6 replies to this topic

[gary99]

Howdy from Oklahoma, we're back from our adventure on the Sunset Limited, train #2. My wife and I flew on FF miles last Friday to LAX with plans to fly back from Tallahassee on Monday. We planned in 7 hours layover before catching our flite home. Three nites in a deluxe bedroom travelling from California to Florida. Bottom line, we had a great time. We arrived at the Union Train Station in LA about 3 hrs b4 departure time. This is a beautiful 1939 Spanish mission style building with nice high decorative ceiling and comphy chairs. We managed to find the cozy bar where we waited with other happy travellers. Our train left on time at 10:30pm. The Superliner consist was made up of two engines, baggage car, crew car, two sleepers, diner, observation car, three coach cars, and another sleeper. The last two cars were the Texas Eagle cars. More on that later. Our car, #231, was the Nebraska. Our room was attended by Robert who had worked Amtrak since the 70's and the Panama Limited. He did a nice job of keeping towels stocked in our room, and keeping our room in order. We awoke the first morning already 3 and a half hours late. Our first of many delays due to the priority of freight trains over human trains. The desert around Yuma AZ was stark, very different. At the Maricopa stop there was an old Calif Zephyr round end dome observation car on display. Looked great, wish we had had time to get out and go thru it. But on we went to Tucson for our first stop to get aout and stretch. The smokers were happy, there's no smoking on the Sunset which was great for us. We went to the old Congress Hotel built in 1919. Having just finished a nice steak dinner Sat. nite (with cheesecake!) we arrived in El Paso TX 4hr40min late. It was very pretty coming into the city all lit up in lites. The town borders Juarez Mexico, and border patrolmen were evident. In fact we saw one quietly slip handcuffs on a passenger and lead him away. Saw another 3 escort a woman away. Suspect this is a fairly routine occurence with border jumpers. Now, being as late as we were, the folks in the back two Texas Eagle cars were not going to connect in San Antonio to the rest of the Eagle train in time for it's 6am departure there. These unfortunate folks were taken off the train and put on two busses to travel from El Paso to Ft Worth, not a short distance away. I'm sure all were upset, especially those who had to give up their bedrooms for a bus ride. Hope Amtrak did something for them. Sunday morning we awoke near Del Rio TX, hilly, scrub brush country. We saw deer, goats, rabbits. We saw two horses running alongside us on a dirt trail, really neat. Crossed the Pecos River on a high bridge. We stopped in Del Rio 10 hrs late. Had a nice conversation with a porder patrolman there. We were a mile away from the Mexico border. As we travelled from there over the next hour, we saw several porder patrol SUV's driving along a dirt rode dragging large tires. This was to help spot footprints or car prints along the border. Arrived in San Antonio at the station located right next to the Alamodome, with the Hemisfair tower nearby. This was a pleasant stop. Nice restaurants and festive area. At this point we decided that we were not going to make it to Tallahassee in time for our flite home. So we rebooked our flite from Mobile AL. Our next stop was Houston around 9pm, still 10 hrs late. This dismal station was ugly, stuck under a highway overpass. We couldn't wait to leave. Awoke Monday morning in the Bayou country, totally different from the previous two mornings's view. Somewhat swampy, fog hanging in the morning air. Arrived in the New Orleans station 11hr 30 min late. Our original goal was to catch a cab to the French Quarter for a quick visit during the 2 hr layover. As we were so late, the conductor announced this would only be a 20 minute stop to change engines. We stayed in the station. The first class Magnolia waiting room was very small, unmanned, with a coffee pot and a tv. Not at all like we had seen in Chicago on a previous trip. Turns out our stop was a 1hr20min stop. Sigh. But did manage to buy some pralines and a bag of red beans and rice. Yummy! When we left NO they had connected 3 nicely maintained Illinois Central office cars painted black and white with their logo, and a blue Georgia private car. It thrillled me to see the old IC cars, my father used to work for them. Now coming to the end of out train trip. We spotted a small alligator in the wetlands of Mississippi. Had a last bacon cheeseburger and ice cream sundae for lunch. At Biloxi a guy in an ultralite plane flew alongside the train for a minute or two. Finally we had to depart at Mobile, AL. Arrived 11hr43min late. It was so sad to get off the train then watch our home for the last three days leave us behind. We now had 4 hrs before catching our flite home. So, to complete our Calif to Florida goal, we rented a car and drove the hour to Pensacola FL. and back. Mission accomplished! Look forward to the day when we can once again take a train trip. Like the majority of the country, a train trip is not a part of the daily commute, so it's an adventure for us to take to the rails. Meeting people from different walks of life, seeing countryside otherwise never seen. Happy travelling to you! Gary

[ICGsteve]

You gotta wonder why Amtrak still offers the sunset-eagle connection given that the sunset does not run on a schedule anymore. Even if AMtrak refunded the bedroom charge elpaso-ft worth the bus connection would ruin my trip. Anyone know how often this connection fails? Gary, was the equipment in good shape? How did the crew do? Are you calling it a great trip when the failure to run the sunset on a schedule made it impossible to complete your trip? I am a "go with the flow kind of guy" myself but even if you look at the sunset as a land cruise and not transit the inability to complete the trip rates this trip a failure by any reasonable measure that I can come up with. I admire your ability to not let sloppy service ruin your experiance though.

[gary99]

Sure, if we had been on the Eagle route and had to take the bus, my trip would not have been the same. And I agree about wondering why they still offer this connection. But for us, the equipment was fine, the crew was fine, the food (on china) was fine. We had done our homework and knew that the #2 was habitually late, so had planned to be on our toes for changes. We only chose TLH as a place to fly back from. Wish all things worked perfectly, but they don't. I feel badly for those who depend on trains for travel and must depend on train schedule promptness. We had a great time, what can I say? Gary

[BillMagee]

Gary: This is more than a tad off-topic, but how did you arrange the air itinerary on frequent flyer miles? Most FF domestic awards require a true round trip and do not permit stopovers or open jaws. Oklahoma (TUL or OKC?) to LAX with return from TLH (changed to MOB) to TUL/OKC is an open-jaw and then some! What airline did you use and how did you arrange the award? Great trip, by the way. It is a really unusual idea to fly west, train transcon, the fly home. Nice train report, too! It’s good to hear that the onboard service met the standard of what “first class” should be. But that timekeeping is a little frightening. I’m with Steve on this: ten hours late and fouling my return flight would have driven me bonkers. Maybe I need to learn the fine art of just going with the flow. Bill

Edited by BillMagee, 09 April 2004 - 01:28 PM.

[gary99]

Hi Bill, We have used the open jaw approach to several trips using FF miles. It is allowed for no extra costs. We took the Empire Builder a couple years ago, fly OKC to ORD, then Portland back home. It's a great aadvantage! The only rule is that the distance between jaw cities (eg LAX and MOB) must be less than the distance flown. We use this also in travel to Europe, into Paris, out of Rome, etc. CO and AA are two we have done this with. Also can apply to their code share partners. Hope you can try it out for yourself. Regards, Gary

[d.o.n.]

Can hardly wait to head west on the Sunset. Arriving late at SAS is for the better. Even better for the return to Fla. Time on the train is added to a "Lifetime." Even a slow freight. d.o.n.

[gary99]

And the additional meals are still free in bedroom class no matter how late you are! Gary