I accompanied Mr. Barnes through the
whole
train ending up in the Idaho car. Inside the Idaho car, several
crew members were catching up on work on their laptop computers,
including (left) John Hedrick, Southwest Research Institure, Principal
Engineer - Medium
Speed Diesel Engines and (right) David Ducharme, GE Transportation,
Manager, Global Product Safety and Regulatory Commpliance.
Relaxing behind were a Train Commissary
staff menber and a smiling James Barnes. Just before 5:00 PM, the
Green Locomotive Technology Tour train was shoved out of Los Angeles
Union Station, across
the Sunset line bridge and up the east bank of the Los Angeles
River.
The train was stopped and the crew
exited the "Idaho" and walked the
train forward to the head end. During that time, an unmarked SUV
was
nearby with a UP police officer. After about 5 minutes, the train
pulled forward along the east bank of the LA River.
Not content
with staying in the luxury of the Idaho car or riding in either dome
car, I asked Mr. Barnes if I might take photographs from the Idaho car
vestibule with its dutch door top open. He accompanied me and
while I took the pictures, I pointed out some of the (few) landmarks
visible from the train. Below right are support members taking
video footage of the Tour train.
Above left, the Sunset Line track
leading towards Los Angeles Union
Station. Below right, Amtrak Pacific Surliner train 784 has left
Union Station with her destination being San Diego.
The first thing we saw (above right)
was several
emergency vehicles on the East Cesar E. Chavez overcrossing of the LA
River. There was smoke coming from the vicinity of the direction
the train was heading. It turned out to be a trash fire possibly
started by the homeless residents who live in the area.
Above right, UP mow cars filled with
ballast for local refurbishment
jobs. The next
area of interest was the Amtrak yard on the west bank of the
river. Sitting there (below right) was a BNSF locomotive which
had been used to
bring in an Amtrak train earlier that day. He was about to move
towards his terminal and was spotted later.
Below right, the BNSF locomotive on
the passenger flyover track.
After passing the
last industrial units on the east bank, the train joined the UP lead to
the Alameda Corridor and again crossed the LA River. The lead
tracks to the "J" yard had the suns late afternoon reflection on
them. The track descended into the Alameda Corridor trench
through a left hand curve.
During the traverse through the
trench, we did not meet or pass any
trains.
