# Sunset Limited Trip Report (long!)



## NativeSon5859 (Aug 20, 2003)

What an adventure!

My dad dropped my brother and I off at the Amtrak station in downtown New Orleans on Monday the 18th at 11:15am. Boarding for train #1, the Sunset Limited, with service to Los Angleles via Houston, San Antonio, and Tucson, would begin promptly at 11:30am for both sleeping car and coach passengers. About 20 sleeping car passengers boarded, followed by around 40 coach passengers. We said our goodbye’s and made our way down to our bi-level Superliner coach car. Walking past an “Express Track” box car, we found our coach…the second-to-last car on the train….and picked out a couple of seats. The coach was a Superliner series 1, with the blue/green color scheme on the seats. Even though the color scheme seemed a but dated, the seats very comfortable.

With one blow of the whistle, the train pulled out right on time. Our coach was pretty much filled to capacity. A family of four sat next to us going to Houston. In the seats in front, two gentlemen were on their way to Los Angeles. This car…as well as the other two coaches…were probably around 90% full.

Once we started ascending the 4.4 mile Huey P. Long bridge spanning the Mississippi River, my brother and I proceeded down to the dining car to get some lunch. The car wasn’t too full….maybe half at this time. While enjoying a very good cheeseburger, I overheard the lady at the table behind me say that she was from Australia. Apparently,, she’s been crossing the U.S by train, and had just boarded in New Orleans. She was going all the way to L.A, then connecting to Seattle. Also adding to the “international” feel of the dining car was a gentleman from Nigeria, who spoke with a very noticeable British accent, going to L.A as well.

We returned back to our seats at around 1:15pm, just before reaching our first station stop at Scriever, Louisiana. The scenery during this part of the trip is pure Louisiana….swamps, bayous, numerous water crossings. We eventually arrived Schriever about ten minutes late, and then promptly departed for New Iberia and other points West.

New Iberia, Lafayette (home to a nice looking Amtrak station), and Lake Charles all came and went pretty much on time. Then, we were delayed. Apparently some speed signals were not operating properly in between Lake Charles and Beaumont, so this affected how fast we could go. We got to Beaumont about 45 minutes late, which isn’t really bad when all is said and done. The Beaumont-to-Houston segment backed us up even more, as we had to stop several times to let passing freight trains pass. No bother. Jason and I were in the lower level of the lounge car watching “X Men 2”, not a care in the world.

Our station stop in Houston was for about 15 minutes, which gave us a chance to go out and stretch for a few. Probably 25 people got on here. The train departed Houston’s station at exactly 11:00pm, or around 1h25min late. Back in coach, I noticed that the light’s were dim, as we were about to undertake Amtrak’s longest run without a stop. During this stretch, I was dozing in and out of sleep, but I did notice that we had picked up a good deal of speed, and that we were also making short stops every 30 minutes or so for track clearance. Eventually, we arrived into San Antonio at 4:05am….just about five hours from Houston, exactly what the schedule shows. It was here that I took note of the train’s consist:

2 P42 locomotives

1 locomotive that I can’t identify (looks like a freight engine in Amtrak colors)

1 Baggage Car

1 Transition Dorm

1 Baggage Car

1 Transition Sleeper

2 Superliner Sleepers

1 Superliner Diner

1 Sightseer Lounge

3 Superliner Coaches

The Sunset headed west about 45 minutes later, after receiving a coach and a sleeper from the Texas Eagle. As for us…we waited inside the nice little waiting room until the Amtrak rep came back. I was ever so anxious to see what time our return train would arrive into San Antonio. I did have hope that it wouldn’t be too bad, since it left L.A 2 days earlier only about 35 minutes late. Boy, was I ever wrong. At first, the nice Amtrak rep told me to expect it here at 8:00am. Ok, couple hours late, not a big deal. I spent the 3.5 hours listening to cd’s and reading, as my brother slept. At about 7:30am, I woke him up, and we went and sat outside. I took some pictures of the waiting Texas Eagle, as well as some San Antonio city pictures, and even one of the nice little station. 8:00am came and went…no train. At 8:30 I went in and asked . Arrival time was now 9:30am. Ugh. This meant that the absolute earliest we could get back to New Orleans, I figured, would be about 12:30am. Still, not terrible. I’ve seen worse. We took the delay in stride. However…at 9:30….no sign of the train. She eventually pulled up at 10:15am. We could not wait to get into those big comfortable seats and get some rest.

They put us in the last car on the train, a Superliner 2 coach. The car was filled with people just going to Houston, New Orleans, and Orlando. We got two seats together about halfway up the coach, and sat back. The Sunset departed right at 11:00am. An announcement was made that arrival into Houston is expected by 3:30pm, bearing any unforeseen delays. We went down to the dining car at noon and enjoyed another good meal, this time chatting with two ladies from Louisiana who had just gone on a 23-day rail journey across America. They had a sleeping car, of course. After lunch, Jason headed back to our seats to sleep, so I decided to spend some time in the Sightseer Lounge. I sat up there, listening to some cd’s, camera in hand, and just took in the scenery. It was so relaxing. To be certain, we didn’t arrive in Houston at 3:30pm. At 4:45pm we did. I once again stepped off here, and got a couple of great pictures of the Houston skyline. At 5:30pm…back in coach…I decided it was time to call the parents, to tell them not to expect us until 3:00am! They took it rather well, just wished for us to enjoy the rest of the trip.

We made station stops in Beaumont, Lake Charles, and Lafayette. No one was getting off/coming on in New Iberia and Schriever, so we just sped past those stops. You could tell they were trying to make up some time. We were doing at least 75mph for the last few hours of the ride, only slowing down here and there for a passing freight train or water crossing. At 2:00am, we started the climb back over the Huey P. Long Bridge. It looked amazing going over it at night, seeing everything below lit up….sort of like an airliner. In actuality, we arrived into the New Orleans station 10 minutes early. I counted about 30 people waiting to board here for the trip East to Florida. Probably about forty people de-trained here. This train had a usual consist: 2 P42 locos, 1 baggage car, 2 Superliner Sleeper, 1 Superliner Diner, 1 Sightseer Lounge, 3 Superliner Coaches

Overall, it was a great trip. There was never really a point where I became uncomfortable. Maybe a little restless towards the end, but not uncomfortable. Those Superliners really make all the difference when traveling in coach. The delays on the return were unfortunate…it certainly tests your patience…but all in all, it was worth it. I’d do that ride again in a heartbeat. I don’t think my brother would though…sixteen hours each way turned out to be a little too much for him. But then again, he’s not a huge Amtrak buff like I am.

The End.


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## Steve4031 (Aug 20, 2003)

Nice trip report. When its late, I just say I'm glad because I get more train ride for my money.


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## AlanB (Aug 20, 2003)

Native,

Thanks for a really cool report. It sounds like you had a really nice trip, even if it did run a little long.

One question though, was that a typo on your part, or did you really have a baggage car followed by a trans-dorm and then followed by another baggage car and still another trans-dorm?

Amtrak's trans-dorms are in really short supply, so that's why I'm trying to clarify if you actually saw two on your west bound train or if that's an oops.


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## NativeSon5859 (Aug 21, 2003)

Hi Alan, thanks for the kind words!

It was definetely a Superliner of some sort that's all I know for sure. I haven't personally seen this layout before (the passenger car in between two baggage cars) so I just assumed it was a crew car of some sort. Regular sleeper or coach perhaps? Also, are the transition cars used strictly for Amtrak crewmwmbers? I've always wondered about this.

Stephen in NOL


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## AlanB (Aug 21, 2003)

Stephen,

Well the trans-dorm was designed in such a way that it could provide both space for the crew and some bedrooms for passengers.

However up until about two months ago, with the exception of a few tests early in the lives of the trans-dorms, only the crew has used the trans-dorms. Two months or so ago, Amtrak decided to juggle some of it's sleeper inventory around to meet peak demand.

As a result the Texas Eagle lost one of it's regular sleepers. So at that time in an effort to help replace those lost bedrooms and the associated revenue, Amtrak has started selling the bedrooms that the designers had originally planned for passengers. The crew retains their section of the car, but half of the bedrooms on the upper level are now occupied by passengers.


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## Anthony (Aug 21, 2003)

Speaking of strange car layouts, the Southwest Chief has been carrying its "32" sleeper at the very end behind all of the coaches (but before any freight cars, of course)... the 30 and 31 sleepers are up at the front where they belong... the consist reminded me of the Boston sleeper situation on the LSL! I wonder why they do that on the Chief now...


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