Now that summer has arrived, the green hills have turned into fuel for the wildfires that plague the west each year, but fortunately on this day there were no fires in Santa Ana Canyon (as there w... (more)

The first run of the Southwest Chief from Chicago after a brief cancellation due to a BNSF derailment in Williams, AZ wastes no time leaving Las Vegas, NM behind. Note the Santa Fe inscriptions st... (more)

Amtrak 203 leads the Southwest Chief West through Highlands.

When Amtrak painted P42DC #203 into an Operation Lifesaver scheme, I don't think they envisioned the "railroad crossing" theme was intended for when the locomotive was on a bridge, but h... (more)

Amtrak 3, the westbound Southwest Chief, is seen passing through Esperanza in Santa Ana Canyon with P42DC 203, the carrier's Operation Lifesaver (https://oli.org/) locomotive, on the headen... (more)

The big prize that I went out for last Sunday, March 26, 2023, was P42DC #203, Amtrak's Operation Life Saver unit, which was leading #3. Don't know if the timing has changed on how long the train ... (more)

Amtrak’s westbound Southwest Chief departs Chicago for Los Angeles on a forty-one hour journey through America’s heartland and southwest on the afternoon of April 17, 2009.

A late Amtrak train 3 at Cajon. (Cajon Pass, California - February 26, 2023)

Amtrak train 3, the westbound Southwest Chief, running 4 hours 26 minutes late. (Yorba Linda, California – February 18, 2023)

The westbound Southwest Chief begins the steep part of the climb up over Raton Pass.

The westbound Southwest Chief approaches the station stop at Raton, on time.

Amtrak 3, the westbound Southwest Chief, accelerates out of the Fullerton station at 4:05 PM after making a crew change with just 26 miles remaining in its journey. The scheduled time for ... (more)

After suffering mechanical issues just east of here in Cerillos, NM, the hour late Southwest Chief speeds past the NM-16 Overpass as it heads towards Albuquerque. At this location on the right sid... (more)

Running late, as usual these past few years, Amtrak 3, the westbound Southwest Chief, heading to Los Angeles from Chicago, departs Flagstaff at 11:25 pm (23:25), 1 hour 47 minutes behind sc... (more)

Amtrak train 3, the Southwest Chief, sits in Los Angeles Union Station after arriving from Chicago. Amtrak P42DC 123 is the lead locomotive, teamed with P42DC 66 – fitting, since this tr... (more)