The Southwest Chief from Chicago to LA

The next leg of the trip turned out to be my favorite, the Amtrak Southwest Chief. It could be because I had a sleeper on this leg too. Well fed & well rested.I set up my laptop/GPS rig in my private room.

Here's a shot out the rear of the train.

Here's my bed, nice & comfy.

Leg room galore.

If I got bored in my room I could relax in the dome car.

When you are in a sleeper all your meals are free in the dining car. Of course I had the $22 steak every night. There's an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Locomotive.

The Southwest Chief runs on AT&SF rails all the way from Chicago to LA.

The train stopped at La Hunta Colorado early in the morning.

Looking towards the front, then the back. Big train.

An old Santa Fe caboose.

Out of Trinidad Colorado on Raton pass. I opened a window on the lower level for this shot. That's something I only did once. You could get kicked off the train if you get caught.

My chair in my sleeper. Temperature control and light switch next to my head.

Raton pass follows the Santa Fe Trail over the Rocky Mountains. There's the Santa Fe Trail.

Raton New Mexico.

Here's the Southwest Chief in Raton New Mexico.

The train depot in Raton. Dirt roads are the norm in New Mexico.

I realize beauty is in the eye of the beholder but the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico has the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. Some folks would prefer mid town Manhattan but I'm a country boy and I'd rather live a mile from my nearest neighbor with a starry sky at night. This is the place for that.

High Chaparral. Looks like heaven to me.

This was next to the depot at Lamy New Mexico. There was another car converted to a restaurant I didn't get a picture of.

When you upgrade to a sleeper you can bring your own supply of alcohol. I brought an assortment of microwbrews from Chicago and Boston. Here's a couple examples.

Here is the stop t Albuquerque New Mexico. We had an 1.5 hours to stroll around.

Amtrak is famous for being late. Once in 1978 I caught the North Coast Hiawatha out of Missoula Montana and it was 18 hours late. Sadly that line was discontinued in 1979.

Anyway the trains I took on this trip were never late, not once, and came into most stops early. That made the smokers happy. Since the train is no smoking any stop longer than a few minutes allowed smokers to step off & smoke.

I asked if Amtrak had a new agreement with the freight lines they were rolling on giving passenger trains priority and was told no. More likely the reason was due to the current depression slowing down freight shipping so much we traveled unencumbered.

In fact, the Southwest Chief is the only long distance Superliner that hits 90 miles per hour along the way. The GPS says 91 mph but in reality it was probably 90.5 to 90.9 mph. The laptop rounds off, the portable GPS device shows tenths. Engineers are not supposed to exceed 90 mph.