Author: Alan

I had an opportunity to travel the full length of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to Chicago. The trip is a scheduled 43 hours (took me about 47 hours) over a reported 2,265-miles (3,645 km) across the US Southwest and Midwest.

The route passes through parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois over two days and two nights.

California

I boarded the train at Los Angeles’ historic Union Station, dating from the 1930s. Unfortunately, I was running late for my train (thanks LA traffic!!) so had to rush straight to my train for its Saturday 5:19pm departure rather than being able to check out the station lounge. I had previously taken trains south on the Pacific Surfliner to San Diego (in 2017) and north on the Coast Starlight (in 2016) from this station.

Our train had 11 cars (44 axles according the hot box detectors). I was in the middle sleeper in an upper floor roomette.

• 2x locomotives
• 1x baggage car
• 3x sleeper cars
• 1x dining car
• 1x sightseer/cafe car
• 3x coach cars

The first part of the trip was through the urban suburbs of LA. We saw a commercial being filmed in the concrete LA River.

The sightseer lounge had large windows and seats facing the windows. It was great for watching the scenery scroll by and conversations with the other passengers. It was mostly used by coach passengers who wanted more space than their seats. Unfortunately, the window reflections made it difficult for photography so I would go back and forth from the lounge to my roomette.

San Bernardino was the last stop before we started the climb into the desert country. Some haze made for dramatic views of the mountains.

With a setting sun lighting up the hills, we climbed up Cajon Pass to the Mojave Desert. A benefit of doing this trip in May is that this stretch is done in daylight.

After watching the sunset, I had my first meal on the train as we continued across the desert in the dark.

Sleeper car passengers get all their meals included, either seated in the dining car or delivered to their cabins. I had all my meals in the dining car and got to meet some of the other passengers – the staff always seat the tables with four passengers as they arrive for dinner, “communal seating”. Lunch and dinner are served in three seatings by reservation, and I tried to pick my time based on stops and scenery.

For my first dinner, I had the last seating, starting at 8pm, after the sun had set and shared my table with three other solo travellers. It was always interesting to find out why people were travelling by train and where. At dinner was man was from LA, traveling to the Grand Canyon via a bus connection from Flagstaff. He was going to visit the national park for the day before catching the train back. Another traveller was on an Amtrak 30-day rail pass and trying to make the most of his pass by completing a Chicago->Seattle->LA->Chicago loop. The third man was traveling home to Connecticut after suffering a burst ear drum on the flight to LA and so was under doctor’s orders not to fly. Two of the diners were travelling coach and had to pay for their dinners separately.

The last stop I saw in California was Barstow. The station is famous for having a restored “Harvey House” built by the Santa Fe in the early 1900s to provide accommodation and meals to their passengers, embossed with the name “Casa del Desierto”.

The site was made more dramatic by the clear skies and stars above the train as we paused to stretch our legs.

Arizona

I didn’t sleep well overnight and was up before sunrise as we zoomed through Arizona desert near the town of Seligman. We had visited this town and the section of “Route 66” to the west of this town in 2025 on the way to the Grand Canyon. In the dawn light in the lounge car, I spotted some deer in the forests near Williams and watched the scenery roll by.

During the night the train had been delayed by freight traffic somewhere east of Kingman and was now over an hour and a half late – a delay that the train never regained.

Instead of a scheduled 4am stop in Flagstaff in the dark, it was now a stop in sunrise to stretch our legs.

Shortly after our stop in Flagstaff, we passed a train watching spot we had visited while eating dinner with our campers in 2025. I made sure to delay my breakfast so I could watch it go by!

During breakfast, there was a brief stop in Winslow which was unusual in that the train stopped in a stub siding and had to back up to get back on the mainline – didn’t help with getting us back on schedule!

Breakfast was with the same rail pass guy from dinner, along with a man heading to Buffalo, NY to see his mom, and a woman travelling to Santa Fe to visit her sister. We had some interesting conversations about solo travelling.

Miles of open desert with increasing trees, along with red cliffs encompassed the rest of Arizona as we left Winslow.

New Mexico

Shortly after crossing the border into New Mexico, we arrived in Gallup. It was only a brief stop and the dusty town looked like it hadn’t changed much since the 1950s! The engines idled briefly, before we continued east.

About an hour east of Gallup, there were views of dramatic red sandstone cliffs.

In addition to the scenery, from a railway perspective, we also passed Prewitt Junction where coal trains headed north to several coal mines. And just before Albuquerque, we left main BNSF Transcon (for now) as it heads through the Belen Cutoff, while we went north to Albuquerque and the Raton and Glorieta subdivisions towards Colorado.

Big skies as we cross New Mexico:

My roomette compartment was designed for two people to share so was relatively spacious for just me. I was trying to get some work done while watching the world go by out the window. The track was noticeable bumpier once we left the BNSF Transcon west of Albuquerque.

Albuquerque was the longest stop on the trip – about 40 minutes. I hadn’t realized how much time I would have in Albuquerque until the train stopped, so wasn’t organized about where to go. And it was very hot walking in the sun without a plan. Rapha, the cafe car attendant, walked to his favourite restaurant for lunch. This was one of the busiest stops on the route with a significant number of people boarding and disembarking.

After our stop, was lunch. There were several options for each meal. As I was trying to eat vegan or vegetarian, I avoided some of the selections, but everything I had was tasty. The food was cooked downstairs in the dining car after placing our orders. Eating multi-course meals for two days was very filling and I was never hungry, even when being called for dinner!

Shortly after Albuquerque, we were held up for over half an hour waiting for the westbound Southwest Chief to meet us at the Kewa Rail Runner Station. The train crew made a joke on the radio about “blocking the Mother’s Day parade” because our train was blocking a level crossing, and the cars started to stretch out into the distance on either side – and it was Mothers’ Day.

From Lamy (no time to get off), the train went through Apache Canyon with cliffs “only a few feet” from the train (according to Amtrak’s promotional language). Lamy had a bus connection to Santa Fe.

This section is part of the route’s climb over Glorieta Pass involving a steep winding route through juniper and pine forests. There was a discussion on the radio that due to forecasts for high winds, the train would have to go slowly – forecast winds of 60mph meant a maximum speed of 40mph.

At one point, the train does some loops (map) to gain elevation so everyone crowded the windows to see the curves. In this photo below, you can see the upper track in the distance above the locomotive.

Our next stop was in Las Vegas, New Mexico at about 5pm. Other than jokes about the name, the other point of interest was the first of the “Harvey House” hotels dating back to the 1890s, the Castañeda Hotel.

Las Vegas is the edge of the Great Plains and we were soon passing through endless fields. Along with some award winning New Mexico cows (“They are outstanding in their field”, according to Chuck, the train manager and comedian), we saw a herd of elk and wild turkeys. I shared the view with a traveller from Utica, NY on his way home. He was traveling coach on an Amtrak monthly pass and making trips all over the U.S. visiting family and friends.

Our last stop in New Mexico was in Raton. What was supposed to be a 10 minute stop turned into a 5 minute stop and I had to quickly hop on at the back of the train when they blew the whistle and called “All aboard!” Raton Pass separates New Mexico from Colorado and included our only tunnel that I saw in daylight at the highest point on the route at 2,313m (7,588ft).

Colorado

Once through the tunnel, we were in Colorado for a short section (mostly in the dark) before passing into Kansas. The fading light made for difficult photography as we descended the pass.

As it got dark, I had my second dinner of the trip. Among the people at my table at dinner was a YouTuber traveling solo by train to various National Parks (Wushu Traveler). She had just been camping on the Channel Islands and was heading to Chicago to meet friends.

The last stop of the night was in La Junta at 9:30pm for a crew change for the train conductors and engineers. Most of the attendants and staff traveled the whole route with us, including Jeremiah who took care of my sleeper car, Chuck who managed the dining car and Rapha in the cafe car. On my first evening Rapha had paged me over the PA system “as the Canadian” when the card reader had an error after I bought a beer. He has to ID everyone so knew where I was from – he had family in Toronto and Montreal so we shared stories about Canada. I should have brought more cash for tips for this hard working crew.

I was able to put my own bed together for the evening after watching Jeremiah the night before. Because I spent so much time in the lounge car and dining car, he did not know when I wanted my bed made up (or taken down). The roomette had a good sound proof door but the curtains still let in a lot of light from the hallway making for significant reflections on the windows – hard to see the stars at night!

Kansas

I woke up to my alarm but was so tired I went back to bed until sunrise. We were over 2 hours late from the schedule and about 40 minutes west of Topeka, the capital of Kansas passing through green fields and farms as the sun came up.

Coffee and “Amtrak’s Signature Railway French Toast” was what I had for breakfast, sharing the table with a couple from Iowa who were heading home after a hiking trip out of Albuquerque.

Missouri

Mid-morning was a long stop in Kansas City, the first chance to stretch our legs for the day. This was the busiest stop on the trip with opportunities for passengers to connect with other Amtrak routes, including to St. Louis.

Shortly after leaving Kansas City, we crossed the Missouri River.

There wasn’t much else of interest in Missouri! I had a nap and watched the fields go by but trees made the views difficult.

Iowa

The train is only in Iowa for a short section – perhaps 10km – but stops in Fort Madison. This is where my friends from breakfast were disembarking. After the station stop, we crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois.

Illinois

By this point, I was trying to get work done (it was now Monday), the cell coverage was sporadic, and I was tracking our timing as we approached Chicago for my connecting flight since there is not much to see out the window. We hadn’t made up any time and my tracker shows that we were the only late train in the area.

Other than some interesting track arrangements, including some flyovers, even my train guide had run out of points of interest!

Soon we were entering Chicago with its distinctive skyline and its Union Station. Once we disembarked, I grabbed the subway to the airport for my flight home to Toronto. It would have been nice to try out the Lake Shore Limited from Chicago on to Buffalo but I didn’t have the time on this trip.

On March 22, 2026, I rode VIA Rail through Georgetown and Milton to Aldershot on CN’s Halton Subdivision.

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In February 2025, I travelled on The Canadian from Winnipeg to Toronto with my parents.

The text for this post was written in 2026 based on the 2025 trip and photos.

My mom and dad were coming to visit us in Toronto and had boarded the train in Vancouver. I was able to arrange my work schedule to accompany them for the second part of their trip but didn’t tell them I was joining them – I booked a last minute flight to Winnipeg and a lower level berth on the train. I was able to leave after work on Wednesday and be back in Toronto on Friday afternoon.

The train is scheduled to arrive in Winnipeg at 10pm and leave at 11:30pm. The last flight I was able to get into Winnipeg landed at 7pm so I found a quiet corner of the airport to work until they started turning off the lights. I was able to track the train online and knew that it was running a couple of hours late but still didn’t want to cut it close! After taking an uber to the station, I confirmed its timing and had some time to explore the station.

I got my first glimpse of the train when it ultimately arrived at 12:30am and I watched it slowly roll across the frozen Assiniboine River into the station.

There were a few passengers waiting to board the train in Winnipeg but I was the only person boarding in “Sleeper” class – the rest were in economy, likely heading to destinations in Northern Ontario rather than going all the way through to Toronto. After we boarded around 2am, I settled in to my berth but it was hard to sleep, between the station noises at first and the rocking of the train once we were underway. But also I was about to surprise my parents who were not expecting me to be onboard.

The next morning, as we rolled along through Northern Ontario, I made my way to the observation dome car where I knew my parents would be watching the scenery. My dad was there and was astonished to see me walk up the stairs into the dome. My mom came along shortly after for part two of the surprise.

For the entire day, the train travels through Northern Ontario with almost no cell cover, only two short stops in Sioux Lookout and Hornepayne, so we had lots of time to visit.

On the final day, we headed south through Sudbury, and more familiar territory in cottage country as we approached Toronto. I was still trying to squeeze in some work tasks but there was barely any reliable cell coverage until we were south of Lake Simcoe!

Finally we were in Toronto, rolling by our hiking and biking trails in the Don Valley

In May 2023, I rode Amtrak’s Maple Leaf from Toronto via Niagara and Buffalo to New York City. I stayed overnight in New York and then took the Adirondack from New York to Montreal.

The text for this post was written in 2026 based on the 2023 trip and photos.

I had some business meetings in Montreal but then took VIA Rail back to Toronto.

Toronto to New York City

The Maple Leaf is a daily train leaving Toronto in the morning, crossing the border at the Rainbow Bridge across the Niagara River into the United States. It crosses upstate New York to Albany before travelling down the Hudson River to New York City.

I had booked a business class ticket for only slightly more than economy. Two nice perks were that the business car was not very busy so I could easily slide over to the other side to look out the window as well as look out the back of the train.

In Niagara Falls, NY, we all left the train to be processed by the border control. We had to wait in the station for all the passengers to be processed before we were allowed to re-board the train.

The only other stop that you can disembark is Albany, NY, just after the train crosses to the west side of the Hudson River. We had a gorgeous ride down to New York City with the setting sun across the river.

In New York City, the train arrived in Moynihan Hall at Penn Station. There was enough time to grab some dinner, check into my hotel and explore a bit of mid-town.

New York City to Montreal

The next morning there was a line up to board the Adirondack to Montreal because there were no assigned seats. However, Amtrak boarded from a different direction than expected and there was a mad rush to the train. Fortunately, I was able to get a window seat on the west side of the very full train.

I retraced my way up the Hudson to Albany and then continued north along the New York / Vermont boarder to Lake Champlain. The crossing back into Canada took place in the middle of a field. We stopped while border agents boarded the train and walk through the train asking all the passengers questions. The agent was puzzled that I had crossed into the US only the day before! The entire process took over an hour and meant we were late arriving Montreal.

Montreal to Toronto

After a night in Montreal and some work meetings, I took VIA Rail back home to Toronto.

VIA Rail operates its “Scenic Adventure Route” from Sudbury to White River. This train uniquely uses two or three “Budd” cars on an 8-hour schedule through northern Ontario.

The text for this post was written in 2026 based on the 2022 trip and photos.

I rode this route there-and-back over a weekend in September 2022. On Saturday morning, I persuaded my hotel to allow me to leave my car for a couple of days and walked to the Sudbury train station to start my journey.

The ticket requires passengers to be ready to board 30 minutes early to provide flexibility on departure time but we left almost exactly on time at 9am. The two-car train consisted of #6219 for passengers and #6250 for baggage. On busy days, they add a second passenger car. Only there only two us going all the way to White River with the remainign passengers going to camps accessible only by train.

After about 45 minutes we stopped in Cartier. The crew loaded the baggage car with some ATVs, canoes and camping equipment for passengers disembarking at camps along the way.

Other than Sudbury, Cartier, Chapleau and White River, all the stops are flag stops and the train will only stop upon request. The train will also stop anywhere, such as dropping off canoeists along the Spanish River or hunters near their camps.

For most of the trip, the view was of small lakes and ponds as the train followed the meandering CPKC mainline.

The passengers were on their own for food and refreshments. I had packed sandwiches and snacks from Sudbury for my lunch. The car attendant had a short menu of coffee, tea, water and chips and chocolate bars. There is no cell coverage for basically the entire trip. I brought a radio scanner to listen to the conversations with CPKC dispatch and the hotbox detectors. The train uses the Canadian Pacific mainline so is often asked to pull onto sidings (at one point a stub-end siding) to allow eastbound freight trains to pass. Most of the passes where tightly dispatched and we just had to slow down but sometimes we waited almost an hour in the siding.

Unfortunately, passengers cannot see out the front of the train because that area is reserved for the staff. However, the crew were very friendly and allowed us to hop off at many of the flag stops to stretch our legs and told stories of the train.

White River

In White River, we offloaded and the train motored off to its train shed. I was reminded to arrive early the following morning for the return trip. The sleepy town lay between the tracks, which obviously used to be the main focus, and the Trans-Canada Highway. Most of the activity these days was along the highway.

I had reserved a room at the White River Motel but I believe the train crew stayed across the street at the Continental Motel. In addition to having dinner, I picked up more sandwiches and snacks for the return journey since I didn’t know what might be open in the morning before 6:30am when I was expected back at the station.

The town’s claim to fame is being the origin of Winnie the Pooh (wikipedia)

Return Trip

We left White River in the dark and in heavy fog but it quickly turned into a sunny day.

We once again had stops to pick up and drop off passengers and equipment. At some stops, people had ordered goods to be dropped off unattended. The crew unloaded to the side of the tracks and presumably the person who had ordered it would pick it up later in the day.

One point of interest was the former crossing of the Algoma Central Railway at Franz. As seen below, the rails had been pulled on the level crossing and trains on the ACR could no longer cross the CPKC.

More views of the lakes, cottages and trees:

The Sudbury downtown train station was next to the CPKC rail yard:

The Canadian

The transcontinental train, The Canadian, passes through “Sudbury Junction” about 10km from the train station where the White River train departs.

On the Friday night before catching the train, I was able to watch The Canadian roll south many hours late on its trip from Vancouver.

I was also able to catch the same train heading back to Vancouver on Sunday afternoon as I drove back to Toronto. This is just south of Sudbury.

Postscript: TVO has a documentary about the White River trip.

On February 18, 2017, about a year after riding the Coast Starlight north from LA, I was back in LA heading south to work meetings in San Diego.

The text for this post was written in 2026 based on the 2017 trip and photos.

I started from the LA Union Station on #580 with a 2:58pm scheduled departure. The first part of the trip was through the various suburbs, including Fullerton, Anaheim, Santa Ana and Irvine.

It wasn’t until Capistrano Beach and San Clemente that we reached the coast. This is the stretch where the Surfliner gets its name as the ocean is in view almost the entire trip to San Diego.

We arrived in San Diego at Amtrak’s Santa Fe Depot around dinner time after less than three hours from LA.

In February 2016, I was visiting Los Angeles and Palo Alto for work. While the rest of my group flew, I took the Coast Starlight from Los Angeles to San Jose.

The text for this post was written in 2026 based on the 2016 trip and photos.

I had booked a roommette to give myself more room to do some work during the journey. The Los Angeles station is a grand way to start the trip, and I took some time to explore the station and find my way onboard.

After escaping through the suburbs of Los Angeles, the train hugs the Pacific Coast for the first half of the trip north. The tracks are just above the waves.

The train stopped in San Luis Obispo for a short break and I got to stretch my legs on the platform.

North of San Luis Obispo the train heads inland through the hills. Because this was February with short days, this was just as the sun was setting and I got some gorgeous colours. The tracks follow several loops and tunnels up through the hills including the Stenner Creek Trestle and the Cuesta Grade.

Once we reached the Santa Clara Valley south of San Jose we zipped along through the fields before reaching the city.

Unfortunately, I had to disembark in San Jose to join my colleagues for the work meetings while I watched the train continue north. The Coast Starlight connects all the way to Seattle – some day I’ll continue the trip!

In April 2014 I joined my dad for the trip of a lifetime, riding VIA Rail’s The Canadian along its entire route from Vancouver to Toronto.

The text for this post was written in 2026 based on the 2014 trip and photos.

I flew to Vancouver for some visiting with family and friends before we boarded the train to Toronto. The train left from the historic Pacific Central train station.

It was an evening departure, so after a celebratory glass of wine, we settled in for our first night on the train as it traversed the Fraser and Thompson Canyons.

First light the next morning found us along the north shore of Kamloops Lake. The train snaked its way along the shore as it approached Kamloops. We had the dome car to ourselves.

From Kamloops, we enjoyed breakfast in the dining car as we headed up the North Thompson River. We were trying to coordinate seeing my brother in Valemount but the lack of cell coverage made it difficult to provide updates on our timing.

In Valemount, we did get to wave to my brother as the train rolled by! My dad got an attendant to open a service door to wave as well.

Unfortunately, Mount Robson was hidden in the clouds as we entered the Rocky Mountains.

Jasper was our first stop where we could get off the train to stretch our legs.

After our break in Jasper, the train continued through the Rockies into the evening. When we woke the next morning, we were in the prairies.

Sunrise found us passing frozen ponds under the big skies of Saskatchewan.

Our views of the ever changing colours, patterns and textures were interrupted by a couple of brief stops in Biggar, Saskatoon and Melville, where we could stretch our legs for a few minutes.

Between stops, VIA Rail had some activities, including educational talks on some of the areas we were passing through, an author talk and a musician.

Although not as common as they once were, prairie grain elevators are still iconic towers representing a link to a previous era when railways were a much larger part of Canadian life.

At times we had to wait for CN freight trains, sometimes for what felt like hours. Usually the timing was pretty smooth with the meets, either the freight was in the siding when we approached, or the train could glide through the siding without stopping while the freight thundered by. When the waits got long enough, we would nap.

The Qu’Appelle Valley has some notable relief after the flatness of most of the prairies.

Three course dinner in the dining car

The last light on the prairies as we crossed Saskatchewan and into Manitoba. By morning we would be in Ontario. The train stops in Winnipeg for its longest stop on the trip for a crew change at around midnight but we did not get off the train.

The last two days(!) of the trip were through Ontario, mostly past lakes, trees and more trees of the Canadian Shield. The only scheduled stops are in Sioux Lookout and Hornepayne.

First light was at around 6am and we were the only passengers in the dome car. And we were the first for breakfast in the dining car.

Hornepayne

On our final day on the train, dad and I were once again the first people in the dome car. First light (in the fog) was at 5:30am!

It was foggy and rainy the rest of the trip south from Sudbury towards Toronto. After four days of travel across the country, we arrived in Toronto’s Union Station almost exactly on time.