With still no word on the jobs I applied for at Santa Ana Unified School District, I decided once again to escape the pressure of sitting by the phone and go to Albuquerque for a day. I booked my trip then packed but decided not to take my laptop as I had enough reading material. At 4:25 PM, I drove to the Santa Ana station and had to wait in line to pick up my tickets. With less then eight minutes until train time, I grabbed my luggage from the car and walked via the Santa Ana Boulevard grade crossing to Track 1 to wait for my on-time train.
Pacific Surfliner 583 9/16/2009
I took a seat in the cab car on the lower level for the quick trip to LAUPT and once there, it was down, over and up to Track 11 to wait for the Southwest Chief to reverse into Union Station, which it finally did at 6:32 PM.
Southwest Chief 4 9/16/2009
This train had P42DCs 16 and 137, baggage 1163, transition 39021, sleepers 32044 and 32022, diner 38044, lounge 33025 and coaches 34008, 34033 and 31014. I boarded Sleeper 32022 with Chuck as my Sleeping Car Attendant and had Room 2. My CD player did not work so I could not listen to any music tonight but read one of my magazines as the train departed on time. I had a 7:00 PM dinner reservation and while I was not called into the dining car until after Fullerton, enjoyed the Braised Flat Iron Bordelaise and Oreo dessert then took fresh air at San Bernardino before relaxing in my darkened room as the train climbed Cajon Pass. Just before Summit, I made up my room and called it a night.
9/17/2009 I awoke at Winslow and at 6:30 AM, went to the dining car for breakfast and was seated with a couple doing a circle from the Bay Area to Denver via Raton and a lady going to St. Louis. I had French Toast and sausage patties, which were better than my last trip, then returned to my room and read USA Today while enjoying the views.
Another dark morning crossing Arizona.
The Little Colorado River.
Proceeding east across Arizona.
Catching up to a storm.
I had not photographed these buttes before the storm arrived.
It seemed as though every weekday I travel east, our train meets a BNSF piggyback train at Isleta waiting for us to clear the mainline.
Crossing the Rio Grande River before the rain really came down as we arrived at Albuquerque at 11:25 AM, where I detrained to a downpour. But as I always carry an umbrella, all was fine. I went into the station and bought a new CD player at the gift shop then listened to a couple of CDs before another rain shower then walked out to the New Mexico Rail Runner station shelter to wait for my train to Belen in the 52 degree weather.
Track work on mainline 2 and the Southwest Chief on Track 3.
The Southwest Chief departed for Chicago on time and the New Mexico Rail Runner was seen approaching on Track 1 so I moved south for a better picture.
New Mexico Rail Runner Trains 509/514 9/17/2009
Since it was raining, I decided to ride to and from Belen on the New Mexico Rail Runners so boarded the first of the four cars and we headed south as I listened to music and relaxed. I did not detrain at Belen and was sold a day pass for three dollars. Every once in a while, it is nice to not have to write about a trip that I am riding. Returning to Albuquerque and another downpour, I went to the only dry spot on the platform under the road bridges at the south end. andy Jackson arrived for a brief visit just before the Southwest Chief arrived at 3:30 PM and took down the train's consist for me.
Southwest Chief 3 9/17/2009
Today's version of the westbound Southwest Chief had P42DCs 119 and 164, baggage 1237, transition 39907, sleepers 32063 and 32007, diner 38057, lounge 33030 and coaches 34004, 34093 and 34029. I boarded 32007 and had Room 14 with Rene as my Sleeping Car Attendant. I visited with Randy and after a nice visit, he returned home and I re-boarded the train and enjoyed some music and did Sudoku Puzzles as we departed on time.
On the way to Dalies.
An interesting sky.
On the way to Rio Puerco.
Looking to the southeast.
On the way to Suwanee in a very wet world today.
Both ends of a rainbow. Could I make a wish that I find out about my job?
I always love this rock formation and the rainbow added to the view.
I took this picture before my 5:45 PM dinner reservation and was seated with a reader of Trainweb.com while I had the Braised Flat Iron Bordelaise and vanilla ice cream for dessert then returned to my room and continued my Sudoku puzzles as we made our way west.
A cumulonimbus cloud building.
Fhe Red Mesas of New Mexico.
Clouds in the southern sky.
The Southwest Chief was about to exit New Mexico for the rails of Arizona.
We had entered Arizona.
The Southwest Chief running across Arizona.
The last shot of this day as the train raced for Winslow. Tired I made up my room for the night.
9/18/2009 I awoke at Riverside and after the room was made up, enjoyed the doughnuts that I bought last night after dinner while we ran to Fullerton and then made our final sprint into Los Angeles, arriving there at 7:29 AM {8:15 am}. I detrained and stepped off onto the platform where my train home was waiting two tracks over.
Metrolink 600 9/18/2009
Once the crew opened the doors, I chose a seat in the rear cab car and listened to J.O. Peterson "Rhythm of the Dream" which took me as far as Anaheim then I detrained to the warm air of Santa Ana, glad to be home again. Now I would try for some news so at 3:55 PM, I called the Human Resources Office who still had no news. Back to waiting!
| RETURN TO THE MAIN PAGE |