M
MIKE LUDWIG
Guest
The trip to Sacramento was very good. We were ontime til Stockton! There were some slow orders between Lodi and Elk Grove but the ride was great and we were only 50 minutes late into Sac. The return started with an ontime departure to the second! I overheard the UP dispatcher on the conductors radio saying he could only give us a restricted clearance to five miles south of Sacramento and to make sure we didn't block any street crossings. When we stopped the conductor had some bad news. The bridge work that caused our slow orders for 701 was not completed and dispatch was estimating at least a two hour wait. Dispatch called back 20 minutes later with some good news. If we could go back to the station in Sacramento, UP would have a crew waiting for us. We were going to detour over the old WP rails from Sacramento to Stockton. I always wanted to ride the old California Zephyr of WP when I was young but my parents never got around to it. It was a nice treat! Thank You UP. The ride was very smooth and we were only two hour and twenty minutes late into Stockton. We were lucky 718 departed Stockton just before us so all the passengers south of Stockton boarded 718. This made for a very empty train, very nice! Some passengers were complaining about the delay but I enjoyed the trip. Thank You Amtrak BNSF and UP