Earlier in 2009 I finally made my Albuquerque vac to ride the Railrunner both ends Belen-Santa Fe. The service was indeed quiet and a good way to ride up to spend a day in Santa Fe. The one service expansion I found to be good is the train-van connection for home New Mexico Lobo football games and the NM bowl played on Dec 19th. Being a UNM football follower, I hope to use this service in 2010. No doubt, the Railrunner has brought a upgraded quality of life to the Albuquerque and the three counties the service operates in. The Duke city has long become one of my favorite in the US. With good rail commuter service, a good talk radio station in KKOB, excellent weather and UNM Lobo football, this ole KS boy is investing his money for the goal of a Albuquerque retirement in 15 yrs and hopefully the trains will still be running!
Hello John,
I've been looking at the New Mexico Rail runner thread and I looked at the site and I like the coach and loco paint jobs in fact in my local model shop I saw the Athearn Bombardier cars (2) and a loco in a matching paint job,I may look for the Florida Tri-rail train.I was in Toronto last year and rode the GO Transit train to Oshawa which was a 10 car train and a F59 which felt underpowered but was a good run.
Malcolm.
I rode the Railrunner a year ago in September, when they were still in start-up and offering free trips. What fun! I still have short video clips on my cell phone cam that I show to everyone who I think will care. Railrunner is proof that any city can have commuter rail and do well with it-I wish my city had it.
On the day Railrunner began operations (last July 14th, 2006) I e-mailed them with words of praise and encouragement. I got a nice message back thanking me for my compliments.
I rode round trip from Bernalillo to Belen back in early May 2007. The train was clean, crew helpful (and interested in a railfanner). Also, it ran on time. At that time they were not offering weekend service but, that may not be the case by now.
If you can squeeze out some time, stay in Belen for a while and watch the BNSF operation there. Walk across the bridge from the Rail Runner station and stand in front of the "Harvey House" for best train viewing. The Harvey House has a museum and an HO model railroad.
Pete's Mexican restaurant behind the Harvey House is pretty good too!
Having not been south of Santa Fe for quite some time (except for bothering to retrieve my wife from the Albert's Turkey airport), I've had no occasion to ride the Railrunner.
All I can do, in case you're not aware of it, is to post the URL:
http://www.nmrailrunner.com/
I guess there's no one on here from NM but I want to ride it also when my wife and I go on our Amtrak trip...Let us know how it went..
Danny
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