There are a few misconceptions going on in this thread.

First off, it's Key Tours who cuts the number of trains, not Amtrak, and they base their decision on the number of tickets sold per train. As for the mechanical department, they don't mind having the Fun Train, although it causes a bit of a traffic jam in the passenger yard. This isn't to say that Amtrak's descision to supply fewer cars has no impact because the private car owners who are willing to step into the breach might not be able to meet some artificially stringent financial conditions.

The decline in ridership has two causes: 1) the start-up of the Indian casinos all over California and 2) the downturn in the economy.

The UP's dispatching has gotten better, mainly because about two years ago Amtrak sued the UP over the issue of late LD trains (not the Fun train per se). Amtrak won, and this caused a sea change in the UP's attitude, literally overnight, and not just in the LA area. It's also had a ripple effect to other railroads.

>Not likely. Traffic congestion over Donner and the former WP would have to reach intolerable levels. The UP will want the state to help foot the bill and they barely reached an agreement about increased state funding for the Donner line to run Capitols to Reno.

Last I heard, this deal fell through completely.

>UP allows Amtrak 2 daily roundtrips over Donner, now taken up by trains 5 and 6 and the Snow/Fun Trains. This may be another Amtrak motivation for nixing the SnowFun Trains, they want that second roundtrip slot for a Capitol test train. If Amtrak can prove the service will be highly patronized and cause little impact on UP operations, they have a case for more trains and more state and federal funding.

Change "Amtrak" to read "Caltrans", except for 5/6's slot, and you're probably a lot closer to the truth.

>Moyers removal of two sections of double track in the snow removal zone was one of the best examples of a CEO over ruling his people in the field who said absolutely not. Moyers had no clue as to what he was doing with the removal.
>Any chance the UP will ever put that track back in? I was in there area last year and saw the abandoned tunnel (#7, I think) and the abandoned track over the Chinese Wall and through the snowsheds. I knew they'd removed a second track, but I didn't realize the extend of it until being there.

The "people in the field" were more than glad to get rid of #1 track between Norden and Shed 47. There is a contingency plan to put the other track back between Switch 9 and Shed 10, but whether or not that happens, not to mention when, depends on the economy. There are long-range plans to CTC the rest of the Mountain, with the addition of universal crossovers at Verdi, Floriston, Midas, and Gold Run (and second crossovers at "new Colfax", Bowman, Newcastle). But then again, "it's the economy". (Sources: JLY's posts here and Altamont Press, and personal conversations with those in the UP's engineering and M/W departments who are in a position to know).

When the new Panama Canal opens, don't be surprised to see the land bridge traffic to fall off considerably. Essentially, I doubt putting #1 track will ever happen once the Canal opens.

When the UP first took over, it's snow fighting policies were no different than the D&RGW's: "We're in charge and you're not". The resulting debacles on the Mountain were the same, only sightly displaced in time. The policy has changed, and for the last several years Truckee Snow has been the only local office on the UP system which can completely override the command center in Omahaha.

I've had first-hand exposure to all this: running the various trains over the last several decades, chatting with District Engineering types and M/W supervisors, and knowing the principals of Key Tours for 40 years.