California Zephyr into Omaha

[Steve P.]

I'm trying to look at maps to determine which track may be used from Chicago to Emeryville. I believe that I have found the usual route in most places except for 1. That would be coming into Omaha from Creston IA. The route guide suggests that the train goes through Coucil Bluffs IA, then crosses the Missouri River to Offutt AFB then into Omaha. If this is the case, it appears that the train would then have to go westward from Creston IA to Pacific Junction IA, then turn north toward Pacific City and Council Bluffs. This does not seem possible since at Pacific Junction there appears to be only a cross track and no curve track which would enable the train to turn north. If anyone out there is familliar with this portion of the trip, I would be interested in knowing just how this works. Thanks.

 

[zephyr17]

I'm trying to look at maps to determine which track may be used from Chicago to Emeryville. I believe that I have found the usual route in most places except for 1. That would be coming into Omaha from Creston IA. The route guide suggests that the train goes through Coucil Bluffs IA, then crosses the Missouri River to Offutt AFB then into Omaha. If this is the case, it appears that the train would then have to go westward from Creston IA to Pacific Junction IA, then turn north toward Pacific City and Council Bluffs. This does not seem possible since at Pacific Junction there appears to be only a cross track and no curve track which would enable the train to turn north. If anyone out there is familliar with this portion of the trip, I would be interested in knowing just how this works. Thanks.

No, it travels down the west bank of the Missouri and crosses at Oreopolis. It doesn't cross at Council Bluffs.

 

[mediaman]

Try this link. I found it in another post and it highlights the Amtrak routes on a map. I found it worked better in Firefox than Internet Explorer.

https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=1a433b6c9cfe4feb88f50c1c1575e98a&extent=-129.8584,20.0275,-56.294,52.0879

 

[Steve P.]

Try this link. I found it in another post and it highlights the Amtrak routes on a map. I found it worked better in Firefox than Internet Explorer.

https://www.arcgis.c...-56.294,52.0879

Great link. Thanks.

 

[Steve P.]

I'm trying to look at maps to determine which track may be used from Chicago to Emeryville. I believe that I have found the usual route in most places except for 1. That would be coming into Omaha from Creston IA. The route guide suggests that the train goes through Coucil Bluffs IA, then crosses the Missouri River to Offutt AFB then into Omaha. If this is the case, it appears that the train would then have to go westward from Creston IA to Pacific Junction IA, then turn north toward Pacific City and Council Bluffs. This does not seem possible since at Pacific Junction there appears to be only a cross track and no curve track which would enable the train to turn north. If anyone out there is familliar with this portion of the trip, I would be interested in knowing just how this works. Thanks.

No, it travels down the west bank of the Missouri and crosses at Oreopolis. It doesn't cross at Council Bluffs.

That definately makes more sense. Thanks.

 

[railiner]

I'm trying to look at maps to determine which track may be used from Chicago to Emeryville. I believe that I have found the usual route in most places except for 1. That would be coming into Omaha from Creston IA. The route guide suggests that the train goes through Coucil Bluffs IA, then crosses the Missouri River to Offutt AFB then into Omaha. If this is the case, it appears that the train would then have to go westward from Creston IA to Pacific Junction IA, then turn north toward Pacific City and Council Bluffs. This does not seem possible since at Pacific Junction there appears to be only a cross track and no curve track which would enable the train to turn north. If anyone out there is familliar with this portion of the trip, I would be interested in knowing just how this works. Thanks.

I just looked at Pacific Junction on Google Earth, and it appears that the junction, as well as all quadrants of the interchange tracks are intact.

Years ago, the CZ, (or SFZ), did go via Council Bluffs utilizing the Union Pacific bridge over the Missouri, at various times. Or it would use the current route over BNSF's own bridge via Plattsmouth. That is a nice thing to have that alternate route available in case of a disruption.

If you look at the map further, you will see that if necessary, the train could bypass Omaha altogether, and take BNSF's freight mainline 'shortcut' to Ashland and on to Lincoln.

 

[PRR 60]

...

If you look at the map further, you will see that if necessary, the train could bypass Omaha altogether, and take BNSF's freight mainline 'shortcut' to Ashland and on to Lincoln.

That is exactly what was done last year during the floods.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

The map does not run well on my computer. It almost froze up.

 

[mediaman]

The map does not run well on my computer. It almost froze up.

I don't know which browser you are using on your computer but if I use Internet Explorer my computer seems to have problems too. If I use Firefox the map loads without a problem and I have no issues navagating to different parts of the map.