The Road To Chicago

[WhoozOn1st]

Greetings from Las Cruces, New Mexico, and welcome to Day 3 on the Team Whooz Road To Chicago. Team Whooz Executive Assistant Alice is on her way to attend the 7th Annual Amtrak Unlimited Gathering, and my personal goal for the trip is to make it to that toddlin' town and back without breaking a major bone.

Though as the title implies we're traveling by motor vehicle, rails are always on the brain, so we'll share a little of that aspect when we can... No long travelogue diatribes, just some pics and brief comments.

Starting out from SoCal our first rail encounter was a Gold Line train running inbound in the median of the 210 (Foothill) freeway just east of Pasadena. After overnighting at El Centro we headed east on I-8 and I-10, encountering various Union Pacific freight trains along the way...

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Eastbound auto racks east of Yuma.​

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Westbound intermodal with rockin' background in southern Arizona.​

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Westbound stack train near New Mexico border.​

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On to Alamogordo, Roswell, and the Lone Star State beyond!

EDIT: All photos so far are windshield shots, so...

 

[greatcats]

We are in Portland, Oregon today, on our direct route from Flagstaff to Chicago Gathering. Just exited the Oregon Symphony Sunday afternoon concert in Arlene Schnitzer Hall, the former Paramount Theater.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Greetings from Wichita, Kansas.

Team Whooz' Saturday run took us from Las Cruces, New Mexico to the Texas panhandle for a layover at Amarillo. Lodging at Las Cruces was about 100 yards from an active and busy main line through a town that clearly has no quiet zones for grade crossings.

The driving was fine through the rest of New Mexico, past a White Sands Nat'l Monument that's closed due to gov't shutdown, through Alamogordo (of 1st atomic device test), and over the Sacramento mountains. Down on the flats again we encountered what looked like a BNSF backup or bottleneck at Clovis, New Mexico, followed by the gut-churning stench of industrial beef production along route 60 on the run into Amarillo.

This business was seen on the main drag of Alamogordo, New Mexico, as we crawled through town; the main drag is also highways 70 and 54 running as one on this stretch.​

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Mexican Canyon trestle of the Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain Railroad, which was built between 1898 and 1903 and ceased operations in 1947.​

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This westbound BNSF manifest freight was one of about 7 backed up outside Clovis, New Mexico, as sundown approached.​

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Locomotives of two corporate eras wait together near a grain elevator operation in the midst of feedlots.​

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Greetings from Moberly, Missouri. WHERE!? I don't know either. This is what happens when you let the executive assistant choose the day's destination.

Last push on to the Windy City today, and a more comprehensive update from there.

BTW, worst hotel internet connection in YEARS here. Just pathetic, and another reason for short screed.

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[saxman]

Wow, some amazing shots. Keep them coming.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Greetings from Chicagoland, where Team Whooz arrived Wednesday evening and is now comfortably (more or less) ensconced for the duration.

Thursday was passed in getting Executive Assistant Alice all oriented and ticketed so's she can smoothly join the AU Gathering VII swarm on Friday. Best part of that was riding Metra to and from Union Station, the return ride on a packed rush hour train.

But the main topic here is the next segment of the Road To Chicago, which was Amarillo, Texas, to Wichita, Kansas. The weather turned on us overnight at Amarillo, so the previous day's run was the last of the fine, warm, clear, and dry southwestern weather. Dreary, cold, overcast and wet ever since.

We'd made such good time that we were able to slacken the pace enough to tarry for some touristing, and the Railroad Museum of Oklahoma happened to be situated on our off-interstate route at the town of Enid.

The museum building is a former Santa Fe freight depot and warehouse. The former passenger depot is just across the street, and in fine condition. We were the only visitors at the time, so received a personal "tour" that consisted mostly of a guy going around with us to unlock doors and point things out; no companion narrative or anything, but he answered any questions we had. The indoor portion was in a jumbled state, with exhibit cases moved from their usual spots to clear the concrete floor for a paint job. An interesting collection of rail artifacts, though, and toward the back of the building an expansive HO and N modeling layout.

Even better was the yard out back, where we enjoyed perusing the various rolling stock and getting to board some. Unfortunately none of the stuff was wheelchair accessible (the museum building has a ramp), a shortcoming the museum would do well to remedy, but I was shown the interior of a former Amtrak "Le Pub" that ran with the Montrealer after it had been converted from its built purpose of Army medical services.

Naturally I clambered into the cab of Frisco 4-8-2 No. 1519 when given the opportunity, and got a look at the inside of a pretty plush caboose for good measure. Following our museum visit we got some shots of the passenger depot before once more mounting up on the Mayhem Mobile and heading north to Wichita.

Don't know that these are the great shots you wanted to be kept coming, Chris/saxman, but here are some museum views...

St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco) 1519 is a 4-8-2 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1925.​

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Though it looks like the power for the train of cabeese, on excursions the short line Farmrail's locomotives do the honors.​

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Interior of the Farmrail caboose, which served as a business car for the short line. A fancy crummy!​