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La Plata and the Trip Home

1/03/2011 I arose and went to the lobby for my breakfast this morning then with people to take the train today, I first went out to the Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point and once I arrived, the radio came alive with talk of two broken rails on Track 2 that would need to be repaired.

One of the BNSF track crew headed out to the broken rail which was near Banner Lane. I worked on the rest of yesterday's story as I waited for some trains.

BNSF 4724 West was first through La Plata this morning.

BNSF 7463 East then came through, after which I finished yesterday's story and checked things on the Internet then drove over to Trainparty.com to have Shivam fix my sobriety counter, which took him less than five minutes. He is the best computer programmer that I know. With that fixed, the webpage is now 100% back to normal and it would not have been without all of his help. I went by the Amtrak station and checked with Daryl that we were still on target for an 11:40 AM arrival. I returned to the Depot Inn & Suites and added one more picture to the story then took six of the guests back to the Amtrak station before driving as close as I could to the La Plata crossover and waited in the van for the horn of the Southwest Chief to alert me to its arrival.

The scene was set.

The Southwest Chief came through the La Plata crossovers before arriving at the station an hour and forty minutes late. From here I drove to Brown Street for a second set of pictures.

The Southwest Chief passed beneath Brown Street on its way to Chicago. It was then back to the Depot Inn & Suites where it became my wash day and I put on my DVD of "Ian Anderson plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull" then relaxed the rest of the afternoon before going to the Red Rooster for dinner then watched "NCIS" and checked the Internet before calling it a night.

1/04/2011 I picked up some breakfast, acquired the keys to the van and drove out to Banner Road to wait for my first train of the morning.

BNSF 7805 West with DPU's on the rear at Banner Road. I then drove to a new spot, the bridge on Cranberry Lane over the BNSF mainline. Only come to this location from the west if you are going to take pictures.

BNSF 1040 West at the Cranberry Lane bridge. Next I headed back west into Gibbs to the Century Lane grade crossing and waited for my next two trains.

Union Pacific 7787 West.

I climbed on top of a pile of ballast for BNSF 4596 East then drove back to the Banner Lane grade crossing.

The Amtrak Southwest Chief had private car "Northern Sky" on the rear.

BNSF 7278 West at Banner Lane.

BNSF 7541 East. Back into the warm van, I drove to Cambridge Lane by Santa Fe Lake.

BNSF 7556 West at Cambridge Lane. Next I returned to La Plata and went over to the station to visit with Bob Cox, the caretaker.

The BNSF Track Geometry Car came west this morning.

The station's new platform was used for the first time to drop off a sleeping car passenger. I drove Bob over to the Sinclair petrol station to get his lunch before dropping him off at his house then I returned to the Depot Inn & Suites, worked on the story then relaxed, watching some "Doctor Who" this afternoon. I went to the Red Rooster for dinner then worked on the Exhibition of Amtrak History before calling it a night.

1/05/2011 I picked up my breakfast to go, filled the van with petrol and missed two westbound trains by a minute as I headed out to Clemson Lane.

The view waiting for a train at Clemson Lane.

BNSF 7517 West. I drove north on Clemson Lane, turned right onto Columbus Lane which goes under the BNSF tracks and when I turned onto Missouri Highway 6, saw a train coming and raced to the bridge over the tracks.

BNSF 5202 West. I continued east on Missouri Highway 6 to Hurdland and took Route Z west to where it turned to a dead end, and took a dirt road west to a grade crossing with the gates going down.

BNSF 7841 West at Hurdland. From here I returned to Clemson Lane for the next train to arrive there.

BNSF 5271 West.

BNSF 4608 East. I returned to Archer Lane for the Southwest Chief this early afternoon.

Amtrak's Southwest Chief at the Archer Lane crossing. When it arrived at La Plata, it was on Track 2 so the passengers had to detrain at the middle platform. I returned to the hotel, talked with Maria and when she found out that I was going to take pictures of the the Exhibition of Amtrak History, she gave me the hotel's digital camera to take a few for her.

The exhibit had been removed because of the insulation being installed, and we started to put it back together but in an improved manner.

One now walks into a more open area.

The menus still needed to be tacked to the wall.

The north end of the car now includes a reading area.

These displays are waiting for the glass to be put back in front.

The south end of the car is still a work in progress.

The south car end wall.

This end is still under construction. I returned to the Depot Inn & Suites and showed Maria the pictures I took for her, then showed her all that I had taken on this trip. I then worked on this story and relaxed my final afternoon in La Plata before driving to Colton's Steakhouse in Kirksville at 4:00 for dinner, then packed for my trip home. I was given a ride back to the station and waited for my train to arrive.

The Southwest Chief arrived slowly into La Plata and picked me up on the new platform, where I boarded the "Arkansas" sleeping car and took my Room 5 for my trip to Los Angeles. The train had a consist of P42DCs 150 and 10, baggage 1707, transition car 39014, sleepers 32072 "Arkansas" and 32098, diner 38021, lounge 33014 with coaches 34073, 31023 and 34046. We departed on time and I walked the train to capture its consist. My bed was already made up so I took my ice box and used it as a table for my laptop computer then wrote this paragraph before enjoying the view from my darkened room then called it a night.

1/06/2011 I was up at 6:30 AM for breakfast in the dining car of French Toast and bacon and was seated with a couple going to Flagstaff and then on to Phoenix and a young man going from out on Cape Cod to Flagstaff then on his way to Prescott to go to school there. After breakfast I went back to bed until the train approached La Junta, where I detrained and enjoyed the fresh air this cold morning. We had an on-time departure then stopped because the lounge car and last coach were both out of water and had to be refilled. After that the train proceeded to Trinidad on this clear morning as I watched my ELO "Out of the Blue, Live at Wembley". Then it was Rainbow's "Live in Munich 1977" that took me through Trinidad and on over Raton Pass to the fresh air stop at Raton and beyond.

I had lunch at 11:30 AM with my friend going to Prescott and a couple going to Albuquerque and I enjoyed the Angus beef burger with vanilla ice cream. After lunch I put on my Steve Miller Band "Video Anthology 1971-1982" DVD as we made our way to Las Vegas. Things were going well until we reached the west signal at Blanchard, which was red. We received permission to go by that but after the "S" curves, we came to a red signal at MP 791.2, followed by red signals at MP 798.1 and 800.1. The Steve Miller DVD finished and we came to the signal at MP 803, which was green, as I was now watching Asia "Fantasia Live in Tokyo" as we resumed track speed. With the rough ride still across Kansas and these now common signal problems, I think this why is Amtrak is operating on this route instead of the BNSF Southern Mainline, which has far more people whom Amtrak could be serving and is where BNSF would prefer the train to be run. Sometimes what Amtrak does or does not do drives me crazy!

At Fox, we met the eastbound Southwest Chief in the siding there before we climbed over Glorieta Pass and dropped through Apache Canyon to Lamy. The Asia DVD took me almost all the way into Albuquerque, where we arrived just a few minutes late this afternoon and would still have almost a 45 minute layover. I stepped off into the 37 degree air and accessed the Internet, cleaned out my e-mail and learned that Jim Boyd of Railfan Magazine had passed away. I guess Bruce will have some company in heaven. I met Jim at the hotel in Flint, Michigan during Train Festival 2009. He was a really special man and thank you, Jim, for all the hard work you did with that great Railfan magazine. I felt sad again, so as you can tell from the title of this story, "sadlap", it really fits this trip.

The train departed Albuquerque seven minutes late and would be chasing the sunset. I put on my "Gandy Dancers" CD and listened to it until I was called to dinner at 5:30 PM. Then the sky became so inviting I could not resist.

Now that is what I call a New Mexico sunset! For dinner, I had a steak and vanilla ice cream and was seated with my usual friend, a gentleman from Durango, Colrado, who has the Silverton running through his backyard and another gentleman from Albuquerque. After dinner, we were stopped by red signals west of Grants and I watched my DVD of the "Alice Cooper Theater of Death", which fit my mood perfectly tonight. I watched the whole concert then since I was very tired, made up the room and called it a night.

1/07/2011 I arose before Riverside, stripped the bed and dressed then ate cookies with a Coca-Cola and worked on the story while listening to the Gandy Dancers as we made our way to Fullerton. I then enjoyed the train's final sprint into Los Angeles Union Station, into which we arrived early at 7:30 AM. I took my time detraining as I would be taking Pacific Surfliner 566 to Santa Ana.

I boarded Pacific Business Class for the fast trip down to Santa Ana. While this coach has the Internet, the public is not allowed to access it, nor are there are any newspapers aboard. We left on time and made our way back south to Fullerton then Anaheim, Orange and Santa Ana, where I ended yet another Amtrak adventure. My mother could not pick me up as she was sick, so I took a taxi home instead.

What would the year 2011 bring for the author? I was still unemployed at the beginning of the year.

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