I took #3 (Southwest Chief) from Albuquerque to Fullerton on June 25-26. Due to the Midwest flooding and locomotive issues our train was about 7 1/2 hours late into ABQ.

So while waiting I caught a movie, a bite to eat, and some photos. The GrandLuxe (formerly American Orient Express) was parked in ABQ so that was a rare treat to see.

Here are few of the photos taken while waiting for the Chief:

GrandLuxe





Rail Runner



Local BNSF switcher



Late #3



Rare daylight Barstow, with a rare visitor

Great shots matt. Wish I had the money to ride the GrandLuxe

Lately i've noticed both #3 and 4 have been chronicly late the past couple weeks. The other night I walked outside, heard a K5LA, fisrt thing on my mind...NS? Nope, it was #4 running over and hour late out of Fullerton 8:55pm (I would assume a late LA departue as well). Rolled through here at about 9:15 ish. So the floods have effected the whole route in one way or another.

Nice catch of the Soo SD60 in Barstow too!

Nice catches. I headed out to Ashland (VA) once on a rumor that the GLE was supposed to be coming through, but 'twas not to be. The Juice Train was my consolation prize that day.

Dang nice shots!!! I have been to that Albuquerque station platform before. I have actually ridden the New Mexico Railrunner commuter train.

That ex-SOO SD60 made a brief visit to Richmond from the Z-ALTSTO8, and then went back out the next day on the M-RICBAR.

Glad you liked the photos.

I'll be taking the Chief again soon. Scheduled on #4 from Fullerton, CA to Lamy, NM on August 1-2. I hope the Chief tardiness is gone by then, but we'll see. My bigger concern is what sleeping car I'll get. I'm hoping for a refurbished Superliner I...fingers crossed.

I got the chance to tour one of the refurbished Superliner I's at Fullerton RR days, very nice. The first time I rode the Starlight in 05' we had one of these, it was repainted, but not refurbished . I have the same concern about the Starlight, I always hope its on the ocean side. I'm making my reservations tonight for August 21 from LA to Oakland, hoping they put me in sleeper 1432, which is next to the dorm. Less foot traffic, and closer to the head end, so I can hear that chuggin' and K5LA. Last year I was in 1431, I liked it, 1432 would have been better though.

But the part i'm most happy about, THEY WONT BE PUTTING THE SLEEPERS ON THE BACK THIS YEAR!

I toured that car too. Was it a complete rebuild? I didn't check the restrooms to be sure. Wish I had the car number to check. It was displaying 0430 in the number slots near the end of the car upstairs, so it definitely came from the Southwest Chief pool of cars.

On this last trip from ABQ, #3 had two fully refurbished sleepers. 32068 was our car and the other one was 32006. Also in the consist were two dead heading Surfliner coaches likely redone at Beech Grove. They were next to the locos and in front of the baggage car.

Here are some other Barstow photos (not the best quality but the train was moving pretty good through here and the window was pretty dirty):

The car number was 32032, I didn't check the restrooms either...

According to my list, 32032 is a partial rebuild. It has new paneling and upholstery, but not the new sinks.

Ehh, screw the S1's and S2's... I'm racking up 6,000 Long Distance Amtrak miles in July/August, and not much time will be spent in the sleeper... #11/14 have parlours (3 trainsets as of today running with a PPC), and the Zephyr has a lounge. It works for me.

Hard core! Wish I could have gotten shots of it.