Amtrak 3, the westbound Southwest Chief, accelerates out of the Fullerton station at 4:05 PM after making a crew change with just 26 miles remaining in its journey. The scheduled time for this stop? 6:34 AM! As evidenced by the BNSF SD70MAC on the headend, this has been a hard-luck train on its journey from Chicago to Los Angeles - a misbehaving P42DC (hence its replacement with the SD70MAC), signal problems, slow orders - Unfortunately not the ideal situation for repeat customers among the train's many passengers. (Fullerton, California – March 26, 2011)
California-bound rail travelers from the east have three choices to reach the Golden State: California Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited/Texas Eagle. A look back through the years including the now-defunct Desert Wind