Railroaders' Nostalgia > A Full Length Dome All To Myself

Train 4 that departed Los Angeles on April 30, 2014 had Amtrak's one-and-only full-length dome car in the consist, tucked in right behind the locomotives and ahead of the baggage car. It had been out in California for some function and was now deadheading back east.

I worked the train as the Conductor from Los Angeles, CA to Kingman, AZ, an approximate seven-hour run that is mostly under cover of darkness.

As we were barreling across the Mojave desert on BNSF Railway's Needles Subdivision, I concluded that my Assistant Conductor could competently handle any passenger-related issues that might arise while I decided to make a visit to this dome car to see what it was all about. Nearing midnight, most of the passengers were asleep anyway. When they're asleep, they're low-maintenance.

I made my way up through the baggage car to the dome and noted that it was completely vacant (rightfully so since it was deadheading) and fully illuminated. A visit to the electrical locker at the end of the car and the flipping of a few switches made the car totally dark, a big improvement for nocturnal viewing of the desert scenery.

The car was originally built for the Great Northern Railway's premier passenger train, the EMPIRE BUILDER. I pondered how many times it undoubtedly traversed the GN's now-underwater mainline trackage between Stryker and Jennings, MT, caused by the construction of Libby Dam and necessitating a 59-mile line relocation, or the now-abandoned mainline track between Newport and Dean, WA, caused by the Burlington Northern merger.

It's not every day that you have a 1950s streamlined-era Budd-built full length dome car for your exclusive use making a 90 MPH trek across a desert landscape with a sky full of bright stars. But that's exactly what I was experiencing. Looking straight up through to dome windows, I recognized the Big Dipper constellation. Occasionally, the units directly in front of the dome would belch out some built-up flammable carbon particles, and, as they bounced back along the roof of the dome, it almost looked like I was watching a light show of shooting stars.

The ride was so enjoyable, I hung out there from around Danby (MP 635) to a little past West Needles (MP 580.2).

In Kingman, when we were riding in the van to our layover hotel, Richard Paseman, my Assistant Engineer, asked me, "Did you turn out the lights in the dome?" I confessed and acknowledged that I did. I said I wanted to pretend I was riding the CHIEF or SAN FRANCISCO CHIEF across the Mojave Desert at night. He's a little bit of a "'buff" himself, so he understood. I was even willing to overlook the fact that it was a ex-GN car instead of an ex-ATSF car!

I didn't have a camera, but here's a photo a railfan took of this train somewhere in New Mexico and posted it on the Internet.

Like most occupations, there are positive characteristics of being a train conductor and there are negative characteristics of being a train conductor. Enjoying my own private streamlined Budd-built full length dome car on a high speed journey across the open desert, all the while earning union-scale wages, can easily be classified as one of the high-points.

I've certainly had worse jobs.

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Great post. As a working railroader, I relate. Cheers. BSB

Nice, perks of the job, been there done that ;-)
JB

My photo. I was pretty sure when I started reading your message that it was that same trip; I was going to dig it out for you but you saved me the trouble!

The location is McCarty's, just after crossing I-40 several miles east of Grants.

Andy

I had much the same experience in the mid-80's.  Amtrak was gathering cars in LA for a proposed "Farm Aid" train of some sort- I think Merle Haggert was behind it.  I caught #3 in Albuquerque headed for LA, riding on my pass.  The train that afternoon included a long dome deadheading just behind the locomotives, the same as your train.  (But I seem to recall it had a vestibule, which would have made it the ATSF version of your GN dome)  At the time I was an LSA assigned to 3&4, so I knew all the crews.  They had no objection to my riding the dome, but warned me I'd be trapped up there- this was during the era of MHC box cars.  No prob!
I grabbed some spare blankets from the dorm and headed up.  Same as you did I switched off the lights once it was dark, and crawled into the bed I'd made on the shelf that covers the stairwell- under glass, under the stars.
It was a spectacular night!
SR

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> I had much the same experience in the mid-80's. 
> Amtrak was gathering cars in LA for a proposed
> "Farm Aid" train of some sort- I think Merle
> Haggert was behind it.  I caught #3 in
> Albuquerque headed for LA, riding on my pass. 
> The train that afternoon included a long dome
> deadheading just behind the locomotives, the same
> as your train.  (But I seem to recall it had a
> vestibule, which would have made it the ATSF
> version of your GN dome)  At the time I was an
> LSA assigned to 3&4, so I knew all the crews. 
> They had no objection to my riding the dome, but
> warned me I'd be trapped up there- this was during
> the era of MHC box cars.  No prob!
> I grabbed some spare blankets from the dorm and
> headed up.  Same as you did I switched off the
> lights once it was dark, and crawled into the bed
> I'd made on the shelf that covers the stairwell-
> under glass, under the stars.
> It was a spectacular night!
> SR

Anyone know what year the vestibule was eliminated on the former GN dome? As far as I know, the Ocean View was the only one to receive this treatment.

for auto train work?

dan Wrote:
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> for auto train work?

That could be. I kind of lost track of which of the domes went to Auto-train in that era (the Amtrak version that is; I know none of the GN domes went to the original Auto-train operator).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/17 14:59 by czephyr17.

Great reminiscence, CA_Sou_MA_Agent. That Dome was running on the Surfs a few months ago on the SAN-LAX route; I had a couple of rides in it.
I used to work the car back in my working days, so it was an "old friend." Few know that there were cast metal (flag holders? by the upper vestibules) that clearly showed the letters "GN." Could be by now someone has "removed" them for posterity's sake, but they likely might still be there. A bit of the old Great Northern, way down on the ancestral southern ATSF lines.

A few years ago this dome ran in a chartered train up to K Falls on the Inside Gateway, the former WP/GN route.  The Crewbase manager in Oakland offered me the job as LSA on the trip.  Normally I stuck to my normal assignment and avoided extra stuff like this, but I was #1 on the Oakland roster so I guess they were obligated to at least ask me (lest I file a runaround claim?).  But think about it:  HAD the GN offered a California Section of the Empire Builder, and HAD it survived well into the 50's, then MAYBE this dome car would have been in the rotation for that service.
Kinda cool.
So I accepted the assignment and worked a proper GN car up the former GN route.
SR

czephyr17 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > for auto train work?
>
> That could be. I kind of lost track of which of
> the domes went to Auto-train in that era (the
> Amtrak version that is; I know none of the GN
> domes went to the original Auto-train operator).

amtraks auto train got a lot of body work done on straight coaches , 3 of the six empire builder domes ran on the a/t (amtrak)

Reminds me of having to deadhead a 747 from Tokyo to San Francisco once when I was with United Airlines. 9 hours on a 747 with only 20 souls (crew) onboard. Talk about getting to set the lighting where YOU want it! And watching the movie YOU wanted to see. And........

Ed

Ha! Lightning strikes again- I’m aboard Ocean View, all to myself, on #11 today. I boarded at Sacramento going to Santa Barbara. The dome is deadheading Seattle to LA.
I’ll post some pics on the Passenger Board this evening.
SR

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I just LOVE these stories, guys! Please keep 'em comin'!

BoilingMan --
The trip up the Inside Gateway you described was the
"Northern California Explorer", which the Central Coast
Chapter of the NRHS ran in June of 2011, from Emeryville
to K Falls via the Inside Gateway then K Falls to
Emeryville on the former SP Shasta Route. Glad you
decided to work it.

CA_So_MA_Agent --
It is simply amazing that a Trainorers member took a
picture of the very train you were riding in when you
had the Ocean View all to yourself at night.

And, so far, 4 of you who post on this particular forum
have had the pleasure of having the full dome all to
yourselves for a long time at night. You certainly
deserve that!

Makes me remember the time my son and I rode the "San
Francisco Zephyr" in the early 80s, and spent several
hours in the dome as the train snaked through the desert
darkness. I absolutely LOVED that! And the deep sounds
the locomotives made, and watching the Mars light as it
painted the darkness. We only left because the crew
started bugging us about staying up there. Those are
wonderful memories.......

I LOVE domes!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/17 19:32 by Margaret_SP_fan.