Reno station is an Amtrak intercity train station in Reno, Nevada, served by the California Zephyr train. It is also serviced by five times per weekday, and twice on weekends, Amtrak Thruway routes to Sacramento.
Station house, 2014
The back of the depot with escalator to the depressed tracks
Image: CPRR & UPRR Display Ads May 1869
Image: CPRR & UPRR Display Ads May 1869
The California Zephyr is a long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area, via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At 2,438 miles (3,924 km), it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall after the Texas Eagle's triweekly continuation from San Antonio to Los Angeles, with travel time between the termini taking approximately 511⁄2 hours.
Amtrak claims the route as one of its most scenic, with views of the upper Colorado River valley in the Rocky Mountains, and the Sierra Nevada. The modern train is the second iteration of a train named California Zephyr; the original train was privately operated and ran on a different route through Nevada and California.
California Zephyr train #6 north of Green River, Utah, 2023
The California Zephyr in 1970
An EMD FP7 and two EMD SDP40Fs pull the eastbound San Francisco Zephyr through the Yuba Gap in 1975.
The California Zephyr rounds a curve along the Colorado River near McCoy, Colorado, 2016.