Desert Wind

Desert Wind was a passenger train route operated by Amtrak from 1979 to 1997. When it first entered service, it ran from Los Angeles, California to Ogden, Utah passing through Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. It later was truncated to Salt Lake City when Amtrak's San Francisco Zephyr was rerouted from the Overland Route to the Denver and Rio Grande Western and renamed California Zephyr in 1983. At that time, cars from the Desert Wind and Pioneer (Portland, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah via Idaho) were added to the eastbound California Zephyr at Salt Lake City. The California Zephyr runs between Emeryville, California near San Francisco and Chicago through Salt Lake City.

1 History
- 1.1 Proposed Restoration
2 Appearances in other media
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

History

The Desert Wind began on October 28, 1979, amid widespread cutbacks in Amtrak's national network.^[1] The original Desert Wind was a day train with Amfleet equipment. The northbound train left Los Angeles mid-day and arrived in Ogden the following morning to connect with the eastbound San Francisco Zephyr. The southbound departed Ogden in the middle night after the arrival of the westbound San Francisco Zephyr from Chicago and arrived in Los Angeles in late afternoon. The 811-mile (1,305 km) journey took eighteen hours.^[2]

The Desert Wind largely duplicated the route of the former City of Los Angeles operated by Chicago and North Western Railway and Union Pacific Railroad until May 1, 1971 when Amtrak took over passenger rail operations in the United States. The Desert Wind was discontinued on May 12, 1997 due to low ridership, conflict with freight trains^[3] and budget cuts and replaced with Los Angeles-Las Vegas Thruway Motorcoach service. At that time the train schedule running time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas was 7 hours and 15 minutes, but many times the trains operated over one hour late.^[3]

Proposed Restoration

There are several private, competing plans to restore rail service to Las Vegas, including the high-speed Desert Xpress and the more conventional Z-Train.

Also, new routes are being considered.^[3]

The route has some merit for Amtrak, as the July 2010 issue of Trains listed the route as one to be restored in conjunction with upgrading the equipment on the California Zephyr.^[4]

Appearances in other media

The Desert Wind is mentioned in the song "Bone Against Steel" on the album of the same name by the rock band .38 Special.
Michael Palin rides the Desert Wind in his Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days.
The Desert Wind appears at the end of the film Rain Man.
Desert Wind is described (though not mentioned by name) in Bob Segar's Long Twin Silver Line from the album Against the Wind.

References

^ Blumenthal, Ralph (January 18, 1980). "You can still ride the rails for scenery, fun". Anchorage Daily News. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X0EdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cKcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1462,3145689&dq=amtrak+desert-wind&hl=en. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
^ Amtrak (October 28, 1979). "National Train Timetables". http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19791028&item=0046. Retrieved 2010-09-11.
^ ^a ^b ^c Las Vegas to Los Angeles Rail Corridor Improvement Feasibility Study p1+173 Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, June 2007. Accessed: 12 December 2011.
^ "Amtrak Trains Under the Microscope in 2010", Trains, July 2010, 20.

Tommy Batts (1997). Last Run of Amtrak's Desert Wind. Trainweb.

External links

Trainweb: Amtrak Desert Wind - Train #35 & 36

Amtrak routes

California	California Zephyr Capitol Corridor (Amtrak California) Coast Starlight Pacific Surfliner (Amtrak California) San Joaquin (Amtrak California) Southwest Chief Sunset Limited Texas Eagle

Midwest	Blue Water California Zephyr Capitol Limited Cardinal Carl Sandburg City of New Orleans Empire Builder Hiawatha Service Hoosier State Illini Illinois Zephyr Lake Shore Limited Lincoln Service Missouri River Runner Pere Marquette Saluki Southwest Chief Texas Eagle Wolverine

Northeast	Acela Express Adirondack Auto Train Capitol Limited Cardinal New Haven – Springfield Shuttle Carolinian Crescent Downeaster Empire Service Ethan Allen Express Keystone Service Lake Shore Limited Maple Leaf (shared with Via Rail Canada) Palmetto Pennsylvanian Northeast Regional Silver Meteor Silver Star Vermonter

Northwest	Amtrak Cascades Coast Starlight Empire Builder''

South	Auto Train Carolinian City of New Orleans Crescent Palmetto Piedmont Heartland Flyer Silver Meteor Silver Star Sunset Limited Texas Eagle

West	California Zephyr Empire Builder Southwest Chief Sunset Limited Texas Eagle

Former	Abraham Lincoln Ann Rutledge Arrowhead Atlantic City Express Bankers Beacon Hill Black Hawk Blue Ridge Broadway Limited Calumet Campus Cape Codder Champion Chesapeake City of San Francisco Clamdigger Clocker Colonial Denver Zephyr Desert Wind Empire State Express Fast Mail Floridian Fort Pitt Gulf Breeze Gulf Coast Limited Hilltopper Indiana Connection Inter-American International International Limited James Whitcomb Riley Kentucky Cardinal Keystone Lake Cities Lake Country Limited Lake Shore Las Vegas Limited Lone Star Loop Metroliner Michigan Executive Mountaineer Mules National Limited Niagara Rainbow North Coast Hiawatha North Star Pioneer Prarie Marksman River Cities San Francisco Zephyr Shawnee Shenandoah Silver Palm Spirit of California Spirit of St. Louis Super Chief Three Rivers Twilight Shoreliner Twin Cities Hiawatha Vacationer West Virginian Willamette Valley