Scenes from a ride on Amtrak’s long-distance California Zephyr train trip through the northern Sierra Nevada. (Javier Panzar / Los Angeles Times) But the best way to pass the time is the dining car.

The 51-hour California Zephyr train route, which travels between Emeryville and Chicago, also stops in Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, and Reno.

The present-day California Zephyr began service in 1983, though an earlier iteration of the train — sharing the same name, but operated privately on a slightly different route — ran between ...

Over two days aboard the California Zephyr, the longest daily-running train service in the US, unlikely bonds form between passengers as mountain passes and river valleys slip past the window.