Amboy, in California's Mojave Desert, was established in the late 1883, and is three-miles northeast of the Amboy Volcanic Crater, a well-known landmark. The town is also home to the popular Roy's Café sign, recently restored to its full neon glory.
Interstate 40 bypassed Amboy in 1973, and the town – which never totaled much more than 100 people – went into a steep decline. As of the 2010 US Census, Amboy is home just 4 people.
Also in town, built in 1851, is the modest St. Raymond Church, closed in 1970, and in decline since, with much of it toppling in 2013.
On the southern edge of town, BNSF Railway intermodal stack train S-ALTSCO3-04A passes by on the Railway's Needles Sub as it heads from Alliance, Texas, to Thenard, in the Los Angeles Harbor area of southern California, behind BNSF ES44DC 7503, Dash 9-44CW 5077 and ES44C4 6716.
Amboy is purported to be the only town in the United States that still have drinking water delivered in rail cars.
