All Aboard the Sunset Limited! Quiz

New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal is a major hub for the US railroad network in the south of the country. Services depart for - and arrive from - Los Angeles (Sunset Limited), New York City (Crescent) and Chicago (City of New Orleans). Three Sunset Limited trains per week make the journey west to California via Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Upon departure from New Orleans the service calls at two small stations: Schriever and New Iberia.

From 1993 and up until the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Sunset Limited extended eastward as far as Florida.

After approximately three and a half hours of leisurely rail travel, the Sunset Limited arrives at Lafayette, Louisiana. The railway station at Lafayette was significantly damaged in May 2001 due to a fire, though sources such as the informative website 'Great American Stations' indicate that "prior to the fire, the station was already dilapidated".

The station has since been renovated into a modern transport hub for the city whilst retaining nods to its historical roots dating back to the 1910s.

After a stop at the small station of Lake Charles, Louisiana, the Sunset Limited crosses its first state line and enters Texas. The first Texan station call is at Beaumont before the train subsequently stops at Houston (approximately nine hours after the initial departure from New Orleans). For a city of its size, Houston's station has relatively low patronage; this perhaps reflects the lack of connectivity with other major Texan cities and long-distance railroads and certainly reflects the fact that long distance rail travel in the US is typically slow.

It is much more efficient to take other modes of travel out of Houston.

Houston to San Antonio by train takes approximately five hours and it is at San Antonio that an attaching move takes place that joins the Sunset Limited with the Texas Eagle (Chicago to San Antonio). The combined service continues westward, calling at stations in Del Rio, Sanderson and Alpine. Sanderson had the distinction of being the least-used Amtrak station in the entire United States in 2022.

Nearly thirty hours after departing New Orleans, the Sunset Limited reaches the border city of El Paso, Texas. El Paso Union Depot dates back to the 1900s and the splendid neoclassical station building was architected by the celebrated Daniel Burnham (Selfridges in London, Merchants Exchange in San Francisco and the Flatiron Building in New York).

The third state served by the Sunset Limited is New Mexico; the service calls at the small city of Deming and the yet smaller city of Lordsburg which is situated on the border with Arizona. Lordsburg is one of many examples of small unstaffed Amtrak stations across the US that effectively consist of a metal shelter and a bench.

These are often referred to as "amshacks" ("Amtrak" and "shack") though the term more accurately applies to identikit stations that were built under the Amtrak Standard Stations Program.

As Lordsburg fades into the distance, the Sunset Limited crosses into Arizona prepared to serve the flag stop (request stop) of Benson before arriving in Tucson. A short distance from the station at Tucson is a statue of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday that depicts both men carrying weapons in order to, as the story goes, seek revenge by killing Frank Stillwell, a suspect in the death of Morgan Earp.

Following on from Tucson is Maricopa station that serves the Phoenix metropolitan area in conjunction with Amtrak Thruway bus connections. As the journey continues in the westbound direction, the Sunset Limited reaches Yuma after a little over forty hours of travel from the origin station at New Orleans. Yuma, on the border with California, previously boasted a Spanish Revival style station building that was worthy of inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Sadly, the structure no longer exists due to damage sustained by fire in the mid-1990s.

Palm Springs is a relatively recent addition to the list of Amtrak stations; services commenced in the area in 1997 but it wasn't until 1999 that the modest yet distinct station building was completed. Due to Palm Springs being located within the Colorado Desert, the station suffers closures due to the impacts of sandstorms.

Upon departure from Palm Springs, the Sunset Limited enters its final stretch of track and calls at the Californian stations of Ontario and Pomona (Metrolink Riverside Line connections available).

After nearly two days, the Sunset Limited arrives at its final station call - Los Angeles Union. The station buildings at Los Angeles Union are certainly eye-catching with a blended design language taken from multiple architectural styles including Art Deco and Mission Revival.

It would certainly be worth taking a moment to enjoy the station before considering embarking upon another mammoth train journey!