Through Thomas M. Kim, Manager of GrandLuxe Rail Journeys, LLC, in Colorado, I made arrangements to meet Bob Hicks, Trainmaster of the GrandLuxe and the American Orient Express before it was sold.  My appointment was at high noon on December 3, 2008, at American Canyon, California, where the GrandLuxe was tied up for prospective bidders to view.

I had reached the nearest Amtrak Station to the location of the GrandLuxe, Martinez, California, via the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles.  

I took a cab from Martinez Taxi, 925.228.6666 ($15 incl. tip) to the

Best Western John Muir Inn, 445 Muir Station Road, Martinez, CA  94553 (925) 229-1010 ($99.99 per night + $10 tax). 

I rented a car from Enterprise 4041 Alhambra Ave. Ste. 103, Martinez, CA, 94553 (925.335.0870) for $31.53.  Enterprise will pick you up at the hotel and bring you to their car rental place which is between the Amtrak Station and the Best Western, as long as it is between 8 am and 5 pm.

I followed my Mapquest route:  Hwy. 4 east to I-680 north ($4 toll), to Hwy. 12 west, to Hwy. 29 south.  Traveling Hwy. 29 south of Napa toward Vallejo, I found the GrandLuxe when I crossed the overpass of the California Northern tracks.  I took the next stop-light, with a Wal-Mart on the SE corner, to the right, then the first right.  This frontage road took me to a gate to a rail yard.  I called Bob Hicks, who was still on the road headed to the train after a trip to the San Francisco Airport.  He said I could go on into the area and take external pictures of the 20 cars parked between two lines of box cars.  He warned me that this was an active yard with a California Northern remote-controlled switcher working the yard, so be careful since the operator, using a chest pack, could send his locomotive as far as 1/4 mile away and might not see me if I were on the tracks.  I followed his directions precisely, parked next to the end of a line of boxcars and began photographing the GrandLuxe cars.

The full-length Great Dome Lounge, Copper Canyon, gives the middle of the train a different look from the other cars.  It was a featured car on the Great Northern's Empire Builder.

Once I reached the end of the GrandLuxe consist, and started walking back to the observation-lounge car New York, I had time to notice other things along the 1,500 ft. train.  Let me add a few photos here of that walk, then I'll send you to the next page, which is my interview of the Trainmaster, Bob Hicks.

If the artist of any of the Boxcar Art shown here reads this, please contact me anonimously at  Carl@trainweb.com.  I'd like to interpret your art for my readers who see this.