I awoke in the Pullman Suite and after showering, walked out to the lobby for some breakfast to go then acquired the keys to the golf cart and drove out to the Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point on a dreary wet morning.
My first train was a westbound BNSF baretable and I saw that the rain was distorting the pictures this morning. While waiting for trains, I worked on my stories from the last two days.
Next was an eastbound BNSF grain train.
That was followed a westbound BNSF auto train.
Then another westbound BNSF hopper train passed through.
A third westbound BNSF freight train, this was a baretable train.
Amtrak's Southwest Chief was right on time this morning.
The last train was BNSF 7803 on a Z Train. With that, I went back to the Depot Inn & Suites and made a pair of phone calls before taking back the rental car back to Enterprise in Kirksville. They drove me back to La Plata and I went to the Red Rooster for lunch then returned to my room, checked e-mail and had a sauna bath. I then wrote today's part of this story before relaxing the rest of the afternoon and later had dinner at the Red Rooster before relaxing my last night here.
4/27/2010I arose and picked up my breakfast to go before getting the keys to the golf cart and driving down to the Chris Guenzler Million Mile Lookout Point. There were no trains until finally Amtrak was heard.
Amtrak Train 4, Southwest Chief, leaving La Plata a few minutes late.
Next was Union Pacific 7458 West with BNSF power in its consist.
This train had Union Pacific 7637 as its DPU.
BNSF 4180 West came through La Plata next.
Union Pacific 5009 East.
BNSF 5645 West.
The final train was BNSF 4175 East. I returned to the Pullman Suite and put the pictures into the story then later before noon, I went into town to the Magic Mirror where Judy Wood gave me an excellent summer hair cut. I stopped by Trainparty.com to show Bob Cox the photographs from my chase of Union Pacific 844 two days ago then returned to the Pullman Suite and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. At 5:00 PM, I met Bob and we went to the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Kirksville for dinner, after which I waited for Steve Grande's sister, Shelli, to drive me back to the Amtrak station to catch my train for home, which was running about thirty minutes late tonight.
Southwest Chief 4/27/2010The train arrived with P42DC 23 and 152, baggage 1132, transition 39018, sleepers 32069 and 32002, diner 38021, lounge 33041, coaches 34132 and 31025 with the private car "Scottish Thistle" PPCX 800636 on the rear. I had Room 12 in the 32002 with Joseph Washington as my Sleeping Car Attendant. I settled into my room and did Word Fill-In puzzles for the first hour before I made up my room and called it a night.
4/28/2010
I awoke at Dodge City, Kansas and did more puzzles before the dining car opened at 6:30 AM. I was seated with a couple from International Falls, Minnesota and a gentleman from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and enjoyed French Toast and pork sausage patties. Afterwards, I walked the train before catching up with the story to the present. The train stopped in Garden City, Kansas and later Lamar before the sprint to La Junta, our first fresh air break of the morning. The train departed on time and made its way to Trinidad as I watched my DVD of the "Rolling Stones Live". Wen climbed up and over Raton Pass to our next fresh air break at Raton. The Stones DVD finished about French and I napped until outside of Las Vegas, where I called Carole Walker of Bella Vista Travel to set up a future hotel reservation. I then did more puzzles and charged my phone as we climbed up and over Glorieta Pass. At Canyoncito, we arrived early for our meet with the eastbound Southwest Chief, so I put on my CD of Metallica "Master of Puppets" to enjoy while we waited. The train passed through Apache Canyon on the way to Lamy, where after we had departed, we went short of the west switch and stopped due to a medical emergency in the dining car. After a short delay, we started the sprint to Albuquerque, still arriving early. I accessed the Internet using "herzogdata" which was slow, but enabled me to clean out my e-mail and check everything I needed. We departed 75 degree Albuquerque on time and were bound for Gallup. I had a 5:30 dinner reservation and would relax until that time then was seated with a couple from Riverside and a lady from Chicago. I enjoyed a steak and after dinner, watched a movie and then at Gallup, went back online thanks to "ACTIONTEC" and finally, watched a Jethro Tull DVD and made up my room after it was finished, before calling it a night.
4/29/2010
During the night, the train was stopped for three hours by high winds while I slept and so when I arose, we were nowhere near Riverside, but just west of Goffs. I obtained some orange juice and enjoyed my Big Texas cinnamon roll as we rolled through Essex. I met a few of the passengers and gave them the highlights of our trip across the High Desert and Cajon Pass. Joe made my room up at Amboy so I decided to take a few pictures.
Amboy Crater on a beautiful morning.
The mountains with the moon very visible. The train climbed Ash Hill then dropped to Ludlow and from there, climbed to Lavic then dropped through Pisgah to Hector, where we crossed the dry lake bed to Newberry Springs. The train flew along and before long, we reached Daggett where the Union Pacific joins in for the trip across Cajon Pass. From there it was a hop, skip and a jump to Barstow, our next fresh air break of the trip. It was cold and windy here this morning and after our departure at 7:28 AM {3:38 AM}, we proceeded next to Victorville and I put on the Scorpions "Blackout" CD. The train passed through the Lower Mojave Narrows before we arrived at Victorville then departed by passing through the Upper Mojave Narrows before reaching the Natural Flyover, at which we went over the bridge. The next CD of the morning was Metallica's "Death Magnetic" which would take me up and over Cajon Pass. We climbed through Hesperia to the Summit Valley, which we ran slowly through, up from Lugo to Summit. We took the old South track down to Cajon then descended all the way to our next stop at San Bernardino, which was a quick fresh air break.
Engines at the San Bernardino Auto Facility.
The new Metrolink cab car at the new Metrolink San Bernardino facility. We crossed Colton Crossing then made our way to Riverside for a quick stop then continued to Fullerton, where due to some slower running, forced me to end my trrain journey here. We arrived at 10:36 AM {6:34 AM}.
The Southwest Chief leaving Fullerton for Los Angeles. I met Winston Walker on the south side and he drove me home to Santa Ana, ending another wonderful Amtrak adventure and a most wonderful trip to Kansas.
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