Some
of the photo run by line included 3751 crew, Amtrak, and regular
passengers. Lower left, the man in the suit on the extreme left
is Eric Smith, an important Amtrak manager here in Southern
California. I understand Mr. Smith has made a positive impact for
private car owners. The silver haired man on the extreme right
was one of the English/Irish/British contingent on board. One of
his buddies wore a kilt the whole trip. In
fact, people were from as far as Europe and Australia on board the
Grand Canyon Limited. In the lower right photo, (L to R) an
unidentified 3751 crew member, Bill and Debbie Hatrick with daughter
Christie. 3751 crew Winston Lynn in the white shirt talking on
cell phone. Wayne Penn from Amtrak is talking with Don Chakerian, UP
engineer and 3751 fireman.
My video of this photo run by came
out decent even though it
was done without a tripod.
Click on the below left side photo
for my 3 minute youTube video. It will open in a new
browser page as will all the ones in following pages. The
location allowed the
train to run forward, through a right hand curve, along a tangent,
uphill, by my location and through a left hand curve over the crest of
a hill. Run by viewers were set up along 2 lines. I was at
the uphill spot. This run by was most spectacular.
Once back on board the Grand
Canyon Limited, we kept crossing the
somewhat flat plain with old worn down mountains in the distance.
We scared some of the local residents.
I wandered back to the rear end of
the train. A Conductor and
Brakeman from the Grand Canyon Railway were there visiting. Even
though I had an all access pass, I was
asked to leave, so on my way back to the friendly part of the train, I
took a few photos of the passengers on the Sky View, Tolani and Royal
Gorge cars. Below right, Philip with the patched up vest is
taking notes while his GPS works its heart out on Sky View.
Below right, CN Ken and his wife
are enjoying the ride.
Another
Canadian, Ken's friend is waiting his turn to be
navigator. I had spotted him with some cool shirt from a few of
his international trips. One had the Gahn on the front.
Below right, Robbin from the 3751 crew shows off the one of the Grand
Canyon Limited flags flown on the head end of the 3751 steam
locomotive. This particular flag was flown on the first day from
Los Angeles to Parker. They were being auctioned off to raise
money for the 3751 group. I felt it was important enough as a
guest on this train to join their group. It seems almost
guaranteed (in an industry that guarantees little) that the 3751 will
be out on the rails at least once per year from LA to San Bernardino
for their April Railroad Days event. Metrolink (Southern
California Regional Rail Authority) is an important contributor
in that they allow that trip to happen.
Grand
Canyon Limited Page 4
