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Rail Sale: Destination Deming on the Sunset Limited 10/25-27/2002

I continued to coach a winless, but with one tie, junior varsity football team at McFadden Intermediate and had a great time with a group of "never say die" students. On October 15th, I learned that one of my favourite students of all time, German Quevado, passed away on October 8th. I will never forget my little red-headed student and all the unique moments we had shared. My cherished moment with him in Mrs. Angle's Grade 7 science class was when she asked "What is a recessive gene?" German stood up and said " Me!"

What was odd about all of this was on the 8th, the day German had died, I went on the Amtrak website to purchase Rail Sale tickets for my upcoming trip, as well as another on the CoastStarlight in November. I had put the 25th as my westward trip date and all the way through the reservation until I was complete, had that date. When I printed the confirmation letter, the date listed was the 22nd. No confirmation e-mail was received, so I knew something was wrong with Amtrak's computer system. I called Amtrak and after explaining to two agents, who said there was nothing they could do about it and I would have to eat the price of the ticket since it was non-refundable and not allowed to be changed, I pleaded with a supervisor and provided some evidence of what I thought the problem was, gladly refunded my money. I rebooked the journey with no problem and received a confirmation letter.

The days went by and I really needed a break at this point, so could not wait for my departure date to arrive.

On the first rainy night in a very long time, I drove to the Santa Ana station to wait for Pacific Surfliner 587 to take me to Los Angeles. The rain let up as the train arrived and I chose a seat on the lower level of a Surfliner coach. The always-pleasant Mishi took my ticket and I settled in for a very relaxing trip to Los Angeles, stopping at Anaheim, where the stadium was dark before for tomorrow night's World Series Game Six between my Anaheim Angels and the San Francisco Giants, with the Angels down by one game with a possible two to play. We stopped briefly at Fullerton before continuing to Los Angeles and arrived early. I went down into the station and as usual, started the queue for the combined Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle and did word fill-in puzzles to pass the time.

I led the way to the train with Sarah from Australia but once we reached it, no employee knew which car we were supposed to board. That really made me wonder about Amtrak! I chose my usual right hand large window seat and set up for the night. We departed the platform on time then reversed to pick up the mail and express cars, which made us a twenty-two car train before proceeding east into the night. I was very happy to be off on another adventure and after a few minutes, turned in for the night.

10/26/2002 I woke up off and on at Ontario, Palm Springs and Yuma before finally getting up west of Gila Bend with the desert skies providing a brilliant show of lightning. At Shawmut, amidst the Saguaro cacti, I went to the lounge car to wait for breakfast and sitting with me was Stefan, who used to be an extra board employee on the San Diegan a long time ago, who was now a dining car steward. At Casa Grande, we changed crews as I started to enjoy my pancakes and sausage breakfast. After my meal, I returned to my coach seat to listen to the Scorpions' "World Wide Live" and managed to get through half of it before our arrival in Tucson.

I detrained and photographed Southern Pacific 2-6-0 1673 built by Schenectady Locomotive Works in 1900. It was based in Tucson and operated primarily in southern Arizona hauling freight trains, logging over a million miles in service before retiring in 1955. It underwent several major overhauls and alterations during this period. 1673 had a brief role in the 1954 film "Oklahoma", for which it was fitted with a diamond stack and other turn-of-the-century equipment. By 1955, the engine was seeing little use and mainly sitting in serviceable storage. That year, it featured in a publicity photo shoot in Sahuarita, Arizona. It also featured that year in SP's 75th anniversary celebration in Tucson, hauling an excursion train from the SP Depot to the Pacific Fruit Express yard.

The steam engine was presented to the City of Tucson in 1955 and went on display in front of the then Pioneers Historical Society, later the Arizona Historical Society. In 1962, it was moved to Himmel Park and sat there for many years, exposed to the elements, gradually deteriorating and suffering periodic vandalism and theft of equipment, including its builder's plates and gauges. By the early 1990s, 1673 was in bad shape and facing disposal, but a group of volunteers, the 1673 Task Force, was formed to preserve the engine. In 1992, the locomotive was added to the National Register of Historic Places and, by 1994, it had been taken apart, sandblasted, cosmetically restored and reassembled. In December 2000, the engine was moved out to the Southern Pacific Depot in downtown Tucson and, by 2002, a shelter and security fence had been erected around it.

I then walked to Greyhound to buy today's Arizona Daily Star and noted that Amtrak no longer uses the station but is now housed in a pre-fabricated structure. We departed a mere forty minutes late as every freight train I had seen to this point had been waiting in sidings. Credit the Union Pacific dispatchers for an excellent job of train handling. East of Tucson, our train took the low grade line from Vail to Mescal, before we descended to Benson for a short two-spot passenger stop then crossed the Santa Cruz River prior to attacking the grades of the Dragoon Mountains. Once over this divide, the Sunset sped across the Wilcox Playa and I went to the dining car for lunch having a Black Angus steak burger which took me almost to New Mexico. My tablemate was on a circle trip of America by train and we had an excellent conversation. Our train entered New Mexico at Steins and made its way to Lordsburg as I continued to relax, which is what I really needed. We continued to Deming under a mostly cloudy sky after crossing the Continental Divide and arrived just an hour late and as I detrained, the conductor told me that Train 1 should be here on time.

Once I was off the Sunset limited, I heard a rumbling coming from behind the depot and when I walked over, it was Southwestern Railroad GP26 2601, ex. National Railway Equipment 2601, exx. Illinois Central Gulf 2601, nee Gulf, Mobile and Ohio GP30 502 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1962.

A further walk netted me BNSF SD70MAC 9717, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1996, in the Grinstein scheme, followed by two Union Pacific freights with the westbound in the siding. I walked the short distance to the Texaco station for postcards and enquired about a rock shop so I could get some more rocks for Mrs. Angle, the science teacher, and was given directions to one a mile north of town. I walked out to it but it had just closed five minutes before my arrival. Their loss was my gain as I felt I needed some exercise.

Back to the depot, I photographed a westbound train on the Union Pacific, led by GP38 4474 of an unknown railroad and three Norfolk Southern locomotives then caught up the story thus far, read the USA Today I bought and watched the parade of freight trains while waiting for my passenger train.

I boarded the train with three other people as the Sunset Limited arrived on time, found a seat but noticed there were six very loud and obnoxious people sitting behind me and I did not want to put up with them all the way to Los Angeles. When the conductor came to take my ticket, I asked about upgrading to a room and after a call to the head conductor for a price that was to my liking, I purchased Room 8 in the 2130 car. Once settled there, I went to the dining car for a dinner of filet mignon which was prepared excellently; my table mates were travelling from Chicago to Pomona and we had a good conversation about trains. I returned to the privacy of my room and listened to John Cougar with the lights out to enjoy the mood. I love riding the train at night in a room and the descent from the Dragoon Mountains with Benson lit up far below was spectacular, with the stars and lightning coming from the clouds. We ran without delay to Vail, where we waited for two eastbound freights before crossing over to reach Tucson, where I went to bed, ending another great day of travelling.

10/27/2002 After midnight since it was clock change weekend, the Sunset Limited crept at several points so it would stay on schedule. Getting up at 5:00 AM so I could have breakfast, I found the dining car tables stripped of everything and my only choice was a continental breakfast of items I could not eat. Last night, it was mentioned that breakfast would be served in the dining car started at 5:00 AM with a last call before Pomona. What bothered me is that I was entitled to a full breakfast and they used the excuse that we were going to be early so would not have to do their jobs, but are being paid for their time while they are on the train? I planned to call Amtrak about this when I arrived home.

I went to the lounge car for a cinnamon roll and tea to take back to my room. In San Timiteo Canyon near El Casco, the train was stopped by a dragging equipment detector so our crew had to inspect the length of the train which took about fifteen minutes. We made it delay-free to our next two stops of Ontario and Pomona then rom El Monte to Los Angeles, we travelled via San Gabriel and Alhambra, which I did not mind as we had left east via the Metrolink line (State Street). Variety is the spice of life! The last time I came this way was in June 2000. Going through the concrete trench at Alhambra was a preview of the future Placentia trench to eliminate grade crossings there.

At the throat of the Los Angeles Transportation Center, we came to a halt due to congestion ahead in the station, which surprised me as it was a Sunday morning. We sat for twenty-nine minutes for a Union Pacific power movement and the express cars to be taken off the Southwest Chief. We should have been in early, but we arrived just eleven minutes late and I made my next train with nine minutes to spare.

I settled into a lower level seat and relaxed then once Lisa Post (nee Washington) took my ticket, I visited Anthony in the café car for a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a cup of mint tea. He answered a question for me that I wanted to know since last night: who won the World Series game? The answer, the Angels in a comeback 6-5 win. Back at my seat, I was a happy train rider so I enjoyed my snacks as the train took me home to Santa Ana and I stepped off, ending another excellent Rail Sale trip.

Footnote In Game 7 of the World Series on 10/27/2002, the Anaheim Angels defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-1 to become the World Champions of Baseball for the first time in their 42-year history.

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