It is time to take a trip.

Yes, I can hear the groaning now. You’re on the road more than most of us, Wrinn. Why is this one any different than the others that you have to tell us about it in advance? Can’t you just take your trip, keep your mouth shut, and then revel in it later?

Let me explain.

Indeed, I am taking another trip on behalf of Trains magazine and its website. In 14 years, the trips and the miles, the photos, the friends, the memories have piled up into what was once quaintly referred to as an embarrassment of riches. In short, I am fat and happy. But this trip is indeed special.

Here’s why.

I’m bound for Utah. That in itself is a good reason to be excited. It is a gorgeous land. The food is good. The people are nice. The railroading spectacular. But it gets better. Much better. The aim of my travel is that most sacred of railroad sites in America, Promontory Summit, the place where the original transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869. I’m heading there to gather material for a new special issue we’ll release in January. It’s called Journey to Promontory, and it’s part history of the first railroad from the middle of the country to the Pacific Coast 150 years ago next year and part whatever became of that railroad that today we know as Union Pacific. Also on site with me will be Rich Luckin, who is producing a historical documentary video for us that will be shown on PBS and available for sale here. I’ll also have time to visit some of the incredible sites on the UP main line like Echo Canyon, Devil’s Slide, the 1,000-mile tree (second edition), and Wasatch grade. That will go into more stories, more website content, and more video.  

This is a humbling trip.

The transcontinental railroad is one of the major events in American history. We certainly want to do it justice. We want to tell the full story. I have lived and loved railroading all my life, and to be here at this time in history is a real gift. So today, as I’m packing my suitcase, and doublechecking the Nikons, the videocamera, and a new GoPro, I’m anxious like I was when I was a kid on the eve of something magnificent, something rare, and something exciting. I just had to share.

For the last few days, I’ve been chasing the spirit of Promontory.

On the busy Union Pacific main line east of Ogden, at the very ground where the Golden Spike was driven at that desolate spot called Promontory Summit in 1869, on the lonely trek across what is left of the Central Pacific right of way around the north side of the Great Salt Lake, I have come as a pilgrim in search of a holy grail.

I’ve found that spirit everywhere I’ve looked and even some places I wasn’t looking for it: Today, while getting lost southeast of Evanston, Wyo., in a quest to see if there’s a public road that takes one to remote Alpine Tunnel on the UP main line (there isn’t), I stumbled across the ghost town of Piedmont, Wyo., significant for two reasons: 1. It was on the original mainline that was relocated when Alpine (and its twin tunnel Altamont) was dug and the line relocated, and 2. It was where railroad workers held UP’s Dr. Durant hostage until they were paid, contributing to the two day delay in the completion of the transcontinental railroad. With that accidental discovery, I was in awe, driving the roadbed toward I-80, happy in my good fortune and belief that, as Woody Allen said, 80 percent of success is just showing up.

I’ve been out west for a few days to support our Journey to Promontory project, a special issue, regular issues of Trains, a special issue of Trains in May 2019, videos with the fabulous Rich Luckin and the up and coming Kevin Gilliam, a major tour with our travel partner, Special Interest Tours, and possibly a whole lot more just to celebrate the biggest railroad anniversary any of us will see: the 150^th anniversary of the first Transcontinental railroad.

I’ve come to learn that part of this desire to know this history is a physical need to be where the story happened. Where workers laid 10 miles of track in one day. Where railroaders have and still fight tonnage and gravity to move freight. Where entire towns once supported a railroad in the desert and are now gone. I’ve also learned that it’s also a mental and emotional thing: Standing at the National Park Service site at Promontory as staff volunteers, and audience members performed a version of the Golden Spike ceremony, it’s hard not to be moved. Think about how that railroad changed not only our favorite mode of transportation but the direction of the country. Think about what an advance that was in technology. Think about all of the lives changed.

It’s impossible to hype Promotory beyond what it is. It is a big, big, big thing. The more I learn and see and feel, I have no doubt about it.

More on all of this in the days and weeks ahead as we count down to May 10, 2019 on our special Journey to Promontory.

A few months ago, 2018 was looking good for mainline steam. The famous and iconic American locomotives that were going to fill the spring, summer, and fall with smoke and steam -- 261, 611, 765, 844, 4449 -- promised to make this a year to remember. I was expecting to have to choose among trips this fall. Then, Amtrak in March decided to end charter trains, and in a day the year in steam went from grand to grim.

There is a flicker of hope. Milwaukee Road No. 261 announced over the weekend plans for a gourmand train on shortline partner Twin Cities & Western in September (www.261.com), and Nickel Plate Road No. 765 will return to Chicago on Metra (and conceivably repeat its now annual appearance at Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio) in September (www.765.org). Union Pacific 844 will pull the sold-out Frontier Days train from Denver to Cheyenne on July 21 and perform a one-way trip (with bus return) as a benefit for the UP Museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the following day (tickets are still available for this trip https://uptraintix.com/index.html. No. 611 says it’s out for the year.

Those of us without a need for immediate gratification ‑- and to be a true steam fan in this day and age, you almost have to be of a patient breed in line for sainthood ‑‑ can take heart in thoughts of 2019. If all goes well, we will experience not one, not two, but three articulated locomotives in operation: Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 No. 4014, Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 at Western Maryland Scenic, and 2-4-4-2 Skookum on Oregon Coast Scenic (join us: http://trn.trains.com/magazine/trips/2018/05/skookum) and later at a California location TBA. That’s an incredible show of force. It’s twice as many cylinders, pistons, and sets of drivers. It’s boilers aiming west while the running gear turns north. It is twice the locomotive under one boiler. It’s everything you and I, Mr. or Ms. Steam Fan, hope and dream of.

Yes, two of the locomotives will not be on the mainline, but they are fascinating machines, and of the three, No. 1309, whose restoration restarted recently, will run on a regular basis. So, my steam friends, wait for it: the year of the articulated is just around the bend. Stay strong.

On this National Camera Day 2018, it's a good time to think about keeping your cameras safe. Many photographers will spend hours talking about their favorite camera and how it improves their work. (I often wonder how much could be accomplished if they spent the same time talking about technique, but that's another blog post.) Yet, in spite of having $1,000 (or more!) hanging from their neck, they do little to think about protecting it. In my estimation, the camera bag and strap are as important – if not more important – than the camera itself. After all, that good is the newest digital-do-it-all-camera if you can't get it out of the bag quick enough to take the shot, or, worse, if a strap breaks sending your camera crashing into the ballast?

I have multiple bags of various sizes and styles. There are backpacks, slings, and messenger bags. They are black, orange, purple, and gray. They hold two cameras and a laptop, one camera and a tablet, or just a camera and spare lens. There's a shoulder-style bag that holds full-frame DSLRs, a variety of lenses and speedlights, and about any accessory I could need in the field. It's my go-to bag for car-based trips. There's a sling-style bag with a crop-sensor DSLR, versatile 18-300mm zoom lens, and compact speedlight for a quick grab-and-go. It's often what I take on weekends when I don't plan to do any photography, but want to carry a camera "just in case." Then there's a messenger bag with the mirrorless setup for trips that require flying. It fits under an airplane seat with room to spare. I keep the backpack for the rare times when I want to fly with the DSLRs as it fits under the seat better than the shoulder bag.

I'm always looking out for new bags, too. If I find a good deal from an online vendor, I'll take a chance. You can often find great deals high-quality camera bags if you're flexible on color. That's how I've ended up with bags that are purple and orange in my collection.

The holy grail for me: a messenger bag that fits an iPad and mirrorless camera setup snugly. Many of the messenger bags are designed for small DSLRs, which still lets the yet smaller mirrorless cameras move around some. Many of the mirrorless-specific bags aren't large enough to hold an iPad. So the search continues.

What's your favorite bag, in style, brand, or model? Do you keep a few on hand to fit different needs, or make do with just one?

Half of 2018 has passed. In a normal year, Trains waits until late December to name our top railroad stories of the 12 months just passed. The top stories are the subject of staff discussion and debate. This time, I’m willing to say that at the end of the year Richard Anderson and the dramatic changes he’s making at Amtrak, barring any drastic change in his employment status, a major merger among Class I railroads, or something totally unexpected, will be the top story.

It has to have been a gut wrenching six months at Amtrak headquarters for any new CEO or staff members, whose tenures have been short or long. Two fatal wrecks. A high-profile grade crossing accident involving a Congressional special. The looming Dec. 31 Positive Train Control deadline, and Anderson’s pronouncement that he won’t run his trains on non-PTC compliant lines. The tug of war between corridors and long-distance trains, and in particular the reluctance to spend millions to upgrade the Southwest Chief route across Raton and Glorieta passes in New Mexico. The rapid stripping of station agents as online e-ticketing grows.  The quickly deteriorating reliability of the locomotive and passenger car fleet. A backlog of new dining cars that need to be put into service and a decision to eliminate hot foods and dining cars on some eastern routes. Retiring the Pacific Parlor cars on the Coast Starlight. How many major issues – some beyond the company’s control and others self-inflicted -- can one organization take on in a single year? That’s a big plate. I have to wonder if Anderson looks at himself in the mirror some mornings and asks, “Why in the world did I take this job?”

And that’s not all. He’s angered and alienated a significant part of the passenger train support base by cancelling and banning special charter trains that have been the only way most mainline excursion operators have been able to continue. Without Amtrak’s insurance and blessing, they cannot venture forth. Add in severe restrictions on private car moves, and there are not a lot of fans who are happy with Anderson’s Amtrak. Go on eBay and you’ll find “Fire Anderson, Save Amtrak” t-shirts available for sale.

With so many major issues on the table, I have to ask, what is the overarching priority at Amtrak? Safety? Saving money? Growing ridership? It’s not clear. One thing I know for certain: When the priority is everything, the priority is nothing. Pick a priority. Heck, Anderson could even communicate his vision to the troops and the public at large. I have to think that Amtrak’s Board of Directors has to be supportive of Anderson’s efforts either by encouraging his actions or at least tolerating them. One conversation that must be taking place at high levels is about the long-distance trains and the role they play. Are they transportation? Are they cruise trains? Are they hybrids? Anderson, the former airline executive, cannot see them as transportation, I do not believe. But as a business executive he surely knows that pulling dining car meals on eastern trains and eliminating one of the most fascinating and beautiful portions of the Chief means Amtrak is no cruise train. So, what is it?  

On the eve of Independence Day 2018, the direction at America’s railroad is unclear. With its trains wrapped in red, white, and blue, Amtrak is headed toward a new future that may become even more uncomfortable to those of us who can recall the last vestiges of privately-operated passenger trains. Amtrak’s leadership, employees, customers, supporters, and the railroad enthusiast community in general should all be discussing what’s around the next bend. A consensus on the future would be good. Amtrak may be far from perfect, but it’s still our train. Passenger trains are relevant in the 21^st century. In my ideal world there would be more frequencies, consistent performance, great equipment.  I’d like to see an Amtrak with vision and trains that people want to ride.

While we try to make sense of out of the eviction of the Indiana Transportation Museum from its home of 50 years and the resulting scramble to save locomotives and rolling stock from scrap that is underway as you read this (the deadline is July 12), let’s review basic realities of railway preservation. They should be universal knowledge, but maybe not.

1. Control your house. If you don’t own your own site, station, tracks, etc., you’re in danger.

2. Keep your relations with Class I railroad partners healthy. You may need a friend there one day.

3. Know your local community. That includes the government, the chamber of commerce, the visitor’s bureau, and any other organization that might be a help or hindrance.

4. Make sure your local community knows you, what you stand for, the good that you do, and the impact you make. Invite them in for a visit, a chat, and listen to them.

5. Network within the preservation community. In person at a Heritage Rail Alliance (the name of the merged tourist and museum groups) is best. Know someone at another two or three preservation places that you respect.

6. Manage your collection. A balance between ambitious and realistic is desirable.

7. You and your museum live in the real world. You’re not immune to egos, human foibles, and misunderstandings.

8. Have a plan A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. 9. Never forget that even though you are non-profit, you’re a still a business. Job No. 1 is staying in business.

10. Always remember you are there for the visitors.

I’m not saying the Indiana folks did or didn’t do any of the things above. I’m not saying they didn’t do the things necessary to stay at Noblesville or to make an orderly transition to a new home. But something did go horribly wrong. That is undeniable. We’ll find out more in the days and weeks ahead just what happened and hopefully lessons on how to prevent it from happening again.

What is happening in Indiana could take place again without eternal vigilance on the part of all of us in the preservation community. I’m trying to erase from my mind an image I viewed online Thursday. It is that of the boiler, wheels, and frame of Nickel Plate Road 2-8-2 No. 587 in Noblesville, Ind., being rolled outside so a trucker can haul it away to a safe haven. Chris Campbell and the Kentucky Steam Heritage group, which stepped in to save No. 587, posted it, and I am grateful that they did. It is a truly heroic moment. They should be proud of their service. We should all take satisfaction in it. It is also sad -- 29 years ago this month, I was photographing this very locomotive after it had run on its own power from Indiana to North Carolina. Yes, I said, Indiana to North Carolina. A long way. How it fell silent and how this museum came to be evicted are cautionary tales yet to be told. And my list above will grow once again.

When I was growing up in the 1970s, one of my favorite syndicated newspaper columnists was a Chicago writer named Sydney Harris. His work appeared on the op-ed page in our region’s daily paper, the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times. Among his regular opinion pieces were collections of snippets of wisdom and random and interesting facts and thoughts, which he would entitle “Things I learned while on the way to looking up other things.” This blog post is presented in the spirit of Harris’ column.

The source of the information I’m about to share with you is a delightful book I picked up at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M., last March. It’s called “Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.” Those of us who write and edit for a living are always fascinated by how other creative types produce their work, and we’re always looking for that lightning bolt of inspiration that might help us hone our own craft. And, of course, I’m always delighted to learn about a railroad angle to anyone and anything.

In reading about artists and singers, actors and symphony conductors, poets and politicians, I ran up on the entry for Karl Marx, and found a most delicious tidbit that relates to our railway fascination. As it turns out the revolutionary socialist, not long after he wrote his communist treatise Das Kapital, applied to be a railway clerk in the mid-1800s. But it didn’t work out for a most bizarre reason. Wrote Daily rituals author Mason Currey, Marx was “rejected for illegible handwriting.” Not a good thing for an industry that thrives on precision.

If you ask the Trains staff if they get tired of hearing me say that every story has a railroad angle if you dig deep enough, they will proclaim they’re sick of hearing about it. But it’s true. Even for Karl Marx, failed railway clerk, there is a brush with our favorite form of transportation.

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I’ll be on the road later this week to report from Union Pacific’s legendary Frontier Days special passenger train between Denver and Cheyenne, Wyo. I hope to see many of you there as 4-8-4 No. 844 performs this annual ritual of the American West. More on that next week.  

We followed the annual Union Pacific Frontier Days Train Saturday on its annual run from Denver to Cheyenne, Wyo., for the famous rodeo. The train is difficult to chase on the single-track route that busy U.S. 85 parallels. The highway runs through several small towns and suburbia. But there are a few good views such as this one between Platteville and Gilcrist, Colo. Fortunately the train pauses in Greeley in each direction.

At Cheyenne, the train backs to the junction at Speer, where it passes a steam-era water tank during the wye maneuver.

Saturday's trip ended abruptly just outside Denver when a pedestrian was struck and killed. No details were available Sunday morning when this post was written.

This was, unless Amtrak changes its no excursions policy, the only all-day mainline steam excursion on a Class I railroad this year.

We still don’t know why a 56-year-old Colorado woman stood in the path of Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 earlier this month as the mainline steam legend hauled the annual Frontier Days train back to Denver. Hopefully, new information will come to light soon to tell us why she made the choice to be where she was and paid with her life. Right now, we just don’t know. And that’s frustrating.

But what we do have is a full understanding of how to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again. It is simple. It doesn’t involve costly high-tech gear. It doesn’t involve the federal government, the railroads, or the TSA, PTC, or any other letter combinations.  It doesn’t require months of training, registration, or licensing. It’s nothing the mainline steam operators can change.

What it does mean is being your brother and sister’s keeper, as a friend of mine who just retired from the railroad industry reminded me.

What it does involve is for each of us who goes trackside to watch out for each other. And for the general public who sees through a window into our fascinating world.

What it does require is for each of us to be fully aware of our surroundings and the people nearby.

This is a wakeup call for each of us to be responsible for ourselves and those around us. If someone isn’t familiar with our railroad environment and the dangers that are inherent, then it means having to speak up. And if someone is knowledgeable about what it means to watch trains but isn’t doing it safely, it means saying something. You don’t have to come off as a know it all. Just say what is appropriate for the moment. It may be a polite word, or you may need to shout, “Get off the tracks.”

Cell phones are great, but they pose special hazards, no matter how you’re using them. I was a passenger on the ferry move from Cheyenne to Denver two days before the tragic Frontier Days excursion. I was a guest of the UP, and our hosts made sure to tell us how to be responsible when on railroad property. They warned us not to talk on the phone and walk near the train at the same time – too much risk of losing situational awareness. They gave us good advice.

In June I was at the National Park Service site at Promontory, Utah, where the gold spike marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad. There, with the two operating replicas of the 4-4-0 locomotives the park rangers advised the visitors to stand back 15 feet. Yes, I said, 15 feet. This for locomotives that don’t move much faster than walking speed. In a day and age when Americans are more distracted than ever and the general public knows little about how things work, 15 feet sounds just fine to me.

[caption image="/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-07-48/6813.Maps.jpg" position="right"]The 'Railroad Maps' special issue, which sold out shortly after publication in 2013, is back in print. (Photo by David Lassen)[/caption]Fans of Trains Magazine maps, we have some good news.

Our 2013 special issue, Railroad Maps, which collected 45 maps — most from the pages of Trains, but also including four created just for the issue — is back in print. It is scheduled to be available at newsstands and hobby shops beginning Tuesday, July 31.

The original printing sold out so quickly that even the Trains staff was caught a bit off guard — not even everyone on the staff has one, and those of us who do have had to keep track of them pretty carefully.  It remained available only in digital form, and for those of us who enjoy maps, that’s just not nearly as satisfying as having them in physical form. (I’m definitely one of those people; I keep map books for both the Chicago and Milwaukee areas in my car, because — among other things —I want to be able to look at my whole route when I’m going somewhere, rather than the little portion my cellphone will show me.)

Anyway, if you missed it the first time around — or maybe just wore the first copy out — your second chance has arrived.

A couple of notes:

— This is a reprint, rather than an update. While our mapmakers — including current contributer Bill Metzger and staff illustrator Rick Johnson — and editor Matt Van Hattem did a spectacular job on this issue, there were, inevitably, a few errors. The problem is, any notes on those have been lost to time, since no one anticipated a reprint. (We’ve learned our lesson on this. If you find something, let us know, and we’ll keep the notes this time.)

— As mentioned above, distribution for this is a bit different, too. At least initially, you’ll find Railroad Maps only at the hobby shops and newsstands that carry Kalmbach publications. We hope you’ll support these businesses that support us, and have helped us introduce Trains and its sister publications to readers for many years.

The accompanying photo, by the way, shows the reprint and two of the maps that are exclusive to it — the Seattle-Tacoma area, and “Whatever Happened to the Burlington Route?”  (The other two show signaled rail lines of the U.S. and how the movement of Wyoming coal changed between 2001 and 2011.)

And the particularly observant may also note a piece of another map below the magazine. That’s part of a map we're working on for Railroad Maps II, which is already in development, although it won’t be out until 2020. But we’ll tell you more about that when the time comes.

UNION, Ill. -- I went to Illinois Railway Museum with some friends Saturday. It’s the height of summer vacation season, and it’s always fun to see who shows up at preservation centers like this one. You’ll find families, retirees, and, of course, rail enthusiasts. Each constituency comes with their own set of expectations. Those are fun in their own ways: Curious families whose kids want to go beyond Thomas the Tank Engine. Retirees reliving fond memories. Fans with their favorite railroads on their t-shirts and caps. At this point in my life, I come to places like this as much to see the performances of the volunteers and staff as well as the reactions of the visitors as I come to see the history, listen for the whistle, smell the coal smoke, and feel the crunch of cinders beneath my boots.

Illinois Railway Museum is revered for its massive rolling stock collection and its capability of providing a triple threat: It’s one of the few places in the U.S. that can field at once steam, diesel, and electric trains.

On Saturday, IRM’s Frisco 2-10-0 No. 1630 was in operation. It’s always interesting to see locomotive preparation and servicing, and IRM gets its steam power ready right in front of the visitors. That’s the way it should be. A big part of the steam story is just how labor intensive these magnificent machines are. No. 1630 is an icon of IRM. It’s run there for almost 50 years. After a 1,472-day inspection the 100-year-old locomotive returned to service in 2014. Those ten drivers provide plenty of power; it’s a relatively small freight locomotive that’s impressive to watch and ride behind.

Sitting outside the steam shop was J. Neils Lumber Co. Shay No. 5, which is within weeks of a successful return to service. The 1929 engine, which has been out of service since 1999, needs final adjustments to its hydrostatic lubricator before it’s fit once more, but that’s a goal that’s within reach, say steam shop curator Tom Schneider and assistant curator Jason Maxwell.

That’s what’s running. What’s down the tracks is worth previewing.

There’s a new auxiliary water tank for thirsty No. 1630. It currently hauls a milk car with water tanks inside its boxy superstructure. It will get a former Chicago & North Western tender, which can haul more water for busy operating days.

Deeper inside the shop us Union Pacific 2-8-0 No. 428, a 1900 Baldwin-built locomotive that was worked on years ago and is to become the museum’s third steam locomotive in operation. The engine last ran out of Grand Island, Neb., and was among the last UP power in steam in 1958 when it was retired.  Volunteers are preparing the cab, and that project will move along.

Among the history, the people, and coming attractions, our museums and tourist lines are endlessly fascinating. I never get bored when I visit one. I hope to run into you at your favorite one or a new one soon.

Do you have little yellow or green boxes with 38 slides strewn across your desk? Do you look for a better way to organize and catalog them? I ditched the developer boxes years ago, but still struggle to organize my slide collection in a meaningful way. I'm hoping that with this post other film dinosaurs such as myself will share their methods. First, let's start with an example.

I've always been a Milwaukee Road fan, even before my relocation to America's Dairyland. That includes modern railfan trips to former Milwaukee Road lines and collecting slides from before my time and of the present day after I switched to shooting digitally. So, for example, I have photos of the Milwaukee to Twin Cities main line in the Milwaukee, Soo Line, and Canadian Pacific eras. There is a distinct cutoff, a merger date, for the Soo-Milwaukee combo in the mid-1980s, but the transition to the Canadian Pacific was much more gradual. But, still, Soo Line is a wholly owned subsidiary of CP, even though it is no longer operated independently.

Similarly, I have slides of the Soo Line, Wisconsin Central Ltd., and Canadian National on the same piece of railroad; should they be separated in three boxes, or left together? 

Then, what about Amtrak? Does it get filed with the line it operates, or in a box by itself? (Same for commuter operators elsewhere in the country.) I am more geography-oriented in my travels and studies, so I prefer to sort my slides based on location rather than by locomotive number, which is another popular method. Pulling the Amtrak slides from the Canadian Pacific box goes against that thinking.

How do you solve the conundrums? Is everything on a specific line lumped together regardless of operator? Or do you file by locomotive road and number, regardless of location? What about structures? Railroad hardware? Or even railfans? Sound off in the comments so that I may better file my (still growing) collection.

Boy Scouts on the Capitol Limited. Bob Johnston

Bob Johnston's story this week about the Southwest Chief and Scouting reminds me of the time I could have traveled by Amtrak to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, but:

 I was too busy.

 I didn't have enough money.

 That's a lot of time to be gone.

 I have a girlfriend.

Et cetera. Et cetera. 

 I'm not old, but I'm old enough now to understand those arguments from long ago kept me from a unique experience and what would have been one heck of a train trip.

 Anyone who has spent enough time in Scouting in the U.S. hears about certain "must-do" events before you age out of the program. A national jamboree is one (that I also didn't do) and visiting Philmont is another. In short, Philmont is ten of thousands of acres of open land and campsites near Cimarron, N.M., dedicated to being a safe place were youth and their adult leaders can enjoy nature and challenge their own physical and mental endurance.

 One highlight that was advertised years ago was the week-long backpack trek to and from the summit of Mt. Baldy — no refrigerators, no electronics — just you and your troop of fellow scouts.

 There's another part of that, of course, the train ride to get to Philmont. Scouts in California and the Pacific Northwest probably don't do this, but for the easterners, the cheapest, most dependable way to move 20 to 40 boys at a time was to get coach seats on Amtrak and go west. I knew a few of the guys who went the last year I was eligible to participate as a youth. What they must have experienced on the train getting to know one another — and strangers — better, boggles the mind.

 They would have changed trains at Chicago Union Station, for sure, and walked around a city that's leagues beyond our hometowns near Jamestown and Salamanca, N.Y.; Smethport and Bradford, Pa. In their travels, they would have met rich and poor, job seekers, transients, and idle travelers. They would have shared food: packaged or badly done or decent, but expensive. They would have made memories and cemented friendships.

 In other words, they probably had an eye-opening experience on the train, even apart from the camping adventure.

 I am fortunate to have had other very good opportunities in my life, but sad I did not make this journey.

 The Southwest Chief's future remains shrouded in doubt. I wonder just how much longer we will, as a country, offer world-enhancing experiences to young people for the cost of a ticket to ride. The Scouts' annual pilgrimage to Philmont remains one of those rare, precious things.

Just a thought.

If LA Metro's new body scanners work out, I want them rolled out nationwide at commuter and passenger train stations — airports too.

If you're cursing me out as a nanny state worshipper, please hear me out. 

My support is mostly to boost the psychological well-being of passengers, myself included.

In major transportation hubs we already have plenty of armed, combat-ready police; metal detectors; bomb sniffing dogs; drug dogs; and other safety-security contrivances. (At Philadelphia's airport, I got my hands swabbed in a security line — I never found out why.) And I've seen other people frisked and asked questions of — then released. I'm certain you have too.

For all the manned intervention, I'm not sure anyone really is safer. But I am sure we are a lot more on edge.

I would much rather be scanned passively by a computer that might better decide that my camera bag full of gear is heavy with lenses, than a human inclined to assume the worst (a bomb) and act accordingly, if professionally.

And unless someone triggers a sensor, maybe the police will stay in a ready room or other unobtrusive place: Available, but unengaged until called upon.

For now, LA Metro's scanners will be tuned to detect people carrying or wearing explosive devices. I imagine a future version could also be tuned to detect firearms, large knives, or large stashes of concealed drugs. In most crowded stations areas, these items are already banned — so why not detect them and remove the real security risk?

That's my two cents. What say you?

ON BOARD THE 'SOUTHWEST CHIEF' – “When I hear them talk about doing away with this train, it just breaks my heart.” The source of that statement was a middle-aged woman slowly pecking at a burger and chips in the dining car of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief. She had just returned from Ireland and was on her way to southern California for family business. The train, she said, has always been a part of her life. She’d rather ride than drive.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, my wife, Cate, and I rode the Chief from Chicago to Albuquerque, N.M. It had been six years since my last trek on this the grandkid of Santa Fe’s Super Chief, a Los Angeles-Chicago run, and I was overdue for a look at the train that some in Amtrak believe might not need to run across fabled Raton Pass (you read more about the train and its route in the October 2018 issue of Trains). A bus bridge might be a better, so the theory goes, than to spend millions to upgrade the track and signals and install Positive Train Control on a route that only sees the Chiefs in both directions each day. That’s a topic for serious consideration. It’s not the subject of this post. What I wanted to learn is about the train and what it feels like to be on board. I wanted to get a better feel for the Chief and its mission in 2018.

I came away with was an appreciation for a tired but still useful train, from its well-worn P42 locomotives to the 40-something-year-old Superliners that are still plugging along day in and day out. As I’ve said before, I think Amtrak needs to decide whether the Chief is transportation or a cruise train. What I learned is that it is both, and it may be hard to separate them.

The customer mix is just about as diverse as can be. There were retirees returning home to the southwest after visiting relatives in the Midwest. There was an Australian out researching music. There were those who don’t have cars, and those who don’t like to fly.

They all appreciate that the train takes you into the real America: The cornfields of Illinois. The Mississippi River crossing at Fort Madison, Iowa. The Western Auto sign and the colorful skyline in downtown Kansas City. The tall mountains and deep canyons and chasms of New Mexico. You can drink it in from the train in a way that no other means of transportation can provide.

Bedroom B in sleeping car 330 functioned pretty much the way it has always worked: It’s a room with a sofa couch and chair by day, two bunk beds at night, and a private toilet / shower. So, did the diner, and so did the Sightseer lounge. There are places were grime and grit can’t be dislodged from the highest exterior windows. There are obsolete instructions in the shower. There is rusting chrome in the lounge. But overall, the train doesn’t look or feel as old as it truly is. The Chief hides its age well.

The crew is a big part of that. From Pinky the sleeping car attendant to Nick the conductor and the friendly ground crew in Kansas City, they all worked hard to make it an experience to remember. The jointed rail, semaphore and searchlight signals, and reminders of the Santa Fe Railway all contributed to the feeling of vitality.

If you need to decide for yourself whether the Chief on Raton Pass is essential to the U.S. transportation network, I suggest buying a ticket and riding as far as you can go. See what you can see that moves. Meet the passengers and the crew and learn their stories. Feel the clip of the jointed rail under your car. It’s a lot to take in. I agree with our lunch companion. It would break my heart, too, if the Chief were not allowed to remain on Raton Pass.

Where were you in 1968? For me, I was a kid growing up in North Carolina. In my mind, it is hard to believe that 50 years have passed. But they have, perhaps, with the exception of that timeless railroad location, Chama, N.M. This is where the Rio Grande prepared its forces to battle against gravity for the summit of Cumbres Pass, and where for the last 46 years the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic has sent its tourist trains across 64 miles of Rio Grande’s San Juan extension in a quest to turn the clock back to the late 1920s. Last weekend, 75 lucky Trains magazine customers gathered for two days of action on the narrow gauge as we commemorated the 50^th anniversary of the last steam-powered freights on a Class I railroad.

For the occasion, the C&TS graciously allowed K-36 No. 488 to assume the role of a sister narrow gauge 2-8-2, No. 483, which played a significant role in the last runs in 1968: Along with sister No. 484, it powered the last westbound freight in August 1968. No. 484, still operational, joined No. 483 in doing the honors Sunday with a 20-car photo freight from Antonito, Colo., to Chama. The day before, No. 483 led a 13-car freight, made up of boxcars and sheep cars, from Chama to Cumbres with No. 484 acting as a rear pusher. That also replicated the last eastbound freight across Cumbres in 1968, although that train had a K-37 in the lead, and none of those at the C&TS is operational.

We were fortunate to have on hand Russ Sperry, Ernie Robart, and Olaf Rasmussen, who photographed the last trains in 1968, and who wrote our feature story about the event in our June 2018 issue. Russ showed more of his photos at Cumbres Pass Saturday night, where we all gathered for dinner. We were all wowed with his fantastic shots of a fleeting portion of U.S. railroad history.

So many people were instrumental in planning and operating the trains for this event. I don’t have the space or time to thank them all. The railroad management and train crews did an outstanding job. And I do need to single out my friend Kevin Gilliam, who produced our latest video offering, Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Freights. He selected and coordinated our photo locations, which produced outstanding results for passengers from across the nation and as far away as England and Australia. You can purchase that DVD here: https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/dvd/15344

We’ll be back with another great photo charter event next March when we visit the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad to photograph newly restored and rare 2-4-4-2 Skookum and Polson 2-8-2 No. 2. We’re down to only a dozen tickets of 42 available. If you’d like to join us on our next railroad photography adventure, details are here: http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/04/19-trains-to-sponsor-skookum-photo-charter-in-oregon

The two plumes of smoke that marked our special anniversary train are etched in my mind. I hope that 50 years from now we are still marking the end of regular Class I freight service by steam in the U.S. and celebrating the living narrow gauge preservation that is the Cumbres & Toltec. When you stand on the main street in Chama, it is 2018 beneath your feet. But when you look toward the shop and yard, it is still 1928 and the Rio Grande and the narrow gauge are fighting the good fight on Cumbres Pass every day.  

PS: Look for more photos of this event in our November issue, available in early October.

A couple years back my I took my wife, father, and oldest children to an auto show/flea market/local charity fundraiser event.

You know the kind: hot day in summer, smoke from various grilled meat stands, flies, and a range of stuff for sale from immaculate to junk.

On one of those ubiquitous junk tables I found a Railway Express Agency "Guide for Supervisors" for sale for just six bucks. Yep. Six dollars. You bet I picked it up.

Flipping through pages to see what knowledge REA had for supervisors in 1943, the publication year, I was impressed.

REA claimed to move anything that would fit in an express car: dogs and cats, blood plasma, jewelry, bonds, oysters, neon signs — there's even a cartoon drawing of a large statue in a museum, wrapped and ready to ship.

There's a section on hiring new employees (two pages only). REA devotes four pages on the qualifications to be a supervisor, including: "A good supervisor will: ... Be open-minded; always willing to listen to a grievance and ready to discuss it thoroughly and sympathetically." 

Maybe the best page contains a cartoon and a short discussion of express service:

"Express implies speed. If shipments entrusted to the Company are delayed, the term loses its significance and the Company pays claims for deterioration or destruction of production, missed markets, lost sales and lower prices. The solution of the problem is in the hands of the Supervisors."

Although the modern equivalent of REA is FedEx, UPS, and DHL, among others, the sentiment rings true for modern-day railroad shippers.

There's a discussion of taxes (that are too high compared to 1929); how to properly lift a box, and how to maintain good company-labor relations. 

In short, for $6, I had an interesting reminder that there's nothing new under the sun, AND, that those people running shipments on 10,000 trains a day were pretty advanced, considering they kept track of everything with paper and pencil.

We've heard a few comments of late that our biweekly Trackside with Trains photo contest is growing stale, and I agree. So starting with September we're going to mix it up. The contest is now on a monthly schedule and we're treating each theme as an assignment: go make an image with it in mind rather than digging through your archives for something relevant from long ago.

The first email newsletter each month will announce the previous contest's winner and the theme for the next contest. Contestants will then have a little less than two weeks, but still two weekends, to capture a compelling image to enter in the contest. Trains staff will choose the entries that best fit the theme and other criteria, up to six per contest.

Why are we making these changes? There are a few reasons. First, it encourages readers to go out and make new images, which also benefits the magazine. Second, it gets back to Trackside's roots of fostering photographic development among our readers. In its early days, two Kalmbach staffers would go head-to-head to make competing images with a common theme and along the way explain why they made the choices that they did. That is the most important part of the change for us: teach your fellow photographers about photography!

The next theme is "more than meets the eye" and entries are due no later than 12 P.M. CDT Monday, Sept. 17, 2018. Be sure to include the caption information that you always have, along with an explanation of why and how, and the basic equipment and exposure information.

Good luck!

By the time most of you in Trains Nation read this, I will be in Switzerland for a Trains tour. (Book now for 2019)  

In my preparations, I've pored over maps of Swiss Railways, looked into the engineering of famous places and even considered which camera lens I should take with me. 

But I had not considered anniversaries.

It turns out that 2018 is the 150th anniversary of Queen Victoria's (Yes, that Queen Victoria) trip to Switzerland in 1868. 

Back then, she needed a month of vacation to work through personal grief and ongoing political stress from being sovereign of the most powerful country on earth.

And so Her Majesty visited Furka Pass — and so will we!

Victoria visited Lucerne and the famed Mount Pilatus — and so we will. The list of places we’ll both visit, it seems, is long and impressive. 

But today we begin our tours in Zurich, Switerland’s largest city and its banking center. There’s scant evidence Her Majesty visited here, but if she did, — railfan that she was — she would likely have stayed in a place as lovely as our first hotel tonight: the Hotel Schweizerhod Zurich — overlooking the train station.

Tomorrow: We head south by train to Italy and Lugano!

See you then.

LUGANO, Switzerland — Picture it: Zurich, about 9 a.m. this morning. We were finished with breakfast in our hotel and waiting in the lobby waiting on our tour guide to check the train schedule. We were supposed to start in Zurich and end up in the large Italian-Swiss city of Lugano for dinner after a few hours at Bellinzona (also Swiss) looking at castles and old stuff. We ended up on a round-about tour of northern Italy by train and finished our day by finding out what a kumquat tastes like. It’s not bad.

What happened is that the usually punctual, on-time, orderly, perfect Swiss trains were being canceled left and right. There was just no way we were going to get to Lugano in the south going over, under, or through the Gotthard Pass. It was crazy. We heard later that maintenance work on the pass had not been completed in time to the newly opened Gotthard Base Tunnel back into service.

Our tour guide, though, committed to making our day a success. She had overheard from a Swiss Railways worker that maybe we could catch a train through Italy to where we wanted to go, but we’d first have to go to Brig. Well, sort of.

We took the InterCity train west to the Swiss capital city at Bern, which double-backed to Brig by about 1 p.m.. So far, so good. But once in Brig, we switched to the TrenItalia network and ducked through a series of small Italian towns — pretty, mountain towns —  through the Simplon tunnel, saw an automobile ferry and tracks full of beat-up equipment before changing trains about 3 p.m. in Domodossola.

We traded a modern articulated light-rail-like regional train for what would I could generously describe as double-decker Comet coaches on an all-stop Milan-area local train. Did I mention it was pushing 80 or 90 degrees in the cars? We changed trains again in Gallarate and then back on a Swiss train at Mendrisio.

From Mendrisio, we took the articulated train to Lugano Paradiso about 5:30 p.m. where we got off and walked a few more blocks to the local funicular, rode to the top to cool off and take pictures. 

By the time we finished, some people were plain tired out, but soldiered back to take a train 10 more minutes into Lugano. A handful opted for taxis.

We ate dinner at 8 p.m. and unwound. 

My table mates joked they had lost me somewhere in Italy because they hadn’t seen me for a few hours today. Others were remarking on the weird and wonderful equipment that we rode saying it reminded him of time in Europe in the 1960s. Others could not believe the views we had from Italy’s lake country, the tiled-roof homes and slightly decrepit depots.

Without time enough to stop for lunch, we shared snacks and water bottles that we had — breaking bread, if you will. And by the time dessert rolled out: iced raspberry parfait with a dollop of cream and a yellow berry in a dry husk — we felt a bit punchy trying to figure out what that berry might be. 

“Gooseberry” someone said. 

“I thought it looked like a tomatillo.” Another uttered. 

“No, it’s a kumquat.” One woman replied. A kumquat. Certainly not, it didn’t have the right skin and would peel. Kumquats are not at all like cherry tomatoes.

It was juicy and bitter — edible at least.

”Chef?” someone asked. “What fruit is this?”

It was ... a kumquat. Who knew?

And it was then, or about then, that we reflected on our adventure. Nothing had gone to plan other than we ended up at the right hotel. And everything we did was a save by our tour guide. It was tough and sweaty, but we kind of liked the departure from the ordinary.

If I may say, tomorrow may go according to plan, but if not, we’ll still have fun. See you in Chur. 

(PS, if you made it this far into my blog post you get to see my best iPad picture from a moving train in lake country. I’m definitely bringing the Mrs. back one day.)