If you live in Southern California, you can still catch the last Desert Wind ... or at least a glimpse of it! The last Desert Wind left Chicago on Saturday, May 10th, 1997 at 3:05 PM Central Time and is scheduled to arrive into Los Angeles on Monday, May 12th, 1997 at 3:35 PM Pacific Time.
Note: This is a correction to a previous news item posted here in which I had incorrectly assumed that there would not be any Desert Wind train on the rails after May 10th, 1997. The actual story is that no Desert Wind train will start its journey after May 10th.
The media gave a lot of attention to the last Desert Wind to leave Los Angeles for Chicago on Thursday morning, May 8th, 1997. However, the last Desert Wind to arrive into Los Angeles from Chicago won't be here until late Monday afternoon, May 12th, 1997!
The very last Desert Wind is scheduled to arrive into San Bernardino at 1:20 PM, Fullerton at 2:28 PM, and Los Angeles at 3:35 PM. Click here for the latest arrival information for the Desert Wind.
So, if you don't live far from the route of the Desert Wind, come out to see the final run of the Desert Wind into Los Angeles and take a few photos for the history books!
Considering that one Desert Wind arrived into Los Angeles on Saturday, May 10th, and another will arrive on Monday, May 12th, but none will leave from Los Angeles anymore, I assume they will have to "deadhead" both of those trainsets back to where they are needed.
They will probably deadhead both trainsets back to either Chicago or Oakland. The passenger cars will be used to expand the California Zephyr to daily service starting on Sunday, May 11th, 1997. In a like manner, the cars of the Pioneer will be used to start daily service on the Empire Builder. In the case of the Pioneer, they probably won't need to deadhead those cars anywhere since the termination point of the Empire Builder is Seattle, the same as the Pioneer.
I have a ticket to take this final Desert Wind train from San Bernardino into Los Angeles. My current plan is to drive to San Bernardino, take the Desert Wind to Los Angeles, and then take the Metrolink back out to San Bernardino.
Just to collect a piece of history, I also have a ticket for the final Pioneer to arrive into Seattle. I won't be using that one! I purchased just a $5 ticket from Tacoma to Seattle, Washington on Train #25.