Nostalgia & History > Amtrak SW Chief early 1990s

A few random shots of Amtrak Southwest Chief trains #3/#4 in the early 1990s.

1. #3 Glorieta Pass, NM

2. #4 East of Seligman, AZ

3. #3 Blanchard, NM

4. #4 Williams Jct., AZ

5. #4 Houck, AZ

6. #4 Darling, AZ

7. #3 Laguna, NM

top-drawer stuff
thanks for sharing

When Amtrak was truly worth photographing. Excellent series!

AWESOME stuff!!

Some very beautiful scenes for Amtrak's mixed train era—how cool. Excellent material as always, John.
—Mac

Simply Awesome photos, nothing but quality from yourself as always!

very classy look back, and what a variety of power and locations!

thanks for a fine gallery ...

Silver around those dark windshields looks a lot better than the current black surround. Thanks for the really great trip back in time, excellent photos. === === = === JLH

That is one fantastic series John. Long live the Pepsi Cans!! Thanks for sharing.

Kent in Carmel Valley

Great shots! I love all of the Pepsi cans, and also the GP40 that's in the one consist. Nice!

- Jeff Carlson

Wonderful images, glad you got these...

Great shots John--especially splitting the semaphores! Tom

qnyla Wrote:
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> 4. #4 Williams Jct., AZ
>
> 5. #4 Houck, AZ
>
> 6. #4 Darling, AZ


That GP40 unit is a plain Geep 40 or the GP40TC Unit?

I recall seeing a few of the GP40TCs making a rare visit
to the west Coast a few times

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

GP25 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> qnyla Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > 4. #4 Williams Jct., AZ
> >
> > 5. #4 Houck, AZ
> >
> > 6. #4 Darling, AZ
>
>
> That GP40 unit is a plain Geep 40 or the GP40TC
> Unit?
>
> I recall seeing a few of the GP40TCs making a rare
> visit
> to the west Coast a few times

That's one of the plain GP40-2s that AMTK leased from HLCX (rblt with pass-through HEP cabling, high-speed gearing, and a blended brake module) for the power shortage in the early 1990s. They also ran frequently with 2 F40s on the Crescent in 1991 when they were running very long consists on that rugged profile between D.C. and Birmingham. I remember one night awaiting the Crescent (at this early hour I can't recall where now? :-P), and when I heard the loud exhaust of the GP40-2 (3rd out...as the hogger was "dragging the train in) as the train was just out of sight around a curve, I thought they were allowing a freight through first (no exhaust silencer on the GP40s), until I heard the melodious Nathan K5LA horn, then as she popped around the curve, the Xenon strobes flashing atop the lead F40. It was a very nice cacophony of sound with the Non-HEP F40 and the GP40 were throttling up and down for the station stop, the 2nd F40 screaming in HEP mode. Yes, a very interesting period for Amtrak with F40s, brand new Pepsi Cans, the GP40-2s, GP40TCs, and continued on up even thru the delivery of the first GE P40DC Gennies. Oh...and let's not forget...the old GE P30CH Pooches were still in service on the Sunset and Auto Train until late '91. Plus ex-ATSF HiLevels, and plenty of Heritage Fleet cars on the Eastern Trains! :-)

Very good photos of extreme high quality here, and of a very interesting era for Amtrak, here!

Winners, here - the whole lot of them!

Mr. Benner, what kind of slide scanner are you using these days?

SantaFeSammy Wrote:
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> Winners, here - the whole lot of them!
>
> Mr. Benner, what kind of slide scanner are you
> using these days?


A Canon DSLR. These are slide dupes, photographs of Kodachrome slides with a macro lens.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/13 09:44 by qnyla.

Great shots but I have a stupid question. I thought the mail service ended for the rails in the 60's yet there seems to be a whole bunch of rail express cars on the chiefs of this area. Railway express was gone by this time so why all the express cars?

Not in 86 when Amtrak began the M and E again, and they did it smartly with those shots of 4 and 3 can attest, they made money at it, and was the official carrier of 2ND Class US Mail! That's also back when Amtrak was Amtrak!