Travel by Train: A Ride from Tucson to New Orleans on Amtrak's Sunset Limited
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- This is part 1 of a trip across the country by train I took in July 2023. This segment is on the Sunset Limited from Tucson, AZ to New Orleans, LA in a sleeping car accommodation.
"Menu Shot" by Miles Taylor and Jackson Betz. Subscribe to Miles in Transit here: @MilesinTransit
Map images from Google Maps
Route map of the Sunset Limited:
By jkan997 - sharemap.org/pu... data sources:Open Street Map Data (ODbL) - www.openstreetm... - www.bts.gov/pub... Earth - www.naturaleart..., CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikime...
Thanx for the country side views-thru-the-window. This trip has been done to death by RUclipsrs but most only give a glimpse or token peeks of the scenery and repeat the usual on-board going ons. I'm one of those eyes-fixed-on-the-scenery guys, and the guy that always book the window seat when flying. Thanx for the video.
I didn't think a "train ride video" would be as entertaining as this video turned out to be, but since it started in Tucson (where I am) I decided to take a chance on it! It was so entertaining and informative that my wife and I may take a ride some time in the future to Texas and visit some of her relatives. Thanks for sharing you trip and here's hoping there is more to come.
Thank you so much for the kind words! Train travel is magical, as long as you have the time. Obviously, if time is of the essence, you'd take a plane. But if it's about quality of experience and comfort, rail is the way to go.
One day..... but the only sad part about the train..... they don't stop at Buc'ees. 😊😊😊
Wow, that was an amazing rendition of Menu Shot, thank you! And what a chill and comforting trip report, I watched from beginning to end!
Well narrated!
For the 1st time long distance travel by train, I highly recommend a DIFFERENT MORE SCENIC
route!! From EMERYVILLE, CA to CHICAGO on to NYC. The scenery is awesome.
I have to say I totally enjoyed your content.
This to me was the clearest video.
I travel via RUclips, and I love your narration.
Thank you, hope you do more traveling with Amtrak.
Blessings upon you!
💜🌹🫂
I truly enjoyed this video. And interesting facts and scenery mixed in. Thank you and happy new years.
Excellent commentary and editing. Great photography!
Thank you! It's my debut for rail trip reports, so I hope to learn as I go. I have a couple more in the works.
Taking the train is like doing a land cruise. The scenery is certainly worth it.
Indeed!
I remember riding the Sunset Limited in 1957 when I was five from Tucson to Los Angeles. It was operated by the Southern Pacific in those days. I recall how exciting it was; it was my first trip by train.
Excellent video. Thanks for all the details. Loved it.
Thank you! Check out my video on the Crescent, just uploaded 2 days ago.
Great music in this. Very relaxing😉
WOW! I am from Tucson, and it is incredible that there is an Amtrak trian and train station.
Yes, indeed there is. You can travel directly to Los Angeles, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Dallas/Ft Worth, St Louis, and Chicago from Tucson.
Unfortunately there are only 6 trains per week (3 in each direction).
Awesome. Thanks!
Very good commentary!! I am considering doing the Sunset next summer. After doing the Texas Eagle last summer, better known as Amtrak’s Red Headed Stepchild (that has no sightseer lounge, no traditional dining and doesn’t allow coach passengers to access the dining service) this would be a great step up!!👍
It's a terrible shame how the Sunset Limited is rendered today, too. It's a scenic, diverse, and historic route with nearly full trains every run, yet is still only three times per week.
@@carytodd7211 Amtrak has submitted a request to the FRA to study the potential of turning the Sunset Limited into a daily train and rerouting it farther north in Arizona to serve Phoenix. That would be awesome, but just one problem; where are they going to find the all the cars needed to make that happen? At least two additional trainsets would be needed to make the Sunset a daily route at a time when there aren’t enough Superliners to operate the current network.
@@johnsons74thsquadron74,
I think the new long distance cars will enter service before the daily service would resume anyway.
During my hitch in the Corps on 30 day leave, I took Amtrak from Los Angeles to San Antonio on coach. I think I napped 2 hours max. I couldn't get enough view of our country, even through the night. It's an excellent mode of travel.
The Sunset Limited is the oldest named train in the US commencing service for Southern Pacific in 1894. These trains are numbered train 1 (westbound) and train 2 (eastbound). The route from New Orleans to Los Angeles is 1,995 miles and the average time is about 46.5 hours.
When Elvis Presley had to come to New Orleans in 1958 from LA while filming King Creole, he rode the Sunset Limited. 😎
Thanks so much for this video. For years I've wanted to travel by train from Tucson to anywhere but had no idea how to go about it. Many thanks!
Thank you for watching! I have a few other train vlogs up as well. Just remember that the train only leaves Tucson 3 times each week: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday westbound (to Los Angeles), and Monday, Thursday, Saturday eastbound (to New Orleans or Chicago).
The ‘Amshack’ had me laughing out loud!
I call Cleveland's amtrak station an Amshack. Toledo has a better train station than cleveland Cleveland
Excellent video of your train trip from Tucson to New Orleans. We live in Sierra Vista and have visited the Tucson Amtrak train station several times. Someday, we may board the Sunset Limited. Thank you again for sharing your great train ride with us.
Gorgeous!!!
Thank you so much for sharing! Lovely filming and great information---and love being based from Tucson, where I am 🌵💛
We ride Amtrak mostly in a roomette. Amtrak is a fun way to travel. Actually, we'll be riding the Sunset Limited for the first time soon and it was nice to get a preview of some of the scenery. Your video is well done. We were wondering if you have done more videos like this. Liked how you covered historical information too. Good Job!
Thanks for the kind words! I normally make music videos, so the train videos are new to me. I have a trip on the Crescent about to be posted in the next day, and another on the Southwest Chief that will be within a week.
My next train trip will be in April in a bedroom, and I intend to make a vlog for that journey.
Great! We will watch for your videos. Bedrooms are nice but a LOT more expensive than roomettes. With every trip on Amtrak we try to refine our train living plans. We are seniors with some medical issues. With awareness and some tweaking we've got it pretty comfortable in the roomette for the two of us and we enjoy every minute. (In my opinion, the best part of the bedroom is having a private toilet and sink.) Oh, we're doing a loop on our upcoming trip including the Sunset Limited (sadly, that train no longer comes to Florida so this time we will include some flights) -- City of New Orleans train to Chicago, Southwest Chief train to LA and Sunset Limited train to New Orleans. I think you will agree that every trip on Amtrak is an adventure! Have a great time on your future train trips and stick pretty closely to your current vlog style because it's working!
@@peggycarilli4130, Thanks so much! I look forward to a lot of train journeys, myself, but like you mentioned, cost is always a factor. Also, fitting travel into the work and family schedule can be a challenge. When I traveled with my wife, the bedroom (or family bedroom) was my favorite, as I could still sit in a chair while my wife was in bed. That's not possible in a roomette...unless we book two roomettes, which we have done (at considerably more expense).
i liked your video and all the facts given on the route. In 2013 I rode The Sunset Limited from L.A. to San Antonio and then the Texas Eagle from San Antonio back home to St. Louis. It was my last of five weekend to weekend trips from St. Louis to ride all the AMTRAK rail out West to see The West in the early 2000s. This was the least scenic but like you I still liked the trip. I took the Southwest Chief from St. Louis after making a connection in Kansas City to travel to L.A. and saw an Anaheim Angels afternoon baseball game between connections with The Sunset Limited to head back East. I had a day layover in San Antonio and saw The Alamo and the River Walk. It is disappointing hearing the Observation Lounge car is gone from The Texas Eagle. I spent lots of time looking out the window in the Lounge car and talking to other riders. Very relaxing.
That train did go all the way to fla at one time an there starting to bring it back soon the mobile route will start up again
We here on the gulf coast keep waiting. How great it will be. 2025??? Maybe?
Thanks for the ride and great info. As a employee of the SP/UP railroad in Tucson for 42 years I was in the mechanical department and never went out on any trains. When very young Mom and I would take AMTRAK from Tucson to Little Rock Ark. a week before Dad who also worked for the SP started his vacation. Loved to sleep on a moving train. I love seeing the view from the train cause when I drive cross country I am focused on the car in front and staying between the lines. I remember as a kid I slept in the upper bed by the window and was awaken at every road crossing as the big red signal lights would wake me up I thought that was so much fun.
Thanks for sharing your memories! I, too, come from a railroad employee family (Pennsylvania Railroad), though I am merely a foamer :)
Thanks for the informative and relaxing video. I'm planning a plane trip soon and not looking forward to it. Would much prefer the train, but it arrives (according to the schedule) at 2am in a bad part of town at my destination. Maybe next time I'll just plan taking the train to New Orleans.
I totally agree. The views are awesome. One summer I did a 3 week round trip. Tucson to Chicago (through St. Louis) then back to Tucson going a different route Chicago through Denver down towards Vegas to LA. Then back to Tucson just south of Phoenix.
It's been a number of years since Amtrak has served Las Vegas, NV. There is some political movement afoot to restore service, but it seems to be in limbo with the Brightline service between San Bernardino County and Las Vegas.
Thankyou so much🫶👍
Excellent Presentation 💐
Thank you! I have uploaded a couple other "Travel by Train" videos since then.
Menu shot ! Haha!
Just subscribed . Great job.
Having lived in Tucson for 5 years, I have to say it is pretty, although brown. The mountains on either side make for nice sunsets and sunrises.
Love the new Todd vlog ❤❤❤❤
My mother’s funeral was in El Paso and from the church we could see Juarez . She lived in Juarez and I still have family in both Juarez and El Paso.
It's a beautiful area. I love visiting El Paso, though I've only been on the Chihuahuan side of the river twice (once in Ciudad Juarez, once in Ojinaga).
Good job partner
I’m glad you mention the vegan food options. Being vegan, it’s always a struggle to know if I’ll be able to eat something during a trip. Especially when I’m paying the same fare as everyone else with meals included. Not having vegan options is a deal breaker for me.
I was watered up for a delicious steak dinner!
Your commentary is great! Thank you!
The Little Colorado River runs from south to north in northeastern AZ also.
True! Though I was thinking like straight south-to-north.
Very nice Video and Pleases Keep Makeing them and please be safe out there
Having done this trip, in reverse, I have several suggestions:
1. Ride in the last car on the train if possible. The train horn will drive you nuts on the eastern part of this trip as it constantly crosses local roads.
2. There is nothing to see, east or west. In the west all you will see are miles and miles of desert scrub. In the east, nothing but trees just a few feet outside your train window...and the cluttered back yards of houses next to the tracks.
Cary, thanks for the tour.
j
The highway that follows the Sunset line in West Texas, and all the way to New Orleans (and Jacksonville before Hurricane Katrina), is US 90. Van Horn is the road's western terminus. US 80 formerly followed the current I-10 route to Tucson, but now ends in Dallas. Past a point east of Van Horn, it followed I-20.
Thank you Carey! Lots of cool info. I'm definitely planning this ride. I sure didn't know the I-10 bridge in Lake Charles was that rickety. I was a long haul trucker driving between the West Coast and Florida. I hope it is stronger than it looks. Thanks again for the insightful interesting ride on Amtrack. Happy trails!
I was surprised by that, myself, having driven over that bridge too (in a car). I have also taken the bypass around Lake Charles, though I believe that also features a similar bridge.
By the way, the music was very calming, and made the video even more enjoyable.
💜🌹🫂
The Texas Eagle will get a Sightseer Lounge and Traditional Dining in FY 25 and the Capitol Limited will go to single level cars in November 2024.and become a Chicago-Washington DC-Miami Train. Combined with the Silver Star.
I heard that a sightseer lounge would return to the Eagle, but I heard that, for the time being, flex meals would continue.
Sierra Blanca has the only adobe courthouse in the USA. Also, Willy Nelson was busted for pot at the US Border Patrol station you mentioned there.
very good video and my ideas it to save money to a buy a luxury sleeper train it can get u alot of view mr. todd (my idea)
Thank you 👍
A suggestion - are you able to tone down the background music !
Have done so on my recent videos.
I'm into this for 16 mins and generally enjoying it - but > the music is too loud. Just my view.
~
I'm surprised there was *anyone!* getting on/off at Lordsburg! That's one desolate spot. Back in '19, I drove I-10 east from Phoenix to Texas, and passing thru Lordsburg was like seeing a ghost town; I recalled huge piles of (RR) wheel trucks next to the tracks! Scrap? to be re-used? No idea. But odd.
I m glad they still have some of the old Amtrak trains I don t like the new looks of them
Taking this trip in few weeks
There is one other south to north flowing river in the United States. You did not mention.
There’s a red river that makes up the border between the Dakotas and Minnesota, that flows up towards Winnipeg and eventually into Hudson Bay
I'd have to go back and listen to what I said, but I meant to refer to south-to-north flowing rivers in the state of Arizona (which there are only three: the San Pedro River, the Santa Cruz River, and the Chinle Wash).
Amtrak has been trying to make the Sunset Limited a daily train for years..But Union Pacific is trying to "shake them down" .for the track rights fee.
wow very nice took this train when it went to orlando before katrina is a cool train but was houirs late
There is Greyhound serves more areas and small communities than Amtrak.
Did you mention the length of the bed in your room ?
It must have been about six and a half feet long. Far longer than my 5'8" height.
HOW MUCH DID YOUR TICKIT COST FROM TUCSON TO NEW ORLEANS?
Great film editing excellent video work.. However, the music you dub in is far too loud. Keep up the good work.
Murray (New Zealand)
Yes, I agree. I'll be sure to correct that for my next video.
What was your favorite meal on this train? How many hours of uninterrupted sleep did you get on this train?
I am a vegan, so I only eat those options. But I know others rave about the meals--especially the steak.
I slept for about 7 hours with one restroom break in the middle of the night. That's on the lower berth.
The upper berth is MUCH more firm, so unless you prefer a very firm mattress, it will be miserable for you.
@@carytodd7211so very happy you show the vegan options. I’m vegan too and I always worry if I’ll find something to eat on long trips. Especially when I’m paying the same fare as everyone else that includes meals. Not having vegan options is a deal breaker for me!
This failed to answer the most important question: What's the bar like?
The American "tipping" concept is so annoying.
I agree.
You. Amtrack. Exextive. Do. Not. Know. What. You. Are. Doing. If. Want. To. Make. More. Money. Put. A train. From. Dallas. Ft. Worth. To. New. Orleans
There are definitely many unserved and under-served cities in the USA as far as passenger trains go. Dallas to New Orleans, Dallas to San Antonio, Dallas to Houston, Houston to San Antonio. These would all be highly used passenger train corridors.
Thank you Cary, Awesome video. we can thank Biden for the closed business in these towns.
Thank you for the kind words. I'm not much for partisan ideology, though.
I apologize for a neg comment; the music application or the way you do the narration is annoying. I turned off the sound.
What a joke! A Chinese high speed train will do that in 6.5 hours! And you had a MEXICAN quesadilla for breakfast!! LMFAO!
The Sunset Limited is not advertised as a high-speed train. I'm not sure why you would expect it to be...
@@carytodd7211 The point is that The US is the only industrialized nation without high speed train system. Falling so far behind CHINA.
I had to stop tbe video, Music WAY too loud. It's a shame because I was very interested in your subject
I have already addressed that in the second trip report I have since posted.