Big Circle Trip

[Ispolkom]

PART 1

Mrs. Ispolkom returned this week from our trip to the Southwest. It was a Planes, Trains, and Automobiles kind of trip, and we even got to meet forum members Rtabern and WhoozOn1st.

Day 1 (8/21)

I've never been able to convince AGR to let me book as one award travel between two western trains that requires and overnight in Chicago. So St. Paul - Chicago - Albuquerque was out, and I couldn't see paying to travel coach to Chicago, paying to spend the night in Chicago, and then continuing on.

Instead we saved some money by flying to Midway Airport on Southwest Airlines. Our flight was completely sold-out, but it was on time and only an hour in duration, so it was bearable. We retrieved our luggage and set off downtown on the L. As usual, I was infuriated that the farecard machine at the Midway Airport L station doesn't take credit cards, doesn't give change, and will allow you to only buy one card at a time. And why can't you buy a one day pass from a machine? This time I was angry enough to stop at a CVS and buy half a dozen one-day passes for future Chicago trips. That'll show them.

At Union Station we used a Quik-Trak machine to get our Amtrak tickets, checked our suitcases to Albuquerque, and dropped our carry-on luggage at the Metropolitan Lounge. I had hoped to have had time to see the mammoth exhibit at the Field Museum, but it was already past noon when we finished our chores, so instead we walked about a mile south of Union Station to Manny's, an old-line deli I had heard about.

I know, everyone goes to Giordano's, but She Who Must Be Obeyed has pointed out that there is more than one restaurant in Chicago, so we've been trying new places. Manny's is worth the walk. It's a no-nonsense, old-fashioned cafeteria, with a wide variety of food available, but most people go for the hot, overstuffed sandwiches, with or without potato pancake. Both the pastrami and the corned beef are excellent, though the potato pancake was disappointing. On the way back to the station we detoured to Binny's, a huge liquor store across the street from Manny's (complete with bar inside), and bought a bottle of sparkling wine, our tradition for starting a train trip.

We opened the bottle (a Spanish cava) and toasted each other as the train eased out of Union Station, through the switches and on to the West. Soon we were in Galesburg, where we were delayed while temporary repairs were made to the air line on the baggage car. We had dinner with a couple traveling from South Carolina to a convention in Las Vegas as the train rattled across the remarkably good-looking Mississippi River bridge at Fort Madison, Iowa. I had the excellent barbecued brisket, while Mrs. Ispolkom suffered through the vegetarian pasta. That dish added more evidence to my belief that Amtrak hates vegetarians. We were asleep before we reached Kansas City.

Day 2 (8/22)

I often don't sleep well the first night of trip, and this was no exception. I woke up as the train stopped in Dodge City, but by the time we'd finished breakfast the train had already left Garden City, Kansas. Which brings up the question, Have I been to Kansas? I guess so, since I traveled by train across the entire state, and even ate a meal in it. On the other hand, I never actually touched the ground in Kansas. I'll still count it, which leaves me with five states to visit: Oklahoma, Texas, Maine, Alaska, and Hawaii.

We were generally 30-45 minutes behind from Galesburg on, and didn't seem to lose much additional time in western Kansas. We stretched our legs in La Junta, Colorado, then resorted to some of our reference books as the train climbed up to the Raton pass. I'm a big fan of Mountain Press's "Roadside Geology" books, and find them useful on the train, since most of the train routes Amtrak uses are next to a major highway. As we discovered, there is lots of geology in New Mexico and Arizona.

The Southwest Chief arrived in Albuquerque 35 minutes late. We retrieved our checked suitcases from the luggage cart at the side of the depot (they actually checked our claims, something that I think I've only had happen in Washington, DC), and took a cab to our motel. We checked in, rested a few minutes, then walked over to Albuquerque's baseball park to see the Isotopes beat the New Orleans Zephyrs 7-4. It was free hat day!

Mileage so far:

Airplane 415

Train 1341

 

[Bob Dylan]

:hi: Nice report, I just watched the Isotopes end the season in RoundRock against the soon-to-be ex farm team of the Lastros, the Express.You can count Kansas since you were there overnight and ate a meal IMO! I havent been in Maine (got the Downeaster on the bucket list)nor Alaska.As you know you can reach three of these states on Amtrak (Texas/Oklahoma/Maine),the others require planes or ships! ( in the case of Alaska you can drive but go in the summer! :lol: )Nice ritual with the wine, always good to find new local joints also! (especially when the boss wants to! )

Look forward to the rest of the adventure including meeting a fellow train buff (robt) and of course the infamous Whooz!

 

[hello]

Thank you, Ispolkom, you have a way of writing that always makes me smile!

 

[caravanman]

Hi,

Interesting report, I will put Mannys on my list of Chicago eating places to try, as I am not a great fan of Pizza..

I believe the issue with the CTA one day passes is the price.. maybe it would dispense from those machines if it was priced in round dollars and no cents?

Maybe you would sleep better on your first night aboard train if you toasted each other with Scotch instead of wine.. you just never know...

Cheers!

Eddie

 

[Ispolkom]

Maybe you would sleep better on your first night aboard train if you toasted each other with Scotch instead of wine.. you just never know...

Funny you should mention that. The next night we were on the train our nightcap was bourbon, and we did sleep much better.

PART II

Not so much train: Days 3-9 (August 22-31)

From August 23 to 31, we rented a car and traveled through Arizona and New Mexico. Mostly we focused on scenery, geology, and Indian antiquities, rather than railroading. The big exception was riding the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.

The Cumbres and Toltec, like the Durango and Silverton, is a relic of the Denver Rio Grande and Western Railroads narrow-gauge empire. Since narrow gauge was recognized to be a dead end, the DRG&W continued to run their narrow-gauge lines with steam equipment right up to the end. But this wasnt a toy railroad like the Ffestiniog Railway weve traveled on in Wales. No, this railroad used full-sized Baldwin locomotives converted to narrow-gauge operation.

When I researched this trip in the spring, I had decided that we should travel from Chama to Antonito, returning by bus. This would allow us to ride the double or triple-headed train as it huffed up the 4% grade to Cumbres Pass. After lunch in the middle of the route, we would continue through Toltec Gorge to Antonito.

No such luck. Two months before our trip (and several months after we bought our tickets) a fire took out Lobato Trestle, which is inconveniently located near the top of the pass. Instead of the spectacle of ancient steam locomotives straining up the steep curves, we rode a bus to the Cumbres pass summit, and took the train from there.

That disappointment aside, I thought this was a great trip. The train wasnt very crowded (perhaps because of the Lobato truncation), and we still got to see some great scenery (and rocks). Railroad volunteers and employees both on the train and at the Chama yard were uniformly friendly, helpful, and amazingly low-key about safety. As long as you didnt run and didnt climb on equipment you could go anywhere and photograph anything. Lunch at the midpoint wasnt bad, but I was glad I wasnt a vegetarian.

Our train was met at Antonito by an F7 F3A locomotive from the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad pulling an ex-Great Northern Great Dome. The Rio Grande runs a daily connecting service from Alamosa to the Cumbres and Toltec, allowing a mix of train services. This made me wish that we had booked that trip as well, but Mrs. Ispolkom disagreed.

While I had a good time, Mrs. Ispolkom found the trip a bit too much. She was especially disappointed that, while the train did a steady 10-15 m.p.h. in the mountains, it maintained that speed on the plains outside of Antonito as well, when she would have preferred to have the trip over sooner. I think that it will be hard to talk her into any other excursion railroad in the near future.

The next day I was surprised, while driving across the Navajo Reservation, to see a well-maintained electric railroad next to the highway near Kayenta. This turned out to be the Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad, a private railroad that carries coal from a mine to a power station on the Colorado River. Electrified operation apparently is cheaper in this case than shipping in diesel fuel.

Several days later, after visiting the Grand Canyon, we stopped for the night in Flagstaff. Next to Flagstaffs Amtrak station is the Lumberyard Brewing Company, which brews excellent beer. Heres a match made in heaven: a heavily used railroad line that you can sit and watch with a pint in hand. If only there were dinosaurs somehow involved it would make the trifecta of my obsessions. We saw six freight trains (three in each direction) thunder through at speed in the time it took us to eat dinner.

The next day we travel east from Flagstaff on I-40. Much of the time BNSFs Southern Transcon was in sight, and again there were lots of fast-moving freights. I paced one long eastbound container train at 75 m.p.h. We noticed lots of Norfolk Southern locomotives, though I cant guess what that means.

The Transcon runs through Petrified Forest National Park. Mrs. Ispolkom and I were sitting at a pull-out in the park next to a sign, eating our lunch, when another car stopped and several persons got out. They read the sign, which described the Santa Fe railroad and mentioned that as many as 60 trains a day passed through the park. Not likely, one snorted, and they got back in their car and drove off, not even bothering to examine the 800-year-old petroglyphs nearby. I didnt say anything at the time, but did note to myself that at that very moment I could see three trains (one moving east, the second west, and the third stopped on a siding), so that a total of 60 daily trains seemed quite credible.

We saw a lot in eight days and ate a lot of great food, but of course things are spread out in the West, so there are lots of things we missed. I was sorry, for instance, that we couldnt ride the Roadrunner commuter rail to Santa Fe, and I especially wished that we could ride the Rio Grande's Great Dome car. But any trip is a series of compromises, isnt it?

 

[MrFSS]

The next day I was surprised, while driving across the Navajo Reservation, to see a well-maintained electric railroad next to the highway near Kayenta. This turned out to be the Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad, a private railroad that carries coal from a mine to a power station on the Colorado River. Electrified operation apparently is cheaper in this case than shipping in diesel fuel.

I saw that train a number of years ago and stopped to catch a video as it passed. Unique Horn!



They told us they get their electricity for free!

 

[Ispolkom]

The next day I was surprised, while driving across the Navajo Reservation, to see a well-maintained electric railroad next to the highway near Kayenta. This turned out to be the Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad, a private railroad that carries coal from a mine to a power station on the Colorado River. Electrified operation apparently is cheaper in this case than shipping in diesel fuel.

I saw that train a number of years ago and stopped to catch a video as it passed. Unique Horn!



They told us they get their electricity for free!

Thanks for posting that! You're right about the unique horn, and those straight-sided coal cars look odd. Definitely a unique operation.

 

[Brandon V]

Those trains look European/German origin maybe? I've heard freight train horns like that in Europe.

Source:

I lived in Germany for 3 years during High School with my aunt and uncle, and i've been to Europe about 15 times.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Very cool report - but somewhat disconcerting....

"She Who Must Be Obeyed." I never knew my wife had an identical twin sister hboy:

 

[Ispolkom]

Much Delayed Part 3 (Long)

August 31 – September 4

On August 31 we had turned in our rental car, checked out of our hotel, and took our luggage down to the Albuquerque station to book it on the next part of our trip, a three-train, four-night, one-zone AGR award odyssey from New Mexico to North Dakota.

The first surprise was that we couldn’t check our bags to Minot, North Dakota. They were still working on restoring the Great Northern depot, and were using the baggage room as a temporary waiting room. We settled for checking our bags to Portland. The agent warned us that we might not have enough time to retrieve them if the Coast Starlight was late, but we didn’t have anything we absolutely needed for the rest of the trip in the suitcases, and I figured Amtrak could somehow get them to us if there was a miscue.

We left our carry-on luggage in a locker and walked around Albuquerque for a while, then returned to wait for the Southwest Chief, which arrived half an hour late. There’s no special boarding procedure at Albuquerque. You just walk out on to the platform and board the train. We found our car and set up camp in our family bedroom, opening a bottle of New Mexico champagne. Soon there was a knock on the door, and we met Rtabern, who joined us in toasting our new leg of the trip. He had already made dinner reservations for us, so we didn’t have to worry that we’d be the last ones to eat dinner.

Dinner was great (we all had the barbecued brisket, I think). After dinner, Mrs. Ispolkom and I were already yawning, so we returned to our sleeper. Our SCA announced to us that she’d only make up beds between 8 and 10 p.m., which I thought a bit dogmatic, but no skin off my back, since we rarely stay up past 10. She did promptly get us ice, so I could mix up Manhattans before we went to sleep. Rtabern, it turned out, had a less favorable opinion of her, based on a shouting match between her and a passenger the night before.

We slept much better than we had the first night out of Chicago, and Mrs. wanted to get some breakfast before our arrival. She went to the dinner where an abbreviated breakfast was available, and had cereal, while I just drank a cup of coffee in our bedroom and dreamed of Philippe’s. It was just as well that I hadn’t gone, since she returned spitting venom over her tablemates at breakfast. No good comes from talking politics with strangers, I’ve learned, but my wife sometimes forgets. I was surprised how often we encountered strangers who wanted to talk politics.

We were met at Los Angeles Union Station by WhoozOn1st, easily recognizable in his fez. After breakfast at Philippe’s (well worth the walk), we boarded the Coast Starlight for the run up the coast. Whooz regaled us (as the four of us took up 6 of the swivel chairs in the Pacific Parlor Car) with his very detailed, mile-by-mile knowledge of the route from LA to Oxnard, where he left us.

There were two unusual groups of travelers on this train. The first were a group of Amtrak reservation agents in training, who were on a field trip. They rode in sleeper on our train up to Eugene, Oregon, then rode south on the Coast Starlight in Coach to Stockton, I think. From there the rode the inland route to Bakersfield, then the bus back to LA. While this gave them a pretty wide experience in the different sorts of Amtrak accommodations, I thought it was a little cruel to start with the sleeper and end up on an Ambus. We had lunch with a couple of the agents, and they were amazed at how small a roomette really is.

The other group that stood out was a mobile gaming convention, called something like Pax West Train Trip 4. They were running a Rock Band tournament in the arcade car, while most or all of the lounge car tables were taken up by Dungeons and Dragons and collectible card games. How did we know they were together? The convention t-shirts that many were wearing.

The food in the Pacific Parlor Car was great, especially the braised lamb for dinner, and we enjoyed the wine tasting each day. Well, we spent so much time in the Pacific Parlor Car we figured we had to join in.

We were on time all through the first day, which was great because we were worried about the short connection time in Portland. The next morning, though, the train was stopped at a grade crossing all through breakfast, because of a medical emergency we were told. Later we learned from Rtabern the whole story. A gentleman had boarded during the night with a bottle of Jack Daniels, which he proceeded to drink. He was found unresponsive in the morning, and the train crew had radioed for a meet up with an ambulance. When the paramedics tried to get the gentleman into a gurney, he became very responsive, in a violent way. So then the train had to wait even longer for the local sheriff to show up to drag the miscreant away in handcuffs.

Fortunately, we made up some time and arrived in Portland to see the Empire Builder standing in the station. Outside of the sleeper we met Joe, the SCA who was so great on our last time in the Portland sleeper in June. He was kind enough to let us leave our carry-on bags in our bedroom, and also let a man and his aged and somewhat confused mother board ahead of time. I though that was especially kind.

We were able to collect our checked luggage and went to the Metropolitan Lounge in time to hear that the Seattle section was delayed because of problems with one of the cars. Then it was time for us to board, and away we went, up the beautiful Columbia River gorge. We enjoyed the complementary sparkling wine, and drank a bottle of Washington state red with our cold (but really delicious) roast beef dinner.

That night we didn’t sleep very well, even though (or perhaps because) we spent most of the night stopped at Spokane station. We arrived early. The Seattle section arrived at dawn, and we departed 5 hours late.

Usually such a delay makes me antsy. Not this time. We were in Bedroom E, my favorite place to be, and the delay just meant five more hours enjoying it. Especially since this meant we saw parts of the route through the Rockies that had always been after dark before.

I was also impressed by how proactive Amtrak and BNSF were about the delay. We’ve all been on trains that were 5 hours late, and they always became 6 or 7 hours late. A late train only gets later. Not this time. I don’t think that we were put on a siding once, not even when we met the westbound Empire Builder. Forum member EB_OBS met the train in Havre and went through the cars answering people’s questions. And he went through the whole train, since he made it back to us at the very end in the Portland sleeper. They couldn't make the train go faster, but answering questions does a lot to improve things for passengers.

Even my sister, who had to meet us at the Minot depot at 2 a.m. wasn’t too put out by the delay, as she stays up late anyway. We spent several days in Minot with my family, then took train #8 the last 500 miles home. Waiting at the depot in Minot for this last train, I struck up a conversation with an older gentleman whom I thought I recognized. It turned out to be a long-time friend and former student of my father’s. He had gone on to be police chief, mayor, and now county commissioner, and regaled us with stories of Minot’s generally incompetent felons. You meet everyone at the train station.

Statistics for this trip:

Air 412 miles

Standard Gauge 5314

Narrow Gauge: 50

Bus: 60

Auto: 1646