Touring the Missouri, Kansas & Quincy

The westbound train on Gary Hoover’s Missouri, Kansas and Quincy begins at Oak Grove, Illinois. Amtrak Number 302 departs from the depot. The private car Silver Crescent offers a nice view. On the point is a GE Genesis Number 824. In the foreground you can see typical Illinois black prairie dirt. Oak Grove is also the interchange with the CSX.

Next it is on to Link. At Link, New Mexico, there is a special movement. Here a Santa Fe SD40-2 is taking the first generation F7 to the Illinois Railway Museum. Amtrak 302 eventually arrives, but doesn’t stop. The people are waiting for the next eastbound train. West of Link, the track on the plate girder bridge above heads East for Sedalia, Colorado. The AMD 103 and its trailing unit, a GE-840 BW pull into Quincy, California for a station stop. Amtrak 302 is soon on its way again. Ocean View, California is the end of the westbound movement for 302. When it leaves here it will become an eastbound train 301.

While this is a resort area, there are plenty of big ships that dock here for the port. The desert of California has its own style of desolate beauty. The low desert has turned into the high desert as the train heads into Keller Canyon. Exiting Tunnel Number 2 at Apache Canyon, the passengers get to see the famous spire rocks.

At Castle Gate there’s an interchange with the Utah railway and the coal mine that it serves. It’s always snowing at Wasatch Canyon, Utah – the highest point on the railroad. At Wasatch Tunnel, there’s a power station that supplies the electricity for the tunnel’s air blowers. The Genesis passes over the East Falls River and by a once common sight in these Utah mountains. Watch the full video to see the train arrive in Sedalia, Colorado.