[VIDEO] Simply Railway takes the 46 hour journey which used to go from as far east as Orlando, Florida all the way to Los Angeles. On this day he starts in New Orleans Union Station which was refurbished after hurricane Katrina in 2005. See the longer portion of the Sunset Limited was cut to originating in New Orleans due to Katrina in 2005.
So anyway he starts off in coach class then upgrades to sleeper when he gets to Houston, TX which is a major stop along the way. He did it this way because he found it was cheaper when he was booking his tickets. Since this is more than an overnight trip it's better to do ride in a sleeper than in a coach seat.
He makes another stop in San Antonio, Texas where the train connects with a section of the Texas Eagle. That train terminates in San Antonio however if you're originating from Chicago that is yet another connection to Los Angeles by train as opposed to taking the Southwest Chief.
I didn't know about the Prada Marfa installation in Texas. And then we see the action near the U.S./Mexico border as the train stops in El Paso, Texas. They we see some good shots of southern New Mexico and Arizona. Then arriving in L.A. in the wee hours of the morning.
The Sunset Limited was created by the Southern Pacific Railway in 1894 and inherited by Amtrak in 1971. The train only runs three days a week leaving New Orleans on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday while leaving Los Angeles on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday.
The Texas Eagle departs from Chicago on a daily basis to San Antonio, however, a section of that train which are numbered 421 to L.A. and 422 to Chicago are attached to the Sunset Limited in San Antonio and heads towards L.A. Of course that section doesn't operate daily so if you plan to make that trip you might want to be sure about scheduling. Perhaps you might want to spend a day in San Antonio before heading towards Los Angeles.
BTW, the total duration from Chicago to L.A. on the Texas Eagle via the Sunset Limited trains 1 westbound to L.A. and 2 eastbound to Chicago is over 65 hours. A long journey indeed....oh and yet another thought noted in the above video delays are an issue on Sunset Limited, Union Pacific owns the trains and their trains get priority so that means Amtrak has delays. It's one of the worst as far as on-time performance...
Here are some related links
- YouTuuba took this train from Chicago to Los Angeles
- And you can catch the live arrivals and departure of this train in Tucson, Arizona via Virtual Railfan. Tucson is yet another major stop for the Sunset Limited.
