Thanks Rick, that really helps a lot. Its so interesting to see things that can only be seen from on a train.
I really love the scenery along the route of the Southwest Chief. A few years ago, my wife and I flew to Albuquerque and rode the #4 to La Junta, Colorado, got off and spent the night in a motel and caught the #3 west bound the next morning back to Albuquerque. Was a fun 2 day trip over Raton Pass both ways. I posted a few photos in this album. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/2239 In July of this year, we were fortunate to have the opportunity to ride on some private cars tagged on behind the #3 from Kansas City to Los Angeles. Some photos here. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/2541
Wow that one photo of the dinning car sure looked fancy. Did anyone actually eat there or was it just for show?
Yes, we had a very "formal" dinner there in the dining room under the dome while parked at the depot in Kansas City before the #3 arrived and we were coupled on to the back end. After that, the crew brought all the meals up into the dome where we were able to eat. There are three smaller tables up in the dome so it is a little more intimate and we don't all sit together there.
Wow Russell, that's just so cool. My brother-in-law used tell me about those private cars tagging along when he worked at Union Station in Pittsburgh. He said somethimes they would push the cars onto an empty siding for the night in Pittsburgh so that its occupants could hit the downtown nightlife.
We had a bedroom with an upper and lower bunk. We were right in the middle in room C and shared a shower and commode with room D. The crew occupied E and F.
Also there are other choices by taking 5 out of Chicago to the Bay Area then transferring to the coast starlight or taking the San Joaquin's Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
I wanted to take that route coming back, but its a real hassle getting back to Southern CA. You have to transfer on a couple of buses and I think there is also a small commuter train as well which realy drives the price up. At one point I though about driving to Reno and catching it there but was worried about leaving my car there so long. We also talked about taking the Southwest Chief from LAX and have my daughter drive our car to Reno and spend a couple of days there before driving back, but my daughter isn't up to it.
Three choices to get from the Bay Area to Southern California. 1. Coast starlight train 11 2. Overnight thruway bus from EMY to Santa Barbara then take the surf liner to LAX. 3. San Joaquin from SAC to BFD (Bakersfield) then thruway bus to LAX. I have taken two of these options. Still need to take the Coast Starlight one of these days. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
There is one more option out of Chicago. Take the Texas eagle train 21. It connects with the sunset limited train 1 in Texas. Train 1 will take you into LAX. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Oh Wow! The Coast starlight train 11 looks like it would be fun, but I think I might make that a separate round trip to Seattle to enjoy that. I have never seen the north west and my wife has relatives around Seattle. Actually I have some friends that moved up there when they retired and I just never made it up there. Thanks for the idea Kevin
