In very eastern Louisiana, Hurricane Katrina's eye made landfall at 6:10 AM CDT on Monday, August 29. After 11:00 AM CDT, several sections of the levee system in New Orleans collapsed and flooded most of the city.
After a good night's sleep in a very comfortable bed, I awoke to prepare for my trip home to California.
Views from my balcony above St. Charles Street.
There was something missing outside my window. Six of the historic St. Charles streetcars resumed service on the Canal Street and Waterfront lines starting this very morning.
Damage to the St. Charles Line power wires by the tree branches.
The trolley line down St. Charles Street as I looked for somewhere to eat breakfast since my usual spot, the St. Charles Tavern, was closed on Mondays. About five blocks further, I found a restaurant which was open.
The Trolley Stop Café. I found a table and noticed the paintings of the St. Charles streetcar line on the walls. I enjoyed "Pigs in a Blanket" along with an orange juice, which hit the spot. I returned to my suite, watched the Weather Channel and TV Land until 10:00 AM, when I checked out and thanked them for allowing me to stay here.
On the way back to the station, I passed this house which had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Last December, I passed this same house with grandparents on the porch and their grandchildren playing in the front yard. The grandfather saw me walking and called to me, asking where I was headed. "Home to California by train !" I said. "Well, you have yourself a very safe trip, okay," he said and I responded with "God Bless you and your whole family!" and they all smiled as I walked down the street towards the station. How times have changed!
I arrived back at Amtrak after about a twelve minute walk into a very crowded station. It seemed that the 7:20 AM departure of The Crescent to New York had a major delay and the train did not arrive until 1:40 AM this morning, so the crew was not rested. In addition, the train had not been made up nor stocked with food, which made me wonder if we would beat it out of the station.
With two trainloads of passengers, as well as early arrivals for the City of New Orleans, you could not hear the station's public address system. Let us say mass confusion abounded! The crew tried to get the sleeping car passengers to board and I used my loud booming voice to assist in getting the message across but they gave up and took tickets and checked identification at the door for only the Sunset Limited. I boarded the 31024 coach, taking Seat 45 for my trip to Los Angeles then detrained to learn the consist, which was P42DCs 82 and 26 again, but new was transition sleeper 39003, diner 38017, lounge 33001 and coaches 31024 and 34057, after which we departed on time.
The damaged homes along our route out of the Big Easy. Blue tarped rooves indicate wind damage from Hurricane Katrina.
The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Christmas train out on a run today.
East Bridge tower.
More New Orleans Public Belt locomotiaves.
The Sunset Limited crossed the Huey Long bridge and the Mississippi River.
More blue tarps.
West Bridge tower, which had been damaged from leaks caused by Hurricane Katrina. I noticed where the tower was and realized we were now on the former Missouri Pacific line as we went through their Avondale yard, thus more new trackage for me. We ran through Wills then came upon a switch.
We returned to the Sunset Route at Live Oak and the usual route. They were plenty of uprooted and broken trees in the bayous and forests from all the winds of Hurricane Katrina.
As promised yesterday, the Bayou Des Allenmands Drawbridge.
Bayous, a sea of grasses and water in this case.
Texas and New Orleans Schriever station during our unofficial fresh air stop; it became an Amtrak stop in 1976.
Eighteen miles west of Schriever is the Bayou Boeuf drawbridge at milepost 10.2.
7.2 miles west of there, the Sunset Limited passed through the floodgates before crossing the Atchafalaya River drawbridge.
The sugar cane fields east of New Iberia.
The Texas and New Orleans New Iberia station, built circa 1900. Prince's "The Hits 1" took me to this point and now Yes' "Drama" would take me west.
The Texas and New Orleans Lafayette station built in 1912.
The former Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific, later New Orleans, Texas & Mexico and later Missouri Pacific, depot in Crowley built in 1907.
The Mermentau River. I next listened to the Young Dubliners' "Absolutely" and the young woman in front of me started to listen to music so loud that everyone could hear it, including her singing and snapping fingers, which caused a major distraction to all around. I finished the Phil Jackson book which was very interesting.
Still more blue tarps indicating damage from Hurricane Rita. At 5:00, the crew made an opening announcement for dinner and I was joined by Joyce from New Orleans, Linda from Louisiana State University and Michael from Gulfport. His house was a block from the beach and and the garage had collapsed on the top apartment and fell on his home, then storm surge came. That was followed by his home being moved five feet off its foundation by the winds of Hurricane Katrina. While his house was intact, it needed to be moved back onto its foundation.
Sunset through the highway bridges at Lake Charles.
The sky became interesting as we continued west and I enjoyed a New York steak and chocolate sundae. After dinner, it was "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", then we stopped at Beaumont stop before continuing to Houston over the usual Lafayette Subdivision. "Ian Anderson Plays The Orchestral Jethro Tull" was my musical selection for the evening and we arrived in Houston before 9:00 PM, which allowed me to view the railroad display cases of each of Houston's passenger railroads and a nice stroll on the station platform. We departed on time at 9:50 PM and I called it a night as we continued west towards San Antonio.
12/20/2005 About midnight, we were stopped at Flatonia with a broken air hose between the second locomotive and the transition car. The woman in front of me still had her music louder than acceptable so I had to find the train conductor to have a talk with her after we departed Flatonia at 12:30 AM. We arrived at San Antonio at 3:30 AM and departed on time at 5:40 AM, which is where the Texas Eagle through cars of coach 34048 and sleeper 32072 "Arkansas" were added. At 7:00 AM, I went to breakfast with Tom and Terry going from Longview to Merced, California, and Sheri going from Bay St. Louis to Anaheim. French Toast and sausage was my choice as the train rolled towards Del Rio on a mostly cloudy morning. Reading yesterday's USA Today and listening to the second CD of Ian Anderson allowed me to continue to roll west.
The Texas scenery was the usual as we neared Del Rio, our next fresh air stop.
The Southern Pacific Del Rio station built in 1876. We departed on time as I listened to "Odyssey West" by Rob Quist and Jack Gladstone.
Crossing a branch of Lake Amistad.
About forty-five minutes west, the former coaling tower on the former Southern Pacific route near the Pecos River High bridge.
Views from the Pecos River High bridge. Near Langtry, I put on the "Two River Junction", a fictitious story about Billy Miner who introduced the phrase "Hands Up!" to the Canadians.
We had a nice surprise when county and western singer and songwriter Terra Peters performed songs for us in the lounge car, including "Waltz Across Texas", "Ride Cowboy Ride" and "Desperado".
She was joined by Jack Seals, who alternated with her. In my 905,000+ rail miles, this was by far the best concert I had ever had on a train.
The weather turned clear and sunny as we passed Sanderson station, departing there on time and I listened to Martin Barre of Jethro Tull solo CD "Stage Left". We rolled west with no delays and arrived early at Alpine.
Here is where the wonderful Terra Peters detrained.
The former Texas and New Orleans, later Southern Pacific, Alpine depot built in 1946. We departed time and started our climb up Paisano Pass.
The climb of Paisano Pass, the highest spot on the Sunset Route. It was now time for Queen's "Day at the Races" on a most beautiful clear day.
A look back to where we had just came from after crossing Paisano Pass.
In Marfa, the Presidio Court House built of native stone in 1886.
Wild boars (the black spots) ran for their lives away from the tracks. The Young Dubliners' "Real World" was my next musical selection.
Near Quebec, Texas.
Peaks to the east as we sped towards Sierra Blanca.
Peaks to the north with Interstate 10 at its base.
A Union Pacific freight with another behind waited for us at Sierra Blanca.
Sierra Blanca Peak. As we neared El Paso, we were stopped by Union Pacific 2771 East. I found the dining car steward and arranged for a 5:30 dinner reservation for my coach neighbour Michael and I, but the steward said he had walked the trainm but neither Michael nor I saw him come through our car. We arrived at El Paso at 4:40 PM {5:10 PM}, thirty minutes early.
The Sunset Limited at rest in El Paso.
We left El Paso Union station just before sunset, which produced a nice sky. We went to dinner at 5:30 PM with Ruby, Pauline and Michael and I ordered a Delmonico steak and a chocolate pyramid. We departed on time and proceeded across the Rio Grande River into New Mexico and passed the dwellings in Old Mexico. Back at my seat, it was time for Queen's "Night at the Opera" as we made our way to Deming but before we arrived, I switched to the Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers". The lyrics in "Moonlight Mile" of "My dreams is fading down the railway line, I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road". With that done, I called it a night.
12/21/2005 We arrived at Tucson early and left on time and the crew change and passenger loading in Maricopa was also on time. Howver, it all fell apart before Yuma. There was the usual Yuma delay since there are not enough tracks for all the trains so we had to wait our turn. I started my day at this point. We finally departed at 6:46 AM MT {5:19 AM} and crossed the state line into California by traversing the Colorado River. I went to have breakfast at 6:00 AM PT, eating with Hans and Yvonne from the Netherlands who had toured Houston, Dallas, Little Rock and San Antonio. Also eating with us was Franz, who boarded in Tucson but was really a New Yorker.
I excused myself for a pair of sunrise pictures then enjoyed a French Toast and sausage breakfast along with a few Fawlty Towers moments that Manuel would have been perfect at. We went into the siding at Bertram for an eastbound Union Pacific freight.
Our train moved one siding west to Ferrum, where I captured this scene of the Salton Sea with a fog rising then waited for another 18 minutes for Union Pacific 3173 East to pass. The Rolling Stones' "Rarities 1971 to 2003" was my next listening choice. The next three sidings we passed all had Union Pacific freights in them then we proceeded through Indio and at Rimlon, waited for a Union Pacific helper set to clear before we reached our Palm Springs stop, which was a prolonged fresh air stop.
We departed Palm Springs at 8:40 AM {6:37 AM} and as the train climbed Beaumont Pass, I switched to John Cougar Mellencamp's "Scarecrow".
Mount San Gorgonio before we reached Apex (Summit) then travelled down San Timiteo Canyon but were stopped by a red signal at Redlands waiting for Union Pacific 5198 East, Union Pacific 4951 East, a helper set and Union Pacific 4524 East, which became a forty-five minute delay.
Once on the move again, the Sunset Limited dropped into the San Bernardino Valley. There were no delays at BNSF's Colton crossing and we stopped to drop off ten Union Pacific freight train crew members across from the West Colton yard office.
Mount Baldy on a very clear morning. We made it to Ontario at 10:55 AM {8:05 AM} after the crew let smokers smoke and since they had smoked in the bathroom in our car, I thought this was an uncalled-for move by our train crew. We had a switch problem at West Ontario which delayed us eight more minutes then we went into the Montclair siding to pass Union Pacific 1048 East, a local, holding the mainline and waited for a signal to exit this siding. We finally made it to Pomona and departed there at 11:22 AM {8:15 AM} and continued to El Monte, stopping there at 11:37 AM.
Here we waited for Metrolink Train 304 to San Bernardino and Train 319 to Los Angeles. We departed at 12:04 PM and switched to the Metrolink line to Los Angeles, arriving at Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal at 12:25 PM {10:10 AM}.
Los Angeles 12/21/2005I stepped off the Sunset Limited in a hurry to try to catch Pacific Surfliner 774 which had just started to leave. Why could Amtrak not hold that train so I could have connected instead of making me wait until 2:00 PM to catch Pacific Surfliner 578? Engineer Steve found me and suggested that we go out into the station courtyard, sit in the sun and catch up on things, which was an excellent idea. We read the Los Angeles Times and cracked a few good jokes. My seatmate from the Sunset Limited, Michael, found me and brought two luggage carts to carry our luggage to the train.
Pacific Surfliner 578 12/21/2005
This train had F59PHI 460, Pacific Business Class 6803, coach/café 6352 "Topanga Canyon", coaches 6453 "Pacific Beach" and 6452 "Mission Beach" with cab car 6953 "Point Conception". We departed on time and ran through Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange (a Metrolink stop) and then into Santa Ana, where I ended yet another fantastic Amtrak adventure to and from an incredibly-different New Orleans.
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