Amtrak’s Southwest Chief: Chicago to Los Angeles

Come along with us as we climb aboard Amtrak’s Southwest Chief for an amazing, 3-day adventure across America. Beginning in Chicago, Illinois, our train will take us over 2,200 miles to Los Angeles, California, on the former route of Santa Fe’s Super Chief streamliner. From Illinois farm country, transitioning to Kansas prairie, we thunder across Colorado, and head over the Rocky Mountains on the steep grades of Raton Pass. Then it’s down through New Mexico on scenic tracks that today are only used by Amtrak. Seemingly frozen in time are relics from Santa Fe’s heyday, including semaphore signals and long stretches of jointed rail, as we pass the historic landmarks of Wagon Mound, Glorieta Pass, and Apache Canyon. Soon we make it to California, running over Cajon Pass before making our grand entrance into famous Los Angeles Union Station. With vantage points inside the train and along the tracks, I captured the entire experience on the Southwest Chief, carefully edited from hours of footage over more t