With more than 900 miles on the point of an active passenger train in the last 24 hours now under its belt, BNSF 1731 eases out of the wash-rack inside Amtrak's Los Angeles 8th Street Coach yard with what was train No. 3 - the westbound Southwest Chief. Getting the call in Albuquerque, New Mexico, late yesterday afternoon, the veteran SD40-2 took the point of the train after the trailing P42 developed compressor issues. Unfortunately in this situation, the addition of the freight motor caused the train to further loose time as it limited the train to traveling 70 miles per-hour. While this likely angered quite a few of the passengers onboard (with their train arriving into Los Angeles more than six hours late), seeing an SD40-2 in this position delighted a flurry of rail fans that headed trackside to see this uncommon leader race by.
