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Tom Beckett's Collection
 
1/1/2025
 
 
 
 
 
Owner: Amtrak
Model:GE P42DCBuilt As:AMTK 154 (P42DC)
Serial Number:52850Order No:1435A
Frame Number: Built:3/2001
Other locos with this serial:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
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Coming from afar
Title:  Coming from afar
Description:  One of the things I wanted to do was get a shot of the Southwest Chief while in the Albuquerque area. The timing was good to catch it at Rio Puerco, about 35 miles west of town, and more convenient to my host, who lives in Belen. Plus, there was the added attraction of a scenic spot. The westbound Chief rolls toward Rio Puerco across the scrub, the Sandia Mountains looming in the distance.
Photo Date:  9/16/2023  Upload Date: 10/8/2023 6:08:52 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  47   Comments: 1
Between the signals
Title:  Between the signals
Description:  Amtrak #3 passes between the eastbound home signals at Rio Puerco. A few miles farther east, the line splits, the north track going to the Laguna Sub toward Albuquerque, the south track, the Gallup Sub, going to Belen, which carries almost all of the freight traffic. The dispatcher moved him to the south track at Dalies, 6 1/2 miles to the east, well see why in a moment.
Photo Date:  9/16/2023  Upload Date: 10/8/2023 6:18:28 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Signal,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  51   Comments: 2
Opening up
Title:  Opening up
Description:  The GEs open up the throttle, giving us a little smoke as they accelerate through the interlocking.
Photo Date:  9/16/2023  Upload Date: 10/8/2023 6:24:34 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Signal,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  52   Comments: 1
Pouring it on
Title:  Pouring it on
Description:  Its not a Santa Fe PA, but the two Amtrak GEs are doing a good impression as they notch out after passing Rio Puercos interlocking.
Photo Date:  9/16/2023  Upload Date: 10/8/2023 6:37:28 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Signal,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  53   Comments: 2
Close up view
Title:  Close up view
Description:  It seems almost pointless to use a wide angle view out west, the scenery is so vast. But this does offer a close up look at the six car Southwest Chief as it rolls on west, next stop Gallup, behind a pair of GEs
Photo Date:  9/16/2023  Upload Date: 10/9/2023 5:29:59 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  68   Comments: 1
All of it
Title:  All of it
Description:  The entire consist of the westbound Chief heads west on the south track, as the eastbound approaches the interlocking.
Photo Date:  9/16/2023  Upload Date: 10/9/2023 5:41:12 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC) BNSF 7832(ES44DC) UP 6005(AC44CWCTE) BNSF 7708(ES44DC)
Views:  107   Comments: 1
Amtrak and a waiting stack
Title:  Amtrak and a waiting stack
Description:  Amtrak #3 has passed me, and now meets a waiting eastbound stack train as it enters the grade separation to the west.
Photo Date:  9/16/2023  Upload Date: 11/24/2023 4:03:54 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  49   Comments: 1
Unexpected
Title:  Unexpected
Description:  Amtrak has a tracker that allows the user to see the locations of all the trains in its system. Two days after our first visit to Rio Puerco, the tracker showed eastbound #4 as five hours late. This was unexpected, but allowed me to get a shot of the train as it raced toward Albuquerque late in the afternoon. Here it is, rolling past on the north track with the same power it had going west two days earlier.
Photo Date:  9/18/2023  Upload Date: 11/25/2023 6:13:09 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  66   Comments: 4
Amtrak #4
Title:  Amtrak #4
Description:  I did not expect to see the eastbound Chief, since it was scheduled into Albuquerque before noon, and we usually lingered over breakfast. On the 18th, the tracking site showed it was delayed out in Arizona, and was about five hours late. We went out to Rio Puerco to shoot freights, with the thought in mind we might catch it. We did; it showed about 30 minutes after we arrived, amidst a parade of seven freights. Heres #4 approaching Rio Puerco on the north track.
Photo Date:  9/18/2023  Upload Date: 10/9/2023 5:50:01 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  51   Comments: 1
A little closer
Title:  A little closer
Description:  The Chief closes in on our position at Rio Puerco behind the same two GEs it went west with two days prior, and six cars.
Photo Date:  9/18/2023  Upload Date: 10/9/2023 5:54:15 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  71   Comments: 1
Big sky
Title:  Big sky
Description:  Montana doesnt have a lock on big sky. Theyre everywhere out here. Amtrak #4 rolls east under a tall cloud.
Photo Date:  9/18/2023  Upload Date: 10/9/2023 5:55:57 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  72   Comments: 2
Wide view, big sky
Title:  Wide view, big sky
Description:  I shortened up on the lens as the train passed, getting a big hunk of sky as it rolled by.
Photo Date:  9/18/2023  Upload Date: 11/25/2023 6:18:33 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC)
Views:  98   Comments: 4
The meet
Title:  The meet
Description:  When we arrived at Rio Puerco, the stack train in the distance was holding on the south track beyond the interlocking. Amtrak has crossed over to the north track, and is now on its way to the Glorieta Sub at Isleta, and beyond to Albuquerque.
Photo Date:  9/18/2023  Upload Date: 11/25/2023 6:24:57 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC) BNSF 6756(ES44C4) BNSF 7361(ES44DC) BNSF 9790(SD70MAC)
Views:  83   Comments: 2
The meet
Title:  The meet
Description:  The Chief meets a westbound stack, holding on the south track. Hell disappear behind the stacker, and take the north track to Dalies, then the Glorieta Sub to Albuquerque.
Photo Date:  9/18/2023  Upload Date: 10/9/2023 6:03:36 AM
Location:  Rio Puerco, NM
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Signal,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 154(P42DC) BNSF 6756(ES44C4) BNSF 7361(ES44DC) BNSF 9790(SD70MAC)
Views:  108   Comments: 3


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