Riding the eastbound California Zephyr over Donner Pass

Amtrak Train 6 is running on time out of Colfax and has just exited the east portal of the 1924 Southern Pacific built Tunnel 38 just shy of milepost 180 near Cisco. As the mile marker comes into sight, we see Track 1 leading to the 1866 Central Pacific built Tunnel 3. Continuing on Track 2, we pass through Tunnel 39 with Tunnel 4 just out of sight as we round the curve out of the eastern portal. Opened in 1866 as part of the historic push for the first transcontinental railroad and expanded in 1924, this legendary line over Donner Pass today is part of Union Pacific's Roseville Subdivision. A recent snowfall has dusted the higher elevations and has made for a beautiful sunny afternoon while the California Zephyr makes its way for Nevada and out of its namesake state. With Interstate 80 traversing Donner Pass below near the South Yuba River, we are in a spot to view this historic line placed deep in the history of United States like no other. At 02:36 we take a look back at the historic tunnels from where this video began as the train rolls by Rainbow. 09:15 we look down on Interstate 80 near Troy, round a curve through a cut that replaced Tunnel 5 in 1895, and hear an announcement from the Dining Car regarding the final call for today's lunch followed by the detector at RV185.3. We reach Soda Springs at 18:35 with an announcement from one of Amtrak's most beloved conductors, Conductor Reggie, who also informs us that we're passing the oldest continually operating ski resort in California, Soda Springs Mountain Resort which was first established in 1929 as Beacon Hill. As we near the summit of Donner Pass, Conductor Reggie gives us story time regarding the infamous Donner Party. We imagine the summer of 1849 when the Donner Party set out west from Springfield, Illinois as our train crosses over Soda Springs Road with a fleet of five Pisten Bully snowcats off to our right and the slopes of Soda Springs Mountain Resort in the background to the left. We reach the Norden Snow Shed at 22:20 where the Old Donner Summit route, which was mothballed by Southern Pacific in 1993, through Tunnels 6, 7, and 8 diverges off to our right. We continue along the 1925 route built by the Southern Pacific that cutoff 1.29 miles from the original Donner Summit route and saved an elevation gain of 132 feet. At 25:10, we pass under the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort Gondola and enter the 2 mile Tunnel 41 a.k.a. "The Big Hole" beneath Mount Judah and Sugar Bowl. Named after civil engineer and primary visionary for the first transcontinental railroad, Theodore Judah, he was the Chief Engineer for the Central Pacific and surveyed much of the route to determine the best alignment for the railroad over the Sierra Nevada, which was completed six years after his death. Much like the Winter Park Express between Denver and Winter Park Resort in Colorado, Southern Pacific once ran "The Snowball Special" overnight ski train leaving the Oakland Pier at midnight with a lively bar car, arriving at Sugar Bowl by early morning so passengers could ski all day before heading back. The popular "Snowball Special" was canceled following World War II as automobile travel and highway infrastructure expanded along parallel US Route 40. We cut to the east portal of "The Big Hole" at 26:35 where the Old Donner Summit route passed overhead and rejoined the cutoff route to our left. We hear back from Conductor Reggie at 29:30, who points out Donner Lake to our right as we make the descent towards Truckee and Reno. We learn that it was originally known as Lake Truckee and pass through another snow shed as Conductor Reggie points out that we did not pay for a train ticket, but the experience of a lifetime on the California Zephyr. With Donner Lake in the background, we enter the Andover Tunnels at 33:15 passing through the 1924 Tunnel 42 with the 1866 Tunnel 13 to our left. We then begin to drop into Coldstream Canyon on a massive horseshoe curve just west of Truckee for the conclusion of this ride along. Video taken 11/18/2025.