was Inoka, of unknown meaning and unrelated to the other terms. American Indians of successive cultures lived along the waterways of the Illinois area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Koster Site has been excavated and demonstrates 7,000 years of continuous habitation
Illinois
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Mississippian copper plate found at the Saddle Site in
Union County, Illinois
Illinois
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Flag
Illinois
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Illinois in 1718, approximate modern state area highlighted, from Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississipi by
Guillaume de L'Isle.
Illinois
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Native women and children fleeing the
Battle of Bad Axe during the
Black Hawk War
13.
Emeryville (Amtrak station)
–
Emeryville is an Amtrak station in Emeryville, California that replaced the older Amtrak 16th Street Station in Oakland. The original Beaux-Arts Oakland 16th Street Station was declared due to unreinforced masonry after sustaining damage in the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. Emeryville opened on August 13,1993, although service continued at Oakland for another year, the station is served by Amtrak Californias Capitol Corridor and San Joaquins and Amtraks Coast Starlight. Of the 74 California stations served by Amtrak, Emeryville was the fourth busiest in FY2012 and this Station is located in Alameda County. Extensive Amtrak Thruway bus connections are available in Emeryville, Route 99 connects all arriving and departing trains with San Francisco. Additional connections are provided by Route 17 to Santa Barbara and Route 34 to Stockton, several public transit bus lines serve the station vicinity, The free Emery Go-Round Hollis and Hollis South routes stop on Horton Street, across the street from the station. Golden Gate Transit Route 580 stops on Hollis Street, a short walk east of the station, AC Transit Route 26 stops on Shellmound Street, across the pedestrian bridge located at the station. Media related to Emeryville station at Wikimedia Commons Amtrak – Stations – Emeryville, CA Emeryville Amtrak Station Emeryville --Great American Stations
Emeryville (Amtrak station)
–
Looking southward over Emeryville's Amtrak station
14.
Emeryville, California
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Emeryville is a small city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It is located in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, extending to the shore of San Francisco Bay and its proximity to San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, the University of California, Berkeley, and Silicon Valley has been a catalyst for recent economic growth. It is home to Pixar Animation Studios, Peets Coffee & Tea, Jamba Juice, The Center for Investigative Reporting, before the colonization of the area by Spain in 1776, this area was the site of extensive Ohlone Native American settlements. During the Spanish and Mexican eras, Emeryville was the site of a wharf near the mouth of Temescal Creek adjacent to the shellmound. The cattle processed here were raised in nearby ranches and farms, the odors emanating from this district were notorious and often mentioned in local newspapers of the 19th and early 20th century. Emeryvilles first post office opened in 1884, the Town of Emeryville was incorporated December 2,1896. It was named after Joseph Stickney Emery, who came during the Gold Rush, in 1884, Emery was president of a narrow-gauge railroad called the California and Nevada Railroad. The railroad was intended to extend from Oakland, through Emerys and then east across the Sierra Nevada to the gold mining town of Bodie. From Bodie the railroad would extend east through Nevada to a connection with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, despite its grandiose intentions, the railroad was built only from Oakland to Orinda, and its right-of-way was sold to the Santa Fe Railway. The Santa Fe then constructed a yard and passenger depot below San Pablo between 41st Street and Yerba Buena Avenue. Although located in Emeryville, the depot, which opened in 1902, was called Oakland, the Key System established its main rail yard adjacent to the yard of the Santa Fe in a large tract west of San Pablo Avenue in the vicinity of Yerba Buena Avenue. The Key Systems main power plant, used to energize its streetcars, the immense smokestack was a local landmark for decades, surviving right through the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. It was demolished for safety reasons shortly thereafter, the old Key System mainline to the pier, and later, to the Bay Bridge, ran in a subway below Beach Street and the Southern Pacific mainline near the power plant. That subway survives and is used as a private entrance to the main sewage treatment plant of East Bay Municipal Utility District. In the late 19th century, a park was built around the shellmound. The park included two dance pavilions, one of which stood atop the shellmound, a trotting park was built nearby at the junction of the Berkeley Branch line with the mainline of the Southern Pacific. On February 22,1920 the first dog race track to employ an imitation rabbit opened in Emeryville, during the Depression, Emeryville was jammed with speakeasies, racetracks and brothels and became known as a somewhat lawless center for entertainment. The popular local restaurant The Townhouse is one such trace, a location that once was a speakeasy during Prohibition, today, this tradition is carried on to a degree by the Oaks Room Card Club, a legal gambling establishment on San Pablo Avenue
Emeryville, California
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Emeryville as seen from a local highrise hotel
Emeryville, California
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Emeryville's mudflats
Emeryville, California
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The Emeryville Amtrak station looking south
Emeryville, California
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Bodies of water
15.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
California
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A forest of redwood trees in
Redwood National Park
California
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Flag
California
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Mount Shasta
California
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Aerial view of the
California Central Valley
16.
Rolling stock
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The term rolling stock originally referred to any vehicles that move on a railway. It has since expanded to include the vehicles used by businesses on roadways. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for locomotives, railroad cars, coaches, and wagons. Rolling stock is considered to be an asset, or close to it, since the value of the vehicle can be readily estimated. The term contrasts with fixed stock, which is a term for the track, signals, stations, other buildings, electric wires. In Great Britain, types of rolling stock were given code names and these codes were telegraphese, somewhat analogous to the SMS language of today. List of railway vehicles Great Western Railway telegraphic codes Great Western Railway wagons The dictionary definition of rolling stock at Wiktionary
Rolling stock
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Variety of rolling stock in
railway yard
Rolling stock
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Diesel and steam
locomotives
Rolling stock
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DMU rolling stock
Rolling stock
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American-style
hopper car
17.
Superliner (railcar)
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The Superliner is a type of bilevel intercity railroad passenger car used by Amtrak. Pullman-Standard built the first cars, known as Superliner I, in 1975–1981, Bombardier Transportation built a second batch, the design descends from the Budd Hi-Level, employed by the Santa Fe on its El Capitan. Car types include coaches, dining cars, lounges, and sleeping cars, the first Superliners entered service in February 1979. Amtrak employs the Superliners on all its Western and some Eastern long-distance routes, Superliner coaches can also be found on short-distance corridor services. Derivative designs such as the California Car and Surfliner are used in California, Amtrak assumed control of almost all private sector intercity passenger rail service in the United States on May 1,1971, with a mandate to reverse decades of decline. Amtrak retained approximately 184 of the 440 trains which had run the day before, to operate these trains, Amtrak inherited a fleet of 300 locomotives and 1190 passenger cars, most of which dated from the 1940s–1950s. No new sleeping cars had been built for service in the United States since 1955, Amtrak employed a mix of inherited cars on its long-distance trains in the Western United States. Most these were conventional single-level, but Amtrak had also inherited 73 Hi-Levels from the Santa Fe, the Budd Company built these between 1954–1964, the bilevel design was well-suited to the long distances in the west. When Amtrak issued a request for proposal in 1973 for a new passenger car it was assumed that the design would be bilevel. Thirteen companies responded to the RFP, Amtrak selected the proposal by Louis T. Klauder & Associates, the design was finished by mid-1974 and Amtrak invited four companies to bid on its construction, Boeing, Budd, Pullman-Standard, and Rohr, with Pullman-Standard winning the contract. The Superliners resembled the Hi-Levels but differed in several ways, the most obvious difference was the height, at 16 feet 2 inches the Superliners are 8 inches taller. The Superliners also used 480 volt head end power, which Amtrak had just adopted as its standard, the Hi-Levels, which used steam heating and diesel generators, would be converted to match this standard. The Superliner I cars ride on Waggon Union MD-76 trucks, the trucks required more frequent overhauls than comparable domestic designs and were were notorious for their rough riding characteristics. The Superliner IIs ride on GSI-G70 outboard bearing trucks, also found on the Horizon, the Superliner has a maximum speed of 100 mph. The Superliner I cars stored waste in onboard retention tanks, and this was an improvement on the Hi-Levels, which dumped directly to the tracks. Growing public concern about such dumping led to the adoption of a system in the Superliner IIs. They were the first long-distance cars with such a system, additionally, the Superliner I cars were retrofitted with a full-retention system in the early 1990s. The New York Times described the Superliner I interior color scheme as soft hues of beige, rust, brown, for the Superliner IIs Amtrak introduced a new scheme incorporating gray, aquamarine, and salmon
Superliner (railcar)
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Superliner I Auto Train Lounge
Superliner (railcar)
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Interior of Superliner I Lounge Car
Superliner (railcar)
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Top: German-designed truck from Superliner I car. Bottom: General Steel Castings truck from Superliner II car.
Superliner (railcar)
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Coach Class car.
18.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
Track gauge
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Indian Narrow and Broad gauge tracks
Track gauge
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Track gauge
Track gauge
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Fish-belly cast-iron rails from the Cromford and High Peak Railway
Track gauge
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An early Stephenson locomotive
19.
Union Pacific Railroad
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The Union Pacific Railroad is a freight hauling railroad that operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. The Union Pacific Railroad network is the largest in the United States and it is also one of the worlds largest transportation companies. Union Pacific Railroad is the operating company of Union Pacific Corporation. Union Pacific Corporations main competitor is the BNSF Railway, the second largest freight railroad. Together, the two railroads have a duopoly on all freight rail lines in the U. S. The original company was incorporated on July 1,1862, under an act of Congress entitled Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln, and it provided for the construction of railroads from the Missouri River to the Pacific as a war measure for the preservation of the Union. It was constructed westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa to meet the Central Pacific Railroad line, the line was constructed primarily by Irish labor who had learned their craft during the recent Civil War. The two lines were joined together at Promontory Summit, Utah,53 miles west of Ogden on May 10,1869, hence creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America. Under the guidance of its dominant stockholder Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, the namesake of the city of Durant, Iowa, the first rails were laid in Omaha. It built or purchased local lines that gave it access to Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon and it also owned narrow gauge trackage into the heart of the Colorado Rockies and a standard gauge line south from Denver across New Mexico into Texas. UP was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872 and its independent construction company the Crédit Mobilier had bribed congressmen. The UP itself was not guilty but it did get bad publicity, the financial crisis of 1873 led to financial troubles but not bankruptcy. The company was reorganized as the Union Pacific Railway on January 24,1880, the new company declared bankruptcy during the Panic of 1893. When it emerged in 1897 it reverted to the original name, the corporate headquarters of the Union Pacific Corporation were located in New York City from its initial founding in the 1860s until Drew Lewis became CEO in the mid-1980s. He relocated it to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, later the headquarters was shifted to Dallas, Texas, before relocating to Omaha to join the operating headquarters. From the ICC annual reports, except 1979 is from Moodys, on December 31,1925 UP-OSL-OWRN-LA&SL-StJ&GI operated 9,834 route-miles and 15,265 track-miles. At the end of 1980, Union Pacific operated 9,266 route-miles and 15,647 miles of track, Moodys shows 220,697 million revenue ton-miles in 1993 on the expanded system
Union Pacific Railroad
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The Last Spike, by
Thomas Hill, (1881)
Union Pacific Railroad
–
Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
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Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad gather on the 100th
meridian, which later became
Cozad, Nebraska, approximately 250 miles (400 km) west of
Omaha,
Nebraska Territory, in October 1866. The train in the background awaits the party of Eastern capitalists, newspapermen, and other prominent figures invited by the railroad executives.
Union Pacific Railroad
–
Union Pacific Center in
Omaha, Nebraska
20.
BNSF Railway
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The BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, second to the Union Pacific Railroad, and is one of seven North American Class I railroads. It has 44,000 employees,32,500 miles of track in 28 states and it has three transcontinental routes that provide rail links between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad, the BNSF and UP have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western U. S. and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track. According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America, for instance, the railroad hauls enough coal to generate roughly ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad is an owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company, on January 24,2005, the railroads name was officially changed to BNSF Railway, using the initials of its original name. The United States Surface Transportation Board placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers, the company is investing an estimated $34 billion in BNSF and acquiring $10 billion in debt. On February 12,2010, shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation voted in favor of the acquisition, BNSFs history dates back to 1849, when the Aurora Branch Railroad in Illinois and the Pacific Railroad of Missouri were formed. The Aurora Branch eventually grew into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, a portion of the Pacific Railroad became the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was chartered in 1859 and it built one of the first transcontinental railroads in North America, linking Chicago and Southern California, major branches led to Texas, Denver, and San Francisco. The Interstate Commerce Commission denied a proposed merger with the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in the 1980s and it absorbed the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway in 1980. Its main lines included Chicago-Seattle with branches to Texas and Montgomery, Alabama, on June 30,1994, BN and ATSF announced plans to merge, they were the largest and smallest of the Super Seven, the seven largest of the then-twelve U. S. The long-rumored announcement was delayed by a disagreement over the disposition of Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation and this announcement began the next wave of mergers, as the Super Seven were merged down to four in the next five years. The Illinois Central Railroad and Kansas City Southern Railway, two of the five small Class Is, announced on July 19 that the former would buy the latter, but this plan was called off on October 25. The Union Pacific Railroad, another major Western system, started a war with BN for control of the SF on October 5. The UP gave up on January 31,1995, paving the way for the BN-ATSF merger, subsequently, the UP acquired the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in 1996, and Eastern systems CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway split Conrail in 1998. UP was satisfied with a segment of trackage rights from Abilene, Kansas to Superior, Nebraska. KCS gained haulage rights to several Midwest locations, including Omaha, East St. Louis, and Memphis, in exchange for BNSF getting similar access to New Orleans
BNSF Railway
–
BNSF
C44-9W #5498 leads a container train on the
Southern Transcon near
Williams, Arizona
BNSF Railway
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System map (
trackage rights in purple)
BNSF Railway
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BNSF Dash 9-44CW #1041 leading a manifest freight train northwest of Shallowater, Texas, running on former
ATSF railroad tracks that run parallel to
U.S. Route 84 as they cross the high plains of the
Llano Estacado. Immediately behind the locomotive are cars painted in the old Burlington Northern livery.
BNSF Railway
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The BNSF 'heritage' logo found on an
EMD SD70MAC. The colors of the logo represented the railroads that are part of BNSF
21.
Chicago Union Station
–
Chicago Union Station is a major railroad station that opened in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois, replacing an earlier station built in 1881. It is the only remaining intercity rail terminal in Chicago, as well as being the primary terminal for commuter trains. The station stands on the west side of the Chicago River between West Adams Street and West Jackson Boulevard, just outside the Chicago Loop, including approach and storage tracks, it is about nine and a half city blocks in size. Its facilities are underground, buried beneath streets and skyscrapers. Chicago Union Station is the third-busiest rail terminal in the United States, after Grand Central Terminal and it is Amtraks overall fourth-busiest station. It handles approximately 120,000 passengers on a weekday and is one of Chicago’s most iconic structures, reflecting the city’s strong architectural heritage. In addition to standing out architecturally, Union Station has features that reflect its commitment to sustainability, in 2011, its lighting system was replaced with more energy-efficient light bulbs and motion sensors, reducing the station’s carbon footprint by 4 million tons annually. Chicago Union Station was designated as one of America’s “Great Places” in 2012 by the American Planning Association. The “Great Places” program by APA highlights places streets, neighborhoods, and public spaces around America that exhibit “exemplary character, quality, and planning. ”These places are unique in their cultural and historical significance, sense of community, and vision. Other criteria include “architectural features, accessibility, functionality, and community involvement. ”Chicago Union Station is considered a “Great Public Space” by APA and these spaces are safe and inviting, well-maintained, and attractive, both visually and in functionality. In addition, local culture and history are reflected within the space, Union Station is laid out with a double stub-end configuration, with 10 tracks coming into the station from the north and 14 from the south. Because passenger trains do not pass through Union Station, all passengers traveling through Chicago must change trains to reach their final destination. There are 2 through tracks to allow out-of-service equipment moves between the north and south side, including one with a platform to allow extra long trains to board, between the north and south sides of the station is a passenger concourse. Passengers can walk through the concourse to get from any platform to any other without stairs or elevators, odd-numbered platforms are on the north half of the station, and even-numbered platforms on the south half. The north tracks are used by Amtrak for the Hiawatha Service and the Empire Builder, and by Metra for the Milwaukee District West, Milwaukee District North, the south tracks are used for all of the other Amtrak and Metra services. Two station management structures, one on side of the terminal, monitor train-to-track assignments. The concourse also has a level between platform and street level, containing a food court featuring local vendors as well as national chains. Located west of Canal Street, Union Stations headhouse occupies a city block
Chicago Union Station
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Chicago Union Station
Chicago Union Station
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One of the two grand staircases, where famous movie scenes, such as in
The Untouchables (1987), were filmed.
Chicago Union Station
–
The Great Hall
Chicago Union Station
–
The first Union Station
22.
Naperville station
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Naperville is a train station in Naperville, Illinois, United States served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. Amtrak trains stopping at the Naperville station include the California Zephyr, Illinois Zephyr, Carl Sandburg and it is also one of two stations in Naperville that serves Metras BNSF Railway commuter line, and an abundance of Pace bus routes. Naperville Station was originally built in 1910 by the Chicago, Burlington, on April 26,1946, the station was the site of a collision between the CB&Qs Exposition Flyer and Advance Flyer. About 4,100 people board Metra trains at the Naperville station daily, the station serves roughly 53,000 Amtrak passengers annually
Naperville station
–
Inbound Metra train arrives at Naperville.
23.
Aurora Transportation Center
–
The Aurora Transportation Center is a station on Metras BNSF Railway Line in Aurora, Illinois. The station is 38.4 miles from Union Station, the east end of the line, in Metras zone-based fare system, Aurora is in zone H. There is a station building. Aurora is the west end of the BNSF Railway Line and is served by numerous Pace bus routes and it served as a Greyhound bus stop until September 7,2011. Amtrak trains do not stop here, there has been speculation that the line will be extended to the Plano Amtrak station. The station replaced the former Aurora Train Station, at the corners of South Broadway and that station was smaller with considerably less parking area, but Amtrak trains as well as Metra trains stopped here. The station opened in the early 1900s and closed in the mid-1980s, the building was torn down in April 2013. Aurora is a terminal, which means the Metra tracks actually stop here. Amtrak and BNSF freights use the two tracks east of the station, Pace Route 521 – East Circulator. Route 528 – Aurora Transportation Center/Rush-Copley Medical Center, Route 529 – Randall Road/5th Street. Route 530 – West Galena/Westfield Shoppingtown Fox Valley Center, Route 907 – Oswego/Aurora Metra Shuttle. Media related to Aurora Transportation Center at Wikimedia Commons Metra – Stations – Aurora Transportation Center
Aurora Transportation Center
–
Aurora Transportation Center
Aurora Transportation Center
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California Zephyr at Aurora station in 1967
24.
Monmouth, Illinois
–
Monmouth is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,444 at the 2010 census, down from 9,841 in 2000. It is the home of Monmouth College and contains Monmouth Park, Harmon Park, North Park, Warfield Park, West Park, South Park, Garwood Park, Buster White Park and it is the host of the Prime Beef festival, held annually the week after Labor Day. The festival is kicked off one of the largest parades in Western Illinois. Monmouth is also known regionally as the Maple City and it is part of the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical Area. The town established in 1831 was originally going to be called Kosciusko, in 1841, Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith appeared before Judge Stephen A. Douglas in an extradition hearing held at Monmouths Warren County courthouse. The hearing, which was to determine whether Smith should be returned to Missouri to face charges, resulted in freedom for the defendant. Attorney Orville Browning, who would assume Douglass Senate seat following his death, gunfighter Wyatt Earp was born in Monmouth. For many years, the town watertower boasted that Monmouth was the Home of Wyatt Earp, controversial Civil War general Eleazer A. Paine practiced law there for many years, harding, Civil War General and Republican Congressman, lived in Monmouth and is buried in Monmouth Cemetery. Monmouth College, a liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church, was founded in Monmouth in 1853 by Cedar Creek & South Henderson Presbyterian Churches. With James Cochran Porter & Robert Ross Founding in 1852 Monmouth Academy, the Rev. David Alexander Wallace serving as the first President 1856-1878. It is the second-largest employer in the city, pi Beta Phi, the first national secret college society of women to be modeled after the Greek-letter fraternities of men, was founded on its campus in 1867. Just three years later in 1870, Kappa Kappa Gamma, international fraternity for women, was founded on its campus, Monmouth was once home to one of the most unusually named high school sports organizations, the Zippers. Originally known as The Maroons, the Zipper nickname came about in the late 1930s when the school had a fast basketball team that would Zip up, earl Bennett, a sports writer nicknamed them The Zippers and the name stuck. The school went with the Zipper nickname until the 2005-06 school year when Monmouth consolidated with Roseville, Monmouth was the home for Western Stoneware, known for its Maple Leaf imprint and for producing Sleepy Eye collectible ceramics, which are recognizable by the blue-on-white bas-relief Indian profile. Western Stoneware closed in June 2006, three former employees of Western Stoneware now operate the facility under the name WS, Inc and have leased the building and logo from the city of Monmouth. Monmouth is located at 40°54′42″N 90°38′40″W, Monmouth is located in Western Illinois where US Route 34, US Route 67, Illinois Route 164, and now the new Chicago to Kansas City Expressway intersect
Monmouth, Illinois
–
Patton Block Building in Monmouth
25.
Iowa
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Iowa is a U. S. state in the Midwestern United States, bordered by the Mississippi River on the east and the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west. Surrounding states include Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, Nebraska and South Dakota to the west, in colonial times, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana, its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, people laid the foundation for an economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is the 26th most extensive in area and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city by population is Des Moines, Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states in which to live. Its nickname is the Hawkeye State, Iowa derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many Native American tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east, the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west, Iowa is the only state whose east and west borders are formed entirely by rivers. Iowa has 99 counties, but 100 county seats because Lee County has two, the state capital, Des Moines, is in Polk County. Iowas bedrock geology generally increases in age from west to east, in northwest Iowa, Cretaceous bedrock can be 74 million years old, in eastern Iowa Cambrian bedrock dates to c.500 million years ago. Iowa is generally not flat, most of the consists of rolling hills. Iowa can be divided into eight landforms based on glaciation, soils, topography, Loess hills lie along the western border of the state, some of which are several hundred feet thick. Northeast Iowa along the Mississippi River is part of the Driftless Zone, consisting of steep hills, several natural lakes exist, most notably Spirit Lake, West Okoboji Lake, and East Okoboji Lake in northwest Iowa. To the east lies Clear Lake, man-made lakes include Lake Odessa, Saylorville Lake, Lake Red Rock, Coralville Lake, Lake MacBride, and Rathbun Lake. The states northwest area has remnants of the once common wetlands. Iowas natural vegetation is tallgrass prairie and savanna in areas, with dense forest and wetlands in flood plains and protected river valleys. Most of Iowa is used for agriculture, crops cover 60% of the state, grasslands cover 30%, as of 2005 Iowa ranked 49th of U. S. states in public land holdings. Endangered or threatened plants include western prairie fringed orchid, eastern prairie fringed orchid, Meads milkweed, prairie bush clover, the explosion in the number of high-density livestock facilities in Iowa has led to increased rural water contamination and a decline in air quality. Iowa has a continental climate throughout the state
Iowa
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Topography of Iowa, with counties and major streams.
Iowa
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Flag
Iowa
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DeSoto lake at
DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa.
Iowa
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Fountain Springs Park in Delaware County, Iowa.
26.
Mississippi River
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The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
Mississippi River
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Mississippi River near Fire Point in
Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa
Mississippi River
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Detailed map of Mississippi River tributary structure
Mississippi River
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The beginning of the Mississippi River at
Lake Itasca (2004)
Mississippi River
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Mississippi head of navigation, Coon Rapids Dam
27.
Burlington station (Iowa)
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Burlington station is a train station in Burlington, Iowa, United States, served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. The station acts as transfer hub for Burlington Urban Service, a municipal bus system. The two-story station, constructed of reinforced concrete, is faced in buff-colored Wisconsin Lannon fieldstone laid in an ashlar pattern. There was also space for trainmen to sleep and relax between shifts, the two-story waiting room features walls clad in a buff Montana travertine, durable terrazzo floors, and black marble accents and trim. A “Friends of the Depot” group also formed to help the city maintain the structure, using more than $1,000 donated by Amtrak, the Friends organized work days in 2011 and 2012 during which volunteers painted the depot’s exterior trim and caulked windows. Media related to Burlington at Wikimedia Commons Amtrak – Stations – Burlington, IA Burlington Amtrak Station Burlington --Great American Stations
Burlington station (Iowa)
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Burlington station in June 2014.
Burlington station (Iowa)
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The California Zephyr at Burlington in 1995.
28.
Nebraska
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Nebraska /nᵻˈbræskə/ is a state that lies in both the Great Plains and the Midwestern United States. Its area is just over 77,220 sq mi with almost 1.9 million people and its largest city is Omaha, which is on the Missouri River. The state is crossed by many trails and was explored by the Lewis. Nebraska was admitted as the 37th state of the United States in 1867 and it is the only state in the United States whose legislature is unicameral and officially nonpartisan. Nebraska is composed of two major regions, the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The Dissected Till Plains is a region of rolling hills. The Great Plains occupy most of western Nebraska, characterized by treeless prairie, the state has a large agriculture sector and is a major producer of beef, pork, corn, and soybeans. Two major climatic zones are represented in Nebraska, the half of the state has a humid continental climate, and the western half. Indigenous peoples lived in the region of present-day Nebraska for thousands of years before European exploration. The historic tribes in the state included the Omaha, Missouria, Ponca, Pawnee, Otoe, when European exploration, trade, and settlement began, both Spain and France sought to control the region. In the 1690s, Spain established trade connections with the Apaches, by 1703, France had developed a regular trade with the native peoples along the Missouri River in Nebraska, and by 1719 had signed treaties with several of these peoples. After war broke out between the two countries, Spain dispatched an expedition to Nebraska under Lieutenant General Pedro de Villasur in 1720. The party was attacked and destroyed near present-day Columbus by a force of Pawnees and Otoes. The massacre of the Villasur expedition effectively put an end to Spanish exploration of Nebraska for the remainder of the 18th century, in 1762, during the Seven Years War, France ceded the Louisiana territory to Spain. Frances withdrawal from the area left Britain and Spain competing for dominance along the Mississippi, by 1773, later that year, Mackays party built a trading post, dubbed Fort Carlos IV, near present-day Homer. In 1819, the United States established Fort Atkinson as the first U. S. Army post west of the Missouri River, the army abandoned the fort in 1827 as migration moved further west. European-American settlement did not begin in any numbers until after 1848, on May 30,1854, the US Congress created the Kansas and the Nebraska territories, divided by the Parallel 40° North, under the Kansas–Nebraska Act. The Nebraska Territory included parts of the current states of Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, the territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha
Nebraska
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Nebraska in 1718,
Guillaume de L'Isle map, with the approximate area of the future state highlighted.
Nebraska
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Flag
Nebraska
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Homesteaders in central Nebraska in 1888.
Nebraska
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Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition was held in
Omaha in 1898.
29.
Missouri River
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The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river takes drainage from a populated, semi-arid watershed of more than half a million square miles. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the fourth longest river system. For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle, the Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 1800s laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region, pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats entering service on the river. Former Native American lands in the watershed were taken over by settlers, leading to some of the most longstanding, during the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut and the river channelized to improve navigation, from the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming, three streams rise to form the headwaters of the Missouri River. The longest begins near Browers Spring,9,100 feet above sea level, on the southeastern slopes of Mount Jefferson in the Centennial Mountains. Flowing west then north, it runs first in Hell Roaring Creek, then west into the Red Rock, swings northeast to become the Beaverhead and these two streams then flow north and northwest into Montana. The Missouri River officially starts at the confluence of the Jefferson and Madison in Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks, Montana, the Missouri then passes through Canyon Ferry Lake, a reservoir west of the Big Belt Mountains. Issuing from the mountains near Cascade, the flows northeast to the city of Great Falls, where it drops over the Great Falls of the Missouri. Farther on, the passes through the Fort Peck Dam, and immediately downstream. At the confluence, the Yellowstone is actually the larger river, the Missouri then meanders east past Williston and into Lake Sakakawea, the reservoir formed by Garrison Dam. Below the dam the Missouri receives the Knife River from the west and flows south to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota and it slows into the Lake Oahe reservoir just before the Cannonball River confluence. While it continues south, eventually reaching Oahe Dam in South Dakota, the Missouri makes a bend to the southeast as it winds through the Great Plains, receiving the Niobrara River and many smaller tributaries from the southwest
Missouri River
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A relatively undeveloped reach of the river near
Rocheport, Missouri
Missouri River
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Map of the Missouri River and its tributaries in North America
Missouri River
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Holter Lake, a reservoir on the upper Missouri River
Missouri River
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The Missouri in North Dakota, which was the furthest upstream that French explorers traveled on the river
30.
Hastings station (Nebraska)
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Hastings is an Amtrak intercity train station in Hastings, Nebraska. It is served daily by the California Zephyr, the station was built as Hastings Burlington Station in 1902. Thomas Rogers Kimball designed it in the Spanish Colonial Revival style for the Burlington Railroad and it was renovated in 1966 and 2000 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Part of the building is leased to commercial tenants
Hastings station (Nebraska)
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Hastings station
Hastings station (Nebraska)
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Station frontage
31.
Colorado
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Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
Colorado
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The
Elk Mountains near
Aspen, Colorado
Colorado
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Flag
Colorado
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Mountains and lakes near
Breckenridge, Colorado
Colorado
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A view of the arid high plains in Southeastern Colorado
32.
Akron, Colorado
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Akron is the Statutory Town that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Washington County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1702 at the 2010 United States Census, Akron began as a frontier town, and was named for Akron, Ohio, the native home of the wife of a railroad employee. The town was incorporated in 1887, Akron was home to John Jones the famed musician and jazz singer. Akron was home to Paul Rodgers 1976 Olympic gold medal winner in the open pool free swim, Akron was also home to Bryce Friedly before he struck his first album deal with Country Music label Wretched. Akron is located at 40°9′42″N 103°12′43″W, at the intersection of U. S. Highway 34, according to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.5 square miles, all of it land. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,711 people,734 households, the population density was 1,179.3 people per square mile. There were 835 housing units at a density of 575.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 93. 51% White,0. 12% African American,1. 23% Native American,0. 12% Asian,0. 06% Pacific Islander,4. 32% from other races, and 0. 64% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11. 75% of the population,33. 8% of all households were made up of individuals and 16. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the family size was 2.94. In the town, the population was out with 26. 2% under the age of 18,6. 3% from 18 to 24,23. 4% from 25 to 44,21. 0% from 45 to 64. The median age was 40 years, for every 100 females there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.8 males, the median income for a household in the town was $29,420, and the median income for a family was $35,156. Males had an income of $25,875 versus $21,000 for females. The per capita income for the town was $15,772, about 8. 1% of families and 11. 0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13. 9% of those under age 18 and 11. 3% of those age 65 or over. Akron experiences a climate with cold, dry winters and hot. Town of Akron contacts CDOT map of the Town of Akron
Akron, Colorado
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Entering Akron from the east.
Akron, Colorado
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Hotel Akron, from a postcard sent in 1908
33.
Union Station (Denver, Colorado)
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Denver Union Station is the main railway station and central transportation hub in Denver, Colorado. A station opened on the site June 1,1881, burning in 1894, the current structure was erected in two stages, with an enlarged central portion completed in 1914. In 2012, the station underwent a major renovation transforming it into the centerpiece of a new transit-oriented mixed-use development built on the sites former rail-yards. The station house re-opened in the summer of 2014 as a combination of the 112-room Crawford Hotel, several restaurants and retailers, and a train hall. Denvers first train station was constructed in 1868 to serve the new Denver Pacific Railway, by 1875, there were four different railroad stations, making passenger transfers between different railroad lines inconvenient. To remedy this issue, the Union Pacific Railroad proposed creating one central Union Station to combine the various operations, in February 1880, the owners of the four lines agreed to build a station at 17th and Wynkoop Streets. Architect A. Taylor of Kansas City was hired to develop the plans, however, a fire that started in the womens restroom in 1894 destroyed the central portion of the 1881 depot. The Kansas City architectural firm of Van Brunt & Howe was hired to design a replacement depot in the Romanesque Revival style. Both the 1881 and 1894 depots included a central clock tower with four clock faces. On July 4,1906, an arch was dedicated in front of the station in order to provide a symbolic threshold for travelers entering and leaving the city. Constructed at a cost of $22,500 with 70 tons of steel and over 2,000 light bulbs, the arch originally featured the word Welcome on both sides. However, the elevation facing 17th Street was changed to Mizpah, in 1912, the original Union Depot partnership was dissolved and replaced by the Denver Terminal Railway Company, representing the then-major operators of the station. The new partnership decided to demolish and rebuild the portion of the station to handle the increasing passenger traffic. The new central portion, designed by Denver architects Gove & Walsh, was built in the Beaux-Arts style, as a result of growing passenger service, the Mizpah Arch in front of the station was deemed a traffic hazard and was torn down in 1931. For the first time in 1958, passenger traffic at Stapleton International Airport exceeded that of Union Station and it was during this period that the orange Union Station, Travel by Train signs were placed on both sides of the building in order to advertise intercity rail travel. Amtrak eventually became the provider of rail service through the station. Until the grand renovation, the served the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days Train. The popular excursion train has since been based at a site near the Denver Coliseum, the plan was approved by the Partner Agencies in 2004 and was approved by voters in November of that year as the new FasTracks program
Union Station (Denver, Colorado)
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The front of Denver's Union Station, facing Wynkoop Street
Union Station (Denver, Colorado)
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Looking down 17th Street towards the second Union Station building and the Mizpah Arch, circa 1908.
Union Station (Denver, Colorado)
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Denver Ski Train, 2003
Union Station (Denver, Colorado)
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The open air train hall and the historic terminal building.
34.
Bond, Colorado
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Bond is an unincorporated community and U. S. Post Office in Eagle County, Colorado, United States, the Bond Post Office has the ZIP Code 80423. Although Bond has never had a population, the town has significant railroad history. Bond is located at 39°52′27″N 106°41′15″W,133 miles west of Denver at an elevation of 6600 feet and it is located on the Colorado River, and is at the southern terminus of the Colorado River Headwaters National Scenic Byway. Bond was originally served by the never finished Denver and Salt Lake Railroad as a midpoint to the eventual terminus in Craig. Bond was the closest point of the line to the nearest through line. Bond remained a stop on the Denver and Rio Grande Westerns passenger trains until their last train, the Rio Grande Zephyr was discontinued in 1983. This climate type is dominated by the season, a long, bitterly cold period with short, clear days, relatively little precipitation mostly in the form of snow. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bond has a subarctic climate, abbreviated Dfc on climate maps
Bond, Colorado
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Entering Bond from the south.
35.
Rifle, Colorado
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The City of Rifle is a Home Rule Municipality in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The population was 9,172 at the 2010 census, up from 6,784 at the 2000 census. Rifle is a center of the cattle ranching industry located along Interstate 70 and the Colorado River just east of the Roan Plateau. The town was founded in 1882 by Abram Maxfield, and was incorporated in 1904 along Rifle Creek, the community takes its name from the creek. The land that Rifle resides on was once in the heart of the Ute Nation, the most common tribe in the area were the Tabagauche, who hunted and lived on the land slightly to the east of Rifle in the Roaring Fork Valley. Due to their location, the Tabagauche were somewhat less exposed to white settlers, in 1879, Nathan Meeker was appointed as the director of the White River Ute Agency. Meeker had no training or knowledge of Ute culture, and launched into a campaign centered on sedentary agriculture, as this clashed with the culture of the nomadic Utes, he was met with resistance. It all came to a head when Meeker had the pasture, the event that followed is known as the Meeker Massacre, during which Meeker and his 10 employees were killed. Rifle became more and more settled as the 19th century gave way to the 20th, in 1889, the railroad cut through from the east and ended in Rifle for a while before connecting lines were completed. This opened up the floodgates for new travelers, settlers, long drives of cattle over the mountains towards the Front Range and Denver became a thing of the past. Rifle was now a hub for commerce. If it needed to be shipped east to a market, or shipped west into ranching country. The first major economy known to Rifle was ranching, the land surrounding the town was arid, and much of it was unsuitable for farming without irrigation. Despite the large stretches of land available, tension arose and manifested between those who tended cattle and those who herded sheep, good grazing practices were not in place, and the summer pastures at the top of the Roan Plateau were contested over. One rancher lost two-thirds of his flock and went bankrupt when competing cowboys drove the sheep over the cliff, Rifle is located in the east portion of the Piceance Basin. The basin is home to different forms of fuels, the largest quantity of which is oil shale. The unreliability of this fuel has left the city in the throes of a cycling boom. As of 2007, a called the Campaign to Save Roan Plateau has been engaged in an effort to minimize oil and gas drilling on the top of the Roan Plateau
Rifle, Colorado
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Rifle Bridge in winter on the Colorado River in western Colorado. This Bridge built in 1909 is now closed to traffic and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Rifle, Colorado
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Location in
Garfield County and the state of
Colorado
Rifle, Colorado
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City of Rifle, Colorado
36.
Utah
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The Utah Railway is a class III railroad operating in Utah and Colorado, and owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The Utah Railway Company was incorporated on January 24,1912, with the name of Utah Coal Railway, shortened to Utah Railway in May of the same year. It was founded to haul coal from the mines to Provo, Utah, in reaction to company disappointment in the service and route of the existing Denver. In addition, the Utah Railway was the first to equip its air brakes with fourteen-pound tension springs instead of the standard seven-pound springs and these gondolas were known to the railroads employees as Battleships. Parent company Mueller Industries, a manufacturer of products, sold the Utah Railway in 2002 to Genesee & Wyoming Inc. a railroad holding company. As of January,2017, the no longer hauls coal. The Utah Railway also owns a railroad, the Salt Lake City Southern Railroad. In addition, switching services are provided in Ogden and elsewhere, the earliest logo was simply the words Utah Railway Company, spelled out on the locomotives and cabooses, and Utah Coal Route on the drop-bottom gondolas. On paper, however, the logo for many years was a circle with a white background. The wording and image in these circular logos changed over the years, the 1948 logo included the words Utah Railway surrounding a gondola with the initials U. C. R. The 1999 logo was an oval with an image of an SD diesel locomotive, in later years the symbol of the Utah Railway Company was the beehive, which is also the Utah state symbol. Genesee & Wyoming corporate website Trainwebs Utah Railway UtahRails. net Utah Railway page
Utah
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Former Union Pacific CA-1
Caboose on display in
Helper. The Utah Railway purchased eight of these cabooses from the UP between 1918 and 1927.
Utah
37.
Thompson Springs, Utah
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Thompson Springs, also officially known for a time as just Thompson, is a small census-designated place in central Grand County, Utah, United States. The population was 39 at the 2010 census, the town is just north of the east-west highway route shared by Interstate 70, U. S. Route 6 and U. S. Route 50, between Crescent Junction and Cisco. Moab, the county seat, is 37 miles to the south, Thompson Springs is located in high desert country at an elevation of 5,246 feet, with the Book Cliffs just to the north. The towns ZIP code is 84540, evidence of human habitation or use of the Thompson Springs area can be dated back to the Archaic Period, when beautiful pictographs were left in Sego Canyon. Subsequent Anasazi, Fremont, and Ute tribes have also left their mark upon the area, Thompson Springs was named for E. W. Thompson, who lived near the springs and operated a sawmill to the north near the Book Cliffs. The town began life in the nineteenth century as a station stop on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. A post office at the site was established in 1890, under the name Thompsons, stockmen from both San Juan and Grand counties used Thompson. Thompson gained importance in the twentieth century due to the development of coal mines in Sego Canyon. Commercial mining in Sego Canyon began in 1911, and that year the Ballard, the railroad branchline and mines continued operating until about 1950. For many years the city was served by various D&RGW passenger trains, including the Scenic Limited, the Exposition Flyer, the Prospector, the California Zephyr, and the Rio Grande Zephyr. Although Amtrak took over all passenger rail service in the United States in 1971. Subsequently, for the fourteen years, the city was served by various Amtrak trains, including the California Zephyr, the Desert Wind. Construction of I-70 two miles south of Thompson Springs drew traffic away from the city as the former Old Cisco Highway was no longer used. The later movement of the train stop about 25 miles to the west in Green River in 1997 led to further economic hardship for Thompson Springs. The original name for this settlement was Thompson Springs, a name that was reinstated in 1985, much of the town is uninhabited today, although there are still some operating businesses in the immediate vicinity of I-70. As of the census of 2010, there were 39 people residing in the CDP, the racial makeup of the town was 94. 9% White, and 5. 1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0% of the population, Thompson Springs is the site of several well-preserved groups of pictographs and petroglyphs left by early Native Americans. The Fremont culture thrived from A. D.600 to 1250 and was a contemporary with the Anasazi culture of the Four Corners area
Thompson Springs, Utah
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Thompson Springs
Thompson Springs, Utah
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The former
Thompson Station was last used in 1997
Thompson Springs, Utah
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Fremont petroglyphs in Sego Canyon
38.
Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub
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Service at the intermodal hub is also provided by Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, and U Car Share, as well as UTA local bus service. The site of the hub is the location of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad in Salt Lake City. This location housed the buildings, a roundhouse, and freight houses for the railroad. It also included D&RGWs original passenger depot prior to the construction of the 1910 depot on Rio Grande Street, several large locomotive maintenance buildings remain on the west side of the railroad tracks, though there are plans to demolish them. The main hub building, along 600 West, opened in 2005 and this building consists of a rehabilitated D&RGW freight house, with a modern round shaped addition on the south end. The freight house originally extended north, but was cut in half. The southern half become the current hub building, while the half was meant for rehabilitation as well. The northern half of the house was eventually torn down. The railroad tracks at the edge of the hub, originally built as the mainline of the D&RGW. The FrontRunner line shares this rail corridor, Salt Lake Central is the name of UTA portion of the Salt Lake Intermodal Hub and that is the station name used on all route maps and schedules. The intermodal hub is in the Free Fare Zone of Downtown Salt Lake City which allows transportation patrons that both enter and exit bus or TRAX service within the Zone to ride fare free. The intermodal hub is located within the Quiet Zone, so all trains do not routinely sound their horns when approaching public crossings within this corridor. Unlike most FrontRunner and TRAX stations, there is only a small Park, UTA indicates that there is limited parking available. All of UTAs TRAX and FrontRunner trains and stations, as well as all fixed route buses, are compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act and are accessible to those with disabilities. Since not all FrontRunner passenger cars are wheelchair accessible, signage at the stations, on the passenger platforms, in addition, each train has one or more Train Hosts available to provide assistance as may be needed, including the placement of ramps for wheelchair boarding on FrontRunner trains. Ramps on the platform and assistance from the TRAX train operator may be necessary for wheelchair boarding on TRAX Blue Line. In accordance with the Utah Clean Air Act and UTA ordinance, smoking is prohibited on UTA vehicles as well as UTA bus stops, TRAX stations, there are also multiple UTA Bus service routes that include Salt Lake Central as one of their stops. Local bus service is provided to all areas of Salt Lake City, additional service to Park City is provided through PC-SLC Connect
Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub
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Salt Lake Intermodal Hub looking north along 600 West
Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub
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FrontRunner at Salt Lake Central
Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub
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TRAX Blue Line at Salt Lake Central
Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub
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Amtrak Station at Salt Lake Intermodal Hub
39.
TRAX (light rail)
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TRAX is a light rail system in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, in the United States, serving Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs throughout Salt Lake County. Its full official name is Transit Express, though this name is rarely used. The system is operated by the Utah Transit Authority, all TRAX trains are electric, receiving power from overhead trolley wires. As of 2013 TRAX has three lines in service, the Blue Line provides service from Downtown Salt Lake City to Draper. The Red Line provides service from the University of Utah to the Daybreak Community of South Jordan, the Green Line provides service from Salt Lake City International Airport to West Valley City. Signage at the stations, on the platforms, and on the trains. Ramps on the platform and assistance from the train operator may be necessary for wheelchair boarding on Blue Line trains. These ramps are not used on the Red or Green lines, in accordance with the Utah Clean Air Act and UTA ordinance, smoking is prohibited on UTA vehicles as well as UTA bus stops, TRAX stations, and FrontRunner stations. TRAX operates seven days a week, with the exception of some holidays and it operates Monday through Friday from approximately 4,30 am to 11,30 pm with a fifteen-minute headway on each line during the entirety of operating hours. It operates weekends from approximately 5,00 am to midnight with a twenty-minute headway. 146 total railcars 23 Siemens SD-100 LRVs 17 Siemens SD-160 LRVs 77 Siemens S70 LRVs 29 UTDC LRVs The first line, the second line from downtown to the University of Utah was completed in 2001 and extended in 2003. An extension to the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub was completed in April 2008, in August 2011, two extensions to South Jordan and West Valley City were completed. In 2013 the Green Line was realigned slightly north and away from the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub, several months later, in August 2013, the Blue Line was extended further south to Draper. The extensions to South Jordan, West Valley City, Draper, a letter of intent signed with the Federal Transit Administration on September 24,2007 secured the remaining funding for the light rail lines. Both the University Line and its extension to the University Medical Center were completed ahead of schedule, a daily ridership of 15,000 was expected for the initial 15-mile line in 1999. By the beginning of 2008, the system of 17.5 miles served an estimated 40,000 passengers each day. Ridership for the quarter of 2012 was reported to be at 60,600. Light rail in the Salt Lake Valley was first seriously discussed in the late 1980s to provide an alternative to traffic congestion on I-15, on October 10,1988, Congress approved $5 million in funds to preserve land along the proposed light rail corridor
TRAX (light rail)
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TRAX
Green Line train at
Gallivan Plaza
TRAX (light rail)
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Salt Lake International Airport station
TRAX (light rail)
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A
Blue Line train at
Salt Lake Central Station
TRAX (light rail)
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A sign at the
Courthouse Station indicates the terminus of each line heading north (photo taken prior to the extension of the Green Line to
Salt Lake City International Airport)
40.
Union Station (Ogden, Utah)
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Union Station, also known as Ogden Union Station, is a train station in Ogden, Utah, at the west end of Historic 25th Street, just south of the Ogden Intermodal Transit Center. It was formerly the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads, the name Union Station was commonly given to train stations where tracks and facilities were shared by two or more railway companies. Although Union Station no longer serves as a hub, it is the heart of Ogden. Gifts at the Station sells gifts and a variety of related items, books, prints, jewelry. Gallery at the Station is a for sale exhibit that features local and regional artists every month, the Myra Powell Gallery features traveling exhibits and the Stations permanent art collection. Union Station Research Library has a collection of historic Ogden photographs. The last long-distance passenger trains to use Union Station were the final runs of Amtraks Pioneer through Ogden in May 1997, the adjacent Ogden Intermodal Transit Center currently serves the Utah Transit Authoritys FrontRunner commuter rail line. On March 8,1869, Union Pacific came to Ogden on its way to Promontory Summit to meet the Central Pacific, Promontory and Uintah lacked the necessary resources to house the Station. The first station was built in 1869 and it was a two-story wooden frame building built on a mud flat on the banks of the Weber River. The building soon became inadequate, being also the facility for the narrow gauge Utah Central Railroad, local newspapers complained about, among other things, the quarter mile of wood boardwalk required to traverse the swampy ground to reach the station. In response to these worries the Union Pacific and Central Pacific organized the jointly-owned Ogden Union Railway & Depot Co. to oversee the construction, a new structure, considerably larger than the old and constructed of brick, was built in 1889 and served the community for several decades. It was designed in the Romanesque Revival style, with a clock tower in the center. This building, in addition to serving the needs of the railroad, also contained 33 hotel rooms as well as a restaurant, barbershop, in 1923, a hotel room in the depot caught fire, which quickly spread throughout the building. The blaze was unable to be controlled, and the inside of the depot was destroyed, leaving the walls, the construction of the current building was completed in 1924 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style and is built on the foundation of the earlier building. It was dedicated on November 22 of that year, with a series of publicity shots being taken, the ceiling of the Grand Lobby, taking up the center portion of the building, has a height of 56 feet and extends to the roof. The trusses were originally painted in colors with geometric designs. Murals of the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad were painted on the north and south end of the lobby, the second floors of the north and south wing were occupied by Southern Pacific, Ogden Union Railway & Depot Co. and Union Pacific Telegraph Department offices. Of special note are the two drinking fountains on either end of the Grand Lobby and these fountains, surrounded by colored mosaics, were the favorite resting spot of Ogden Union Railway & Depot Co
Union Station (Ogden, Utah)
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The main Union Station building, rebuilt in 1924 after a fire, houses the Utah State Railroad Museum.
Union Station (Ogden, Utah)
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1891 illustration of the first station
Union Station (Ogden, Utah)
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Station building trackside
Union Station (Ogden, Utah)
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Trainmen's building
41.
Nevada
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Nevada is a state in the Western, Mountain West, and Southwestern regions of the United States of America. Nevada is the 7th most extensive, the 34th most populous, nearly three-quarters of Nevadas people live in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area where three of the states four largest incorporated cities are located. Nevada is officially known as the Silver State because of the importance of silver to its history and economy. It is also known as the Battle Born State, because it achieved statehood during the Civil War, as the Sage-brush State, for the plant of the same name. Nevada borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, Nevada is largely desert and semi-arid, much of it located within the Great Basin. Areas south of the Great Basin are located within the Mojave Desert, while Lake Tahoe, about 86% of the states land is managed by various jurisdictions of the U. S. federal government, both civilian and military. Before European contact, Native Americans of the Paiute, Shoshone, the first Europeans to explore the region were Spanish. They called the region Nevada because of the snow covered the mountains in winter. The area formed part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the United States annexed the area in 1848 after its victory in the Mexican–American War, and it was incorporated as part of Utah Territory in 1850. The discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1859 led to a boom that became an impetus to the creation of Nevada Territory out of western Utah Territory in 1861. Nevada became the 36th state on October 31,1864, as the second of two added to the Union during the Civil War. Nevada has a reputation for its libertarian laws, in 1940, with a population of just over 110,000 people, Nevada was by far the least-populated state, with less than half the population of the next least-populated state. However, legalized gambling and lenient marriage and divorce laws transformed Nevada into a major tourist destination in the 20th century, Nevada is the only U. S. state where prostitution is legal, though it is illegal in Clark County, Washoe County and Carson City. The tourism industry remains Nevadas largest employer, with mining continuing as a sector of the economy. The name Nevada comes from the Spanish nevada, meaning snow-covered, most Nevadans pronounce the second syllable of their state name using the vowel of trap. Many from outside the Western United States pronounce it with the vowel of father, although the latter pronunciation is closer to the Spanish pronunciation, it is not the pronunciation preferred by most Nevadans. State Assemblyman Harry Mortenson proposed a bill to recognize the alternate pronunciation of Nevada, though the bill was not supported by most legislators, the Nevadan pronunciation is the de facto official one, since it is the one used by the state legislature. Nevada is almost entirely within the Basin and Range Province, and is broken up by many mountain ranges
Nevada
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The quartzite of the Prospect Mountain Formation on top of Jeff Davis Peak in
Great Basin National Park
Nevada
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Flag
Nevada
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Mountains west of Las Vegas in the
Mojave Desert
Nevada
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Vegetation at Timber Creek in the
Schell Creek Range
42.
Elko station
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Elko station is a train station in Elko, Nevada. It is served by Amtraks California Zephyr, the westbound platform is accessed from Water Street via 11th Street and the eastbound platform is accessed from Sharp Access Road via 12th Street. The station is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad and contains two enclosed shelters on two platforms, one on side of the pair of tracks for each direction of travel. There are no services provided at the station, originally Elko was served by two train depots along two separate lines that ran through the down town area. In the 1980s both railroad tracks were relocated south of the area and the current shelters became the Amtrak depots in 1984. Amtrak – Stations – Elko, NV Elko Amtrak Station Amtrak Photo Archive, Current Appearance Older Picture Elko, NV
Elko station
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Elko Station's westbound passenger platform
43.
Carlin, Nevada
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Carlin is a small city located near the western border of Elko County in northeast Nevada,23 miles west of the city of Elko. It is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area, Carlin sits along Interstate 80 at an elevation of approximately 4,900 feet. As of the 2010 census, its population was 2,368, the city was named for Civil War general William Passmore Carlin. Its slogan is Where the Train Stops. And the Gold Rush Begins, Carlin was the home of the Native American medicine man John Rolling Thunder Pope, who had worked as a brakeman on the railway. Carlin is located at 40°42′51″N 116°6′47″W, to the northwest is the Carlin Trend, one of the most productive gold mining areas in the United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 27.0 square kilometres. As of the census of 2000, there were 2,161 people,792 households, the population density was 234.6 people per square mile. There were 1,014 housing units at a density of 110.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 91. 90% White,0. 05% African American,1. 76% Native American,0. 60% Asian,0. 05% Pacific Islander,3. 79% from other races, and 1. 85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8. 38% of the population,21. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 5. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the family size was 3.17. In the city, the population was out with 30. 8% under the age of 18,7. 4% from 18 to 24,31. 1% from 25 to 44,23. 5% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 108.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.3 males, the median income for a household in the city was $49,571, and the median income for a family was $51,716. Males had an income of $47,396 versus $21,813 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,377, about 4. 1% of families and 7. 8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10. 2% of those under age 18 and 3. 0% of those age 65 or over. On August 12,1939, the City of San Francisco train derailed while crossing a bridge near Carlin, killing 24, the wreck appeared to have been caused by sabotage but remains unsolved to this day. The train was operated by a joint partnership of the Chicago and North Western Railway, the Southern Pacific Railroad, Carlin Tunnel Gold mining in Nevada Newmont Mining Corporation has a large gold-mining operation near Carlin City of Carlin official website Elko County Carlin Branch Library
Carlin, Nevada
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Carlin, Nevada
Carlin, Nevada
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I-80 in Carlin, Nevada.
44.
Central Pacific Railroad Depot (Lovelock, Nevada)
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The building was originally located on the northeast corner of West Broadway Avenue and Main Street, but was moved by the town in 1999 to its present site across Broadway Avenue. Both portions are extensively detailed with finials, braces, brackets, the depot was built to the Central Pacific Railroads Combination Depot #2 design, the only example of its type in Nevada, but one of six built on the Central Pacific system. None of the five examples is known to have survived. The station was a stop for transcontinental train traffic, and was expanded in 1917. The station operated until the early 1990s, when it was closed, when what was now the Union Pacific Railroad announced plans to tear the depot down in 1998 the City of Lovelock expressed interest in the building. The same year the railroad signed over the building and a $42,500 donation, the town moved it from railroad property, completing a restoration in 2000, with help from prison labor. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, the depot is leased to private retail businesses
Central Pacific Railroad Depot (Lovelock, Nevada)
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Central Pacific Railroad Depot
45.
Reno station
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The Reno station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Reno, Nevada, served by the California Zephyr train and multiple-frequency daily Thruway Motorcoach service. The station is located at 280 North Center Street in downtown Reno, the tracks are owned by the Union Pacific Railroad, while the station and platform are owned by the city of Reno. The station does not have a parking lot, the tracks are placed below ground level as they pass through the heart of downtown Reno. As of 2014, the station was served by the once-daily California Zephyr, the previous year, the station served 78,827 passengers, or about 216 per day. A depot has existed at this location since the First Transcontinental Railroad arrived in Reno in 1868, a series of wooden depots, built by the Central Pacific Railroad burned down. The current stucco depot was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1926, the Southern Pacific Depot was also used by the Virginia & Truckee Railroad until 1950, when the railroad ceased operations. The Western Pacific Railroad historically provided service to Reno, but never used this depot – instead using the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad Depot, the station was enlarged in 2007 as part of the ReTRAC project, which grade separated the tracks to eliminate most street crossings in downtown Reno. In the process of excavating around the depot, many artifacts from Renos past were discovered including a long pedestrian tunnel. On December 4,2012, it was announced that the station would be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, media related to Reno at Wikimedia Commons Amtrak – Stations – Reno, NV Reno Amtrak Station TrainWeb ReTRAC Project City of Reno Reno, NV
Reno station
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The back of the depot with escalator to the depressed tracks
46.
Truckee station
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Truckee is an Amtrak train station in Truckee, California. It is currently served by one passenger train in each direction. The westbound train arrives in the morning from Chicago and Denver heading for Sacramento, Truckee is also served by Amtraks thruway motorcoaches which run three round trips a day between Sparks and connect to trains at Sacramento. In FY2012 Truckee was the 61st-busiest of the 74 Amtrak stations in California, the station is served by daily Greyhound buses, local Tahoe Area Regional Transit, and the local Truckee Transit bus system. Media related to Truckee at Wikimedia Commons Amtrak – Stations – Truckee, CA Truckee Amtrak Station Truckee --Great American Stations
Truckee station
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Truckee
47.
Martinez station
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Martinez is an Amtrak passenger train station in Martinez, California, United States, the county seat of Contra Costa County. The station was opened in September 2001, superseding an earlier building that still stands a couple of blocks to the east. Prior to the creation of Amtrak on May 1,1971, the station is served by local County Connection bus service and connecting service from WestCAT, and Tri-Delta Transit, as well as an Amtrak Thruway Bus Service. The station includes a center for buses, passenger drop off and pick-up zones, a taxi stand. The station is served by 42 Amtrak passenger trains each weekday and 34 per day on the weekends, the Capitol Corridor service runs between San Jose, CA and Sacramento, CA and offers 30 trains per weekday. The San Joaquin service offers 8 trains daily between Oakland, CA and Bakersfield, CA, the California Zephyr and the Coast Starlight each operate one train daily in each direction. Of the 74 California stations served by Amtrak, Martinez was the sixth-busiest in fiscal 2013 and this Station is located in Contra Costa County. County Connection is the transit agency charged with providing bus service. Route 98X offers a bus service to the Walnut Creek BART station. Routes 3,16,18,19, and 28 provide local bus service to the Concord, North Concord/Martinez, and Pleasant Hill BART stations, as well as points in between, including Diablo Valley College. There is an Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach service to McKinleyville, CA300 miles to the north of Martinez, via Vallejo, Napa, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, Garberville, Amtrak – Stations – Martinez, CA Martinez Amtrak Station Martinez -Great American Stations
Martinez station
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Martinez
48.
Richmond (Amtrak station)
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Richmond Station is an at-grade Bay Area Rapid Transit and Amtrak station located in Richmond, California. Each system is served by an island platform, the Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins, and California Zephyr stop here and connect to BART. The station was rebuilt and rededicated on October 18,2007, the Metro Walk - Richmond Transit Village is adjacent, north of the station is a BART rail yard. This station has identified as an important hub in the transportation network for metropolitan. Around that same time the Southern Pacific Railroad opened a station just south of the current station at MacDonald Avenue, BART service at this station began along dedicated tracks that paralleled the SP line on January 29,1973. Amtrak service to the station started, using the SP lines tracks, a station house for the Amtrak service was constructed in 1984. A transit village and rebuild of the approach to the station was started in 2007. A transit store opened at the station in August 2008, joining other major stations in the system, the Coast Starlight no longer stops at Richmond as of January 14,2013. The station is served by two bus agencies, AC Transit provides a variety of local and regional service. Routes 70,71, 72M,74, and 76 provide local intra-city service and also feeder service into the BART, routes 376 and 800 both provide late night service. It is the route in the All Nighter regional Bay Area network. There is also a free Kaiser Shuttle service to the nearby Richmond Medical Center, of the 74 California stations served by Amtrak, Richmond was the 16th-busiest in FY2012, boarding or alighting an average of about 773 passengers daily. List of Bay Area Rapid Transit stations BART - Richmond Station Overview Capitol Corridor Richmond Station Page Amtrak Station Information Page Richmond --Great American Stations
Richmond (Amtrak station)
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The remodeled station entry under construction in December 2006.
Richmond (Amtrak station)
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The Amtrak platform at dusk.
