Train #1: Sunset Limited

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Dakota 400

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Given the very early morning arrival into Los Angeles, is there any food service available for Sleeping Car guests?

Will the Sleeping Car Attendant still have juice and coffee available, at least?

The timetable says that guests may remain in their Sleeping Car accommodations until 6:30 A. M. Is this accurate?
 
Given the very early morning arrival into Los Angeles, is there any food service available for Sleeping Car guests?

NO

The timetable says that guests may remain in their Sleeping Car accommodations until 6:30 A. M. Is this accurate?

That depends on what time the train gets in. An hour after the train arrives, it will be pulled out to the yards. By that time, the attendant must have the beds made up and be done with all their cleaning chores. Even assuing you can sleep through the arrival and everyone detraining, you must be off the train at that time. In practice, what that means is that if the train arrives at 4:30 (not unheard of), you'll get up at that time and mosey off the train, but in no case will you be allowed to stay more than an hour after the train arrives.
I was going to leave the question about juice and coffee to someone who has been on the SL more recently than I have (last December), but I can add:

  • There's plenty of coffee and other beverages in the new Metropolitan Lounge in LA Union Station. It's a comfortable place to wait for your next train, or to wait for daylight so you can head out.
  • If breakfast is what you need, try Philippe's, just a couple of blocks north from Union Station.
 
There is no meal service that last morning at all. Although it says you can stay on board, I have never seen anyone who has. When the SL arrived (usually early) at 4:30 am, everyone got off. With all the (passenger) movement on the train and the other movements on the other tracks and platforms, I doubt you could sleep. So why not get off the train and go to the Metropolitan Lounge or Phillipe's? :)
 
I normally do not like to get up early in the morning but as other members said with all the excitement and bustle of arrival I'm up and ready to go, belly roaring for a Double Dip across the street :)
 
No food but, your SCA will probably have the coffee pot fired up! Ours did on our last two arrivals on #1 (421 Sleeper).

We didn't pay attention as to what is open at that hour as LAUS is our home station and we just headed for the car!
 
The times I've been on that train the room attendant walked up and down the hall knocking on doors and reminding people to get up and out. Technically you're supposed to be able to stay on board but in practice it doesn't seem like it would be comfortable. As someone else mentioned there is a lounge for sleeper passengers that serves coffee as well as pastries so you could make a breakfast out of that. They open at 5 am.
 
Given the very early morning arrival into Los Angeles, is there any food service available for Sleeping Car guests?

NO

The timetable says that guests may remain in their Sleeping Car accommodations until 6:30 A. M. Is this accurate?

That depends on what time the train gets in. An hour after the train arrives, it will be pulled out to the yards. By that time, the attendant must have the beds made up and be done with all their cleaning chores. Even assuing you can sleep through the arrival and everyone detraining, you must be off the train at that time. In practice, what that means is that if the train arrives at 4:30 (not unheard of), you'll get up at that time and mosey off the train, but in no case will you be allowed to stay more than an hour after the train arrives.
I was going to leave the question about juice and coffee to someone who has been on the SL more recently than I have (last December), but I can add:

  • There's plenty of coffee and other beverages in the new Metropolitan Lounge in LA Union Station. It's a comfortable place to wait for your next train, or to wait for daylight so you can head out.
  • If breakfast is what you need, try Philippe's, just a couple of blocks north from Union Station.
Where do they pull the train out to? I remember in January when I was on train 2 heading to New Orleans, the train backed into the platform. Is there an area somewhere that all the LD trains go until their next trip at LAUS?
 
The Amtrak yards a couple miles south of Union Station. Used to be the ATSF yard near Redondo Junction. The roundhouse is gone but, the turntable is still there. BTW, that is where the ATSF 3751 steam locomotive is kept.
 
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The Amtrak yards a couple miles south of Union Station.
Is this where they clean the sleepers and restock the cafe and the dining cars? When we arrived in NOLA, I saw that they were unloading the dining car from the platform.
Yes, all of the Amtrak train servicing (maintenance/repair) including the LD trains, Pacific Surfliner and locomotive work as well. Many private railcars are serviced (for a fee) there as well
 
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The yard actually extends north along the LA River from this location. ATSF 3751 may be seen right above "©2014 Google" near the bottom of the image.

34° 1.204' N 118° 13.519' W copy and paste these coordinates into Google Earth for the location of the image.

LA Union Station is located here: 34° 3.493' N 118° 13.922' W

Amtrak Yard.jpg
 
The yard actually extends north along the LA River from this location. ATSF 3751 may be seen right above "©2014 Google" near the bottom of the image.

34° 1.204' N 118° 13.519' W copy and paste these coordinates into Google Earth for the location of the image.

LA Union Station is located here: 34° 3.493' N 118° 13.922' W
Wow, thank you for the photo and details!

:hi:

I only knew what the attendant told me when I asked what happened on arrival in the early morning hours.
 
The yard actually extends north along the LA River from this location. ATSF 3751 may be seen right above "©2014 Google" near the bottom of the image.

34° 1.204' N 118° 13.519' W copy and paste these coordinates into Google Earth for the location of the image.

LA Union Station is located here: 34° 3.493' N 118° 13.922' W
WOW thanks for the info! Looks like they even have one of those turning things for turning around the engine.
 
Although it says you can stay on board, I have never seen anyone who has. When the SL arrived (usually early) at 4:30 am, everyone got off. With all the (passenger) movement on the train and the other movements on the other tracks and platforms, I doubt you could sleep. So why not get off the train and go to the Metropolitan Lounge or Phillipe's?
&
The times I've been on that train the room attendant walked up and down the hall knocking on doors and reminding people to get up and out. Technically you're supposed to be able to stay on board but in practice it doesn't seem like it would be comfortable. As someone else mentioned there is a lounge for sleeper passengers that serves coffee as well as pastries so you could make a breakfast out of that. They open at 5 am.
On my last trip into LA on the Sunset Limited I didnt even wake up until 6AM. The train was mostly empty but I had no problem spending the next half hour taking a shower and packing while parked in the station. From my perspective it worked exactly as advertised in the schedule for sleeper passengers. Being well acquainted with Amtraks service record and having read several posts to the contrary this was a very nice surprise. It certainly helped to have an in-compartment volume control. If youre in one of the refurbished cars where the audio is hard wired at maximum volume you may need to tape over speaker cover or disconnect the wires to prevent a rude awakening. LAs Metropolitan Lounge is easily the nicest ML in the whole network but thats not exactly saying much. The staff is friendly and the chairs are comfortable enough and the general décor is alright but the coffee tasted like warm brown water and the pastries would struggle to reach vending machine quality. Its the kind of place thats fine for an hour but I wouldnt want to spend all morning there.
 
In the photo, in the center left is a long white building (from the top on down). Next to it (on the right) is a PPC! :)
When I came in tight I could see a Diner/CCC, Bag, Sightseer and what looks to be a Sleeper. I didn't see a PPC unless I wasn't looking in the right spot.
I don't see a PPC either, they're usually pretty easy to spot due to the unevent windows.

Here is a link to the yard in Google Maps:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0195718,-118.225818,401m/data=!3m1!1e3

peter

Edit: Oh now I see the PPC, way over on the far right. Coupled to a Surfliner Car.
 
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In the photo, in the center left is a long white building (from the top on down). Next to it (on the right) is a PPC! :)
When I came in tight I could see a Diner/CCC, Bag, Sightseer and what looks to be a Sleeper. I didn't see a PPC unless I wasn't looking in the right spot.
I don't see a PPC either, they're usually pretty easy to spot due to the unevent windows.

Here is a link to the yard in Google Maps:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0195718,-118.225818,401m/data=!3m1!1e3

peter

Edit: Oh now I see the PPC, way over on the far right. Coupled to a Surfliner Car.
I still cannot find it and even swept north and looked amongst the MHCs and other cars in the yard (did find another SSL). It makes sense there should be a PPC there-the 5th "protect" car.
 
In the photo, in the center left is a long white building (from the top on down). Next to it (on the right) is a PPC! :)
When I came in tight I could see a Diner/CCC, Bag, Sightseer and what looks to be a Sleeper. I didn't see a PPC unless I wasn't looking in the right spot.
I don't see a PPC either, they're usually pretty easy to spot due to the unevent windows.

Here is a link to the yard in Google Maps:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0195718,-118.225818,401m/data=!3m1!1e3

peter

Edit: Oh now I see the PPC, way over on the far right. Coupled to a Surfliner Car.
I still cannot find it and even swept north and looked amongst the MHCs and other cars in the yard (did find another SSL). It makes sense there should be a PPC there-the 5th "protect" car.
It's right here:



Interestingly the Google Maps/Earth imagery is different here at home (where I'm on Chrome) then when I was at work (on Firefox).

peter
 
I'll just add my experience copied from an earlier thread:

Back on topic for a bit... My wife and kids and I were in the family room on the SL arriving in LAX on 5/20. Our SCA (Yvonne) told us upon boarding that we were welcome to stay in the room until 6:30. I woke up about 2:00am since I've been sick and my sleep schedule was all whacked out, and just read while waiting to arrive.

We arrived at LAX at about 4:40, and I remember hearing an announcement from the conductor at that time. However, I don't know if it would have been in our room because the speaker in our room was turned off. The speaker in the hall would not have been remotely loud enough to wake me up, but I tend to sleep like the dead. For the next hour or so, I only heard vague rustling, never anything super loud. I can say that neither the conductor announcement nor any other noise was enough to wake up my wife or kids.

At 6:00 I woke up my family to start gathering our things to go. At 6:15 there was an announcement that sleeper passengers would need to be off the train by 6:30, and that the train was going to the yard shortly thereafter and it would be a long unreimbursed taxi ride back to LAX if you didn't get off on time. At about 6:25, we got off, and from what I could see, we may have been the last ones off of that car.

My experience may be atypical, but i would have had no problem sleeping until 6:30 had I not already been awake for other reasons. It reinforced everything I hoped about the new schedule. It was better than my last two trips. My most recent trip to LAX was overnight in coach, where we arrived about 5:00 and did get booted pretty quick. The one before that was sleeper, but on the old schedule, so I was getting up at 5:00 to get the "free" breakfast that I paid for before they shut the dining car down. So, with the new schedule, I'm getting dinner instead of breakfast, and I'm still able to sleep in longer than I would have under the old schedule.
 
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