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Taken a few minutes before we depart Chicago, is Amtrak Train #5 - The California Zephyr with
GE P42DC #132 leading a consist of two engines and 10 cars.
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| Standing next to my "home" for the next couple nights, the "0531" car which is Superliner I Sleeping Car #32006. |
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Metra, Chicago's commuter rail system has their big coach yard next to Amtrak's as seen from the train just after departing Union Station.
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| Now turning west onto the BNSF Aurora Sub and passing a Metra train. This line is sometimes referred to as the "racetrack". |
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Now leaving downtown Chicago, The Windy City! Shown here with the wonderful Willis Tower, Chicago's tallest building.
I visited the sky deck of that building back in 2004, what a view!!!
Obviously, I'm not afraid of heights! |
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| Riding past intermodal yards in Chicago. Got wheels??? |
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| Naperville, IL, a station stop used by both Amtrak and Metra trains. |
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| Passing by Burlington Junction Railway EMD SW9 #900 at Montgomery, IL where this railroad has a connection with BNSF. |
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| The California Zephyr takes a break at Galesburg, IL. |
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The Galesburg Railroad Museum is located next door to the Amtrak Station here. One of the signature pieces in its collection is this
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 4-6-4 Steamer #3006 which was built by the Baldwin Locomotives Works in 1930.
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| A view of the train with the Burlington 4-6-4 from the platform in Galesburg. That's a neat mural on that building in the background! |
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| The Amtrak Station in Galesburg, as seen from the departing train. |
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| A former CB&Q 40ft box car located just west of the Galesburg Station. |
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| Time for dinner!!! I had the Amtrak Signature Steak with Wild Rice and Veggies and a Diet Pepsi, good eats!!! |
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Crossing over the mighty Mississippi River into Iowa. The bridge in this photo is carrying U.S. 34 over the river into Burlington, IA.
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| BNSF EMD GP39-2 #2792 sits on a siding just after crossing the Mississippi River. |
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| The lift bridge over the Mississippi River that we just crossed. Welcome to Iowa!!! |
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The sunset near Mount Pleasant, IA. I don't know why, but this image reminds me of a scene in the movie "Field Of Dreams". You might
remember the scene where Ray Liota yells back to Kevin Costner "Hey, is this heaven?" and Costner responds "No, it's Iowa!" |
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Amtrak's Station in Ottumwa, IA which also is home to a historical museum. This photo, and the next five on this page were
High-ISO images rather than Manual HDR since there was only a limited amount of time at the next two stops for photos. I set
the camera at ISO 6400 and used the onboard flash for these photos rather than layer-masking a bunch of photos.
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| A view of the platform with the train at Ottumwa. The platform canopy appears to be under renovation. |
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Ottumwa is a crew change/fresh air (or smoking) stop. For me, I don't smoke so it's a picture stop!
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Now in Omaha, NE, this is a small service/fueling stop for the train. Above is the old Omaha Station which is not in use except
for the platform. Amtrak has a smaller station located behind where I stood to get this photo.
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| The California Zephyr taking a break at Omaha. |
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| Amtrak's station in Omaha, located next to the old station. This size building is good enough for two trains per day. |
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