William P. Diven Photo Galleries

Trains, travels and more by journalist William P. Diven.

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While photojournalist William P. Diven likes comfy passenger trains, freight locomotives as on the Nacionales de México work just as well. Southbound near Saltillo, Coahuila, February 1989.

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Riding the Rio Grande Scenic Railroad Music Train to Fir, Colorado, complete with rock slide and tunes by Juice Newton and Harpeth Rising. This on the San Luis and La Veta Railroad.

On Oct. 24, 2015, Chama Steam organized a private excursion train featuring three steam engines, 27 freight cars and three cabooses, the latter for a few dozen passengers who paid $600-$700 each to ride. These photos start in Chama, N.M., the day before and then follow the narrow-gauge train 13 miles and up a 4 percent grade to Cumbres, Colo., at 10,015 feet on Cumbres Pass where snow lingers from the storm that blew through a few days earlier.

A sampling from the late days of the golden era of U.S. passenger trains with a token presence of Amtrak.

Take a ride to 10,000 feet in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and New Mexico as the aspen change. Follow up by relaxing with an adult beverage at Foster's Saloon just across from the C&TS yard in Chama, N.M.

Random wanderings produce diverse images from Olympic National Park, the surrounding peninsula and downtown Seattle in the first weeks of summer.

Amtrak's Coast Starlight takes 35 hours running from Seattle to Los Angeles with a lot to see along the way.

Chinatown and the remnants of the old Spanish pueblo belie the mass of metropolitan Los Angeles surrounding them.