I am very excited about my cross country train trip, which begins in a few hours. I will be taking the Sunset Limited, AMTRAK train number 2, from Tucson very early on Saturday morning, with my eventual destination being New Orleans, where I will arrive Sunday afternoon.
The Sunset’s route will carry me through New Mexico, across the Lone Star State to Houston and across the bayous of southern Louisiana.
The Sunset Limited was the star of the Southern Pacific passenger train fleet from its introduction in 1893. The all-Pullman train made the daily trek from New Orleans to San Francisco via Los Angeles. As train travel in the U.S. gradually declined in the 60s, the once proud train was relegated to thrice-weekly service.
The Gulf Coast Limited began running between New Orleans and Mobile in 1984, but only lasted a little over six months. In 1989, The Gulf Breeze began operating from Birmingham to Mobile. That continued until 1995. In 1993, the Sunset became America’s true coast-to-coast long distance train, as service was extended to Jacksonville and Miami. This would last until Hurricane Katrina.
The Hurricane severely damaged the railroad infrastructure east of New Orleans, and the train has been truncated there since the storm. This has deprived the Mississippi Coast, Mobile and the Florida Panhandle of train service for over three years now. The bridges and tracks east of New Orleans have been repaired, so it is unclear why the service to Florida has not been restored.
I will post photographs and trip stories throughout the weekend of the interesting sights, people and experiences that come along with train travel.
