Passenger Trains > Closing a gap in my map

I expect many of us keep a mental map of the Amtrak routes we've ridden, and can quickly rattle off the gaps - segments yet to be traveled. For almost thirty years, an unclosed gap for me has been the Sunset route west of Phoenix (which is of course now no longer even an Amtrak-served city). Despite visiting Arizona on business several times a year, my busy schedule and the Sunset's leisurely one have kept me from closing that gap until this week. A need to be in the Phoenix area Tuesday and the Bay Area Thursday fit well with #1's days of operation to allow a Tucson - San Jose journey. With growing uncertainty (at least in my mind) about the Sunset's long term prospects I decided to go for it, and am very glad I did!

On this trip Amtrak gets an "A" from me for timekeeping and crew performance. UP's billion dollar railroad has gone from a hostile to friendly environment for the Sunset. I arrived at the Tucson station fifteen minutes before the scheduled arrival time to find the train already there, and it stayed on the money all the way to LA. Not withstanding recent discussion here about passengers being forced off early-arriving trains in the wee hours, this crew stuck to the promise in the timetable and didn't begin waking customers until 6am despite having arrived at 4:35. The Metropolitan Lounge is a welcoming place to park oneself and belongings while awaiting connections, and LAUS has never looked cleaner and more lively. There are several shops with healthy food choices for breakfast, and the rapidly redeveloping area around the station provides an opportunity to get some exercise between trains.

The Starlight was equally pleasurable - crew top notch, equipment functioning well and the Coast Line scenery as always is both varied and spectacular. A little slow running between Paso Robles and Salinas put us about ten minutes late into San Jose, but that was hardly a blemish on a most enjoyable trip. Meals were enjoyable as well, in part because the waitress quietly warned me off the "healthy choice" beef round dinner in favor of the roast chicken.

One tip for westbound Sunset riders - if your train is early into Tucson and you're tiring of the Amtrak dining car menu, have dinner at Maynard's Kitchen in the station. It's a very atmospheric place serving locally sourced modern American cuisine, and the scheduled hour long stop allows plenty of time for a meal. Nothing against Amtrak food, but I was happy I chose that option before boarding.

Here are a few iPhone pictures:


1) The Sunset at Tucson

2) Same train post arrival in LA - about 6:20am

3) A Gold Line light rail train passes over the Garden tracks, home to several PVs.

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Are those new steps going to be on all Amtrak trains? Another way to waste money, but they look nice and probably much safer.

I think the steps are only at Tucson, as this is one of the freight main lines and this is a test to see how they work. Delays getting off the train,as the attendant must go bring step to train.

I feel they are a safety issue and hope they can come up with something else. Remember this is UP land!

The Sunset is currently one of the few Amtrak LDTs that one can reasonably recommend to others, especially people who are not train buffs. Hopefully, things will improve elsewhere. I did receive a comment from the wife of a friend who felt that the LAX-NOL trip was a bit long, even though the service operated on time. Takes an hour or more to get through Houston.

Sunset Route has nice, smooth track. Great railroad.

I've done this twice, LA to SAS (actually the 422/421 sleeper to Temple, TX) and enjoyed the round trip both times. Nice crew and decent time keeping.

Next time you're in Tucson, check out the EP&SW station. It used to be a Mexican restaurant, but I don't know if that's still the case.

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/the-other-station/Content?oid=1872213

http://home.earthlink.net/~pmcclosky/epsw.louvanwinkle.html