Oddball Amtrak

For the last week or more, Amtrak's California Zephyr has been running with an unusual consist. The normal sequence of cars, starting from the engines and moving back through the train, is baggage, coaches, observation lounge car, diner, and sleeping cars. The number of coaches and sleeping cars varies with traffic. Sometimes there is a crew dorm/transition sleeper between the coaches and the baggage car. For some reason, the lounge car has made its way up to the head of the train and the transition sleeper isn't there at all. One day there wasn't a baggage car either, which must have made the train's baggage handling a right pain. Yesterday morning I heard #5, the eastwestbound Zephyr coming on the radio and was ready to document the odd consist.

( Good Morning, Amtrak )

As a bonus, I got to see two private cars including a full-length dome car bringing up the rear of the train.