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Ray Burns of trainweb.com drove us down to the Amtrak Station and we all went inside to wait for the late running Southwest Chief.
The former ticket window in the La Plata Amtrak Station.
The former Amtrak pointless arrow symbol in the La Plata Station.
Views inside the La Plata Amtrak Station.
View outside of the La Plata Amtrak Station.
The inside of the former ticket office.
UFO's in La Plata. No, just another BNSF eastbound freight train. A look at all the books in the station being of the romantic variety caused me to do a series of Pirate jokes to one of these books. Aaagh! About 9:00 PM, we all moved our luggage outside just before Ray Burns and Steve Grande came down to see us all off on the Southwest Chief. Another BNSF eastbound freight blasted through La Plata before our train pulled slowly up to the station.
Southwest Chief 12/9/06The Southwest Chief arrived into La Plata at 9:21 PM {8:06 PM} with Andy and I boarding the 331 Car with me having Room 5 for this trip home. This train had engines 198 and 4, Baggage 1242, Transition 32019, Sleepers 32034 and 23069, Diner 38001, Lounge 33005, Coaches 34093, 34095 and 31030 with dead heading lounge car 33041 on the rear end. Our Sleeping Car Attendant for this trip was Lupe. After settling in our rooms Andy and I walked back to the lounge car to talk with Greg, the LSA, for this trip. Here we also met Steve, a former Surfliner engineer who was out riding the rails doing the California Zephyr eastbound and the Southwest Chief westbound. Later I returned to my room, made up my bed and called it a night as the train sped west across Missouri.
12/10/06 I was in the dining car as the train rolled through Granada, CO. I was enjoying a French Toast and sausage patties breakfast with Andy as the train came into Lamar. I took a walk of our train after Lamar to say hello to other members of our train riders group on this train.
Scenery between Lamar and La Junta At Casa we met BNSF 5125 East before we arrived early into La Junta which I enjoyed in my shorts.
The Southwest Chief at La Junta. We departed La Junta on time and Andy then showed me a video clip of yesterday’s Trainweb.com Grand Opening in La Plata on the Internet. I went to the lounge car to write the story of yesterday’s event. That took me way past Trinidad as the train was climbing Raton Pass as I finished.
Our group enjoying the climb over Raton Pass.
Rounding the Wooten Curve. I returned to my room after the Raton Tunnel for some Jethro Tull "Warchild" on my CD player. Lori, the Sleeping Car Attendant in the next car, was giving interesting announcements about sights along our route which all of the passengers were grateful for on this trip. We had an extended fresh air stop at Raton as we had arrived into that station early. I napped most of the way to Las Vegas, NM before riding in the lounge car with Tom and Dan to Lamy.
A few more scenes west of Lamy. After that, I finished up Warchild, before switching to Billy Joel "Stormfront" that took me into Albuquerque which we arrived there early at 3:47 PM {3:55 PM}. Andy, Tom , Dan and I walked over to Coldstone for some ice cream.
The Coldstone Shop
The view from Coldstone looking back towards the Amtrak Station which is just one block away
The ice cream.
The toppings you can have added to your purchase. I had mint ice cream with toppings of Heath, Kit Kat and Butterfinger all mixed in to it. We all walked back to the train for more pictures on this 41 degree mostly cloudy late afternoon.
The Southwest Chief at rest at Albuquerque.
Freshly painted engine 198.
Plaques on the 198 engine. We departed Albuquerque on time with Ozzy Osbourne "The Ozzman Cometh" was my next musical selection on the early evening.
An interesting cloud in the western sky.
The clouds became very interesting. Just before Grants, we slowed to a crawl as we moved from one flashing red signal to another flashing red signal. I visited with Tom in Room C and we checked Trainorders.com before we met Dan and Tom in the dining car for dinner. I had the Pork Shanks along with a Chocolate Bundt for dessert. Following an excellent meal, I took a shower before returning to my darken room for an evening of music. I called it a night just before Winslow.
12/11/06 Waking up east of Summit on Cajon Pass, I enjoyed a French Toast and sausage patties breakfast as the train descended Cajon Pass. One last fresh air stop at San Bernardino still in the darkness of the night before we headed to Riverside. My final sprint aboard this train would be to Fullerton and hope we get there before Surfliner 562 does. We didn’t make it as we arrived at Fullerton at 6:55 AM {6:34 AM} ending another fantastic Amtrak adventure on the Southwest Chief. Now it was time to catch the next train whatever it is to Santa Ana. Up and over the bridge I went to the south platform finding a train schedule board. Metrolink 682 at 7:11 AM would do the trick to get me back to Santa Ana in time to go to work. I went to the Metrolink Ticket Machine to purchase a one way to Santa Ana. First the machine ate my five dollar bill but gave me a voucher for that amount. The machine then had a red sign that read "No Cash". I did a credit transaction and this time it charge me both for an Adult and Child ticket. I hope that this isn’t the start of a bad day!
Metrolink 605 came into Fullerton on Track 1.
Metrolink 682 pulled into Fullerton at 7:19 AM. We stopped at Anaheim and Orange before running the final mile of this trip to Santa Ana, I detrained, got into my Geo Metro and drove to McFadden Intermediate School for a day of work.
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