The Overland. Days 16 and 17/24
While always comfortable contemplating long distance rail journeys (providing I have a real bed for the night-time bits), I always feel slightly daunted at the thought of spending perhaps 48 hours on a train. Such misgivings soon evaporated when I saw my now familiar sleeping quarters for the journey from L A.to New Orleans. I have been there before, 51 years ago, travelling during the first month of Amtrak’s existence, from Champagne Urbana, Illinois. I think it was former penfriend, Jackie Chapla who gave me accommodation on the campus of the University of Illinois after I had travelled from Chicago on the Shaunee Limited. Both trains were, fully, in the magnificent brown and orange livery of the recently taken over Illinois Central Railroad. By that time, however, with Amtrak now in charge, resulting in the withdrawal of the overnight service back to Chicago, it became necessary to fly back to rejoin the party with whom I was travelling, The North American Rail Study Group.
I slept well last night, waking up in time for a 45 minute break at Tuscon, Arizona, giving ample time for a shower while the train was stationary. This part of Arizona is very dry, a bit “untidy” but once out in the open country, quite dramatic with cacti of all shapes and sizes and a backdrop of craggy mountainous scenery. We are still BST – 8 which means I have to think carefully before sending e-mails and WhatsApp messages back to the UK. Apologies to all those whose phones have “pinged” in the middle of the night; occasionally I do forget!
From what I gather, all the Amtrak trains I have travelled on are of the same consist, i.e. Locomotive(s), 1 Baggage Car, 1 Sleeper with both Roomettes and Bedrooms, 1 Dining Car, 1 Observation Car and 3 Coach Class vehicles. It appears to work well. One or two “frills” have been either introduced or reintroduced, e.g. a decent breakfast with plenty of choice at a table adorned with fresh flowers. Lunch is usually some kind of a burger, or something light. Dinner is laid up properly with fresh linen table cloths and a pretty good choice on the menu, which, so far, is identical on each train. Thus Amtrak provides a good albeit standardised service. The passenger vehicles are all Superliner double deck coaches, and on each train, I have been upstairs. Maybe there are no Bedrooms on the lower deck. I suspect that my last overnight train journey to Washington will be different; I seem to remember the Lakeshore Ltd being single deck, at least in Coach Class, and I believe this applies to trains to and from New York/east of Chicago.
Whereas America’s largest freight company, BNSF (Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway) operated the bulk of the freight workings between Chicago and Los Angeles, we are now on Union Pacific metals as we head east from L.A. The passing dry, arrid, and craggy landscape with endless plains and dramatic hills and mountains is as thrilling in its characteristic way as anywhere I have seen, except possibly for the Grand Canyon.
This entire journey has met, and in many cases, exceeded my expectations, with very few, if any disappointments. I wasn’t, however, at all pleased with the. l.A. taxi driver who charged me almost double what his company quoted for the ride from the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel back to Los Angeles Union Station. There was no point in prolonging the dispute, and I will Google an appropriate fare to see whether, in fact, I am mistaken. Certainly, I was delivered safely to my destination in very good time, and although an hour early, the train was ready for boarding. We had left five minutes late owing to some kind of issue with a member of the public which prevented an on-time departure. I got myself organised and after a brief exploration both as far as the Café on the lower deck of the Observation Car, and one final look outside, I changed into my nightgear and settled down for what turned out to be a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, we continue across Texas.
Many thanks for reading, and welcome to anybody who has just accessed this blog, some of whom I have enjoyed the pleasure of meeting along the way. David on board The Sunset Limited. 10.23, 1st July 2022.
David's Cruise 