Chapter 11: Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Today began and ended aboard the Southwest Chief.
Chapter 11.0: Amtrak Southwest Chief, Train #4(18), Los Angeles, CA to Chicago, IL (continued)
As we awoke, we were almost to the Arizona/New Mexico border. We were at breakfast in the diner as we approached Gallup, NM. There, we had a short leg stretch stop before departing at 8:33 AM, 12 minutes late. We then arrived into Albuquerque at 10:53 AM, 51 minutes early thanks to plenty of schedule padding. This gave ample opportunity to walk around outside, despite the fact it was very hot there. After an on-time departure from Albuquerque at 12:10 PM, we were called to lunch and didn't need to be told twice. While eating, we experienced some slow orders, thus leaving Lamy about ten minutes late.
Between Lamy and Las Vegas, NM came Glorieta Pass, known as a common meet point between the opposing Southwest Chiefs. Sure enough, we stopped briefly around 2:00 PM for a meet with our westbound counterpart, Train #3. When we left Las Vegas, it was 3:33 PM and we were now half an hour in the hole.
We were having our second dinner aboard the Chief as we were crossing Raton Pass. We stopped in Raton, NM first, at 5:33 PM, and then left Trinidad, CO exactly an hour later on the other end of the pass. La Junta, CO was next, another fresh air stop that ended when we departed at 8:00 PM, 19 minutes down. Before the lights were turned down for the night around 10 PM, there was an announcement that we would be taking a short detour overnight in Kansas via the Emporia Sub, bypassing Topeka and Lawrence. We went to bed expecting to wake up to a significant delay.
Chapter 11.1: End of Tuesday's activities
This was the final on board overnight before our Fest's conclusion in Chicago.