Rails Around the USA:
Summer, 2005
Los Angeles to San Antonio
July 8 - 10, 2005
Laurence Krieg
7/6/2005
Though not part of my journey from LA to San Antonio, I'd like to point out that I did some minimal riding on the San Diego light rail system, including (of course!) taking a few pictures. I've included several of these in the accompanying photo section.
7/7/2005
Amtrak calls my home in Michigan and leaves a message: The Sunset will terminate in San Antonio due to Hurricane Dennis. I need to call and arrange an alternative journey, 1-800-USA-RAIL.
18:58
After initially deciding to get a refund, I decide to go as far as San Antonio by train and switch there to air. I make a reservation on a Continental flight leaving San Antonio at 6 AM Sunday morning, stopping at Houston, and transferring to Tampa.
7/8/2005
Metro Green Line arriving at LAX transfer station |
This morning I drive from Irvine to Los Angeles International to return my rental car 10:05 AM. The rental van takes me to Terminal 2, where (after about 10 minutes wait) I hop on free shuttle bus "G" to Metro Green Line station. The Green Line is elevated along this stretch and runs between the lanes of the Interstate 110 freeway. A snappy-looking train made up of a pair of articulated Siemens light rail vehicles arrives after another 10-minute wait. At the intersection with the Blue Line I get off and go down to ground level to make the transfer.
11:25
LA Metro Rail Blue Line southbound to Long Beach |
Another wait of 10 or 15 minutes brings a northbound train from Long Beach to Metro Center, consisting of three articulated Nippon-Sharyo cars - effectively six medium-sized cars. The Blue Line runs along its own double-track right-of-way here, with standard railroad-crossing flashers and gates at each intersection, so we barrel along at about 55 MPH. When we get to Washington Avenue, the line follows what looks like an original streetcar route down the middle of the steet. I couldn't tell whether the traffic signals were coordinated with the train movements, but I'd guess so. Otherwise, such long trains could easily snarl traffic more than it already is, as they snake their way around corners. After 6-8 blocks of street running, the Blue Line dives underground into the Metro Center station.
11:56
Metro Rail Red Line to Union Station |
At Metro Center, the north end of the Blue Line, I go downstairs to the Red Line. These are standard Breda "heavy-rail" transit cars. A six-car train from North Hollywood appears after about five minutes, and takes only about four minutes to get to Union Station.
Los Angeles Union Station. The highrise is not part of the station, but (correct me if I'm wrong) the LA County Jail. |
At Union Station, I think it would be handy to stow my baggage while I walk around downtown Los Angeles. The two agents were working steadily but very slowly, and I think it unlikely that they would agree to hold the baggage temporarily anyway, so I give up and dragged my baggage rig around with me on a walking tour of downtown LA.
14:10
However, when I get back after lunch, the line at the Amtrak ticket window is even longer, so I decide to go directly to the train. Only problem: which platform is the Sunset Limited loading on? It's not listed. Figuring it would take 45 minutes to get to the head of the line and ask, I decide to try and find the train on my own. So I go through the underpass checking platform-signs until I find one with no train listed, and go up the incline to check. Sure enough, there's a train of Superliners the turns out to have "02" and "22" on the car markers. Remarkably short, though. Amtrak Operations has cut off one sleeper and the observation-lounge, presumably to save fuel.
The Transition Sleeper is the only car that stayed in LA available for those of us booked on the sleeper, which causes confusion and disappointment for all concerned. Especially upset is a man and his wife who had reserved a delux bedroom, and would have to settle for a roomette. The layout of the transition sleeper is quite different from the standard sleepers, with only roomettes and no larger bedrooms except the handicapped suite on the lower level.
In the confusion, conductor Frank doesn't communicate clearly that there is a roomette available for me, so I stay in the crew lounge with two other passengers waiting for rooms. I open my laptop and work on a crew table. I'm thinking the crew needs to squeeze me in somewhere, but after about an hour the confusion is cleared up and I take possession of my room, number 20.
14:46
Amtrak 2 Sunset Limited leaves LA Union Station at 2:36 PM, 6 minutes late. However, we get a red signal at Yuma Junction, 2 minutes from the platform, and wait for another 8 minutes.
We have P52 number 4 on the point, backed up by number 12. In the consist is a baggage car, a transition sleeper (where I'm assigned to roomette 20), a dining car, two coaches, and another sleeper. The coach and sleeper on the end will be transferred to the Texas Eagle when we get to San Antonio. It's a sad little train, with the observation lounge and a sleeper cut out of the consist, and the crew scrambling to make things work in spite of the hemorrhage of cars. With no snack bar, the diner is divided into two portions: the the rear half is a make-shift snack bar, and front half is the diner proper.
Evening
19:32 Stopped at Sierra signal
Dinner in the diner, with Shawn (a woman going to Austin), John (going to San Antonio), and Ted (going to Savannah, and planning to wait in San Antonio for the Sunset to resume eastward service). I have the "special" which was chicken-fried steak, as usual. The train is stopped the whole time.
This is the second major delay. The first was just west of Pomona, where a UP train coming out of the City of Industry track was blocking the main; in turn, it was blocked by another UP train with mechanical difficulties. That cost us about two hours. The current delay, according to Conductor Frank, is due to a UP freight in West Colton Yard that whose crew "died" while on the main. The relief crew was sent to the wrong train, and that error is taking a long time to straighten out.
I'm sure Conductor Frank hasn't told us everything. He mentioned in the lounge to a couple of other railfans that in Colton, you're likely to hear the "barnyard animals" on the radio. He added that morale and loyalty among Union Pacific employees is very low. "They kick them in the teeth every morning when they come in to work. So they do what they're told, and don't care if it makes a mess."
19:42 on our way into West Colton
19:50 Through West Colton. It was nice to move - while it lasted - but there are red signals at the Riverside Lead diamond.
19:53 Moving again - if only all the delays were this short.
20:10 creeping up San Timoteo Canyon at 10-15 MPH, possibly slow-ordered or following a freight.
20:22 accelerating to 40 MPH past El Casco Dam.
20:45 Following a freight along this stretch. We're crawling through Beaumont (California, of course) at 20-25 MPH.
7/9/2005
Morning
Slept through the night, about 11 PM to 6 AM. According to my rail-fan acquaintances, our operatng crew "died" in Yuma, and it took an hour for the relief crew to arrive and get the train going again.
We arrive in Tucson about 7:40 AM, 6 hours 20 minutes behind schedule, and leave after refueling at 8:19 AM PDT. We're gliding along at 30-40 MPH, though the speed signs, "70-60," presumably would permit twice that speed. I suppose we're stuck behind a freight again.
10:03 Tully signal, winding up Dragoon wash at a steady 40 MPH, which I'd guess is the speed limit. We're at about 4400 feet elevation and climbing.
Wilcox Playa |
10:27 Crossing Wilcox Playa at 79 MPH, with an opposing UP manifest in the hole for us. Wilcox Playa is several square miles of dry lake bed, almost perfectly flat, at the feet of Dos Cabezas (Two Heads) Mountain.
10:52 Waiting for two opposing freights at Bowie siding. And (by the way) changing crews.
11:22 and we're off, accelerating quickly to 79 MPH.
Afternoon
Dos Cabezas Mountain |
13:46 Continental divide crossed: altitude 4617 feet, speed 78.6 MPH. We're running on nearly level ground with sage and yucca growing out of powdery sand. Dust devils have been visible around us in several directions for the last hour or so. Though comfortable in the train, the temperature outside must be into the triple digits.
My spreadsheet has bad news about when we'll arrive in San Antonio |
I spend a good part of the day attempting to change my flight reservation from San Antonio to Tampa. It's obvious to everyone, even without my spreadsheet estimates, that the Sunset won't get to San Antonio in time for me to make a 6 AM flight. I use my cell phone to call Travelocity's traveller assistance center. Between lack of cell coverage in the deserts of the southwest, and plodding travel agents in Bombay, I have to make three calls and spend nearly an hour total on the phone. I'm delighted that the reservation change-fee is only $35, but learn later that airtime costs me about the same amount in addition.
12:51 (Mountain Dailight Time) Taking the siding at Gage for an opposing container freight.
12:55 on our way again. Forty MPH slow order for track work, including installation of electronically-operated switches ("moveable frog points"), which can be seen on the ground beside the track, complete with concrete ties attached, ready for quick installation. New signals, new track alongside - all the indications of UP's big double-tracking project.
Evening
El Paso's ASARCO smelter |
21:31 We've had a good run through New Mexico and into Texas. There has been little traffic since we left El Paso, presumably because it's routed along the more northerly route. Now we're snaking through Paisano Pass, between Marfa and Alpine, Texas, at a steady 25 MPH.
21:35 Descending the east slope past Good Tank Draw, we pass Toronto. Not a town, just a siding. Where to they get these names? Hmmm...we passed Quebec siding a few hours ago. Was the engineer who laid out this route Canadian, by any chance?
Texas sunset |
The younger members of the dining car crew seem jubilant tonight, laughing and joking with each other until late, knowing they won't have to get up to make breakfast in the morning. But the chef himself, an older man whose roomette is directly across from mine, takes his shoes off and reads his Bible before going early to sleep.
7/10/2005
We pull in to San Antonio at dawn, 6:15 this morning, seven hours and fifty minutes late. We kept getting later and later through Demming, New Mexico, where we were eight hours and five minutes late. After Demming, we started to make up a little time, but lost again somewhere between Alpine and Del Rio. We cut off the coach and sleeper for number 22, the Texas Eagle, and back the other cars onto the adjacent station track. So it's farewell to this sad little Sunset.
The station is apparently short-staffed, with one station agent and one baggage handler. Both are needed to deal with baggage from incoming and outgoing trains. The agent has put up a sign in the ticket window, "Will Reopen Soon," and is driving the baggage tractor when I catch up with her. I show her my ticket stub and ask when would be a good time to arrange for the refund of the cancelled portion. "Not today," she says. "When we finish dealing with these trains, we close at 8:15 and go home." Since I'll be flying out early tomorrow morning, I'll have to take care of it some other way. A sad Sunset, and a sad Amtrak indeed.