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The Millionth Rail Mile Completed 4/27/2007

I awoke before our train reached BNSF's Argentine Yard and after I prepared for my big day, went to the dining car from my last meal with Ken Levinson as my Dining Car Steward. French Toast and sausage started my day off correctly. The train went through the north side of the yards to the fuelling racks there and I finished just before our early arrival at Kansas City.

The crossing at State Line Junction took us from Kansas into Missouri. We arrived at Kansas City Union Station where Andy Smith and I detrained and walked straight into the station where we met Steve, whom I had met on the Pacific Surfliner. He is attending the BNSF Academy outside Kansas City and is a reader of my website. We all walked outside to see the railroad exhibits.

Kansas City Public Service PCC car 551, ex. Wester Railway Museum 1190 1979-2006, exx. San Francisco Municipal Railway 1190 1973-1979, exxx. Toronto Transit Commission 4752 1957-1973, nee Kansas City Public Service 551 1947 to 1957 built by St. Louis Car Company in 1947, on display to the north of the station.

Brand new Kansas City Southern locomotives on display outside.

Kansas City Southern FP9 34, ex. Kansas City Southern 4, exx. VIA Rail 6507, nee Canadian National 6507 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1954. We returned track side and I gave Steve a T-shirt as he was going out to photograph our train crossing the bridge when I reached the Million Mile rail mark.

C.M. Me walking towards the front of the train.

The Southwest Chief at rest in Kansas City.

A Union Pacific freight passed through during our layover. We departed ten minutes late and my quest for the one million rail miles was almost over. Since I had ridden over this line less than three weeks ago at the back door of that train, I knew where everything was for my big moment in my life. I went to the crew lounge in the transition sleeper to wait for the rest of the group to arrive.

The video crew setting up and getting ready for the big moment.

C.M. All of our group met in the downstairs lounge area.

C.M. Anton had GPS on his computer and we found the Missouri River bridge just east of Sibley, Missouri.

T.E. Looking with interest at Anton's GPS.

The GPS screen.

Everyone was checking their camera settings to be ready.

C.M. Winston Walker, my proofreader, relaxed for a few minutes before the big event.

L.B. Everyone was waiting for the bridge.

W.W. I told a few jokes and pointed out the landmarks before the bridge.

A signal bridge was my first marker.

W.W. Sound was checked by the video crew.

L.B. I announced the bridge and Larry took his first picture.

L.B. A slightly better picture of the bridge.

Only I saw Sibley station.

Entering the signal track.

Proceeding out onto the Missouri River bridge.

C.M. The train was almost there.

We had reached this spot! The exact spot, MP 425.5 of BNSF's Marceline Subdivision on the Missouri River bridge east of Sibley, Missouri. The exact time was 8:26 AM Central Daylight Time as I started to put on the Million Mile hockey jersey.

C.M. I started to put on the jersey.

L.B. Putting this jersey on with everyone watching me was not the easiest thing I had ever done.

T.E. Tony used my camera to catch me in the act.

L.B. The Million Mile Rail jersey was now on and my finger starts up.

L.B. One Million Rail Miles achieved! Whistles were blown as the mark had been achieved.

W.W. Another view of the moment.

T.E. Celebration time with a can of Coca-Cola.

C.M. Carl showed the Missouri River from the bridge while everyone was still blowing whistles.

The Missouri River.

L.B. I stood up to show everyone the back of the jersey.

C.M. Carl caught the train's shadow as we proceeded off the bridge.

The train then curved off the bridge and we found a train waiting for us to pass; this was the reason that our train could not be stopped on the bridge for a few minutes.

T.E. Video making, cameras and the like would all be part of my next couple of days. I had done it, I am the Million Mile Rail Man.

C.M. With the video recording, Richard Hamilton asked, "Chris Guenzler, you just made your one millionth mile! Where are you headed to?" I replied "The Depot Inn in La Plata because Disneyland is too expensive!"

Carl then handed me a phone and on the other end was Carole Walker, my excellent travel agent, who wanted to congratulate me on my one million rail miles.

C.M. I met Rudy from Woodbury, Minnesota who had been wearing a Milwaukee Road 261 T-shirt and invited him to join the celebration and gave him one of the shirts we had to give away to people on the trip. I then just sat there for a minute and could not believe that I had reached one million rail miles, but was glad to have all these friends with me to celebrate this fantastic event of my life. Then, wearing my One Million Rail Mile hockey jersey, decided to walk through the whole train to the rear door. The video guys were in hot pursuit while Barbara, Steve's wife, was ahead passing out whistles to everyone on the train. Ken stopped me to congratulate me as did the rest of his dining car staff and it was all noisy as I made my way through the coaches. The best questions of the morning were by a girl's soccer team going to Burlington, Iowa for a soccer tournament.

I returned through the train to my sleeper before visiting Carl and Andy. For my arrival into La Plata, I had to put my bags into the first sleeper so that I could go to the coaches to be the last one off. About ten minutes out, I walked back to the lower level of the second coach and sat on a step box. The Southwest Chief arrived at La Plata at 10:03 AM and did a double stop. First, all the luggage, passengers and cameras had to be off-loaded and ready for my arrival. Tom and Jonathan had come down and asked how many people were out there? I opened the door and I saw a mob!

The train then pulled the coaches to the platform and the conductor opened the door with Tom and Jonathan stepping off. Next a lady who thought it was a smoking stop was told by the conductor to get out of the way. I then stepped off the Southwest Chief.