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The Westbound Sunset Limited 12/22-24/2004

I walked out to the train and boarded sleeping car "California" and put my belongings in room 6. I had the same room on this car that I had on the eastbound journey a few days ago and it would be the same trainset minus the locomotives which were not yet on the train. A minute later, the same smell problem started again and during the two days that the train sat here, no one bothered to fix the problem. I knew we would not have one of locomotives when I saw P42DC 835, which had led our train east, now on the Sunset Limited going to Florida.

Sunset Limited, Train 2, sat next to Train 1 with no power.

That train departed for Florida, most likely Sanford, at 9:16 AM {10:30 PM} and I waved goodbye and could only wish them luck as they departed.

At 11:36 AM, our power, P42DC 23 and 24, reversed onto the point of Train 1 and passengers boared. Rick was my sleeping car attendant again and we departed on time at 11:55 AM.

Our westbound Sunset Limited crossed the Huey Long Bridge across the mighty Mississippi River and once off the bridge, at Avondale, we stopped for some minor track work before resuming our journey to Raceland and stopped to receive track authority to continue.

We crossed one of the many bayous on our route in Louisiana this afternoon.

Where there are not bayous, there are miles upon miles of fields. At Schriever, we picked up one coach passenger and departed there at 1:45 PM {1:24 PM} then as we neared New Iberia, we were going straight into the storm that was due into New Orleans later today.

Some rare Amtrak street-running occured on the approach to New Iberia, from which we departed at 3:08 PM {2:50 PM} and the heavy rain started at Lafayette Airport and really came down so no one detrained for the fresh air stop there. We departed a very wet Lafayette at 3:50 PM {3:37 PM and passed the edge of the very busy BNSF Lafayette yard.

At the west end as the crew changed, an empty BNSF grain train was ready to proceed west. We departed at 4:10 PM and I listened to Two River Junction, the excellent music from the melodrama in Kamloops, British Columbia, on the Rocky Mountaineer trips. The power line came down on the highway about half a mile to the north so drivers had to detour via a crossing since our train was blocking it due to a red signal. The reason for our delay here was Union Pacific 5045 West getting out of the way at Crowley, Louisiana.

I talked to our new conductor and told him of the smell problem and at first, he did not believe me but other passengers spoke up for me and lo and behold, the smell happened and he became a believer, and I asked him to call to make sure this was taken care of in Los Angeles. We departed Lake Charles at 5:55 PM {5:05 PM} and I had a 5:30 dinner reservation and ate from Menu 4, enjoying a T-Bone steak and chocolate sundae with a man going to Houston to see his brother that he had not seen in 35 years. A mother and daughter going from Chicago to Maricopa, Arizona rounded out our table group and during dinner, we crossed into Texas.

Back in my room, my evening musical choice was "Eyes of Alice Cooper", during which our progress became stop-and-go before it was announced that we were following freight trains and once they were out of our way, we would resume our journey west. Since we were now in true freight train mode (we will get there when we get there!), I called it a night in the Union Pacific void east of Beaumont. The next morning, Rick told me we left Houston at 12:30 AM {9:18 PM}.

I quickly detrained for a photograph of our train before returning to the warmth and we departed at 9:06 AM {3:40 AM} but were almost immediately stopped by EMDX 2822 East. On the move again, we made it to Alamo Junction with more freight train interference then left at 9:35 AM and continued west with me in my room just sitting back, listening to good music and watching the world pass by outside my window.

Deer blinds are a common sight on the way to Del Rio as we passed through the Anacacho Mountains. After passing a freight with Norfolk Southern and First Union Rail locomotives at Obi, we paused at a red signal before continuing slowly on across a broken rail a mile west of MP 320. BNSF 4845 East was in the siding at Odlaw where we returned to track speed, then a slow order at Pinto delayed our train just a bit more, before we passed Laughlin Air Force Base as we neared Del Rio, where I took a fresh air break, then departed at 12:50 PM {6:35 AM}.

A few minutes west of Del Rio, an excellent view of the Rio Grande River and Mexico beyond.

Next came the Amistad Dam, a joint USA/Mexico project.

Behind the dam was the Amistad Reservoir. We then stopped at Feely as the crew had to inspect our train because something set off a trackside detector.

About twenty minutes further west, we crossed the Pecos River high bridge, the highest railroad bridge in the United States. Later, I went to the lounge car to escape the odour in our car for awhile then returned to my room for some Jeff Beck.

After crossing one of the many dry washes just east of Sanderson, we went through Sanderson, a flag stop, at 3:27 PM {9:10 AM} and it was a cool cloudy afternoon as we ascended the grade to Alpine, passed through Marathon at 4:30 PM and I had been enjoying all the green signals throughout the afternoon. We departed Alpine at 5:14 PM {11:24 AM} and with that, were back on Mountain Time.

The Sunset Limited climbed Paisano Pass, the highest point on the entire Sunset Route. It was twilight as we passed through Marfa with its famous "Ghost Lights". At 5:00 PM, it was dinner time and I chose short ribs for a change of pace, along with a chocolate sundae, seated with a couple from "The Villages" near Lady Lake, Florida, who were travelling to Huntington Beach. Darkness took full hold but in a few miles, the ground turned white and gave me a pre-White Christmas east of El Paso. After a few more hours of freight train interference, I called it a night at the start of all this, but woke up with the train sitting in El Paso. The scene out the window looked more like Havre, Montana on the Empire Builder rather than El Paso on the Sunset Route. We departed at 10:07 PM {3:25 PM} and while I slept, we travelled to Tucson, arriving there at 2:45 AM.

During the entire set out move, the power had been turned off and the dining car could not serve breakfast, but myself and other intelligent passengers still used the shower during this latest delay. I enjoyed my French Toast breakfast with the nice couple going to San Diego in Room 4 behind me as Conductor John and AC Fred stopped by my table to say hello. We made our way to Maricopa for another four station stop as this platform wa extremely small, then departed at 8:42 AM {11:23 PM}.

Further west, Saguaro cacti as we neared Shawmut.

The Sunset Limited then sped through Gila Bend and beyond out into the Sonoran Desert.

Later, off in the distance, I saw the old truss bridge on the former Phoenix Line where a photo runby occurred with Southern Pacific 4449 on the westbound Louisiana World's Fair Daylight in 1984.

A few minutes later, we passed through the Gila River Narrows and after a really nice and cool fresh air break at Yuma, the Sunset Limited departed there at 11:13 AM {2:09 AM}.

We crossed the Colorado River, entered California and returned everyone to the Pacific Time Zone. Union Pacific 4745 East was tucked away in the siding at Dunes and we received a red signal at the next intermediate signal, which meant we were following something. We were then upgraded to a yellow before we had to stop at the next red signal, number 7149, before it changed yellow. The Glamis Sand Dunes were to the west and the Chocolate Mountains were to the east. At Cactus, we flew by a westbound CSX freight in the siding and since CSX number boards are really hard to read on the fly, I could not get the number of the locomotive.

The Glamis Sand Dunes was the location of the Jabba the Hutt barge scenes flying over the sand dunes in "Return of the Jedi". Sometimes those old poles just get in the way! The sidings at Clyde, Glamis and Acolita were all empty, but when we reached Regina, Union Pacific 4402 East was waiting, afer which we passed the wreck site of Union Pacific head-on crash about ten days ago at the east switch of Iris. There was also another eastbound with a pair of units from Norfolk Southern and CSX. At Niland, Union Pacific 9812 West was waiting for us to pass then from here to just before Mecca, we would be following the Salton Sea. Union Pacific 2405 East was sitting in the siding at Wister.

We ran along Salton Sea beyond California Highway 111 as our train continued west and Ferrum came and went with the old rails of the Eagle Mountain Railroad still there. The Sunset headed northwest through the Coachella Valley, passing through Mecca, Thermal and Indio. I went to the dining car for lunch for the first time on the whole trip and had an Angus beef burger and another sundae. At Palm Springs, all Coast Starlight passengers for points north of Salinas, and those San Joaquin passengers, were bussed to Bakersfield to complete their trip.

At 12:45 PM {3:22 AM}, we departed through the windmill fields at the base of Beaumont Hill and seeing all the new double track that has bee installed was really impressive.

San Timiteo Canyon was a beautiful green from the autumn rains that we have had in Southern California. For the first time, I saw the arrowhead on the San Bernardino Mountains as we descended into the San Bernardino Valley then no delays were to be had at Colton Crossing or West Colton Yard, but we made a special stop across from the yard office to drop off 17 dead-heading Union Pacific employees. The Sunset continued non-stop to Ontario, leaving there at 2:15 PM {4:53 AM} and on this perfectly clear afternoon, proceeded west to Pomona, departing there at 2:27 PM {5:03 AM}. I listened to the Jethro Tull Christmas Album as we neared Los Angeles and our route was via San Gabriel, not the Metrolink line that we came east on. We stopped at the Los Angeles shops to drop off the last two dead-heading Union Pacific employees then crossed the Los Angeles River and rolled into LAUPT, ending our journey at 3:18 PM {6:40 AM}, or eight hours and thirty-eight minutes late.

A special thank you to all the fantastic crew employees on the Sunset Limited. Their great company and excellent food they provided, as well as for their fantastic service on this unique Amtrak adventure.

This train was sitting on the platform across from where the Sunset Limited arrived and I enjoyed the warm California sunshine before boarding occurred. This Surfliner had cab car 6907, Superliner coaches 31021 and 34017, Pacific Surfliner coach 6452 "Mission Beach", coach/café 6351, Pacific Business Class 6400 and F59PHI 460 pushing the train to San Diego. We departed on time and I was very happy to be on my final train ride home. The train made a quick trip to Fullerton, followed by Anaheim and then Santa Ana, where I stepped off, exactly one week to the minute that I had started this trip, a very interesting Amtrak adventure last Friday. Remember "Every Trip is an Adventure!" My mother was there waiting to take me home.

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