It's hard to make any kind of wrong turn in ABQ when it's home
I'm here in Yuma, about 2 minutes from CA, and I keep getting it mixed up.
Anyway, I timed it just about right, arriving in Plaster City when the train was finishing up unloading from the first trip of the day.
The folks at USG were friendly, and happily pointed me in the direction of the road parallel to the tracks. Being a sport, I didn't drive all that way to not give chase. Heck, it's only a 20-mile drive......I must emphasize, however, that no one should ever, EVER, drive this road without 4wd. Kinda skeered m'self, at times I did.
Here's a few more shots from the trek:
Had an absolute blast following this beast. I've not been around many Alcos, and even thought the builder's plate reads "Bombardier" (ski-doos and jets, too!), it's pure 251. Others had said that a Dash-9 kinda sounds like the ghost of Alco, but I couldn't hear it. When people describe Alcos as "burbling" or "chortling," they're not kidding! That's exactly what they sound like! It's somewhere between John Deere and Cooper-Bessemer.
USG permanently removed a number of hood doors to improve cooling (110+ summer temps), and when the turbo lag kicks in and you see the internal parts wind up, there's no question that thing's alive. It's also fun watching something 10 feet wide hunt and bounce its way down 3-foot gauge track. The way the axle ends roll up and down in those big Dofasco truck frames, I saw visions of drive rods spinning around.
Again, the chase wasn't for the faint of heart. I passed a sign warning me that I was driving through an open bombing range. The temperature was about 109. Loose sand made driving an intense experience. If you're not acclimated to the desert, be very careful out there. And wear boots. Tall ones. That discourage snakes and scorpions. I gotta do this again!
