At 8:12 PM, the Southwest Chief arrived and I once again boarded the sleeping car "Missouri", but this time I was in Room 2. The trainset was exactly the same as the one that brought me here. Henry Ford was also my sleeping car attendant again, so I was in good hands and settled for a good night's rest as I watched the Missouri countryside from my darkened room and called it a night just before we reached the Kansas City metro area.
2/12/2007 I awoke in extreme western Kansas and went to the dining car for French Toast and sausage, which I finished before Lamar, Colorado.
The snowy eastern Colorado plains on a morning when it was good to be on a nice warm train. At Las Animas, we held the main for an eastbound BNSF grain train, then at Casa, we passed a coal train before reaching La Junta, a fresh air stop on a rather dark and dreary morning.
The Southwest Chief at rest at La Junta.
Another coal train passed through prior to our on-time departure. Later at Hoehnes, we came to an unexplained stop at a red signal for twenty minutes before reaching Trinidad then climbed up and over Raton Pass, exiting the Summit tunnel at 7,588 feet, the highest point on the former Santa Fe Railroad. A few minutes later, we arrived at Raton, our next fresh air stop.
The Santa Fe Raton station built in 1904.
The tower of the station. Later I had lunch with Leslie and Gary, travelling from upstate New York to Fullerton, and Patty, returning from Kentucky to Victorville. I had the Angus beef burger and a chocolate bundt cake then back in my room, my first music of the day was Queen's "Live Killers" which took me over Glorieta Pass, down Apache Canyon and beyond Lamy. I switched to Mark Knopfler and Emmy Lou Harris' "All that Roadrunning". We arrived at Albuquerque early, passing the eastbound Southwest Chief just east of the station. A trip to Coldstone Creamery was in order this afternoon before I returned to the station for some train watching.
New Mexico Rail Runner Train 512 ready to depart north for Sandoval/US 550.
New Mexico Rail Runner MP36 102 on the rear of this train.
New Mexico Rail Runner MP36 103 in their storage area.
Future New Mexico Railrunner Train 516 heading north to the downtown station.
Santa Fe Gas-Electric motor car 190 built by American Car and Foundry in 1910. Santa Fe wanted a car that could pull a train of five standard (heavyweight) cars at main line speeds on the Kansas City to La Junta part of the railroad. M.190 was not intended to be a branchline puddlejumper, but more of an early version of a light duty, internal-combustion mainline passenger locomotive, an evolutionary step on the way to the Burlington's Pioneer Zephyr, Union Pacific's M.10000, and eventually the E-units.
To carry the weight of the engine, steam generator, water and fuel, EMC and Pullman settled on the 90 foot articulated carbody design, which put a second truck with an extra pair of traction motors up front where the weight was. Santa Fe reportedly didn't like idea of the articulated design nor one of its side effects - the need to truck-mount instead of body-mount the brake cylinders. Truck-mounted brake cylinders were unusual for the time, but are standard practice today.
The car remained an oddball on the roster and did not actually see much of the kind of service for which it was designed. M.190 tested with five cars on various parts of the system, including Los Angeles to San Diego, but in its first regular assignment (Kansas City-Topeka-Emporia) it was usually only called upon to pull three. By 1937, it had been taken off the "passenger main" and shuffled down to Texas for the run from Amarillo down the unsignaled Plainview District to Lubbock.
1937 was also the year that the Super Chief was streamlined. EMC's designs had made a quantum leap in just five years, from boxy, distillate-powered M.190 to the sleak red and silver diesel-powered E1's pulling the Super. From 1936 to 1955, M.190's usual assignment was the Amarillo-Plainview-Lubbock run. It did stray some after World War II and before it was dieselized in 1949 and the old Winton engine was replaced with a surplus marine 12-567 salvaged from a Navy Landing Ship-Tank. In 1956, the Albuquerque shops refurbished the car, painted it in red and silver warbonnet, and sent it to Clovis to power the train from there to Carlsbad and back. This service, the last Santa Fe "motor" run, lasted until 1967.
M.190 joined the Santa Fe historic collection stored in the roundhouse at Albuquerque then in 1986, the collection was sent to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Neglect and exposure to the elements took their toll over the next 20 years, and in 2007, CSRM deaccessioned the car and "gave" it back to the state of New Mexico.
My Southwest Chief ready to hit the road west.
Duct tape is wonderful for fixing things such as our lead locomotive. We departed Albuquerque on time as I listened to Alice Cooper's "Welcome to my Nightmare", followed by the Emerson Lake & Palmer's "King Biscuit Hour", the second disc of live Karn Evil 9.
The Southwest Chief running west into the night. I had a 6:15 PM dinner reservation and was seated with Mary and Dave Lewis, riding from New York to Fullerton, who told me quite an interesting story about them. They had been high school sweethearts in Connecticut, but went out into life on separate paths. She had put up her information on Classmates.com and about a year later, Dave stumbled onto the same website and found her. Later they married, bringing a happy end to their single lives. I ordered pork shanks and a chocolate bundt cake then returned to my darkened room for the first disc of the Emerson Lake and Palmer set on a bright star-filled night. Afterwards, I called it a night.
2/13/2007 I awoke just outside of San Bernardino, changed into my work clothes and went to the last call for breakfast in the dining car, having usual morning meal on the train, which lasted until West Corona. I returned to my room, took my luggage downstairs and relaxed for the last few miles of this trip, arriving at Fullerton at 6:56 AM and I detrained, ending another great trip on the Southwest Chief.
The Southwest Chief departed Fullerton for an early arrival into Los Angeles Union Passenger Station this sunny February morning.
Metrolink 603 arrived while I waited for my train back to Santa Ana.
Metrolink 682 arrived and I boarded to go home. After a red signal, we ran to Anaheim, Orange and Santa Ana, where I detrained and drove to McFadden for a day of work. This ends yet another fantastic Amtrak adventure and a most wonderful stay at the Depot Inn & Suites.
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