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All Around the U.S. by Amtrak.

I spent some time this afternoon going through some photos I took on a couple of my longer train rides. Back in ’08, I sold a story to the Dallas Morning News, the hook being that I would travel literally around the country by train, starting and ending in Los Angeles. I took the Sunset Limited from L.A. to New Orleans; the Crescent from there to Washington; an Acela to New York; the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago; the Empire Builder to Seattle; and the Coast Starlight back to Los Angeles. Here are a few of the photos I took along the way.
 
 
About 10 minutes before stopping in El Paso, Texas, the Sunset Limited runs right along the border. That’s Mexico on the other side of the fence. 
 
Crossing the Pecos River. Now I can legitimately claim that I have been “West of the Pecos”. The bridge is some 275 feet above the river.
 
 
The Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited arriving in Albany where it joins up with the train that came up from New York City. Fifteen minutes after this was taken, we were on our way to Chicago and I was having a steak for dinner in the dining car.
 
 
This big beauty is on display next to the station in Havre, Montana. It was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Company and is 103 feet long and weighed 765,000 pounds. Locomotives like this pulled the Empire Builder until 1947 when the Great Northern switched to diesels. It hauled freight trains until it was retired in 1955.
 
 
One of hundreds of ferries operated by Washington State. This one is crossing Puget Sound. The photo was taken from the Empire Builder about 15 minutes before arriving in Seattle.
 
 
Mount Ranier, 14,400 feet high, is located southeast of Seattle and, despite some haze, this shot from the Coast Starlight provides a reasonably good view.
 
Now … try seeing stuff like this from 35,000 feet!

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