The Sunset West into LA is only train I don't mind being late. It would be nice if the train can get in an hour later,but that would might interfere with #3.Many ranchers in town still come into town that way.
I haven't ridden the TE since 1990 and I was a child. My nearest station is Alpine and it does make sense to take the TE/Sunset to go to LA, but anything east? Forget about it. Maybe to St. Louis, but the routing in Texas is terrible.