Dallas to Los Angeles

[flamastr]

I have a question for someone who has taken the Texas Eagle "straight" to Los Angeles, how long is the "switchover" in San Antonio and how long did the train go without power?

The Eagle (if on time, which it mostly is) arrives into SAS around 930-955PM. Train #421, which consists of a Coach and Sleepiong Car, is cut out, placed on the track next to the station to spend the night. It is hooked to ground power (dont know the technical term??)so you have lights/heat/bathrooms etc. The Sunset Ltd., #1, arrives between 2 and 3:00AM (it's early most of the time!), the cut out coach and sleepr are then switched on to #1, the train leaves at 5:40AM for LAX. I just rode this train in Coach in the opposite direction (#2/#422) so it's an easy layover. You can even get off the train and go to Denny's, River walk etc. which are a few blocks away!

Well alright! Thank you for always being thorough and so welcoming with all my questions . I truly appreciate it!

- Ben

 

[flamastr]

DAL - LAX let the fun begin!!!

 

[capltd29]

Don't worry about Ciudad Juarez. I was in El Paso a year and a half ago. You could see the giant mexican flag from the hotel room. I mean, my mom and I walked about 200 ft from the border (along with the other tourists) and I felt that El Paso was one of the more friendlier cities on that trip

 

[GG-1]

I have a question for someone who has taken the Texas Eagle "straight" to Los Angeles, how long is the "switchover" in San Antonio and how long did the train go without power?

The Eagle (if on time, which it mostly is) arrives into SAS around 930-955PM. Train #421, which consists of a Coach and Sleepiong Car, is cut out, placed on the track next to the station to spend the night. It is hooked to ground power (dont know the technical term??)so you have lights/heat/bathrooms etc. The Sunset Ltd., #1, arrives between 2 and 3:00AM (it's early most of the time!), the cut out coach and sleepr are then switched on to #1, the train leaves at 5:40AM for LAX. I just rode this train in Coach in the opposite direction (#2/#422) so it's an easy layover. You can even get off the train and go to Denny's, River walk etc. which are a few blocks away!

Aloha

When I took the TE about 2 years ago the SCA that boarded in SAS informed those of us standing by the door that she was going to lock the door until boarding just before departure. Se also only provided the juice or water "on request". Considering how good the gentleman from CHI had been she was terrible.

 

[the_traveler]

When I took the SL/TE from LAX (via SAS) to CHI, my SCA between LAX and SAS was great and cute! (Maybe that's why I didn't notice anything bad!

) I hope I get her again in October!

 

[flamastr]

Back from the trip! We had a great time... we stayed ahead of schedule untill Alpine, Tx, when the border patrol bordered the train and starting questioning a few people in coach and in the sleepers about naturalization stuff...weird..... Interesting how the staff on the train were keeping us informed of just about everything happening on the train up until this point. I told my wife that I thought that the conductor was about to let us know when he was going to head to the bathroom; thats how informed they were keeping us... While we were on a 30 minute stop in Alpine; it quickly became 90+ minutes, and the only thing heard was the conductor telling the staff one by one to come to the "IC".. We pulled out almost 2 hours down and it was on to the conductor talking about the scenery again... I guess Amtrak wanted to "protect" us from knowing anything that could rock our vacation...lol

The other surprise was our attendant . He was very nice and a very tenured employee; 38+ years. He stopped in with us to say hello and asked if we had ever rode on a train...etc... When we said "YES" and we love it.. and he saw that we knew how to convert the room for the night, that evening. I have to assume that he figured that was all he was there for.. For the rest of the trip we didn't hear or see anything out of him. He spoke to us when we were about an hour from LAX. asking us if we had a good time...thats was it..

The trip into Austin was great, quite a few people boarded and on to San Antonio..i was impressed that we stayed on time through every stop.. We pulled into San Antonio on time and decide that we would hit the racks and get some sleep. We woke up to getting , seriously, I do not make light of this statement... thrown around like a rag doll... stuff was shifting all over the place in our room... my wifes make-up was thrown off the ledge and onto the lower bunk. The rail yard was, of course, hooking us up to the Sunset Limited when it go into the railyard about midnight. We pulled out of San Antonio and the sleeper was the last car on the train and the dining car was behind the engines. I didn't mind it much, it was a long walk...lol and interesting...lol

I had to laugh when I heard one of the conductors talking to a lady on the lower level of our sleeper and apologizing to her about the train cars orientation. She was so loud we could hear her side of the conversation...lol She was "mortified" that as a "first class passenger" that amtrak would have the audacity to put her in a position to walk through the "steerage" of the train in order to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. They agreed on her having full service to her room by the attendant and not having to "expose" herself to the coach passengers.... so funny!

Speaking of Breakfast, lunch and dinner.. I have to say that the Sunset Limited was a better round of meals... neither trains had a bad meal by any means, but the Limited's were tastier.

The Pecos high bridge was an amazing site!

El Paso was another comic relief momement. We were pulling into the station and three guys, who were obviously at work in a scrap yard close to the yard, decided that everyone on the train needed to see their, how should I say this..... their family jewels...lol What a trip so far!!!! lol

Mexico and Arizona were peaceful... The train even got up to 88mph during the night. very impressed.

We woke up pulling through Yuma.. and on to California. We pulled into Union Station about 2 hours down... Great Trip, once again!

 

[jezzamagic]

Hi Guys,

Soooooooooooooo glad I stumbled across this forum!

Much help is needed plz. I am travelling from the uk next month to memphis,and after having almost 2 weeks in that area and the top of FL i'll be heading down to new orleans for a night.Then i'm trying to find a cheaper and quicker way to get from Louisianna to Houston,then maybe after a day or two heading off towards LA.I want to get from Houston to LA cheaply and quickly,would the train offer this,and be quicker than a car? It'd be nie to see a few sights along the way but if too expensive then I may look at an internal flight....I hate flying really so want to skip that option if possible.

How long would the train take from Houston to LA,also from Louisianna to Houston and costs etc with food onboard. If I drive it'll only be 35-7 hrs obviously i'd need to stop to sleep so hoping the train would take a few nights away. I got too many q's so i'll leave it there for now and look fwds to any replies.

Many thanks and kindest regards,

Jezza

 

[Bob Dylan]

Hi Guys,

Soooooooooooooo glad I stumbled across this forum!

Much help is needed plz. I am travelling from the uk next month to memphis,and after having almost 2 weeks in that area and the top of FL i'll be heading down to new orleans for a night.Then i'm trying to find a cheaper and quicker way to get from Louisianna to Houston,then maybe after a day or two heading off towards LA.I want to get from Houston to LA cheaply and quickly,would the train offer this,and be quicker than a car? It'd be nie to see a few sights along the way but if too expensive then I may look at an internal flight....I hate flying really so want to skip that option if possible.

How long would the train take from Houston to LA,also from Louisianna to Houston and costs etc with food onboard. If I drive it'll only be 35-7 hrs obviously i'd need to stop to sleep so hoping the train would take a few nights away. I got too many q's so i'll leave it there for now and look fwds to any replies.

Many thanks and kindest regards,

Jezza

The Train you are asking about is called the Sunset Ltd.(#1) It only runs Three Days a week between New Orleans (NOL) and Los Angeles)LAX), Mon./Wed/Fri. It goes through Houston (HOS), San Antonio (SAS) where cars from the Texas Eagle (#21/#421) are hooked to the back of the Train, it spends the night from like 2AM-6AM in the SAS station, then leaves for LAx where it arrives the next Morning around 830AM. It gets to HOS about 9:00PM, spends about an hour there, then leaves for the West about 10PM.

Checkin AmSnag (which one of our members created!) for the entire Month of June shows the following Prices:

NOL-LAX (DEPENDING ON WHICH DAY/PRICES VARY ON DEMAND):Noon-830AM (2nd Day)

Coach $138-$173-$217 US$

Roomette: (includes all meals for one or two persons)

Only available on Two Days: $536 (OLD OUT All Other Days!!)

There are 6 meals served in the diner between NOL and LAX, Lunch/Dinner/Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner and an early Breakfast into LAX! Prices vary from $10-$25 plus any alcohol consumed. per person. The cafe car sells snacks/sandwiches/pizza/soft drinks/beer/wine etc. @ airline prices!

NOL-HOS (Noon-9PM)

Coach $49-$67-$97

HOS-LAX

Coach $213-$266

Roomette: $474 (SOLD OUT other Days!)

This Train currently is only running between LAX and SAS due to Flooding in Louisiana,it is expected to be this way for at least a couple of weeks as the Water is just starting to come down the Mississippi River into Louisiana and as much as 25 feet of water will Flood the area where this Train runs between NOL and HOS. Also with it being Summer all the Long Distance Trains are very crowded/if not SOLD OUT, you will experience the same thing on the other Long Distance Routes between the East Coast and Chicago and Chicago and the West Coast.

Wish I could be more Positive but you might want to consider looking into a rail pass which for $389 per person gives you 15 days/8 segments of Travel in Coach/ 30 days/12 segments in Coach/45 days/18 segments in Coach, Space available! Id suggest calling an Amtrak Agent after you look up info on line, they can help with booking info! Also plenty of knowledgable folks on this Forum wilkl be glad to help you! Good Luck and Welcome!

 

[jezzamagic]

Hi Jim,

Many thanks for that.I also looked at flights and most have a connection so being a bad flier that looks like the non option lol.So,rent a car or catch the train.Hmmmmmm,i'll make my mind up in about a weeks time once i know if any of my buddies are joining me.Are the prices like flight prices that get higher the closer to travel date? The train looks like good option, esp if they have showers etc onboard.It could save me a few hundrd dollars.

Many thanks

Jezza