2004 News

November 25, 2004

**SITE UPDATE**

Message Boards are now active

From the main page, just go "Under the Dome", or type in http://californiazephyr.org/lounge. It's brand new so help get it rolling!

*Edit: The lounge is no longer active.*

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November 15, 2004

Kato N Scale CZ Set and CB&Q F3 Locomotives

Now available at retail locations and of course, on eBay.

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November 8, 2004

Kato N Scale CZ Set and CB&Q F3 Locomotives

They are scheduled for delivery to distributors this week. Should be available at retail within 2 weeks.

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November 1, 2004

Kato N Scale Alco PA Locomotives

Pictures are now posted showing these beautiful locomotives.View them at Kato's Website.

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October 11, 2004

Broadway Limited CZ series

The release schedule has been revised from November '04 to March '05. No further details yet available. A schedule of the cars to be included, by road, is viewable here.

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June 21, 2004

Silver Colt and Silver Stirrup

The Silver Colt, Silver Pony and Silver Stirrup were purchased together by the Grand Canyon Railway at the May 13 auction in Houston, TX.

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June 21, 2004

Vista Dome Auction

On Thursday, May 13, an auction was held in Houston, TX to liquidate several railcars. A link to the sale page is here. This sale included Silver Colt and Silver Stirrup, which have been in Vermont, and Silver Mustang, Silver Pony, Silver Lodge and Silver Bridle.

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June 17, 2004

10-6 Sleeper Silver Glacier

Luis Ortiz has sent some current pics of Silver Glacier. They were taken on June 3 and can be viewed here. Thanks again, Luis!

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May 26, 2004

10-6 Sleeper Silver Glacier

Good news to report! Luis Ortiz, a volunteer at the Yucatan Railway Museum in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico reports that ex-D&RGW 1134 Silver Glacier dodged the scrappers torch and is currently at the museum. It's name became La Coruña for service in Mexico. It is "in very bad shape", but the museum plans to restore it. Thanks Luis!

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April 5, 2004

Consist for "Domes to Reno - The California Zephyr Returns" excursion

The ex-CZ cars utilized for this excursion will be the following:

This would be great for a CB&Q convention. Looks like the Q's equipment has done well for itself in private service.

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March 10, 2004

The following was sent by Eugene Vicknair, Secretary, FRRS:

This was posted by the FRRS President on Trainorders.com...

"Here is how things stand regarding the Feather River Rail Society/Portola RR Museum WP F-units being on the "Return of the California Zephyr" trip being put on by Trains Unlimitied Tours.

Neither of our F-units, the 805-A FP7 or F9B 925-C will be used on any of the advertised trains. We are working on getting both of them to Sparks for display with the CZ passenger equipment over the convention weekend but they will NOT operate with the train. Neither of the F-units are HEP compatible nor is the 805-A equipped with all of the necessary FRA safety equipment to allow it to lead a passenger train at Class 1 speeds. A small group from our Mechanical Dept has been working their butts off to get the 805-A in operating order. This has been a significant amount of work. 2 cylinder liners have been removed and repaired, a new oil cooler has been installed and numerous small electrical items repaired and or replaced. I will state that if we can get them to Sparks, they will be running and on display. We will try and get them posed with the train for pictures at some point. I will have final confirmation on moving them to Sparks for the convention in the next couple of weeks.

As for the all CZ train consist, I think there is going to be some subsitutes but I am not sure.

The FRRS has been clear to the Trains Unlimited people that the use of our F-units was a long reach since the conception of this train. All of their advertising should have a disclaimer about the FRRS F-units. The FRRS has not been involved in any of the planning or advertising of this trip.

If you have any questions, you can contact me off list.

Rod McClure - President Feather River Rail Society"

Thanks Eugene, for this info!

Ed. Note: Trains Unlimited has indeed been clear in their promotion of the trip, that the use of the F-units was a hopeful situation at best.

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March 1, 2004

"The California Zephyr Returns" Update

The following is an edited update from Trains Unlimited Tours:

"On February 26 we had a meeting in Oakland to go over a number of items including the fact that we were just given the option to increase our charter train size by three more cars. This means our train will have nine passenger cars. At this meeting we decided to go forward and confirm the train consist with nine passenger cars. We want this train to be as long as possible. With the addition of these passenger cars this gives us more seats to try and fill in Pullman Bedrooms and in coach class and we now only have six weeks left to try and fill this new space.

Now that we have added another Pullman car to the train we have 22 more seats to sell. We have both Double Pullman Bedrooms for two persons and Single Pullman Bedrooms for one person available. Each private bedroom has a very comfortable padded seat and/or couch that will open up into a bed at night and your own private wash basin. Some rooms have tables. Your drinks and food will be served right in your private bedroom by our staff.

One of the new passenger cars just added to our charter train is a "CZ" coach so we have 48 more seats to sell."

Visit Trains Unlimited Tours' website for more information: http://www.trainsunlimitedtours.com/zephyr/

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