The California Zephyr is number eleven in Wikipedia's world list of longest train services and the longest in the USA. It runs once a day from Chicago to Emeryville, just across the bay from San Francisco. See the timetable using quaint 12-hour clock times and the route guide.

Leaving Chicago

near Princeton, Illinois

near Galesburg, IL

Crystal Lake - note the house on stilts - we are presumably within the Mississippi levees.

Looking upstream to the bridge that takes Interstate 34 across the Mississippi.

Now in Burlington, Iowa looking back to the bridge by which we have just crossed the river.

Every few minutes the train would give out its "lonesome hobo squall" as it approached a grade crossing (Brit: level crossing). This is North Adams Street, Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
I originally thought it was North Cherry Street about 600 yards to the east and provided this link to Google's current satellite view saying it is worth looking at because it shows a freight train with over 90 cars. The current state of that satellite view does show a train but it is much shorter.

This was announced as a cigarette break stop and a chance for non-smokers to stretch their legs.

The corridor is eight feet off the ground. The Americans don't seem to know about yards - road signs say "… 500 feet ahead".

Not sure what this revolution detector is for - possibly to detect skidding or stuck brakes.

The church of St Mary of The Visitation on the corner of North Court Street and East 4th Street, Ottumwa, Iowa. Photo on Panoramio.

Mid-West Gas & Grocery Store, 105 South Main Street, Fort Morgan, CO

The Suncor Energy refinery, Brighton Boulevard, Commerce City, CO

About 5 miles southwest of here is Aurora, a suburb of Denver. While we were asleep on the train 600 miles further west and 16 hours later, James Holmes entered the Century 16 Cinema in Aurora, killed 12 people and injured 58 others. News story 1. News story 2. News story 3. Wikipedia: the crime and murderer bio.

The "Big 10 Curve" west of Arvada, a Denver suburb. Winds can be so strong in this area that hopper cars welded to the rails and filled with sand sit on an adjacent track to act as a windbreak.

Looking back to Denver and the curves we have just negotiated.

Plasser und Theurer seem to have the European monopoly on ballast tamping and similar track maintenance equipment. Plasser American probably also have a monopoly.

Blue Mountain Estates, looking like a typical Alpine village, seen from here.

Taken from about here, I thought I was taking the Rocky Flats Plant (read about different Federal agencies doing battle with each other) but in fact this an unidentified gravel or cement works. The Rocky Flats Plant was about a mile to the southeast and very little trace no remains.

Gross Dam and Reservoir. Water supply for Denver. Most of the rain falls on the west of the Rockies and Denver is on the east so various water capture points on the west lead water through a tunnel and to this reservoir.

Volunteer park rangers provide a narr­ative between Denver and Grand Junction