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I'm not old enough to have that kind of memory (my idea of a passenger train was Amtrak and mainline power a DASH-9). But here's one: As a very young trainjunky29, my parents would take me down to the Pasadena Station to see the eastbound Southwest Chief, most commonly on Wednesday nights. I have several memories--the wooden benches of the waiting room, the vending machine in the back, but of course the best was when the train came. Like nearly everywhere else, you first saw the headlights in the distance, until the train finally came into view. It would stop, and the very first time I was down there, an engineer named Rodney invited my parents and me into the cab. I have staggered images of the locomotive: the door and passageway throught the nose, the stairs into the cab, and the map light on the ceiling (don't ask me why I remember that). Then, he gave me a Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers patch, and pen with pocket protector. What a great way to assure a future railfan's loyalty to the BLE! The next time, the engineer was Hector, who I guess held down that run because he was the one I usually saw thereafter. Now, that line is the Gold Line light rail. I saw a picture of the last run of the Southwest Chief through Pasadena a few months ago, but at that time it came totally out of the blue. The Southwest Chief is now routed through Fullerton, and although I have ridden it more times on that line than I can keep track of, I can't help thinking that it would have been nice to ride the Southwest Chief over the Arroyo Seco trestle. Oh well.... I guess "I remember...it's gone now" stories are not just limited to the "old days." See you around the forums, Daniel
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