PICK A TRAIN, ANY TRAIN - All Aboard: The Complete North American Train Travel Guide - page 287

the train. In the next two hours, you'll pass through 27 tunnels,
the last of which is the six-mile-long Moffat Tunnel. Before it
was completed in 1928, trains had to go over Rollins Pass, which
added five hours to the trip. For the rest of the day you'll follow
the Colorado River through a series of canyons. The train crosses
the river several times, but the best viewing will be from the left
side. You should see lots of rafters, although the waters are not
the real white-water stuff. (You'll also see a lot of at least a few
of the rafters, since mooning the Zephyr has become a kind of
tradition.)
You'll cross Utah and enter Nevada during the night, getting
to Winnemucca bright and early. Butch Cassidy once robbed a
bank here. Following a midmorning stop in Reno, the Zephyr
starts its climb into the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. After a
stop in Truckee, California, find a seat on the right side of the train
The California Zephyr's route takes it across both the Rocky Mountains and, as shown
here, the Sierra Nevada range. It's a spectacular journey at any time of year. Photo
courtesy of Amtrak