In very eastern Louisiana, Hurricane Katrina's eye made landfall at 6:10 AM CDT on Monday, August 29, 2005. After 11:00 AM CDT, several sections of the levee system in New Orleans collapsed and flooded most of New Orleans.
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 is something missing on this trip outside my window. Six of the historic St. Charles Street Cars resumed service on the Canal Street and Waterfront Lines starting this very morning. I went in search of breakfast.
Damage to the St. Charles Line power wires by the tree branches.
View of the trolley line down St. Charles Street as I looked for someplace to eat breakfast. My usual spot the St. Charles Tavern was closed on Mondays. About five blocks further I found an open place to eat breakfast.
The Trolley Stop Cafe. I found a table and this place has paintings of the St. Charles Street Car Line on the walls. I enjoyed "Pigs in a Blanket" along with an orange juice which hits the spot. I went back to my suite, watched the Weather Channel and TV Land until 10 AM when I checked out thanking 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, OK," he said and I responded with "God bless to 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 and into a very crowded station. It seems that the 7:20 AM departure of The Crescent to New York had a major delay. The train did not get into New Orleans until 1:40 AM this morning so the crew was not rested. In addition the train had not been made up or stocked with food which makes me wonder if we would beat it out of the station.
With two train loads of passengers plus early arrivals for the City of New Orleans you could not hear the stations PA system. Let us say mass confusion abounded! They tried to get the sleeping car passengers to board and I used my loud booming voice to assist in getting the message to the passengers. They gave up and took tickets and checked IDs at the door for only the Sunset Limited. I boarded the 31024 Coach taking Seat 45 for my trip to Los Angeles. I detrained to get the consist of this train with Engines 82 and 26 again but new was Transition Sleeper 39003, Diner 38017, Lounge 33001 and Coaches 31024 and 34057. We departed New Orleans Union Station on time.
Views of the damaged homes along our route out of the Big Easy. Blue tarped roofs indicates wind damage to the roofs from Hurricane Katrina.
The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad Christmas Train out on a run today.
East Bridge Tower.
More New Orleans Public Belt engines.
The Sunset Limited crossed the Huey Long Bridge and the Mississippi River.
Blue tarps on roofs indicates damage from Hurricane Katrina.
West Bridge Tower which had damage that caused leeks 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 hit a switch.
We returned to the Sunset Route at Live Oak and back on 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 to you all yesterday, the Bayou Des Allenmands Drawbridge.
Bayous, a sea of grasses and water in this case.
Schriever Station during our unofficial fresh air stop.
Eighteen miles west of Schriever, is the Boeuf Drawbridge.
7.2 miles west of the Boeuf Drawbridge the Sunset Limited passed through the floodgates before we crossed the Atchafalya River Drawbridge.
The sugar cane fields east of New Iberia.
The New Iberia Train Station. Prince "The Hits 1" took me to this point and now Yes "Drama" would take me west.
The Lafayette Station.
The former Missouri Pacific Depot in Crowley.
The Mermentau River. I next listened to the Young Dubliners "Absolutely". The young woman in front of me put on music so everyone could hear it, sings and snaps her fingers loudly causing a major distraction to all around her. I finished the Phil Jackson book which was very interesting.
Blue tarps on roofs indicate wind damage from Hurricane Rita. At 5 PM they made an opening announcement for dinner. I was joined by Joyce from New Orleans, Linda from LSU and Michael from Gulfport. His house was a block from the beach. His home had the collapse of the garage top apartment fall onto 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. His house is intact but needs to be moved back onto its foundation.
Sunset through the highway bridges at Lake Charles.
The sky became interesting as we continued west. I enjoyed a New York Steak and chocolate sundae. After dinner, it was "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". We did our Beaumont stop then headed to Houston over the usual Lafayette Sub. "Ian Anderson Plays The Orchestral Jethro Tull" was my musical selection for the evening. We arrived into Houston before 9 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 Houston on time at 9:50 PM and I called it a night as we headed west towards San Antonio.
12/20/2005 About midnight, we were stopped at Flatonia with a broken air hose between the 2nd Engine and Transition Car. My friend in front of me has her music going again so I had to go find the train conductor to have a talk with her after we left Flatonia at 12:30 AM. We arrived into San Antonio at 3:30 AM and departed at 5:40 AM on time. There we added the Texas Eagle thru cars of Coach 34048 and Sleeper 32072 Arkansas. At 7:00 AM, I went to breakfast with Tom and Terry going from Longview to Merced 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 Del Rio Station. We left Del Rio on time and I put on "Odyssey West" by Rob Quist and Jack Gladstone.
We crossed a branch of Lake Amistad.
About forty five minutes west the former coaling tower on the former route near the Pecos River High Bridge.
Views from the Pecos River High Bridge. Near Langtry, I put on the "Two River Junction" CD, a factious story about Billy Miner who introduced the phrase "Hands Up!" to the Canadians.
We had a nice surprise when County Western Singer and Songwriter Terra Peters preformed songs for us in the Lounge Car. She did "Waltz Across Texas", "Ride Cowboy Ride" and "Desperado" as well as others.
She was joined by Jack Seals who alternated doing songs with her as we headed west. In my 905,000+ rail miles this by far was the best concert I have ever had on a train.
The weather turned clear and sunny as we passed the Sanderson Station. We left there on time and I put on Martin Barre of Jethro Tull solo CD "Stage Left". We rolled west with no delays arriving into Alpine early.
Here is where the wonderful Terra Peters detrained.
Views of the Alpine Depot. I called Steve at Trainweb to check in with him. We departed Alpine on time and started our climb up Paisano Pass.
Pictures from the climb up Paisano Pass, highest spot on the Sunset Route. It was now time for Queen "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 Marfu, the Presidio Court House built of native stone in 1886.
Wild Boars {The black spots in this picture} run 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.
UP Freight with another one behind waited for us at Sierra Blanca.
Sierra Blanca Peak. As we neared El Paso we got stopped by the UP 2771 East. I went and got Michael and me a 5:30 PM Dinner Reservation. The Dining Car Steward said he had walked the train but neither Michael or I saw him come through our car. We pulled into 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 then produced a nice sky. We went to dinner at 5:30 PM with Ruby, Pauline and Michael. I ordered a Delmonico Steak and a Chocolate Pyramid. We left El Paso on time, headed across the Rio Grande River into New Mexico and passed the dwellings in Old Mexico. Back at my seat, it was time for Queen "Night at the Opera" as we headed to Deming. Before we got there, I switched to the Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers". The lyrics in "Moonlight Mile" that goes "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 had arrived into Tucson early and left there on time. The crew change and passenger loading in Maricopa was also on time. It all fell apart before Yuma. It was the usual Yuma delay, not enough tracks for all of the trains so we had to wait for our turn. I started my day at this point. We finally left Yuma at 6:46 AM MT {5:19 AM} and headed into California crossing the Colorado River. I went to have breakfast at 6 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 sky pictures. I enjoyed a French Toast and sausage breakfast along with a few Faulty Towers moments that Manual would have been perfect at. We went into the siding at Bertram for a UP eastbound.
Our train moved one siding west to Ferrum where I took a picture of the Salton Sea with a fog raising off of it. We waited for another 18 minutes for the UP 3173 East to pass by. The Rolling Stones "Rarities 1971 to 2003" was my next listening choice. The next three sidings we went by all had UP freights sitting in them. We proceeded through Indio and at Rimlon we waited for a UP helper set to clear before we reached our Palm Springs stop which was a prolonged fresh air stop.
The train departed Palm Springs at 8:40 AM {6:37 AM}. As the train climbed Beaumont Pass, I switched to John Cougar Mellencamp "Scarecrow".
We saw Mt. San Gorgonio before we reached Apex {Summit} then traveled down San Timiteo Canyon. We got nailed by a red signal at Redlands waiting for UP 5198 East, UP 4951 East, a helper set and UP 4524 East which was a forty five minute delay.
Once on the move again the Sunset Limited dropped into the San Bernardino Valley. No delays at the BNSF Colton Crossing and we made a stop to drop off 10 UP freight train crew members across from the West Colton Yard Office.
Mt. Baldy on a very clear morning. We made it to Ontario at 10:55 AM {8:05 AM} after the crew let smokers smoke. After all of the smoking they did in the bathroom in our car, I thought this was an uncalled for move by our train crew. We had at switch problem at West Ontario delaying us eight more minutes. We went into the Montclair siding to get by the UP 1048 East, a local, holding the mainline and then waited for a signal to exit this siding. We finally made it to Pomona and left at 11:22 AM {8:15 AM} and headed 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. The train departed El Monte at 12:04 PM and switched to the Metrolink Line to Los Angeles. The Sunset Limited arrived into Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal at 12:25 PM {10:10 AM}.
Los Angeles 12/21/2005I stepped off of the Sunset Limited in a hurry to try to catch Surfliner 774 which had just started to leave. Why could not Amtrak hold 774 so I could have connected instead of making me wait until 2:00 PM to catch 578. Engineer Steve found me and suggested that we go out into the station courtyard, sit out in the sun and catch up on things which was an excellent idea. We read the LA Times and cracked a few good jokes. Michael found me and brought two luggage carts to carry our luggage to Surfliner 578 in a few minutes.
This train has Engine 460, Pacific Business Class 6803, Coach/Cafe 6352 Topanga Canyon, Coaches 6453 Pacific Beach and 6452 Mission Beach with Cab Car 6953 Point Conception. The train departed right on time. We ran through Fullerton, Anaheim, Orange {a Metrolink Stop} and then into Santa Ana right on time where I ended yet another fantastic Amtrak adventure to and from an incredibly different New Orleans.
Rail Mileage 906,693.1
