The Southwest Chief part 3 starts as we leave Albuquerque. We stopped in Albuquerque for enough time for everyone to have a decent ‘air’ break. It is a beautiful day as we return to the desert. The total journey is advertised as taking 40+ hours – click  here for more details.  There are frequent delays to long distance passenger trains as freight takes priority so they are often late.

We pass through the suburbs of Albuquerque as we leave the city. We pass scrapyards, industrial sites and housing. A few of the houses have solar panels. I would have expected everyone to have solar panels because there is so much sun.

We pass through unforgiving desert. There are many amazing rock formations. In the distance there are snow capped mountains. In some places there is a fence beside the line to keep the cattle from straying.

The train has a short stop at Lamy. The town has a population of 218 (2010 census) by serves as the station for Santa Fe, 18 miles up the road.

We pass a river and go through an area with trees breaking into leaf. We then go back to the desert. The train climbs steadily as we travel onward. We then stop for over an hour as we wait for the westbound Southwest Chief to pass.

Our journey takes us past Starvation Peak. We then descend, through long S bends, towards Las Vegas. The New Mexico Las Vegas!

If you’ve enjoyed this podcast please join me in two weeks for the next episode where I continue my journey to Chicago.

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To visit the Amtrak website please follow this link.

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AKM Music has licensed the theme, Steam Railway, for use in this podcast.

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