Rolling into the station in Barstow is Amtrak train 35, the westbound Desert Wind. Amtrak SDP40F 500 and F40PH 233 are teamed to bring this seven-car train from Ogden, Utah, to Los Angeles, California.
The Barstow Harvey House, also known as Harvey House Railroad Depot and Barstow station, was built in 1911 as Casa del Desierto, a Harvey House hotel and Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad depot, replacing an earlier depot built in 1885 that burned in 1908. The ATSF closed this station in 1973, and while no longer a Harvey House, it was rebuilt after this photo and today serves as both an Amtrak station and government building housing city offices, the Barstow Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, as well as two museums (the Western America Railroad Museum and the Route 66 "Mother Road" Museum on the north side).
The station was designed and constructed in a synthesis of Spanish Renaissance and Classical Revival architecture styles, with a Moorish feeling as well.
What did passenger trains look like before Amtrak in America, and Via Rail in Canada? Find out in this album with 2,700+ Historical Photos from early passenger trains of North America from the 1900's up until the early years of Government passenger trains
California-bound rail travelers from the east have three choices to reach the Golden State: California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle. A look back through the years including the now-defunct Desert Wind
