[
www.flickr.com]
Two twenty-four year old General Electric P42DC’s charge through Elkhorn Slough at forty-seven miles per hour with Amtrak Train 14. With the station stop at Salinas well in the rear view mirror, AMTK 78 is in prime form seventy-four minutes before sunset.
In late June, the Lava Fire in Siskiyou County scorched a vital trestle at Hotlum, CA on Union Pacific's Black Butte Subdivision. All rail movements along UP's "I-5 Corridor" were suspended for a few weeks including Amtrak's Coast Starlight service. Because of this, Amtrak was unable to operate over its entire route between Los Angeles and Seattle. The passenger carrier therefore opted to run Train 14 between LA and Sacramento, covering just 40% of its customary route miles. That is the explanation for the shorter-than-usual consist in this photo.
-Nick