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Back to La Plata Part 3

I arose and grabbed a light breakfast before driving out to the State Highway E bridge over the BNSF mainline for this morning's picture taking.

The first train east was BNSF 5420 East.

Next the on-time eastbound Amtrak Southwest Chief on its way to Chicago.

Kansas City Southern 4014 East was racing Amtrak, but lost the race by the time it reached me.

BNSF 7558 West came by my photo location. I returned to town and stopped by Trainparty.com for a few minutes.

BNSF 4437 West passed the Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point, after which I returned to the Depot Inn & Suites.

This morning I will take you out to the Exhibition of Amtrak History and Model Railroad Display out in these two former Amtrak Express Cars. First, the Model Railroad.

Views of the model railroad display.

Next we will go to the other car to see the Exhibition of Amtrak History.

Views of the Exhibition of Amtrak History. Next I drove through the deep snow out to the Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point.

The Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point, which was named after me upon my completion of a million railroad miles at the bridge at Sibley in April 2007.

Display board and restrooms are outside. Now I will show you the features of the Lookout Point.

There is an ATCS Monitor so you can see where the trains are while you wait.

There is a heater for those cold winter days.

Electrical plugs are provided and the Lookout has Wireless Internet. I write and upload stories when I work out here. A table and chairs are also provided.

You may sign the walls and this tells when this place got its name. Now let us go outside.

From the deck, the BNSF Railroad is below and the Trainparty.com building is across the tracks. Now I will show you some things in La Plata.

The Trainparty.com building from the town side of the tracks and visitors are always welcome.

The Silver Rails Event Center.

The Silver Rails Gallery and Show Off Photography Offices.

You can go out in the countryside north of town and see the Amish. I returned to the Depot Inn & Suite

Sunset at the Depot Inn & Suites. I then relaxed until I went to dinner with Bob Cox to Ruby Tuesday. After that I had a quiet evening before I called it a night.

I was up early and after checking things on the Internet, I went outside out on this 6 degree above zero morning and drove to the Missouri Route 158 grade crossing and parked. It did not take long for the first train of the morning. I set up but did not turn on the camera until the engine started by me. It was cold out so it took my brain a little longer to get things going this morning.

The unknown BNSF westbound went by my photo location.

This train had two DPU's on the rear.

BNSF 6138 East came next.

Union Pacific 4824 West was my next train. From here I drove to the crossing by the station and I did not have long to wait.

BNSF 5137 East at the Owensby Street grade crossing in La Plata.

Ferromex 4671 at La Plata. My next stop was the BNSF crossing at Banner Road.

BNSF 7253 East at Banner Road. Once I turned the van turned, I drove to the Archer Road grade crossing of the BNSF Railroad.

Crossbuck with a warning bell at Archer Road.

BNSF 7874 East.

The train crossing Archer Road. From here I drove over to Santa Fe Lake, parked and walked over to the lake.

A frozen Santa Fe Lake, then I walked over to above the tracks and found my next photo location.

Amtrak's Southwest Chief running on time and heading for Chicago.

BNSF 5239 East at the Cambridge Lane grade crossing.

Country scene from the grade crossing looking east down Cambridge Lane while I waited.

My last train at Cambridge Lane was BNSF 4143 West. From here I returned to the Depot Inn & Suites before going to the Red Rooster for French Toast and sausage patties. On my way back I ran into Ray Burns who was going to the Bank of La Plata. I worked on the story then relaxed the rest of the afternoon then later walked back to the Red Rooster for dinner and packed. Amy Cox picked me up at 7:30 PM and took me back to the Amtrak station to catch my train for home.

If you need a rental car for your visit to La Plata, you can get one from Enterprise in Kirksville ten miles to the north. They will come down and get you and will normally let you leave the car in the Depot Inn & Suites parking lot. Their office number is (660) 665-3396. I have used them several times and highly recommend them!

The train arrived early tonight and I boarded the 331 Car and had Room 5 for this trip with the most excellent Paul Lamonica as my Sleeping Car Attendant. The train had a consist of engines P42DC 83 and 75, dead-heading Horizon coaches 54552 and 54500, baggage 1242, transition 39009, sleepers 32006 and 32063, diner 38055, lounge 33034 with coaches 34078 and 31000. I stayed up until past Marceline then called it a night making up my room for sleep.

I was up at 6:30 AM and made my way into the dining car for my French Toast and sausage patties in the pre-dawn light. Back in my room, I turned back into day use and put on my DVD of the Scorpions "Live at the Wacken Open Air 2006, a Night to Remember, a Journey through Time" then took a fresh air break in La Junta.

The Southwest Chief at La Junta.

Two views of Engine 83. We departed five minutes late and headed to Trinidad. After the Scorpions DVD finished, I put on my DVD of Emerson, Lake & Palmer "Live at Montreux 1997". It was a very overcast morning and not good for picture-taking so held off to see if it improves at some point today. The sun came out as we climbed Raton Pass and after ELP finished, I started putting my Winterail 2010 Friday night show together. I took fresh air at Raton before continuing to work then finished before lunch, being seated with a woman from Denver and a couple from near Effingham, Illinois, whose husband works at a live steam railroad south of there. I had the Angus steak burger and vanilla ice cream for my dessert. Back in the room, I next watched my DVD of the Rolling Stones "Shine a Light" as the train proceeded to Lamy.

A view as we climbed Glorieta Pass from the east side of the summit. At Canyoncito, we met the eastbound Southwest Chief as we took the siding before dropping through Apache Canyon to Lamy. The train then headed to Albuquerque, our next servicing stop of this trip.

I had never noticed this rock formation before. The Stones DVD and the bonus live songs took me all the way to northern Albuquerque and I relaxed until we arrived there early this afternoon. I visited with Randy Jackson and his wife during our layover before I returned to the train. We departed on time as I watched an episode of "Fawlty Towers". At 5:15 PM, I went to the dining car and was seated with a gentleman going to Oceanside from Newton, Kansas, a lady going to Flagstaff from Lamy and the women from Denver again. I had the steak and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Back in my room, I put on my DVD of Aerosmith "You Gotta Move", which lasted until just before Winslow, where I made up my room and called it a night.

I arose at Riverside and Paul made up the room then I turned on the computer and caught up on the story. I enjoyed my Prairie City "Morning Mini" Baker's Dozen donut holes along with a Coca- Cola to get me going this morning as the train made its way to Fullerton. I played some hands of Solitaire on my laptop on the way to Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal this wet southern California morning. By the time the train reached Fullerton, we were back under mostly clear skies as the train made its final sprint into LAUPT, arriving there at 7:11 AM {8:15 AM}, ending another wonderful trip aboard the Southwest Chief.

I boarded 564 and then realized I had left my jacket in the closet of my room. I ran back down and over to the Southwest Chief, retrieved my jacket and returned to board 564 with less than one minute to spare. I'm getting too old to do this stuff! The train left on time and we were quickly on our way to Fullerton, which was followed by Anaheim, before we arrived at Santa Ana on time, ending another excellent trip aboard Amtrak. My mother picked me up and took me back home.

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