August 31, 2019:

            Russ and I woke up and I got dressed. I went downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast I returned to the room and got ready. Today the club would be visiting the Phoenix area.

 

            I went down to the lobby and awaited our bus. When it arrived, I photographed it.

 

 

            We soon boarded the bus and headed out. We hit the highway. We drove past a graveyard with decommissioned planes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            Our first stop was the Arizona Railway Museum. We actually drove past the street and had to turn around but we made it. We got off the bus. I photographed the bus and a former Southern Pacific caboose by the entrance.

 

 

 

            We then got tickets and headed inside. I photographed the caboose again and some former Santa Fe streamlined coaches

 

 

 

            I took some pictures inside the coaches including a Pullman Standard dome car.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I then took a few more photos of the equipment outside.

 

 

 

 

 

This E8 is originally from the Chicago and Northwestern.

 

            I then went to see what I wanted: Former Toronto PCC #4607.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obviously this fan was not part of #4607!

 

 

 

 

 

            When #4607 was in downtown Phoenix, there was also a Twin Coach and an RTS bus on display as well. When #4607 was moved to the Arizona Railway Museum, the buses were moved into storage somewhere so they still exist.

 

            I talked with a museum member about #4607. I learned from the museum member that the Arizona Trolley Museum which had to relocate was offered to use the museum and would have even allowed them to string overhead, but they declined.

 

            One more thing about PCC #4607 is that a few years ago, I found a picture of #4607 in service with TTC fishbowl #8791. #8791 is significant because it would later be rebuilt and renumbered #2291. Like #4607, #2291 is spending its retirement in a foreign country. However while #4607 is in the United States, #2291 is in Ireland. I visited #2291 in 2015 the second time I went to Ireland.

 

            One more thing about the museum is that it’s off a branch line owned by the Union Pacific. In the pre Amtrak days, the Sunset Limited and the Golden State used to run on the line by the museum as well.

 

            I then took a few more pictures before we had to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            We got back on the bus and headed out. We drove past Phoenix airport. We then went to the Arizona Trolley Museum was. The own an original Phoenix streetcar which is in a warehouse and we didn’t see it. I did take some photos of their temporary location including an old mining locomotive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This picture was taken a couple days prior to me visiting. It shows original Phoenix streetcar #116 in storage at a warehouse. I didn’t see the car on this trip.

 

            We then got back on the bus and headed downtown. For awhile, the driver and ERA organizers couldn’t decide where to park the bus downtown as they changed the location much to my annoyance. They eventually chose somewhere near the LRT.  I got off and photographed the bus as well as a Phoenix Metro Gillig.

 

 

 

            I was aware there was a Five Guys restaurant a couple blocks away. However, I had difficulty finding it. I inadvertently walked past it. I ended up at the downtown transit terminal a few blocks away. This was the same terminal that I had seen PCC #4607 at back on my Arizona trip. It was also where a woman walked up to me and started speaking gibberish.

 

            I couldn’t find the Five Guys at first. I eventually asked for help and was pointed in the right direction. I walked over. Along the way, I filmed two passing LRT trains.

 

            I got to the Five Guys restaurant and bought lunch. After lunch I went out and photographed some of Phoenix’s light rail trains.

 

 

 

            I made my way back to the bus. I realized I still had some time and wandered a few blocks and attempted to photograph the former Phoenix Amtrak station.

 

 

 

            Amtrak’s Sunset Limited used to stop in downtown Phoenix until 1996 when Union Pacific said they were planning on downgrading the route and gave Amtrak an option to either pay to maintain the existing route or reroute the Sunset through Maricopa. Amtrak chose the latter. The year before Amtrak stopped running through Phoenix, the westbound Sunset Limited was sabotaged as it crossed a bridge over a riverbed. One person was killed in that wreck. To date the ones responsible haven’t been identified let alone been brought to justice.

 

            Perhaps if Amtrak still ran to Phoenix at the time of my Arizona trip, it may have played out differently as I would have either gotten off in Phoenix and then caught a bus back to Tucson or got off in Tucson and boarded the Sunset Limited in Phoenix.

 

            I then made my way back to the bus. We got on and drove off. Along the way, we near a building that was on fire. A few minutes later, we passed over a BNSF yard.

 

 

            A little while later we passed near an amusement park as I saw a rollercoaster. We were going to the northern end of Phoenix’ light rail line to tour the line.  We pulled into the 19^th Avenue/Dunlap station. We were given passes for the light rail. I photographed a car on the tail track and the train I would ride part way on the line.

 

 

 

            One point during the day, Russ asked me how far the line went when I last visited. I told him nowhere because it was only under construction when I visited in 2006. The line first opened in 2008 and has been extended since then with more extensions being planned.

 

            Both cars on the train we rode were wrapped which would otherwise ruin any photos/videos taken from the train. The line went by the former sight of the Arizona Trolley Museum.

 

            The train passed through downtown and I caught a glimpse of the former Phoenix Amtrak station. A few stops later, Russ pointed out that the stop we were at were the closest to the Greyhound station. However, one would have to transfer to a bus.

            We then passed a spur leading from the main line to the yard. We then stopped at 44^th Street/Washington station. This station has a connection to the airport with a shuttle train to the airport.

 

            The train passed a bridge over a river into Tempe. In Tempe, I saw some cabooses from the train. I believe they were at or nearby the former Tempe Amtrak depot which lost Amtrak service alongside downtown Phoenix.

 

            We got off the train at Mill Avenue/3^rd Street in Tempe. I photographed the train.

 

 

            I then filmed the train departing. I then took one more photo.

 

 

You can see how the wraps on both cars would make it hard to photograph things outside the train.

 

            Russ and I then walked nearby and photographed the tracks for the new Tempe streetcar line. The streetcar line will cross the LRT line here.

 

 

 

 

            The Tempe streetcar will be at least partially battery powered like the Q-Line streetcar in Detroit that I got to ride in 2017. The streetcar line in Tempe is apparently scheduled to open in 2021-2022.

 

            I then photographed a light rail train going the other way.

 

 

 

            The next eastbound train arrived. I photographed it before we got on.

 

 

            We rode all the way to Mesa Gilbert station which is the end of the line.  At Mesa Gibert, we got off. I photographed the train as well as LRT car #102 on a tail track east of the station.

 

 

 

            I saw our chartered bus in a parking lot at a nearby McDonalds.  I made my way to the bus and photographed a couple Metro Transit buses and LRV #102 again showing its wrap for Metro’s mascots “Right” and “Rong” whose purpose is to show what and what not to do on Metro Transit.

 

 

 

 

            We soon departed for Tucson. On the way, we passed an electronic sign announcing two escaped convicts in a red pickup.

 

            We soon hit the highway and a little while later; we were running beside the Union Pacific main line. I saw a coal train with four locomotives at the head end and two more at the rear. I also photographed some other Union Pacific trains.

 

 

 

            We arrived back at our hotel in Tucson. I got off and photographed the bus.

 

 

            I went up to the room and went online for awhile. Russ was going to go to the Italian restaurant again. I declined. I eventually went to the streetcar stop and boarded a streetcar heading towards Helen and Warren; the northeast end of the line. I photographed the car when it arrived.

 

 

            I rode to Helen and Warren and got off. I photographed the car.

 

 

            I saw there were a few fast food restaurants near the stop. I bought dinner and waited for the next streetcar. When it arrived, I rode back to my hotel. I photographed the car once I got off.

 

 

 

            I then went back to the hotel. I went online as well as out to various stores. I soon called it a night.

 

Click to read about the ERA’s day in Tucson:        Day in Tucson