It's been a while since I've been able to capture two specially-painted locomotives on the same Amtrak train, but it happened again on the morning of April 8th, 2024. Several days before, Amtrak's Phase I "heritage unit" 161 went west leading the California Zephyr. In Colorado, the Zephyr picked up extra locomotives and cars to take back to California, after the completion of Amtrak's "Winter Park Express" train's operating season. One of the units picked up from the WPE consist was Amtrak locomotive 174, the first P42 diesel to be repainted into the new "Phase VII" livery. Upon arriving in California, the cars used on the WPE were taken out of the consist, as well as some of the extra P42's. For the Zephyr's eastbound return to Chicago, departing on April 5th, locomotive 174 was put on the front of the train, with Phase I unit 161 trailing. The train was scheduled to arrive back in Chicago by early afternoon on April 7th.

However, this didn't happen. Incredibly heavy winds in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado halted all train traffic on UP's Moffat Tunnel route on April 6th and part of the following day. The California Zephyr was running about 4 1/2 hours late once it got to Fraser, CO, just west of Moffat Tunnel and the Continental Divide. Across the summit, and downgrade towards Denver, winds gusted close to 100 MPH for sustained periods of time. Finally, in the early afternoon April 7th, the winds subsided enough to open the line again, and the Zephyr departed Fraser, almost a whole day behind schedule.

Not much more time was lost by the time the train reached me as I filmed it arriving into Ottumwa, Iowa, as the sun rose after 7 AM. By the time the train departed, they were running over 22 hours late. A couple hours later, the regularly scheduled Zephyr for that day arrived, running just 35 minutes late. I'm not sure I'd want to be on a day-late train, but it definitely provides for some unusual operations to document!

In Ottumwa, platform work is progressing at the station. Workers are removing and replacing the platforms with new ones, while also refurbishing the old platform canopies to be used on the new sections. Since a portion of the platform is being worked on, the Zephyr had to make two stops for sleeping car and coach passengers, respectively. The work on the platforms is expected to continue through the rest of this year.

To see a video of unit 174's first westbound run in its new Phase VII paint, check out my video from March 2024:
   • Amtrak 174, first "Phase VII"-painted...  

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