Casa Desierto, the once-elegant and now semi-restored comfort station in Barstow, California, is reflected in the window of the dinning car of Amtrak's "Southwest Chief." Long ago, Casa Desierto was part of the chain of Harvey Houses that followed the rail lines across the United States. Instead of a hotel and dining rooms, the building houses the Route 66 "Mother Road" Museum, and the splendid Western America Railroad Museum.

The train makes a run from Chicago, Illinois, to Barstow, California and back again. Ordinarily arriving in Barstow from its eastern origin in the Windy City at 3 a.m. each day, the late appearance this day of the Chief - at a little after 10 a.m. - afforded me the rare opportunity to make a daylight photograph containing dual, if not dueling, subjects which would otherwise both be cloaked in darkness.