I found my old friend Bill Parks and wife Claudia in the Silver
Lariat. Bill has been a Trains & Travel host on many trips
including both times that I've been on the Feather River Express.
Claudia insisted on taking my picture. That is what I looked like
in Congress Arizona.
Traipsing back towards the common
persons part of the train, I found
people enjoying their layover in Congress. Below left is the
lower level of the Plaza Santa Fe dome car. This car is another
beautiful part of the California Rail Tours empire which is based in
Salinas, California. In the Sky
View dome, I found this woman with the coolest necklace
imaginable. It features an Operation Lifesaver zipper pull.
Though I never explained who the Operation Lifesaver member traveleing
on the train was, I did run into him in the Royal Gorge car and he
offered me some OL swag. I declined and challenged him to view
the front of my shirt. As he realized my affiliation with OL and
made mutual introductions, I told him that we had met at the Sacramento
workshop in October 2011. I took Gene's photo several times, but
he was not printable due to his state of wakefulness or lack
thereof. I could have done a study of sleepyheads on a train, but
people might not appreciate this. I had a very nice chat witih
Gene over the afternoon.
We spent something like 2 and one half hours in Congress.
Just enought time not to get any legislation passed. Good for
roaming the train and taking photos though. Servicing the
steam locomotive with water without an auxiliary water tender took
another bite out of our schedule.
In the Zimmerman baggage car, someone told me to be ready for something
spooky. I got an interesting texture with a slow shutter speed
and low ISO setting. I did get daytime photos of this monster on
the way home.
