# First time on a train. Tucson to New Orleans. Sunset Limited



## steelwheel24 (May 24, 2014)

*Prologue*

My grandfather is turning 90 years old this summer and had always wanted to do an AMTRAK train trip. My grandma’s ill health and eventual death prevented that trip. To make a long story short, my mother and I decided it was now or never for grandpa to take this epic train trip.

My mother and I knew nothing about train travel but we are always up for something new. Grandpa grew up in Mobile Alabama with the train tracks in the backyard. As a small boy he learned how to imitate the train whistles. To this day Grandpa still entertains friends and family with his train whistle. As a young man, as he puts it, he went to work for Uncle Sam. He rode the trains a lot from various Army bases and home. As he got older and the United States invested in the highway system his train travel days came to an end but his love of trains never left.

*Planning the Trip*

It was decided that we would ride from Tucson Arizona to Orland Florida to visit two of Grandpa’s daughters. Using the AMTRAK website I quickly discovered the train does not go direct to Orlando. It would have been something like a 4 day train trip to get to Orlando via AMTRK. We decided to take the Sunset Limited to the end of the line in New Orleans Louisiana. We decided to get two roomettes because we would be spending two days and one night on the train. From New Orleans we would get a rental car and drive the rest of the way to Orlando. All three of us love road trips and my mother and I had never been through the south so this was perfect. We would do the reverse to get back home.

*The Day of Departure*

We were notified via text message a day or so in advance that the train would be one hour late leaving out of Tucson. I thought this text message feature was great. We learned later it was due to track maintenance and traffic flow with freight trains. In my opinion, Tucson Arizona has one of the best train stations. There is a long rich history of Tucson and trains. (Not to mention the only reason Tucson is part of the USA due to the Gadsden Purchase but that is another story for another day.) The history along with the city’s investment into preserving the historical station and downtown area make it a great experience for anyone wanting to stay a few days in Tucson. I recommend avoiding June through August if you are unfamiliar with desert heat. My husband and kids took me to the train station to see me off. We had breakfast at the Hotel Congress across the street from the station. A great historical place to stay and eat if you overnight in Tucson.

From start to finish all of the AMTRAK staff were helpful, professional and welcoming. Grandpa has COPD and needs supplemental oxygen along with a nighttime concentrator. Because of the COPD he can only walk short distances with a cane. The staff had an electric cart to take grandpa and his luggage right to the train doorway. TJ, our cabin attendant (I hope this is the right term for his position?), was extremely helpful with grandpa for our journey. We packed overnight bags for our roomettes and kept the big stuff on the luggage racks on the bottom floor. (I got this tip and many others from this forum which I discovered during my research.) Our rooms were upstairs. This was perfect since the dining car and lounge car are also upstairs. Grandpa could stay upstairs for the entire journey.

*The Journey*

Riding the train was so cool. The first thing that hit me as we boarded the train that morning was “Wow, this is really relaxed and laid back compared to airline travel.” I was amazed that there is really no security compared to airline travel and my family was allowed to come on the train and check out our rooms and the rest of the train before departure. Being that I did not know a darn thing about the world of trains I was obsessed with getting the system figured out. Grandpa explained to me the conductor was in charge of the train. Being from the world of air travel, it took me a bit to wrap my head around the general operations of trains. Our conductor was a great guy and put up with all of my questions in between doing his duties and radio communications. Our train did not have wifi but since a lot of our journey followed I10 my 3G worked. This allowed me to do more in depth train research and not drive the conductor to insanity.

During the day we spent our time between the lounge car and dining car. I really enjoyed the large windows and sitting up high. What a view! My mom is a people person and before I knew it she had fellow passengers sitting with us to play cards or talking about their journeys. This was a really neat experience. We met people from across the USA including a woman from Perth Australia and a college student from England. In the dining car we always had interesting people, young and old, to share a meal with. Our lead dining car attendant was Alice. She always made me think of Arlo Guthrie’s song “Alice’s Restaurant”. She was so cool Grandpa asked her to marry him J She had a great sense of humor. I felt bad for her on the second day when the train started to run out of meals. Passengers were not happy about that. I learned that AMTRAK has a new food policy which is “have nothing left when you get to the end of the line”. I think this is a bad policy and AMTRAK should really reevaluate that plan. AMTRAK is putting their employees who really want to provide the passengers with great service in a really crappy position in my opinion. Our train also ran out of alcohol. Passengers REALLY got mad at that point. I can’t figure that out, I mean, AMTRAK must make a good profit on alcohol. Why would you understock the alcohol? It’s not like it will go bad anytime soon.

It was a treat watching the sunset somewhere in Texas. By that point we had left I10 and were mostly paralleling State Routes. I think it was 93. It was time to try out taking a shower on a moving train. It was an experience but not bad. The train literature said little shampoos and conditioners would be provided but it turned out that was a new cut, luckily I had backups. After the sun went down I think we really started to pick up speed. That train was a rocking and a rolling! The desert was awash in a silver glow with the almost full moon as we pulled into Alpine Texas for a crew change. I took the top bunk. I was glad it had those straps to keep you from rolling out!

I woke up when we were in San Antonio Texas so I took the opportunity to get out and stretch my legs. This is when I was educated on how they detach cars that are heading north at this point on the Texas Eagle. It turned out with all of our hard running during the night we pulled out of San Antonio on time.

We had another enjoyable day on the train visiting with fellow passengers and enjoying the views. The three of us also had quality time with each other. I loved listening to the ‘unknown to me’ parts of Grandpa’s life. The train trip brought out a lot of old stories from his younger years.

We pulled into New Orleans at 11pm. We were beat. The AMTRAK staff in New Orleans were wondeful in helping Grandpa off the train and providing transportation out to the cabs. I think a full two day stint on the train was plenty. Maybe I could have done one more night but that would be it. I’m a pretty active person so I am not use to that much sitting. We had a hotel reservation close to the train station at the Quality Inn Maison St. Charles. This hotel was a wonderful find and highly recommend it.

*Epilogue *

This was a memorable first long haul AMTRAK experience on many levels. I have flown direct to New Orleans and the airplane also follows along I10. It is amazing how different the two trips are. This forum helped a lot in regards to what to expect on the train. I will try to figure out how to add a few photos from this trip. I plan to post a return trip report too.


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## pianocat (May 24, 2014)

You've done a wonderful thing for your Grandpa!!!! He looks so happy ! Here's wishing for many more Amtrak trips!


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## TinCan782 (May 24, 2014)

Nice to hear about an enjoyable trip. We've done the Sunset Limited from Los Angeles twice (as Texas Eagle passengers to Temple, TX) via San Antonio and enjoyed both round trips.

Looking forward to taking the SL next year but to Chicago and beyond.


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## Bob Dylan (May 24, 2014)

Outstanding! So many wonderful memories can come from journeys like this! My grandfather was a 40 year SP hand and helped give me my love of trains!

When's your next Train trip? LOL


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## shelzp (May 25, 2014)

Great report and glad to see how happy your grandfather looks!!


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## steelwheel24 (May 25, 2014)

Thanks for the replies. 

Outstanding! So many wonderful memories can come from journeys like this! My grandfather was a 40 year SP hand and helped give me my love of trains! 

When's your next Train trip? LOL 

Actually....I was so happy with the trip to New Orleans that my husband, who has also never ridden a train, and I will be riding the Texas Eagle/Sunset Limited from Chicago to Tucson in a few weeks. We are really excited about this trip. Neither of us have been to Chicago so this will be a new adventure for both of us. We are also looking at using the Chicago subway/L train for in city transportation. We have never ridden a subway train before so this will be packing on all types of new adventures in a short amount of time!


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## City of Miami (May 25, 2014)

One thing is for sure - the next trip will be different! :giggle: Amtrak is always an adventure, so expect the unexpected and it will be a lot more fun. 

Thank you for the trip report which I enjoyed reading. One of my first trips was on the Sunset too. We were bussed from Houston to San Antonio because a bridge had washed out in one of those TX flash floods. The hard part was that the bus ride started at 4am.


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## the_traveler (May 25, 2014)

Glad you had a great trip! 

Although I've never driven down to Tuscon during my 6 years living in AZ, I've been thru there many times by train/ You're right about the station.

I lived in Bullhead City. It was so hot during the summer that I drove to Phoenix - *TO COOL OFF*!


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## oregon pioneer (May 25, 2014)

Thanks for the wonderful trip report! We loved Alice too (I think everybody does)!


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## Railroad Bill (May 25, 2014)

Enjoyed reading your trip report and so glad your grandfather had the chance to ride a train again. We have also stayed at the Quality Inn Maison St. Charles and we enjoyed it. Close to streetcar line and Garden District. Best wishes on your next Amtrak adventure..


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## seat38a (May 29, 2014)

I see that you had Alice Wong as your server on this train! I had her as our server in January. She totally made the trip!


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## steelwheel24 (May 30, 2014)

seat38a said:


> I see that you had Alice Wong as your server on this train! I had her as our server in January. She totally made the trip!


Yes, she was great. I did not realize it but she is in the back ground in the kitchen area of the photo I posted of my grandpa holding the Sunset Limited diner menu


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## fixj (Jul 20, 2014)

Wonderful Report. Just outstanding!


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