Click on any photo below for a larger image:
Below: Photos at the Fullerton Amtrak Station in California.
When the TrainWeb.com office used to be upstairs from the Amtrak Ticket Office from 1996 until 2004,
the windows that you see upstairs in the station building are the windows we used to look out from.
Below: Contruction of rails and siding at Fullerton Station for new more frequent Metrolink service
through Orange County, California, that will have the north end of that service terminate in
Fullerton and have trainsets parked overnight on these tracks.
Below: Richard Talmy, seen working here in the Amtrak Dining Car, was our server on this eastbound
trip on the Amtrak Southwest Chief from Fullerton, California, to La Plata, Missouri:
Below: For a while I just pulled down the upper bed in the Roomette, set up my computer there,
and worked standing up. My wife had already falled asleep on the lower bed and I didn't think
I'd be able to manage sitting up in the upper bed with such little headroom. Thus, working
standing up was the only option!
Below: Photos of one of the two restroom upstairs in the Transition Sleeping Car
(part Dorm Car for the crew and part for booked passengers). Both upstairs restrooms had
showers in them.
Below: Photos of scenery on the trip east.
Below: Photos from Albuquerque, New Mexico, including some of the Road Runner Commuter Train Service
and even a photo of the California Zephyr private dome car.
Below: More photos from the continuing rail trip eastward.
Below: Sometimes you need to improvise! Many Amtrak restrooms doors are notorious at unlocking
themselves which can lead to embarrasing circumstances both for the person in the restroom and
the person attempting to enter. The shaking of the moving train tends to job sliding locks to
unlock themselves. The doors to the bedrooms in the Sleeping Cars have a latching mechanism that
is VERY effective in not unlocking themselves. I don't know why they didn't put the same
mechanism in the restrooms where an effective latch may be even more essential.
In any case, the last on this restroom set a new world's record. As soon as I would tightly
latch the door, it would manage to unlatch itself within 3 seconds of pulling my hand away!
At least there would be no surprises. This latch just wasn't going to stay put! An easy fix is
to just jam something into the latch so that it can't budge. As further insurance, it is a good
idea to jam something between the door and the frame to stop the shaking of the door and the
latch. Both measures make it very unlikely the latch will manage to unlock itself. If you didn't
bring anything with you to do the jamming, just crunch up some empty paper cups that are
available by the sink in every restroom. See below for illustration:
Below Left: Kansas City. The new revolving tower atop a hotel across from the station.
Below: Waiting in the vestibule for the train to arrive in La Plata, Missouri.
Below: Arrival into La Plata, Missouri, Silver Rails Country!
Below: A visit to the
TrainParty.com
warehouse in the
TrainWeb.com /
TrainParty.com building.
A photo of me in one photo and a photo of Ray Burns in the next photo. The next two photos show
boxes piling up that are the outgoing purchases / shipments of TrainParty.com for that day.
In the next photo, Shivam Surve and Bob Cox discussing some TrainParty issue. The following
photo is shot out the open dock door at TrainParty.com where you can see the
La Plata Amtrak Station in the background. The last of the set shows the American Flag flying
about the Missouri State Flag in the TrainWeb.com / TrainParty.com yard.
Below: SilverRailsGallery.com:
Below: Downtown La Plata, Missouri:
Below: Photos from our Amtrak Southwest Chief trip back to California:
Click on any photo above for a larger image.
