40 Year-Old Trip Report vs. Today - Zephyr

https://www.insider.com/how-amtrak-has- ... 2023-6?amp

I uncovered photos from my grandparents' Amtrak ride 40 years ago. Then, I booked a trip to try to recreate them.

In October 1984, my grandparents took an Amtrak train from Denver to northern California so that my grandmother could attend a library conference.

They flew from their Massachusetts home to Denver and hopped on the California Zephyr Amtrak, which still runs almost the same route today. My grandfather, though a doctor by profession, took hundreds of photos everywhere they went with a Canon AE-1 and a Leica.

About 40 years later, I found perfectly preserved slide trays from this trip (and others) while opening boxes in my grandma's house.

While going through them, I was able to step into the past — and I felt inspired to take an Amtrak ride of my own with the same camera.
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Too bad he couldn’t sample the dining car in the 80s, then compare it to today.

JS and JP: Isn't October 1984 actually 38 1/2 years ago? 40 years would be October 2024 - or later...
I am not a fan of "rounding" off actual dates - just a "peeve" that I have...Why not use "Almost 40 Years" which actually is the case of this California Zephyr trip and reads better...

I took a brief look at the article - my device is not good with multiple pages even though I would have liked to have seen more of the CZ - 80s Amtrak outside the NEC with the very-visible F40PH units...
Note the Superliner car named "George M. Pullman" in honor of the Pullman Company...

Something I have grown to STRONGLY dislike is the use of the term "Train Car(s)"...Not only does it sound awkward to me - it does not fully describe what they actually are the way that even "passenger car" would...
As we know there are plenty of types of passenger cars that Amtrak has in service...

The CZ ran with Superliner equipment much as is operated today...Amtrak's Dining Cars were arguably their most interesting in the first 10 years of Amtrak (May 1971-1981) with the Heritage Fleet in service on many routes - and the introduction of then-new Amfleet and Superliners...MACTRAXX