Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Clean Windows, Please!
Before each trip, most long-distance trains are taken through an
automatic car wash (a supersized version of the one around the
corner where you take the family car). Keeping the train win-
dows clean is not easy, however. A brief rain squall followed by a
dusty stretch of track can undo all that effort within minutes. So
can passing through a lot of tunnels. You'll see a lot of blackened
freight locomotives operating on the California Zephyr's route
west of Denver. That's the result of the heat and smoke from the
diesel motors in all those mountain tunnels. Finally, if a train is
late arriving at its destination, there just may not be time to wash
the consist before it gets serviced and sent off on its return trip.
Clean windows are important on scenic train rides. In major rail yards, passenger
trains are run through giant car washes, but in Jasper, Alberta, before continuing its
journey through the Rocky Mountains, vIA Rail's westbound Canadian gets its windows
washed the old-fashioned way.
Photo courtesy of the author
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