I am riding AMTRAK’s train number 2, the Sunset Limited from Tucson, Arizona to New Orleans. We are on time this evening, about to arrive in San Antonio.
It has been a fun day for me. I boarded the train at 2 a.m. last night at the beautifully restored old Spanish style station in downtown Tucson. I had a roomette in Superliner car number 230. I settled in to catch a few hours of sleep, not wanting to miss much of the daylight part of the trip. The train passed through Benson, Arizona during the night, an old stop for the Butterfield Stage. Lordsburg in Southwest New Mexico was the next station stop. The late train reached Deming after sunrise, after crossing the Continental divide.
We arrived in El Paso at mid-morning. The city of Juarez, Mexico is visible across the border. The next stop, Alpine, Texas, was some four hours away.
After departing El Paso this morning, we eased southeastward, paralleling the U.S./Mexico border. I was surprised at the farming activity, including countless fruit orchards as we moved through places like Socorro. Huge couds of dust were being lifted by farmers and their tractors as they plowed their fields.
After having lunch with a nice couple from Carlsbad, New Mexico, I headed back to my sleeping car to finish the afternoon weather forecast. We were parked on a siding and as I looked out a window, there was the westbound Sunset Limited, train number one roaring west.
Eventually you move onto the high plains of Texas. The bleak countrywide of West Texas is sublimely beautiful with scenes you don’t see anywhere else in the United States.
The next station stop was Alpine.
Alpine is the gateway to Big Bend National Park and the county seat of Brewster County, the largest in the Lone Star State. It is larger than the state of Connecticut.
Then it was on to Sanderson, Texas, a ranching country headquarters. Judge Roy Bean had a saloon here.
I took a short nap, awakening as we traveled through Paisano Pass, the highest point along the route at 5,074 feet above sea level.
The train passes the picturesque mountain ranges of the Davis Mountains, the Glass Mountains and Del Norte Mountains. On the way we passed the town of Langtry, where Judge Roy Bean dispensed his version of the “law west of the Pecos.†Here is a picture of the town of Langtry.
We crossed the Pecos High Bridge over the Pecos River, the highest railroad bridge in the U.S. at 321 feet. Check out this view…
You could see the terrain changing as we descended from the high praries of Texas back toward desert and then into the Rio Grande Valley. The train made its closest approach to Mexico here, coming within 30 feet of the border.
As we descended quickly, the beautiful Amistad Reservoir came into view. We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset over the water. This reservoir is a joint American and Mexican project. It has a six mile dam and is at the confluence of three rivers.
Here is the sunset…
We eased into the border town of Del Rio just before dark.
Some four hours later, we are rolling into San Antonio, one of my favorite places. We have been in Texas for fifteen hours, and will still be in Texas when we have breakfast.
The restored station is in sight of the city’s vital downtown.
Here is the HemisFair Tower of America and the Alamodome, both visible from the station…
We will be here for a couple of hours. Crews will break the train apart and send the Texas Eagle northwestward toward Chicago. By early morning, we will be in Houston, fresh after a great night’s sleep.
Here I am working on a blog post in my sleeping car compartment…
More pictures tomorrow.
