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A Trip to Ride the New Mexico Rail Runner, Beep! Beep! 3/22/2007 to 3/24/2007

This trip was planned to ride the New Mexico Rail Runner so I needed an on-time train in order to ride it. The day before I left, there was a bridge fire at Winslow, Arizona, which caused the westbound Southwest Chief to sit in Gallup for over nine hours. Normally, this would have been my train. I worked a full day at McFadden Intermediate then came home, packed and drove to the Santa Ana station, went inside to say hello to Marty, my excellent night-time Amtrak agent, who told me that the westbound Southwest Chief departed Fullerton at 4:16 PM. I recovered my luggage from my car and walked via the Santa Ana Boulevard grade crossing to the east platform to wait for my train to Los Angeles.

Pacific Surfliner 583 arrived before the usual Metrolink train today. Its consist was Surfliner cab car 6904, coaches 6407 and 6453, coach/café 6302, Pacific Business Class 6804 with F59PHI 463 pushing. I settled into coach 6407 and looked at the construction along Lincoln Street which has forced me to detour to and from the station. Anaheim and Fullerton came rather quickly and soon we were on our final sprint toward Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal. I really needed this good long train ride to relax me and get me that much closer to my millionth rail mile on April 27th. We arrived on time and as I detrained, I ran into Lawrence Dixon, the fabulous Amtrak conductor, who had been working in the yard the last few years.

I made my way to Track 12 to get some rare pictures of both Southwest Chiefs in LAUPT at the same time. The westbound train arrived at 4:47 PM.

Today's version of this long-distance train had P42DCs 91 and 187, baggage 1135, transition 39041, sleepers 32043 and 32075 "Connecticut", diner 38050, lounge 33048 and coaches 34072, 34045 and 31004. Simon was my sleeping car attendant in the "Connecticut" and I room 4 for this trip to Albuquerque. This trainset had been yesterday's Sunset Limited and a little bit of rearranging by the yard crew turned it into today's Southwest Chief. I settled into my room, enjoying a 7UP and listening to Jethro Tull's "Stand Up" then made an 8:00 PM dinner reservation before our on-time departure.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority building, where I had met Alex Kummant, President of Amtrak, last Saturday at a meeting in their boardroom.

The downtown Los Angeles skyline looked great from the Redondo flyover across the Alameda Corridor and the Los Angeles River.

The view east along BNSF Hobart Yard in the City of Commerce.

Just after sunset, we passed through the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs Metrolink station.

We took our first fresh air stop at a windy Fullerton.

A view along the train at Fullerton. As we left, I enjoyed the ride in my darkened room until 8:00 PM when my dinner reservation was called and I was seated in the dining car with Bob from Chatsworth, going to Albuquerque and ordered the pork chop and the sweet temptation chocolate cake for dessert.

I finished dinner in time for the fresh air break at San Bernardino where I noticed the Metrolink fleet was parked for the night.

The view along Train 4 at San Bernardino.

Light reflecting off both our train and a parked Metrolink train on the next track.

There was a crescent moon over San Bernardino this evening. We departed on time and started the climb over Cajon Pass as I listened to Mick Taylor's "Stones Throw" to enjoy the trip over the Pass. Our train took a delay at Keenbrook before we continued the climb and then crossed the summit. I made up my room and called it a night as we made our way toward Victorville.

4/23/2007 I woke up at a rainy Flagstaff and went to the lounge car.

Our crossing of Canyon Diablo just after first light on this cloudy Friday morning, after which I decided to go to the rear door of our train.

Running down the well-maintained BNSF tracks on the way to Winslow.

Interesting tracks just west of Winslow.

BNSF action as the sun parted the clouds.

We passed the location of the bridge fire which had quickly been filled. I went back to my room then went to breakfast in the dining car and was seated with three people who would not say a word to me, even when I tried to start a conversation. I did enjoy the railroad French Toast and sausage patties though. After breakfast, I found that my digital camera battery was dead and would not charge, so with no spare, I would have to use the film camera for the rest of this trip. I then listened to Scorpions' "Eye II Eye" which took me to Gallup, New Mexico and afterwards, Queen's "Innuendo" took me past Grants, then had a nap, awaking almost at Isleta and realizing that I would make my connection to ride the New Mexico Rail Runner to Belen at 12:30 PM. We crossed the very swollen Rio Grande River on the way into Albuquerque.

The Rio Grande Valley.

BNSF power in their yard at Albuquerque.

The former Santa Fe Railway shop building.

The Santa Fe M-190 still on those same flat cars at the exact location as they were last month. The Southwest Chief arrived at 12:18 PM, which gave me plenty of time to walk two hundred and fifty feet to the downtown station of the New Mexico Rail Runner.

The Southwest Chief, from which I had just detrained.

The New Mexico Rail Runner Express is a commuter rail system serving the metropolitan areas of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, administered by the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the Rio Metro Regional Transit District, a regional transportation agency, while Herzog Transit Services holds the contract for the operation and maintenance of the line and equipment. Phase I of the system, operating on an existing right-of-way from Belen to Bernalillo that NMDOT purchased from BNSF Railway, opened in July 2006.

The concept of passenger rail serving the Central New Mexico corridor had been discussed for decades, but it was not until August 2003, when New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced that his administration was going to pursue the implementation of commuter rail service, that a serious effort got underway. Later that same year, grants were given to NMDOT and MRCOG to begin the effort, and the New Mexico State Legislature passed Governor Richardson's Investment Partnership, a transportation improvement package with the Rail Runner included as one of the bill's projects.

Over the next few years, NMDOT and the Mid-Region Council of Governments developed a strategy for implementing the rail service. In 2005, a name and a branding scheme was chosen. The name "Rail Runner" is a play on the name of New Mexico's state bird, the roadrunner. The cars and locomotives were received throughout the year of 2005 and groundbreaking for the first Rail Runner station took place on October 31, 2005. During this time the state also conducted negotiations with BNSF over the use of the railroad track. After assessing the needs of the track, the state of New Mexico committed to purchasing the railroad corridor from Belen to the New Mexico-Colorado border from BNSF, to ensure that commuter trains would always get the right-of-way and have priority over freight trains in the corridor. While the engines are capable of 110 miles per hour, the track limits the maximum speed to 79 miles per hour.

The Rail Runner officially went into service on July 14, 2006, serving the Downtown Albuquerque, Los Ranchos and Sandoval County stations. On December 11, 2006, the Los Lunas station opened and on February 2, 2007, the Belen station opened, extending the line to its southern end. In April 2007, two more stations opened: Bernalillo County/International Sunport on the 20th and Downtown Bernalillo on the 27th.

A large group of passengers were waiting to board and rides were free down the line to Belen until April 1st, 2007.

New Mexico Rail Runner 509 arrived from Sandoval/US 550 and after a large group of 42 school children detrained, I boarded and chose the last rear-facing seat in the cab car so I could take pictures through the conductor's office next to the operator's room. This train had MP36PH-3C 101, coach 1002 and cab car 1104. Once everyone had boarded, we slowly moved forward and passed the Southwest Chief. When the doors close on this train, they go "Beep! Beep!"

The Downtown Albuquerque station.

Passing the Southwest Chief before we continued on the tracks that I had already ridden on earlier.

Leaving town we passed the shop buildings.

The train ran by the future Bernalillo County/International Airport station, which will locally be known as Rio Bravo.

Crossing the Rio Grande River.

At Isleta, we left the Southwest Chief's route onto new rail mileage.

Rounding a curve as we proceeded south.

Ponds along the tracks.

We came to an intermediate signal where New Mexico Highway 314 parallels the west side of the route most of the way to Belen.

The storm was behind us as we sped south.

Our train stopped at Los Lunas station.

Chloe siding.

Back on single track nearing the southern end.

Another scene along our route to Belen. A few minutes later, we came to Belen Junction, where we exited the main track for the station track, arriving at 1:12 PM.

A New Mexico Rail Runner at Belen as a BNSF eastbound rolled by the station. I walked over to the Rail Café for a Coca-Cola to celebrate finally reaching Belen by rail.

My New Mexico railrunner train was preparing to return north to Albuquerque and I took the same seat for my trip back.

Belen Junction where BNSF's El Paso Subdivision joins the BNSF Transcontinental main line into the yard.

The train pulled up to the red signal and we waited for a westbound BNSF freight train that followed us south from Albuquerque.

A few minutes later, a BNSF light engine move with SD40-2's 6704 and 6924, both still in Cascade Green livery, came by. Once it cleared, we received a flashing yellow and made our way back to Albuquerque while I sat back and enjoyed the ride. To the west I could watch BNSF freights dropping down into the Rio Grande Valley as they headed east. We arrived in Albuquerque almost on time and I thanked the New Mexico Rail Runner crew for an excellent trip.

I tried to call both Steve Grande and Chris Parker, but had no luck then walked around downtown Albuquerque after finding out that my westbound train was on time. I tried to find a camera shop, but they had moved out to the suburbs so I returned to the platform and sat in the sixty-one degree afternoon sun and bought an Indian blanket as a retirement gift for my principal, Esther Severy, who is retiring at the end of the school year. Storm clouds had been around all day but had yet to pass overhead then I saw a headlight approaching.

The train arrived at 3:45 PM and I noted the consist P42DCs 5 and 98, baggage 1242, transition 39018, sleepers 32099 "New Mexico" and 32031, diner 38064, lounge 33042 and coaches 34014, 34061 and 34097. I boarded the 32031, taking Room 6, with Nina as my sleeping car attendant. The weather started turning bad with strong cold winds so I walked down to take a picture of New Mexico Rail Runner 512 heading north to the Sandoval County/US 550 station on the same route that the Southwest Chief had just taken.

Back in my room as the rain began, New Mexico Rail Runner 511 passed our train heading south to Belen. I listened to Queen's "The Works" and we departed four minutes late then crossed the very full Rio Grande River before passing through Isleta. I now knew what was down those tracks after years of wondering. Next it was time for Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Babies Deluxe Edition" and I listened to the live CD of that set which lasted until it was time for dinner at 6:30 PM. I was seated with Don and Linda, heading home to Los Angeles from Santa Fe via Lamy. Richard Talmy was my excellent waiter and I had the pork shanks with a chocolate bundt cake for dessert.

We went into the same storm that had passed through Santa Ana two days ago as we crossed the Continental Divide at Thoreau. For the first time in years, it was not possible to see the red mesas because it was extremely dark with low clouds. After dinner, we were west of Gallup and I listened to Jethro Tull's "Back to Birmingham", which took me into Arizona, followed by ABBA's "More Gold". In Holbrook, I finally saw the Apache Railway at the BNSF interchange then called it a night after Winslow after another fantastic day of train riding.

3/24/2007 I awoke as were coming down Cajon Pass almost to San Bernardino and went to the dining car with a choice of only an omelette or the continental breakfast. Since I cannot eat eggs, I was stuck with cold cereal. I will never understand why Amtrak cannot serve a full breakfast on this train, when it can on the Empire Builder and the California Zephyr. I had Frosted Flakes, tea and an orange juice. We stopped at San Bernardino and then Riverside on a mostly cloudy morning before making the final sprint to Fullerton, where I detrained to catch Pacific Surfliner 564 for Santa Ana.

That train arrived on time and soon we were at Anaheim then slowly proceeded to Orange, where we waited for a late-running Pacific Surfliner 763. Once it passed, we took a slow order at CP La Veta before arriving at Santa Ana, where I detrained, ending yet another excellent Amtrak trip as well as my first experience with the New Mexico Rail Runner.

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