| Just after sunup, a rainbow appeared - a positive omen for the days trip to Duarte to pick up a load of children from the City of Hope Hospital. BNSF Railway ES44C4 6686 will be the trailing unit on the westbound runs, and ES44C4 6715 will lead, with the engines trading duties for the eastbound runs. This BNSF Christmas Train would be the final train to operate to Duarte. In fact, a bumper needed to be removed in order to this train to get that far west, along with flagging a grade crossing that had already had its gate removed. Having ridden this line several times on Santa Fes "Chief," and later on Amtraks "Southwest Limited," and I was happy to be on the very last passenger movement on that particular line on December 18th, 2011 – even if I was dressed as a chipmunk most of the trip. (Note that the line remains in service for local freights to Irwindale, and it is only the short stretch from Irwindale to Duarte that will be removed for the MTA Gold Line extension in the coming years.) |