After finishing writing the Midwest Central Railroad/60th Annual Midwest Old Threshers Reunion story from this morning, I called Winston Walker so he could proof it as usual then went to the Red Rooster for dinner and enjoyed two grilled chicken breasts. Back at the Depot Inn & Suites I relaxed until Winston sent me the edits and I made the corrections. Shelli Tucker drove me to the La Plata Amtrak station at 7:30 PM and gave me three CD's of "Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years". I left my luggage on the outside bench and went in to visit with Darrell, the night-time station care taker then we went outside and waited for the train to arrive. As we waited, an eastbound BNSF stack train blew through La Plata.
My luggage. A few minutes later we heard the Amtrak horn and knew the Southwest Chief was on the approach.
Southwest Chief 3 9/05/2009Tonight's Southwest Chief came in with a consist of P42DCs 22 and 18, baggage 1216, transition 39027, sleepers 32013 and 32056, diner 38062, lounge 33046 with coaches 34138, 34094 and 34135. I was ticketed for Room 22 in the transition car. I love to see a train arrive at a station except when it does not stop to pick up me as a Sleeping Car Passenger. The train finally stopped with coach 34094's door open and the conductor standing there. I said "I have a ticket for the 430 sleeper and why didn't you stop for me?" He did not answer. I then asked "Are you going to reverse the train to board me?" "No, you can just walk through." I said "Seven cars!". He said "Just get on and walk through the train to your room."
As I boarded, I said "This is no way to treat a sleeping car passenger!" and he silently stood there. I struggled up the stairs to the upper level and then had to be careful as I walked through the two coaches to not hit anyone with my luggage. My back then started hurting as I made it into the lounge car. This was a tough car to walk through but the next one, the dining car, was tougher. Once I was halfway through, a coach attendant offered to help me. We walked through the next two sleeping cars and finally I got to Room 22 in the 39027 car and I thanked the attendant for assisting.
I relaxed as the train finally left La Plata and was glad that it had not been moving as I was walking through. I heard that conductor ask "Where is the passenger who just boarded?" I said "I'm in here!" He said "I ams sorry and did not have a train manifest with me". I replied "This is a totally unacceptable manner to treat a Sleeping Car Passenger" and he just walked off without answering. I closed the door to my open room and put on the first CD of "Black Sabbath, the Ozzy Osborne Years", while playing Solitaire on my laptop. Those heavy riffs started to make me feel better and that CD took me to Kansas City, where I called it a night as I made up my room.
9/06/2009 I awoke tired and after getting dressed, went to the dining car for the worst dried-out French Toast and sausage patties I had ever had on Amtrak. After that poor meal, I returned to bed until we where almost in La Junta where I detrained and bought a ticket from Los Angeles to Santa Ana from Eugene, the El Paso/La Junta ticket agent, who at one point worked in Santa Ana with the staff there. I returned to the train for the second Black Sabbath CD as we departed on time. I read the Sunday edition of "Pueblo Chieftain" as we proceeded to Trinidad and played Solitaire while listening to the heavy riffs of Black Sabbath.
Spanish Peaks before Trinidad.
Scenes before the Raton Tunnel.
After the Raton Tunnel before our fresh air stop of Raton, after which I listened to the last the Black Sabbath CDs.
The Southwest Chief at Raton, after which I watched Paul McCartney's "Back in the USA". We did not meet Train 4 at Canyoncito as it was running late, but would do so at Lamy. The train passed through Apache Canyon and then went into the siding at Lamy before we reached the station and had to do a double stop, the first for baggage/sleeping car passengers and the second for the coach passengers. Our train pulled down to West Lamy, where at 2:32 PM, the eastbound Southwest Chief came in at track speed.
My next DVD was Dio's "Holy Diver Live" which would take me to Albuquerque and beyond. We met a New Mexico Railrunner train at the Downtown Bernalillo station and while we were waiting, I was able to access the Internet to clean out my e-mail and check some websites. We then continued to Albuquerque and switched onto Track 3, as we had done on the eastbound journey since tie replacement was still being done on Track 1. I detrained and visited the candy machine in the station then enjoyed the 81 degree sunshine. Near departure time, I was back in my room watching more of the Dio DVD. With our train on Track 3, it was held to let the New Mexico Railrunner depart for Belen, so we did not leave until 5:13 PM so we would not catch up to him. Had they let us leave at 4:45 PM, our scheduled departure time, we would have been ahead of it and gone! At least they removed the weeds from the Track 3 platform next to the train.
I went to the dining car for my 5:15 PM dinner reservation and was seated with a couple from Syracuse, New York and enjoyed the Braised Flat Iron Bordelaise and vanilla ice cream. Once back in my room, I watched a movie while the rain from a thunderstorm hit our dirty car's windows and later a great lightning show in the sky.
Red mesas on the way to Gallup, which looked very good tonight.
Great clouds as the train made its way into the setting sun. Once it grew dark, I made up my room and called it a night.
9/07/2009 I awoke just north of San Bernardino where I enjoyed a fresh air break and once we left there, we proceeded to Riverside for an extended stop, then on to Fullerton before we made a final sprint to Los Angeles.
Our train on the Los Angeles River flyover before we arrived at LAUPT at 7:57 AM {8:15 PM}.
The Southwest Chief at LAUPT, after which I walked over to Track 8.
Pacific Surfliner 566 9/07/2009
The low-level Pacific Surfliner 566 with the Great Dome, which I boarded and stored my luggage in the Amfleet coach's luggage rack before going to the top of the Great Dome.
The interior of the Great Dome. The train arrived at Fullerton.
This was the first time I had taken a picture of the Amtrak wheelchair lift in operation here at Fullerton. We continued to Anaheim before stopping at the Metrolink Orange station then my final stop of Santa Ana, where I detrained.
Pacific Surfliner 566 departing Santa Ana before I was picked up, ending yet another interesting Amtrak trip.
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