# My Trip on the Sunset Ltd



## Musicians4Trains (Feb 10, 2003)

Well, sorry that I have taken so long to report but I had to dive right into work the day I got back. 

Well, here goes.

I arrived at Union Station in Los Angeles on December 18, 2002 at 9:30 pm and we were scheduled to leave at 10:30.

After finding my sleeper car, I boarded and the bed was already turned down. However, there was some problem with the coach cars and we were about 20 minutes late pulling out of the station. I don't think that was too bad.

The announcement came over the intercom that we were picking up four freight cars and we would be dropping them off in Ontario :huh: .

Anyhow I settled back to enjoy the clickety clack of the railroad track and looked out of my window as we left LA. Everything so far was fine. A bit later we seemed to stop for some unexplained reason for about 40 minutes out in the middle of nowhere :huh: .

I did not know it then, but there would be a good bit of stopping and waiting before we got to New Orleans. Apparently the freight trains have the right of way and there were many instances of we'd move along for 30 minutes then stop for 15: move 25, stop for 10; move 40, stop for 20. It got to be a real drag.

The food was quite good however and I was really impressed with the friendliness of the people on the train. 

However, dark clouds were looming (figuratively speaking) as we left Houston. Somewhere west of Lafayette, Louisiana, the crew "died". I later found out that after the crew works for a certain length of time, they can't take the train another inch. Because of the many delays they died before they got to New Orleans. So here we were stuck in the middle of God knows where at midnight and the train isn't moving.

Does Amtrak have a policy of keeping passengers in the dark about what is going on? Anyway a LOT of people were bitching and complaining about they were going to demand their money back and they would never again darken the door of an Amtrak train in their lives. 

I was very sad to hear this because I want Amtrak to make friends, not enemies. But on this trip they made a LOT of enemies. 

If someone had simply let the passengers know what was going on, people are willing to work with them. But don't just treat the passengers like they don't count. :angry:

To make a long story a bit shorter, we were to arrive in NO at 8:30 PM. We arrived at 2:30 AM the next morning. The thing that ticked me off was that I had already paid for a hotel room that I only got to use from 3:30 AM until

6:30 AM because the train to Atlanta (the Crescent) was scheduled to leave at 7:20 AM. So I did not get to enjoy New Orleans at all.

And Lo and Behold, the train left on time. I went coach to Atlanta since it was only about 11 hours. But because I was robbed of a good night's sleep in New Orleans I did not enjoy the view because I slept through most of it.

However I did get to be nervous going across Lake Pontchatrain on that narrow sliver of track

 .

We got to Atlanta about 10 minutes late which was on time as far as I'm concerned.

I'll tell about my trip back a little later. I'm going to bed for now since tomorrow starts a new semester. I'd best be bright eyed and bushy tailed for the students.


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## Steve4031 (Feb 10, 2003)

So you are a teacher too. That sounds like a rough trip on the Sunset. I had a similar one a couple of years ago.


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## Amfleet (Feb 10, 2003)

Wow, never new we had teachers on the board. I know some of us are also students, including me. Why, we might as well open up a classroom. :lol: B)

What do you guys teach?


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## AlanB (Feb 11, 2003)

Amfleet said:


> Wow, never new we had teachers on the board. I know some of us are also students, including me.


I had dinner on the Lake Shore a few years back with a couple, both of whom were college professors. We had a very interesting conversation about education and how computers can help to enhance a students education.

Musicians4trains, thanks for your trip report too!


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## Chatter163 (Feb 12, 2003)

I teach fourth grade and I also teach elementary ed lab classes (for future teachers) at the university. :lol:


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## AlanB (Feb 12, 2003)

Amfleet said:


> Wow, never new we had teachers on the board. I know some of us are also students, including me. Why, we might as well open up a classroom. :lol:  B)


Additionally I forgot to mention that come this May, I expect to be on the Auto Train with my brother, sister-in-law, and my two nephews. Both my brother and sister-in-law are gramer school teachers in PA.

So it would appear that there are lots of teachers on Amtrak trains.


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