Most interesting / scenic direction for the Sunset Limited?

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user 6862

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Still planning next year's US journey and haven't even fixed a start point yet! We were wondering which direction on the Sunset Limited was the most interesting as seen from the car window, it will be mid to end of September.

We like both the obvious and non obvious. Mountains, flatlands, rolling hills and grasslands. We like the idea of the Bayous in Louisiana and the emptiness of Texas, also really like deserts too. The day to day stuff that we don't see at home grabs us, different house styles, main streets, autos, barns etc etc.

Thank you
 
At 0:33 into that video it says Lake Amistad, Near Del Rio, TX.

That is actually the tracks crossing the Pecos River 35 miles as the crow flies from Del Rio.

It will be 24.5 more miles before the train crosses Lake Amistad near Del Rio - 1:38 to 2:20 into the video.

LA to Tucson both ways is done at night if the train is on time.

Mid-September the US will be using Daylight Saving Time (DST).

Note: Arizona does not do DST.

So going westbound sunset in Tucson mid-September is about 6:30 pm local time.

Going eastbound sunrise is at about 6:08 am.
 
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Since the Sunset Ltd. was my first LD Train and I have many trips on it between NOL and LAX ( never did Amtrak's Sunset East to/From NOL-Florida.), I suggest the folkiwing;:

Ride #1 Westbound from NOL to LAX.

You'll cross the Mississippi on the Huey Long Bridge in daylight, have lunch as you roll through the swamps. Dinner in Texas ( it gets dark around Houston.)

Then after the stop and the switching with the Texas Eagle in San Antonio, ( the #421 Sleeper and Coach are added to the back)you'll have breakfast SD the sun comes up around Del Rio, see Lake Amistad ( Border with Mexico) as you head West, cross the Pecos Highbridge ( they announce it over the PA, Lounge Car is best place to see it ), then a stop in Alpine ( nice Mountain Town and Oasis in the West Texas Desert), Roll through the artist colony of Marfa, miles and miles of miles as you enjoy lunch rolling to El Paso for another stop ( Mexico just across the River).

If you like delicious homemade Green Chili Burritos the well known Burrito lady sells them @ the Station during the stop.

Then its on along the river and the infamous Fence seperating Mexico and the US( you can lirerally look into peoples houses in the Mexican side), in thru the desert of New Mexico ( mountains in the distance)and, if on time into Arizona and the Tucson stop after Dinner.

You'll do the Maricopa stop in the dark, head out across the desert for Yuma, unto California a long the Salton Sea ( if there's a moon you can see it to the left of the train), a quick stop in Palm Springs, then heading thru the various desert towns as you head into LAX for a 530 am arrival! Or earlier!!( sometimes 430am!!)
 
Expert advice from the distinguished Mr Dylan. I like the remote trackage west of Del Rio. See how much business takes place at what is said to be the least used Amtrak stop, Sanderson.
 
Sanderson is a railroad ghost town. Back in the day, train crews out of San Antonio reached their union time limit ( a mileage limit actually). So crew housing and perhaps some, ah, entertainments for the workers meant lots of spending and so lots of jobs.

And the town sat on the main highway Florida-L.A, Hwy 90. Then came the Interstate, 50 miles or so north of the old route. Motels, restaurants, gas stations were stranded and jobs disappeared.

Then after deregulation, the union contracts changed, and the trains didn't need Sanderson any more. Not so long after the railroad jobs disappeared, a downpour sent floodwaters down the Sanderson Canyon -- a dry arroyo that drains a considerable stretch of desert. The flood scoured a lot of low cost housing off the earth. West of town look for earthen embankments to hold back the next flood.

So the town is gradually reverting to desert. Today it's a flag stop and your train may not stop there.

Perhaps Sanderson's remaining claim to fame is that it's on the migratory flyway of the Monarch butterflies. About the first or second week of October, dazzling swarms of butterflies make their way thru town and across the tracks to the Rio Grande and eventually to their winter home in Mexico. Better see them while you can. It's said that intensive cropping of corn to make the subsidized ingredient of ethanol is destroying most of the Midwestern ecosystem where they used to feed. Cornfields instead of wildflowers. The Monarchs are starving to death so that farmers can get more money from the government. Ain't life grand?
 
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At 0:33 into that video it says Lake Amistad, Near Del Rio, TX.

That is actually the tracks crossing the Pecos River 35 miles as the crow flies from Del Rio.

It will be 24.5 more miles before the train crosses Lake Amistad near Del Rio - 1:38 to 2:20 into the video.

...
What a great map, with the Rio Bravo. Americans know that river, which starts in Colorado, passes thru New Mexico, and forms the international border until it reaches the sea as the Rio Grande. Rio Bravo, indeed. Another sign of the much-feared Mexican Reconquista? Maybe Donald Trump should get on this? LOL.

Rio Bravo is like the names on the Maps in Motion on Weather.com. It used to have no Brownsville, only Matamoros. No Del Rio, but Ciudad Acuna. No American name on the Border, only the names of their cross-bridge Mexican sister cities.

Weather.com cleaned up their act a bit. Perhaps in response to messages I sent, over and over again. So they added American names like San Diego, not just Tijuana.

But there's still no El Paso, only Juarez, the larger Mexican city across the bridges. That's 770,000 Americans in a city that's not even on the Weather.com map. LOL.
 
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At 0:33 into that video it says Lake Amistad, Near Del Rio, TX.

That is actually the tracks crossing the Pecos River 35 miles as the crow flies from Del Rio.

It will be 24.5 more miles before the train crosses Lake Amistad near Del Rio - 1:38 to 2:20 into the video.

...
What a great map, with the Rio Bravo. Americans know that river, which starts in Colorado, passes thru New Mexico, and forms the international border until it reaches the sea as the Rio Grande. Rio Bravo, indeed. Another sign of the much-feared Mexican Reconquista? Maybe Donald Trump should get on this? LOL.

Rio Bravo is like the names on the Maps in Motion on Weather.com. It used to have no Brownsville, only Matamoros. No Del Rio, but Ciudad Acuna. No American name on the Border, only the names of their cross-bridge Mexican sister cities.

Weather.com cleaned up their act a bit. Perhaps in response to messages I sent, over and over again. So they added American names like San Diego, not just Tijuana.

But there's still no El Paso, only Juarez, the larger Mexican city across the bridges. That's 770,000 Americans in a city that's not even on the Weather.com map. LOL.
I used to live in El Paso and last time I checked the population was well under 700K.

http://www.weather.com/weather/today/l/USTX0413:1:US
 
At 0:33 into that video it says Lake Amistad, Near Del Rio, TX.

That is actually the tracks crossing the Pecos River 35 miles as the crow flies from Del Rio.

It will be 24.5 more miles before the train crosses Lake Amistad near Del Rio - 1:38 to 2:20 into the video.

...
What a great map, with the Rio Bravo. Americans know that river, which starts in Colorado, passes thru New Mexico, and forms the international border until it reaches the sea as the Rio Grande. Rio Bravo, indeed. Another sign of the much-feared Mexican Reconquista? Maybe Donald Trump should get on this? LOL.

Rio Bravo is like the names on the Maps in Motion on Weather.com. ... there's still no El Paso, only Juarez, the larger Mexican city across the bridges. That's 770,000 Americans in a city that's not even on the Weather.com map. LOL.
I used to live in El Paso and last time I checked the population was well under 700K.

http://www.weather.com/weather/today/l/USTX0413:1:US
From Wikipedia:

As of July 1, 2014, the population estimate from the U.S. Census was 679,036, making it the 19th most populous city in the United States.[3] Its U.S. metropolitan area ... population of 836,698.[3] The El Paso MSA forms part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces CSA, with a population of 1,050,374.
El Paso grew by 15% from 2000 to 2010. When released, the July 2015 estimate will be even higher. Things have changed since you lived there. No problema.

Fort Bliss was chosen as the US Army's desert warfare training center. Is that a growth industry or what? :(

But yes, I was remembering that sign on the Trans Mountain Road as 770,000, where as it must read 670,000 for the city itself.
 
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Thanks to you all, some good nuggets of information and a few wonderfully obscure facts, perfect!

Latest idea is to reverse the general basis of the trip, we're getting nowhere but I guess a plan will appear magically, usually does.
 
Thanks to you all, some good nuggets of information and a few wonderfully obscure facts, perfect!

Latest idea is to reverse the general basis of the trip, we're getting nowhere but I guess a plan will appear magically, usually does.
You almost don't have to go now as you have the video and those wonderfully obscure facts! ;)
 
You've got a point there, we could make repairs to our house with the money we save... got me thinking
 
We've done the SL several times LAX to SAS (technically, we were on the TE to points beyond). I found either direction equally enjoyable...almost the same area of daylight either direction. One exception would be the Pecos High Bridge...westbound it is crossed about sunrise, eastbound in darkness.

I would like to have seen more of West Texas...my experience has been eastbound we had extended stops in Alpine at dusk and dark from there on; westbound darkness until about the high bridge.
 
I used to ride this train frequently, almost always from NOL to LAX. Main reason was the roomettes fare was often the cheapest of the long distance trains, and I love NOL anyway. (I did the trip LAX to Orlando when that connection was in place too).

To be honest, I think the scenery on this train is not so great, when compared to the mountains and canyons on some other routes.

Flat land to me is not so interesting, but if the Sunset Limited connects two or more places you want to see, get aboard!

Ed :cool:
 
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