Guide to Southwest Chief stops: 2,265 miles of history and sites

amtrak's southwest chief stops at 30 stations between chicago and los angeles in eight different states along the way you see a lot of different american scenery but most passengers don't get off the train especially at the smaller stops but why does the train stop at those places and what's there now in this video we'll take a slow relaxing and eye-opening journey along the southwest chief and find out what's special and unique about each of its stops as we wind through some of america's most historical and beautiful regions [Music] it all starts here union station chicago is amtrak's fourth busiest station and by far the busiest on the southwest chief the first train depot here was built in 1881 and the current monstrosity dates from 1925. chicago is the major amtrak hub in the midwest since it's not possible as of this video to take a single amtrak train coast to coast to link the oceans by rail you'll need to change in either new orleans or chicago with chicago offering far more options we'll be going west from chicago to los angeles for this video but of course you could do this trip in the opposite direction as well first let's get our bearings with a few quick stats southwest chief started in the 1970s based on earlier pre-amtrak routes called superchief and el capitan it was called southwest limited at first about 1 000 riders take the southwest chief every day the average time is over 43 hours finally route changes and station changes do happen from time to time so this video may slowly edge towards getting ever so slightly out of date still this is how it is now and how it will most likely stay generally our daily westbound train leaves chicago in mid-afternoon the very first stop on the route outside chicago is already unique and notable naperville illinois is a suburb of chicago but quite a ways from chicago proper the station in naperville is actually used by four different amtrak services there's the southwest chief of course but also the california zephyr which connects chicago and san francisco and the shorter illinois service consisting of the trains illinois zephyr and carl sandburg between chicago and quincy illinois metra the chicago area's commuter rail service also uses naperville station what makes naperville the city so interesting is its history it was founded in 1831 by a guy from vermont called joseph naper who looks to me like a stern antique will ferrell but that's beside the point he called the place napers settlement which became napierville and then naperville and about 30 years later trains began stopping here but fast forward to 1946 in the naperville train disaster on loomis street still right next to the station now a passenger train slammed into another one that had stopped unexpectedly 45 people were killed and dozens more were wounded the accident so freaked out americans including train officials that new nationwide regulations were passed limiting speeds of passenger trains train companies could install expensive safety equipment and run at higher speeds but few bothered to do so and so right then high-speed rail development was effectively halted following this disaster and today infamously america lacks the high-speed rail network so be loved in other countries blame naperville no actually naperville is nice if you stop there you can enjoy the riverwalk and historical districts and check out moses tower and the millennium caroline one of the largest structures of its kind in the u.s it contains 72 bells and was built to commemorate the beginning of the 21st century but there has been some debate about whether it should be repaired or demolished both of which are expensive options for the city as of this video it's being repaired and maintained but i say make sure to see it while you still can and then get back on the train we've still got a lot to see [Music] next up for the southwest chief is mendota illinois this small city of about 7 000 people like so many cities and towns west of the mississippi river owes part of its history to railroads in this case a native lakota word meaning where two trails meet was used for the settlement in the 1850s because two train lines crossed here and in 1904 by the way a third line was built through mendota the original train depot burned down in 1885 so an impressive new one opened three years later due to falling revenue most of that building was then torn down in 1942 and what's left today is basically a waiting room and the union depot railroad museum mendota which refers to itself as the world's greatest little city is also where you can start to really feel you're in the agricultural heartland of america archer daniels midland and del monte both operate in the area and if you're still not convinced that mendota is the world capital of cool farming remember that the video for the arctic monkeys song one for the road was shot at the local fairground amtrak's california zephyr trains by the way pass through mendota but don't stop here it's southwest chief only [Music] princeton illinois is southwest chief's next stop and is a town about the same size as mendota what's great about princeton is its impressive and approachable historic downtown district including the apollo movie theater and the public library also historic is the amtrak station of course which in this case was built in 1911 by the chicago burlington and quincy railroad aka the burlington aka the q the president of the railroad at the time was darius miller who was born here in princeton following his death in 1914 from appendicitis the town donated some land and established darius miller park which is still next to the amtrak station have a stroll and thank darius for putting princeton on the train map [Music] at one time princeton was known as the city of elms but disease killed nearly all the elm trees and so the town of about 7 500 people had to adapt now its slogan is where tradition meets progress so you can see that the place breeds adaptability and creativity further proving that point princeton has been home to doobie brother keith knudsen who graduated from princeton high school in 1966 and unexpectedly gary green guitarist for the 1970s prague rock band gentle giant who was born in england but now lives in princeton i wonder if he's ever ridden the southwest chief with two of his friends maybe for more evidence of princeton's spirit of creativity and renewal and if you have a car check out the captain swift bridge down north avenue it looks like some quaint artifact from a bygone time but it was built in 2006 if you get off at the train depot in galesburg illinois you're looking at a lot of unique history before you even leave the building the original galesburg depot was built in 1854 in a location near knox college stephen douglas actually used that depot when he arrived for the fifth of his famous debates one held at knox college with abraham lincoln four years later in 1881 though the building burned down a new grander train depot was built in 1884 in a different spot in galesburg it was made of red brick but somehow it too burned down in 1911. the next year a third depot opened and was used until 1983 when again declining revenues caused amtrak to demolish it the current station is the fourth for galesburg opened in 1984 on a more modest and functional scale outside the city of galesburg is much bigger than the last couple of stops with a population of over 30 000 it was founded by george washington gale became a center for an anti-slavery society and was a key stop on another kind of railroad the underground railroad there's a museum dedicated to that era at knox college as well as the galesburg railroad museum and if you're in town in june you might be able to catch the railroad days festival in short galesburg and its history are all about trains some notable people have had ties to the area too and galesburg can brag of quite a few interesting native sons most notably maybe poet carl sandberg was born here as was the inventor of the ferris wheel george washington gail ferris jr one whitcomb l judson went to knox college and later invented the zipper charles walgreen founder of the pharmacy chain walgreens grew up in galesburg and ronald reagan spent a couple of years here with his family as a child before they relocated to nearby dixon and the southwest chief keeps moving through the gentle midwest galesburg is its final stop in illinois or first if you're going towards chicago the train crosses the mississippi river on the fort madison toll bridge and enters iowa this bridge also has road traffic very close by so whether you're in a car or the train you'll enjoy the views of one of the mississippi river's widest sections not only that but this is the longest wingspan bridge in the world and the only one left on the mississippi river amtrak riders are lucky that the train still goes here [Music] the first station in iowa is the only one in iowa for southwest chief fort madison just over that bridge is in the extreme southeast corner of the state and is a small city with a population of about ten thousand fort madison as you may be able to tell by the name was originally a military fort it was set up in 1808 as a place for the united states to establish control over its new louisiana purchase as far as trains go an original depot here from 1888 was later replaced by this the santa fe depot this collection of mission revival buildings was completed over several years in the early 20th century but eventually fell out of use when a new station opened in 1968 about a mile and a half away as of this video plans have long been underway to renovate and reopen the original santa fe depot in fort madison but it seems to still be in a state of confused limbo or something by the time you watch this it may be open at any rate wherever you disembark fort madison has some cool stuff to see its own historic old downtown has a lot of impressive storefronts and buildings nearby there's a replica of the fort itself after fort madison our train leaves this far corner of iowa and continues to the southwest entering missouri to this point the southwest chief has gone about 200 miles since chicago the next 200 miles are all in missouri but there are only two stations the first is la pleda the town which is the smallest on the route so far has a population of about thirteen hundred it was established not by a railroad but by one drury davis who in 1827 set up a trading post nearby it became a town was named after la plata argentina and in the late 1800s not one but two train lines pass through bringing it a lot of attention la plata has since then had a history as a utilitarian area not only for shipping timber and livestock and other things on the train lines but at one time producing butter at a local creamery which burned down and was never rebuilt major oil pipelines have run through la plata and large and important storage tanks were once located here the amtrak station dates from 1945 and it replaced the original 1887 depot so i looked around to see what was happening in la plata for this video and aside from the handsome new track loader and maybe the occasional future farmers of america parade it looks like you may have to find your own fun if you stop here but if you're here because of amtrak you're in real luck there's a great train themed hotel in the plata the depot inn has train-themed rooms historical displays and all sorts of cool decorations and nearby is a little cabin especially for rail fans with a deck where you can watch trains pass by if the internet is to be believed about four or five dozen per day there's even a railroad scanner to listen to the cruise and dispatch your communications and if you do stay in la plata for a night or two enjoy the quiet small town vibe because the next stop on the southwest chief is a big one it takes two and a half hours to get to that next stop and you get to watch the missouri countryside passing by from aboard the train going west depending on the time of year and train delays you should be seeing the sunset around la plata and if it's still light enough watch for a southwest chief highlight in sibley missouri you pass over the missouri river on an especially gorgeous bridge [Music] kansas city missouri has a long and important train history the city itself with half a million inhabitants is the largest in missouri the original station built in 1878 was a union station meaning it was used by multiple rail companies it was only the second such station in the u.s and was an ornate gothic revival building controversial in its day for its ostentatious size it was damaged by flooding in 1903 and a new union station was built above the flood plain it was the third largest in america at the time with high ceilings huge chandeliers and an impressive clock in the grand hall over time though train lines became less busy and in 1985 amtrak moved its operations to a smaller building nearby kansas city union station fell into disrepair and a canadian company that was supposed to step in and develop it didn't allegedly and got sued it was pretty messy in the 1990s local residents finally agreed to a new tax and the original station was saved amtrak moved back in 2002. the new union station has all sorts of stuff for visitors including restaurants and museums and a movie theater and even a planetarium kansas city by the way is also where another amtrak service missouri river runner begins and ends going between here and st louis outside the station there was way too much going on all the time in kansas city to get into here many more museums restaurants parks performance halls and everything else awaits you but for a little bit of local history that has echoed internationally through the ages walt disney born in chicago lived in kansas city with his family as a youngster and created his very first animations here kansas city where amtrak trains stop on the platform for about 30 to 40 minutes is the last of the stops in missouri fittingly the southwest chief leaves the missouri river and starts to follow the kansas river here as the train leaves the state of missouri and enters kansas this new state has six stops going in either direction however most or all of kansas will probably be in the middle of the night so what are sleeping passengers missing just under a hundred thousand people live in the next city lawrence on the trip here from kansas city missouri in the daytime you'd get occasional views of the kansas river on the north side of the train lawrence is situated between that river and the wakarusa river and it has seen flooding throughout its history lawrence was established in the 1850s and named for amos lawrence a slavery abolitionist from massachusetts the main historical street in lawrence a few blocks away from the amtrak station has long been massachusetts street several blocks are on the national register of historic places the first lawrence train depot was built in 1883 by the legendary atchison topeka and santa fe railway a flood in 1901 destroyed six of seven rail bridges in the area besides a lot of other structures but the depot was still usable a huge flood in 1951 with water reaching over 30 feet deep finally damaged the depot enough that a new one was built and that's the current station opened in 1956 and it's also on the national register of historic places if you want to explore lawrence there is a lot to see multiple museums and historical buildings are everywhere you might even catch a concert in the gazebo in south park along massachusetts street impressively this apartment complex in lawrence kansas can legitimately claim to be the center of the world at one time at least it was the default starting point for google earth because a google engineer grew up here no other train on earth can claim to take you to the center of the world [Music] just over half an hour away the southwest chief stops at topeka kansas topeka is bigger than lawrence and is also situated on the kansas river eastbound passengers may be seeing the sunrise around here [Music] topeka is the place where we dug potatoes at least that's one translation of the word topeka which native americans use to refer to the kansas river the city took the name in 1855 and a santa fe train depot opened in 1887. the current station is from 1950. despite being bigger than lawrence topeka sees fewer passengers using the amtrak station topeka has its own historical buildings and landmarks including a national historic site honoring the 1954 supreme court case brown versus the board of education of topeka the decision was unanimous that so-called separate but equal educational facilities were unconstitutional that we should change our name for a week to google and that might get their attention speaking of google again in 2010 the mayor of topeka declared that the city was changing its name to google to entice the company to carry out its fiber optics experiments in the city a week i signed a proclamation and we referred to our city as google kansas lawyers advised the city council not to actually change the name legally but still google appreciated the effort and on april fool's day changed its own name to topeka notable people from topeka kansas includes several members of the actual band kansas as well as katrina of katrina and the waves stunt performer evil knievel wasn't born in topeka but a museum honoring him opened here in 2017. after topeka the train takes an abrupt south turn away from the kansas river through flat lands full of fields and trees if both are on time you'll be passing by the other southwest chief going in the opposite direction around 2 30 a.m near walton kansas [Music] newton has a population of fewer than 20 000 and yet it is the busiest amtrak station in kansas that's because it's the nearest station to kansas's largest city wichita and being so important newton station is an especially impressive and attractive building and if it looks familiar for some reason especially if you're really into classic english literature it may be because newton station built in 1929 was modeled on william shakespeare's home in stratford-upon-avon the original depot opened in 1883 and expanded in 1900 the current shakespearean building is itself on the national register of historic places there are a million things to see and do in wichita 25 miles down the road from newton like see the very first pizza hut but to make sure this video isn't 10 hours long i'll just stick to newton itself the town was named for newton massachusetts because that's where several of the railroad people were from when they named it in 1871. that same year there was a gunfight in town in which eight men were killed which gave newton the nickname wickedest city in the west now newton has some unusual historic sites to see like workington house museum a victorian style building from 1886 owned by a mennonite ukrainian immigrant and his illinois-born wife it still has 80 percent of its original furnishings so this is pretty much what daily life looked like for some back in the 1880s speaking of mennonites in newton you can get a sense of how vital train companies believed mennonite settlers would be railroads entice them to settle in the west a successful campaign that saw communities flourish and justified more train expansion check out the mennonite settler statue in a park within walking distance of newton station [Music] hutchinson has in recent years been the least used station in kansas on the southwest chief in 2019 for example around 11 people a day got on or off the train here so if you like looking at the more unique hidden side of america hutchinson is perfect the town was founded yet again because of railroads in this case clinton hutchinson established the community because a train line crossed and still does the arkansas river here the first train depot opened in 1897 the current station is the rebuilt brickwood from 1950 several interesting claims to fame make hutchinson really unique for one thing salt deposits were discovered here in 1887 and a large mine was excavated several companies including morton which the southwest chief passes right by on the way out of town still have salt processing operations in hutchinson visitors can take tours of stratica a salt mine museum part of which includes displays from underground vaults and storage or uv and s [Music] uvns securely stores data archives of all types dozens of floors underground in the cool dry climate some famous examples are the original master reels of legendary movies gone with the wind men her star wars and very fittingly the wizard of oz are all stored here below hutchinson kansas turtle have a feeling we're not in kansas anymore elsewhere in town you can check out this it's a grain elevator and has been called the longest in the world in about half a mile however in wichita there is another grain elevator that appears to be longer i'm certainly not stepping in the middle of this thorny issue but whatever the case the one in hutchinson is undeniable as a structure to gawk at you could even try to reenact the scene shot here for the 1955 william holden and kim novak movie picnic you wanted to see them there they are wow [Music] you love me you know it you love me you love me not sure if those master reels are stored in hutchinson but it would be nice and you probably wouldn't guess this but the world's largest collection of combined russian and american space flight artifacts is in hutchinson here at the cosmosphere among the 13 000 objects is the original apollo 13 command module and speaking of amazing things and people flying through the air the cosmosphere is located near the kansas state fairgrounds where an annual comic convention is held for those two days each summer hutchinson changes its name to smallville in honor of clark kent aka superman's fictional kansas hometown and just think most amtrak passengers just sleep right through all of this [Music] dodge city may be just slightly ahead of hutchinson as far as use by amtrak passengers but it's a world famous city full of classic tales of the old west and the ghosts of legendary names dodge city was established as a spot on the santa fe trail an important wagon route through the country pioneered in the 1820s dodge city was originally fort mann and then fort atkinson and then fort dodge when the railroad arrived in the 1870s dodge city turned into a successful cow town with the new train greatly helping the cattle industry dodge city was of course most famous as a very rough old west frontier town with its controversial lawman wyatt earp still revered in town today but actually by the 1880s dodge city had settled into a more peaceful place it was in 1896 that the train depot was built still large and impressive dodge city station not only sees a few amtrak passengers here and there but hosts events for residents dodge city is perhaps most remembered today for being the setting for the western tv show gunsmoke starring james r s as u.s marshal matt dillon the show took place in the 1870s depicts the town as violent and unstable but full of interesting characters and popularized the famous phrase get the hell out of dodge [Music] just a couple blocks away from busy wyatt earp boulevard gunsmoke street in town honors the show one of dodge city's mottos now by the way is get the heck into dodge which is certainly more inviting than previous nicknames like the sodom of the west and the wicked little city depending on your perspective maybe if you do find yourself the heck in dodge city there's a lot of old west stuff to see like the boot hill museum the downtown area has reconstructions of famous landmarks like the long branch saloon for a more strange landmark look for the salsa man a large piece of art created by actor dennis hopper who was born in dodge city [Music] leaving dodge city the southwest chief begins following the arkansas river for a while it can be tough to spot from the train and might be dry at certain times but usually the sun is just starting to come up for westbound passengers around here if so you are seeing the course of one of america's major rivers as you continue through this part of kansas the final southwest chief stop in kansas going west is garden city with almost the same exact population as dodge city around 28 000. it was first established by a family named fulton from ohio legend has it that one day a drifter who'd wandered up to the fulton's occidental hotel asked what the name of the town was when he was told they'd been discussing that very issue lately he suggested garden city due to the hotel's lovely garden and the name stuck at first the railroad passed through garden city but didn't stop however engineers were kind enough to slow down and allow people to get on or off and eventually a real train depot was added the current building nestled amongst agricultural elevators dates from 1907 and the minute you arrive you know you're in garden city the vintage old west looking downtown area along main street near fulton street is dominated by the classic windsor hotel opened in 1887. elsewhere in town on a hot southwest kansas day you can visit the big pool which dates from 1922 and is larger than a football field after a few final moments in flat western kansas the southwest chief enters colorado a couple minutes later keep an eye out for the arkansas river which is generally pretty small here too but which you finally cross over before reaching the next stop after some more quiet and peaceful farmlands you notice some more large agricultural structures and pretty soon you're at lamar this is by far the least used amtrak station in colorado with just four to five people per day getting on or off the southwest chief but lamar has maybe the strangest backstory of any southwest chief station according to the town's official website which makes it clear that in fact trains are very important here lamar was founded in 1886 when the owner of an existing nearby depot blackwell refused to cooperate with the railroad and its plan to develop the area in the wee hours of a saturday night a railroad crew came in actually loaded the blackwell depot with people inside onto flat train cars and moved the entire thing three miles west renaming it lamar the next day was sunday and an injunction couldn't be issued in response to the heist and by monday too many plots of land had been sold around the new location facts were facts homesteads had been established and lamar stayed lamar the current station was actually built later in 1907 and doubles as lamar's tourist office check out the cool monuments outside like madonna of the trail which honors the pioneer women of the quote covered wagon days elsewhere this town of about 7 800 people has an enveloping old historical downtown area depending on your direction it should either be morning or dusk around here after passing by the john martin reservoir where amtrak actually passes over a part of the water for a nice if quick photo opportunity you soon arrive at la junta colorado this town of fewer than 8 000 people was founded near the old fur trading settlement of bent's post in the mid 19th century trains stop here for 10 or 15 minutes so you can get off and stretch the junta is spanish for junction and the location was chosen because of its spot where the santa fe trail and another pioneer trail crossed the railroad came later but in the hunter you can still see the importance of the train by visiting this old santa fe caboose it's located behind the state bank building opposite lahunta station and serves as the drive-through for the bank the hunter's original station was built in 1895 and was like so many others along the southwest chief line a harvey house harvey house was a chain of hotels and restaurants founded by fred harvey which operated in train depots in the heyday of the american railways the attractive lahunta depot and its harvey house facilities were torn down in 1953 and the current more utilitarian building opened the following year [Music] lahunta is worth visiting for its local sites in its friendly small western town vibe the downtown area displays some of lahunta's quirky creative urges and mesmerizing old buildings [Music] also check out ben's old fort now a national historic site rebuilt near the arkansas river on the northeast side of town going even further back in history one of north america's largest dinosaur track sites is just south of lahunta the picketwire river track site is several miles from the nearest paved road but in a four-wheel drive vehicle and if you have all day you can take a guided tour of the amazing area dinosaurs made these tracks on the muddy edge of a shallow lake 150 million years ago and the existing tracks extend for a quarter mile along the river you can even spot them in satellite imagery and while dodge city's dennis hopper was a counter-cultural figure from the 1960s and beyond lahunta has a similar claim to fame it's the birthplace of ken keezy the infamous road-tripping mary prankster lsd advocate and author of one flew over the cuckoo's nest from la junta both the picket wire river and the southwest chief turn southwest you pass through very flat very extensive grassland and both river and train end up in the town of trinidad the final amtrak stop in colorado [Music] there is no town in the world with a history like trinidad's population just under 10 000. it was founded in 1862 on the santa fe trail before colorado was a state it became a boom town when coal was discovered the train arrived in the 1870s but a series of disasters tested the new town in the first years of the 1900s a coal miner strike following a deadly explosion led to a mass killing by anti-strikers in the ludlow massacre in the nearby town of ludlow [Music] that place is now a ghost town and there's a well done monument you can visit also a 1904 fire destroyed several blocks of downtown trinidad and then a flood that year destroyed bridges and buildings including the original train depot in each case trinidad would rebuild and refresh and seem to adopt a fatalistic spirit of experimentalism and openness in 1965 the first rural hippie artist commune opened a couple miles outside of town it was called drop city and attracted a lot of media attention the scrutiny caused drop city to collapse under its own weight by the early 1970s [Music] also around that time humble little trinidad became known as the sex change capital of the world thanks to the efforts of a local doctor the tradition continued when one of his former patients carried on as a physician in town a 2008 documentary called trinidad tells the story spending time in trinidad now means admiring the gorgeous and thriving old downtown passing by lots of marijuana dispensaries gazing at the views to the hills if you want to spend more time outside in the fresh air nearby trinidad lake is a short trip to the west of town a highlight of the southwest chief comes soon after departing trinidad station just a few feet after crossing the border in the new mexico you enter a half-mile tunnel through the raton pass the tunnel is a mile and a half above sea level raton pass has been a landmark since the 1800s and there was even a movie in 1951 called raton pass this isn't just the territory this is where it's on watch your stepper we'll send your high tail and right back to colorado nice warm welcome raton has around 7 000 people it was first called willow springs and then otero each for a couple of years it was named raton the spanish word for mouse in 1880 and pretty much immediately became an important rail center in northern new mexico today raton has a lot to see for anyone who gets off of the southwest chief the station first of all dates from 1903 and is designed in the mission revival style the downtown area just across the street from the train station has an especially attractive old west quality to it and there's some kind of lasting magic in the air here too like trinidad raton was mentioned in jack kerouac's legendary novel on the road as a spot where the beatnik travelers stopped for hamburgers [Music] if you manage to see the dinosaur tracks near la hunta you can see the next part of the story on the western edge of raton the kt boundary a thin layer of rock with much higher than expected levels of iridium which is found in asteroids can be seen here the kt boundary is found in rocks worldwide and is evidence of the impact that destroyed the dinosaurs except avian ones 66 million years ago here in raton is an especially good example of the clearly visible rock layer and not only that but as long as you're up here you might as well go on up to the top of the hill and see the raton sign hollywood eats your heart out from here get a look out over the town and if you happen to be here around the 4th of july you might even be able to see the santa fe trail balloon rally a raton tradition but eventually it'll be time to get back on the southwest chief and explore further into new mexico as of right now people always complain that amtrak doesn't even go to las vegas well they're wrong the next stop on southwest chief is in fact las vegas new mexico [Music] this small town of about 13 000 is well known as a location for movies and tv shows and has been an important rail stop since 1880 the current station building again in a mission revival style was built in 1899 and is a great place to start getting a look at las vegas nearby is castaneda hotel the oldest mission revival building still standing in new mexico that hotel is on railroad avenue in a three block area known as the railroad avenue historic district the buildings here all from about 1900 reflect the importance of trains to las vegas even for the old west las vegas had a rough reputation in the 1880s figures such as billy the kid jesse james wyatt earp and doc holliday could sometimes be found on the settlement's notorious east side historian and santa fe mayor ralph emerson twitchell who moved to las vegas in 1882 once wrote without exception there was no town which harbored a more disreputable gang of desperados and outlaws then did las vegas teddy roosevelt and his rough riders who fought in the 1898 spanish-american war adopted las vegas as their official reunion home and their first such meeting was at the plaza hotel and that's just one example of las vegas history the area features an amazing 900 sites on the national register of historic places some of those speaking again of dennis hopper are around the las vegas plaza area downtown where one of the scenes in the legendary 1969 film easy rider was shot after las vegas the landscape outside the train suddenly gets more mountainous big green hills and more expansive views can often be seen as the southwest chief mostly shadows i-25 towards its next stop the southwest chief winds around north central new mexico and stops next at lamy lamy has a population around 200 but it is in fact a suburb of the state capital santa fe and the story of the railroad is especially important here the atchison topeka and santa fe railway of the late 1800s is pretty much responsible for most of the stations we've seen so far the railway's long time nickname was simply the santa fe because that city was the original intended final destination and that's the logo on trains and collectibles and stuff but when the time came to actually finally lay the track that arrives in the city of santa fe they found that the terrain was unsuitable and the closest they could get was lamy so they did that and built a short spur line to santa fe suitable for that terrain so maybe the railway's common nickname instead of the santa fe should have been the lamy all this time oh well it's too late now so what do you see if you get off at lamy today well first of all you see the station building from 1909 it replaced the original wooden one from 1881. lamy was also known in those days by the way for its opulent hotel l ortiz which was demolished in the 1940s so to be honest the coolest things near lamby station these days are a restaurant and a museum both of which seem to be closed so you can check out the hiking trails around town through some of those hills that altered the course of the santa fe railroad and you can still actually go to santa fe of course via an amtrak thruway bus i'm not going to cover the city of santa fe in this video but the exciting question for us is now that the so-called santa fe railway has reached its western end what's next for southwest chief in fact we are not done with the atchison topeka and santa fe railroad for a little bit of background to all this in the 1800s the company was building train lines out west despite the very sparse or even non-existent populations at the time like with the mennonite settlers we saw they made it pay by selling tracks of land along the way thus ensuring that the railroad tracks were lined with communities that needed railroads in fact if you took a train to inspect the plots of land and ended up buying one they applied the cost of your ticket to the land purchase so by the time they got to lamy i.e santa fe their original purpose and name were fulfilled but america's continued westward expansion was paying off so they kept going and so next was albuquerque albuquerque is the biggest city on southwest chief since chicago it's just a bit bigger than kansas city at over 560 000 people the train depot excuse me the multimodal transit hub is a large modern complex which serves amtrak and other trains and several bus routes albuquerque has been the site of settlements for centuries a more modern settlement was established in 1706 in what was then spain's nuevo mexico as la via de alberquerque yes there was an additional r in it then now part of the united states the railroad arrived in 1880 and the depot was placed a couple miles from the then center of town which had the eventual effect of enlarging albuquerque it was incorporated as a city in 1891 and soon the alvarado hotel opened near the depot the alvarado was for decades a symbol of the city and a beloved mission revival landmark by 1970 though it was being neglected and was demolished a common story in the mid 20th century this time though it was different the erasure of the alvarado from the city came to be a source of great regret to new mexico it helped inspire today's more sympathetic and robust approach to preservation so what this means is although the alvarado is gone albuquerque is full of historic districts and well-maintained old buildings [Music] of course as new mexico's largest city there are also all the usual modern hotel chains international cuisine and museums and parks and everything also definitely worth setting aside time for is petroglyph national monument taking up a significant portion of western albuquerque and preserving several examples of rock art from as far back as 3 000 years ago if you want up and out of the desert try the sandia peak tramway for decades the longest in the world and still the longest in the americas on top there are of course stupendous views over new mexico and if you're up there in october you might even glimpse the balloon fiesta the largest balloon festival in the world the train stays on the platform in albuquerque for either 30 or 50 minutes depending on the direction you're going westbound the views from your train are going to change again just outside of albuquerque the southwest chief crosses over the rio grande river by now the new mexico landscape has begun to turn into desert with larger rock formations the southwest chief is nearing its famed views of the southwestern united states as always it's thrilling to watch the land slowly morph from one thing into another as the train chugs along next is gallup the final station in new mexico and another founded by a rail company this time it was the atlantic and pacific railroad in 1881. soon that railroad signed an agreement with the santa fe a remnant of which you can still see outside the station in gallup that station was built in 1916 replacing an earlier one from the 1890s today gallup station is actually the gallup cultural center with displays and features for visitors and townspeople alike [Music] gallup is on historic route 66 and is even mentioned in the famous song gallup new mexico flagstaff about 21 000 people live in gallup a large percentage of the members of the native navajo hopi and zuni tribes the town was named for david gallup a guy who doled out the salaries of the railroad workers the workers started referring to payday as going to gallup there are lots of historical buildings in town including the el rancho which was patronized by several famous stars during the golden age of hollywood when the gallup area was a popular shooting location for westerns the wikipedia page for the hotel even has a big list of its celebrity guests [Music] otherwise check out the murals around town and gaze out at the maces and hills surrounding gallup this spot is about 15 miles from the arizona border two more states left on the southwest chief both full of sites for the inquisitive traveler around the state line you'll be noticing that the rocky hills are more dramatic with greater lines of colors in ads this is usually the area that amtrak uses to promote the views along the southwest chief broadly speaking westbound trains will be here around sunset and eastbound trains around sunrise with a bit of luck you may be able to catch this area in its best possible light literally a little while later southwest chief does something that trains rarely if ever do in the us it enters the heart of a national park painted desert is famous for its bizarre colors and one-of-a-kind views there's really only one car road running north to south through the big park so amtrak's marketing here is accurate you can see views from the east-west train here that you can't see any other way the first station in arizona is winslow population just under 10 it's had an interesting history with not only the railroad but other transportation contributing to its boom and strangely to its demise winslow was an important stop in the late 1800s for trains to refuel and stock up on water this also meant that passengers could step off for a meal or a stroll and la posada hotel opened in 1930 as one of the last harvey houses built along the rail line winslow was a busy station but when new diesel trains came into vogue it was barstow california that was given refueling duties and so railroad executives jobs and attention drained out of winslow not to worry though famed u.s route 66 also passed through winslow and it still brought a steady stream of visitors but then another twist of fate in the 1970s interstate 40 was built in an arc around the north of town cheap highway chain restaurants opened along the interstate while locally owned winslow businesses to the south began disappearing the town's fortune's once again on a downward slope but winslow today is still a good base to explore arizona the town itself features old historical buildings good for walking among like the el pasada hotel and the station itself you can drive from windsor to painted desert national park and even the grand canyon and if the layers of iridium rich rock back in raton new mexico inflamed your asteroid related imagination check out meteor crater to the west of town and if you like the eagles you obviously have to go see standing on the corner park a sort of cosplay rendition and concrete and bronze of a line in their song take it easy the song brought winzo to i suppose international attention in 1972. the flatbed ford and the groovy la drifter and the girl my lord are all here and it's right on route 66 to boot it really ties the intersection together the rest of the trip to los angeles will generally be in the dark so to see the sights mentioned from here on out you'll have to get off the train and wait for daytime eastbound travelers will just be emerging from the darkness around here which means that like kansas most of arizona and california aren't really seen at all by most southwest chief passengers [Music] not too far from winslow flagstaff is a much bigger city with 75 000 people it was founded when a guy named edward whipple opened a saloon at antelope spring on an important wagon road in 1871 with its new name flagstaff grew in the 1880s and the railroad made sure it kept growing rapidly the city is almost a mile and a half above sea level with great views up into the heavens and so it was at lowell observatory established in 1894 that the on-again off-again non-planet pluto was discovered in 1930 route 66 also came through flagstaff and it's worth remembering that although that road is finally recalled now the railroads weren't happy about it auto traffic was competition for the train and so in 1926 the santa fe railroad built a nice new depot at flagstaff to attract more passengers to celebrate the city renamed the road outside the depot santa fe avenue and it's still called that downtown flagstaff has several blocks of classic architecture and stately facades from here or anywhere in town you can usually see the san francisco peaks volcanic mountains to the north which are the highest in arizona also nearby is walnut canyon national monument ancient cliff dwellings about 10 miles south of the city the original depot from 1886 is still in flagstaff but is now an office for bnsf railway the actual current station also houses the flagstaff visitors center and speaking of flagstaff easywriter also included scenes shot here in the opening credits here's peter fonda and dennis hopper riding down route 66 the station has just had a shot here the viewer is facing the railroad crossing on san francisco street in front of the station see [Music] there is of course a lot to do and see in a city as large and historic as flagstaff and any amtrak passenger could happily spend days or weeks here but for now after a six-minute wait at the platform we're still heading down the line on the southwest chief to the next stop [Music] the terrain after flagstaff while likely hidden in the darkness of night features a lot of flat areas but frequent fur tree covered hills as seen here on route 66. before you arrive at the next stop though the rocks and the maces of the desert have begun to return because williams junction station closed in 2018 the next station after leaving flagstaff is now kingman it's the third and final stop in arizona the santa fe railroad station building from 1907 is one of the more striking in this part of the country and there's now a model railroad museum inside kingman was named after lewis kingman from massachusetts who worked for what else the railroad specifically the atlantic and pacific so yet again the railroad has been important to the town but kingman has also seen tragedy from the same source in 1973 as propane was being transferred from a train car to a storage tank the gas exploded one railroad employee and 11 firefighters died in the disaster today kingman has a nice downtown area near the station with simple low buildings and frequent views to the distant hills and across the mojave desert route 66 passes through two and there's the arizona route 66 museum in town with all sorts of displays and movies about the history of america's so-called mother road the southwest chief leaves kingman and heads deeper into the mojave desert you cross the california state line over the colorado river and pretty soon minutes after yet again passing by the other southwest chief going in the opposite direction you're in needles california [Music] not only is needles a small city near the state line population less than 5 000 but it's geographically cut off from nearly everyone else nearby the colorado river separates it from arizona while desert and mountains lie between it and the next city barstow however while kingman arizona has about seven times the population of little needles their two train stations see roughly the same number of passengers on average i hate to sound like a broken record but guess why needles was founded in 1883 as a railroad town on the santa fe it was named for the series of pinnacles called the needles a few miles away in the mojave mountains of arizona originally needles was a tent city for railroad workers but it quickly grew into one of the most significant locations in this part of the united states the railroad installed a depot in 1883 which speaking of broken records was destroyed by fire about 20 years later to replace it a new depot which included the el garces hotel was opened in 1908 it was another harvey house it was considered the company's finest achievement needles was the first santa fe train station built with concrete and among the hotel's famous guests was frequent visitor general george s patton during training exercises in world war ii now the el garces intermodal transportation facility houses an amtrak waiting room and bus services after passing through places like winslow and flagstaff the joad family hit needles on route 66 in the john steinbeck novel the grapes of wrath and parts of the 1940 movie version were shot here to people escaping the dust bowl of the 1930s needles represented california their hallowed destination and the geographic beginning of the promise of the west the movie shows the joad family crossing the colorado river on the old trails bridge 30 years before easy rider crossed near the same spot but using i-40 like most modern traffic you can still go check out both today i first heard of needles because snoopy's brother spike lived there charles schultz had lived in needles for a couple of years in the 1920s there's even a little spike statue in the subway in town hey a claim to fame is a claim to fame or for a more down beat one how about the fact that bess houdini magician harry's widow died of a heart attack while on a train going through needles if you want to take a look at the needles area you can see the elgars hotel and its restoration a museum about the region or the topic maze a series of lines that could be some ancient desert geoglyph with mysterious religious significance or the industrial remnants of gravel scraping by the railroad in the 1880s or some combination experts seem to still debate it for a more relaxing time check out lake havasu needles sometimes appears in the news because it wants to secede from california citing friction with the state government especially over gun laws it's considered becoming a part of nearby nevada or arizona or becoming its own country altogether but for now needles is still in the u.s and in california and the southwest chief still continues from here further into the golden state [Music] the next stop is barstow in the middle of the desert and about halfway between the arizona line and the pacific ocean what's now barstow was founded because of travel and transportation but not the railroad it was a stop on the mormon trail of the early 19th century it was only in 1883 that the santa fe railroad from needles came to town barstow was however named for william barstow strong the president of the railroad and with a beard like that i think he should have a town named after him the original train depot was a wooden one built in 1885 and you'll never guess what happened to it yes it burned down a few years later the new depot including another harvey house hotel was casa del desierto built in 1908. that handsome building now houses not only amtrak facilities but another route 66 museum and the western america railroad museum an overpass outside the station takes you over several rail lines and into barstow proper while there you could sample some local food in town like mcdonald's now normally i might not suggest that but this is a special one part of it is made out of three railroad cars barstow actually nearby gladstone is the location of one of three nasa deep space network sites the other two are in spain and australia those three spots were chosen because they're equally distant around the globe and if any object is orbiting the earth high enough it will always be visible from at least one of these sites three miles outside of barstow is a ghost town called calico which was a boom town for about 15 years in the late 1800s due to a silver mine the price of silver went down though and it was soon abandoned but calico has now largely been restored to the way it looked back then a nice peek back into the distant past and by the distant past i mean way back to 2017 when k-pop group card shot a video here in fact the mountainous desert surrounding barstow is full of interesting sights from both human and geological time scales each is unique and a little strange like there are just some sort of unique vibrations in the air in this part of california remember that the first sentence in hunter s thompson's classic novel fear and loathing in las vegas mentions barstow and that the art music group the residents have a song called death in barstow just to cite a personal favorite finally barstow is the hometown of euro travel fanatic rick steves and the great stan ridgeway plus barstow was an inspiration for experimental outsider composer harry parch something strange in the air out here after barstow the southwest chief turns to the south and visits four more stations before arriving at los angeles on the edge of the desert the next one victorville marks the end of wild mystical california and the beginning of busy urban california victorville was originally a stop for desert travelers called lanes crossing around 1885 a telegraph station for the railroad called itself victor and the town that was springing up around it took the same name it was changed to victorville in 1901 to avoid confusion with victor colorado amtrak is not necessarily the star of the show at the victor valley transportation center bus networks including greyhound use the station and you can catch an amtrak three-way bus to connect to amtrak's san joaquin service north from bakersfield despite being a city of over a hundred thousand victorville is one of california's least used amtrak stops across the street from the station is yet another route 66 museum nearby several blocks of the city have been set aside for revitalization as old town victorville which hopes to bring in tourist attention as of this video the project is on hold has become derelict in parts and is kind of a sore spot for many residents victorville has been the location for several tv and movie shoots an early example is the john ford silent movie three bad men from 1926 which was filmed in the desert north of town the train leaves victorville to wind through the san bernardino mountains emerging into the valley on the other side san bernardino with a population of about 220 000 is big enough to have all the offerings of any large city san bernardino was founded long before railroads and today still has classical old buildings and sites that reflect the indigenous and spanish colonial eras it was named after bernardino of siena an italian priest modern san bernardino when california became american in the mid-1800s was laid out by mormons important early settlers the railroad came through in 1883 the converted train car was used as a makeshift depot until a real one was built in 1886. that one was destroyed by you know what in 1916. the current majestic san bernardino santa fe depot opened two years later and it now serves amtrak as well as metrolink light rail lines and buses several museums are located in san bernardino as is the original mcdonald's which is now actually another route 66 museum if you still haven't had enough of america's mother road san bernardino has route 66 rendezvous a multi-day celebration every september the populations continue to rise along the southwest chief not far from san bernardino station is riverside a city of over 300 000 famed for its citrus industry it's also full of historic buildings including mission inn the largest mission revival style building in the united states also in riverside is this the so-called world's largest paper cup although personally as a guy from augusta georgia i'm not too impressed riverside is surrounded by hills and mountains including mount rubido site of religious services and thrilling views in town the classic fox theater was where the film gone with the wind partially shot in the san bernardino mountains had its very first public screening in 1939 to test audience reaction before it was released everywhere else amtrak trains stop at a station called riverside downtown which is also stopped for several bus lines as well as three metrolink rail lines there are two other stations in riverside so if you're looking for amtrak be sure you're at riverside downtown [Music] the final southwest chief stop before los angeles is fullerton and was another founded by the railroad this time in 1887 like riverside and lots of other california towns it too was a center for citrus crops the city of 130 000 was named for george fullerton an executive who negotiated the purchase of the land for the railroad fullerton is packed with history you can still see sometimes in completely unexpected ways for example in 1924 a city law banned overnight parking on streets that law is still in effect today also weirdly a completely unrelated guy also named george fullerton worked with the famous leo fender in fullerton to develop the world's first solid body electric guitar so i guess rock music really starts in fullerton not memphis or chicago or somewhere the fullerton transportation center serves two amtrak trains southwest chief and pacific surfliner it also serves metrolink trains and buses and is a major transportation hub for orange county and here we are at the end of the line union station in los angeles is the last on southwest chief or first if you're heading east on the six o'clock pm train towards chicago several amtrak lines converge here and if you're transferring you might find yourself on a train to seattle san diego or new orleans light rail services and lots of buses of course all pass through too obviously the city of los angeles is too much to cover in this video but if you hadn't had enough of amtrak yet it's a great place to continue the journey on some other route and for now that's it for our journey too thank you very much for watching and i'll see you on the rails

Channel: T1D Wanderer

Views: 56,020

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Id: d7HzERN12sE

Length: 63min 7sec (3787 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 02 2022