La Junta on time

We made it to La Junta on time and checked into an old but reasonably maintained motel right across from the BNSF yard.  Due to a glitch with photo transfer I will be backfilling on this portion of the trip at a later time.  Stay tuned.  Departure for ABQ is tomorrow at 8:30am.

Left the station.

We got out of the station on time but soon stopped to meet a Rail Runner at Hann. It has just past us so we will soon be on the way.  Our two goals on this trip are to ride the rails over what may soon be dropped as an Amtrak route and to spot potential access roads for photo excursions later in the week.  It's possible we may find additional semaphores but unlikely.  Lots of research has been done.

BNSF continues to discuss moving the Southwest Chief to the TransCon through Amarillo and down to Belen.  Since Amtrak provides the only traffic there is little incentive to maintain the track to a high speed standard and new slow orders were recently put in place on parts of the route.

Amarillo By Morning

On the way, breakfast at Denny's. ETA Albuquerque, 10 am.


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Location:Amarillo, TX

I guess the trip has officially started with the first AAPRCO sighting?

Picked up my ABQ/LAJ tickets at the Austin Amtrak station this evening ... easy as pie on the Quik-Trak machine.  I timed it so I would get to see 21 come through. At the end of 21 were two private cars, probably on a roundabout trip to ABQ. They were red and grey, a dome and a single level car, and said Northern Sky Charters on the side.  A little research told me the dome was Northern Sky and the other car was Northern Dreams.  Kind of caught me by surprise so the picture is poor.

Northern Sky at Austin, TX ... 10 Sep 2010

Best laid plans

Chasing the AAPRCO train has just gotten a little more complicated.  Departure from ABQ was original shown on their web site to be 7 am.  A new schedule, dated Sept 7th, now shows departure at FOUR AM. The Sun won't even be up in the area until about 6:45.  Lots of lost photo opportunities due to this change but on the other hand, we will probably have time to follow it over Raton Pass before we head for home.  Flexibility is the name of the game.

Who's on first

After several weeks of figuring out just when we would go and who and where, the plans are pretty much in place.  Skip and Bill will leave from the DFW area on Sunday evening, September 12th.  Guess I'll probably miss the Cowboy game that night.  We'll drive to Wichita Falls to pick up Steve then on to Amarillo and Albuquerque.  We meet up with several others to catch Amtrak #4 the northbound Southwest Chief  for La Junta, CO at 12:45.  That night we'll be in a motel directly across from a large BNSF rail yard.  I hear there's not much traffic on that line so there may not be much to see.  Next morning we head back to ABQ on the southbound Chief.  Wednesday will be a day of hunting the wild semaphore between ABQ and Raton.  Overnight in Raton and photograph our way back to ABQ on Thursday.  Friday will be a long day.  The AARPCO train leaves early from ABQ and we want to be in place to catch it "splitting the signals" in as many locations as we can.  As we head north however, our clock will be ticking and soon we will turn toward home.  Plan is to be back in the DFW area by Midnight Friday.

Semaphore Safari updates

More updates on what to expect during the Semaphore Safari.

1. Presently there are 19 private cars scheduled to be on the eastbound AAPRCO passenger train special on Friday, September 17th. I will try to get their names. I know that at least one MKT TEXAS SPECIAL chair car and one ATSF big dome will be on the train.

We will be chasing this train that morning from ABQ to at least Springer and will target it as it passes several several semaphore locations.

These cars will also be on display at ABQ and we will visit them at the Amtrak depot at some point prior to Friday morning, probably when we ride Railrunner to Santa Fe.

2. On Thursday, Sept. 16, the AAPRCO group will be having a BBQ meal at the Santa Fe steam locomotive 2926. We have been invited for a tour of the locomotive.

3. Amtrak and BNSF has recently dropped speeds on the Southwest Chief from 79 mph to 60 mph across over 150 miles of trackage east of LaJunta. This was done beginning last week and is yet another hint of a possible reroute of the Southwest Chief via Amarillo in the near future. Reason given was that the BNSF has failed to maintain it to 79 MPH standards and that it is rough riding. This means that Tr. 3 could possibly be about 30-45 minutes late through these areas. Amtrak timetables are somewhat padded in spots so I'm not sure what to expect from Raton west, but it is entirely possible that the daily meet between 3 and 4 could be moved east from the Lamy-Rowe areas, to somewhere further east to possibly take place in the semaphore district.

4. There have also been an increase of Amtrak motive power failures on the SW Chief beginning this month and BNSF power has been observed on the point on many days. From a photograph standpoint, this greatly adds value to any trains we might catch.


As stated earlier will will spend two full days in the field chasing the SW Chief, two days aboard the train between Albuquerque and LaJunta, a trip aboard Railrunner, and another day chasing the AAPRCO special. And as always we will also take you to any nearby rail sites, such as depots, steam locos, roundhouses, water towers etc.

Skip provides all of the driving and transportation and I make out all of the day's schedules. We take you right to all of the best spots and basically all you have to do is get out and start taking pix.

In short, everything seems to be coming together to make the upcoming Semaphore Safari one of the best, if not rarest ones to date. More and more indications all point to a possible reroute of the Southwest Chief in the near future which will take it off this historic line.

Plus it will be our last!


Can you really afford not to go?

We still have a couple slots open for the trip. Contact us off off list if interested in going along.


TZ