Early this winter, several friends discovered we all had a similar idea of taking the snow train from Sacramento to Reno and back.
We planned a group trip, purchasing round-trip tickets from Sacramento to Reno for seniors at a little over $100 each.
On this Amtrak route, you have one daily train with stops in Roseville, Colfax, Truckee, and then Reno. The train often sells out, so reserve in advance. We departed late Sunday morning for the roughly four-hour train ride and found clean, quiet, and comfortable coach cars and one “center of the train“ observation car complete with café, all in all delivering a great train experience.
The Sacramento Valley Amtrak station, circa 1926, is historically picturesque but requires a 1400-foot walk from the station through a labyrinth of tunnels under the former railyard tracks to Track 4 West. While awaiting the train’s departure, we had plenty of time to admire the historic Southern Pacific locomotive buildings next to the Amtrak departure gates, dating back 100 years or more to when trains were the principal transportation throughout the U.S.