Nobody understands the magic of Amtrak's California Zephyr train quite like Brad Swartzwelter, better known to passengers as Conductor Brad. During Swartzwelter's 30-year career as a conductor, he estimates he's completed more than 90 trips annually, logging about 500 miles on each trip – in total, he has travelled 1.4 million miles on America's rails.
But he came to love the train far before he started working for Amtrak, while growing up in Boulder, Colorado . “My father would go fishing along the Colorado River, and the California Zephyr would go by every day,” he says. “It seemed like the most magical thing in the world to see this massive, beautiful, gleaming steel string of train cars glide through the Rockies, right next to the gleaming water of the Colorado.
” Running between Chicago and Emeryville, California , the Zephyr is the longest continuous train ride in the United States, in operation since 1949. The route covers just over 2,400 miles in about 52 hours, traversing the American West through the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas. Swartzwelter plans to retire in October , but the train will continue on, ushering in the next generation of travellers to rediscover the joys of rail transport, just as I did last summer.
It was my journey west of Chicago, and I was quickly reminded of the country’s sheer vastness, a perspective often lost when flying overhead. From the train window, enchanting views of fields, rivers, gorges, mountains, and tunnels unfold.
