On October 22, 1988, In-N-Out Burger chartered a train comprised of seven privately-owned passenger cars and had it carry dignitaries and invited guests from Anaheim Stadium to San Diego and return. This was part of their expansion into the San Diego market and was also part of an annual extravagant private party that is traditionally held by management for the managers of their outlets and their family members.

The train deadheaded from Los Angeles to Anaheim Stadium where it picked up the passengers. The train was made up of Amtrak F-40PH 233 and private cars "Pony Express", "Colonial Crafts", "Belle McKee", "Silver Patio", "Columbia River", "Plaza Santa Fe" and "La Condessa".

I was a new-hire assistant conductor working out of Los Angeles at the time and, working off the extra board, I was lucky enough to get called to protect this assignment. The train was a rolling party and I was there, getting paid for it!

At San Diego, there was a presentation and some of the In-N-Out officials made some brief announcements. I seem to remember there was an In-N-Out hot air balloon there as well.

On the northbound trip, after we deposited the passengers back at Anaheim Stadium and were deadheading back to L.A., we struck some debris on the track between Anaheim and Fullerton which caused us to have an undesirable application of the emergency brakes (UDE). This was before there was double-track along this section of the line and while we were diagnosing and fixing the problem we were starting to impact the movement of other trains. The dispatcher was getting nervous. I seem to recall that we cut the brakes out on one of the trucks of one of the cars and proceeded on into L.A.

It was a great trip and one that I haven't forgotten after thirty-two years. Afterwards, I spoke to some of the owners of the private cars about the trip and some of them were not too happy. It seems that when the passengers of the train were in San Diego, some of them accidentally stepped in "crater" that had been deposited by locomotives on the paved area of the platform between the rails. "Crater" is a locomotive lubricant that looks like black mayonnaise. Once it gets on the soles of your shoes it's almost impossible to get off. Some of this was tracked back onto the train and some of the carpets on some of the cars were soiled. The cleaning or replacement of the carpets ate into the profit margins some of the car owners were hoping for. Also, the "Columbia River", a former Union Pacific dome diner, was serving In-N-Out burgers en-route. The owners of the car at the time, Randy and Janet Schlotthauer, told me it took them months to get all the grease off the grill and the car had a lingering smell of In-N-Out burgers for a very long time.

I was going through some boxes of all my railroadiana stuff today and ran across this flier, made especially for the trip, that shows what activities were taking place in which cars. Had I been a passenger, I think I would have had my shoes shined several times. There were some good looking, buxom women administering the shoe shines with low-cut outfits so, of course, one would have to admire the scenery along what was then the still-owned-by-Santa-Fe Surf Line!

[i.ibb.co]