Greetings from Los Angeles! I apologize for not getting more posts in this entire trip. I was staying in the most social hostels I have ever stayed in, in both Phoenix and San Diego and every time I got my computer out in an attempt to right a blog post I would get distracted in conversation with both International travelers as well as other Americans staying in the hostels on Spring Break. I had a great time while spending my days photographing the stations of both locations for my website. In this post I’ll begin with the rest of time in Phoenix up to my short trip on the Sunset Limited.
Friday March 18, 2011 – Almost too hot to walk
After my last post I dropped my stuff off at the Youth Hostel I was staying in and spent the afternoon taking my photo essay of the Phoenix Metro Light Rail. First I road north to all the stations north of downtown walking the distance between some of them, although the heat was really getting to me, and later I was told the weather was just mild. Then I road out to Tempe as the day was getting cooler and had a long slightly more manageable walk through downtown Tempe before going back to the youth hostel and finally checking in. My intent for the evening was having a nice time going out to dinner before getting some work done on this website. That did not happen as soon as I sat down in the common room to type I started chatting with two (seeming a bit too old to be staying in a youth hostel) guys who were there, one his 15 year to attend Spring training and the second in down but could not find a hotel room because they were all full with Spring Training attendees (March is peak season in Maricopa County). Eventually at 9:00 I managed to wonder out for a bite to eat, finding a strip of art galleries that were open and eating street food. Finding it amazing how much more Phoenix wakes up at night.
Saturday March 19, 2011 – Greyhound not telling anyone they were running an hour earlier due to daylight savings
I awoke quite early at immediately left the hostel at 7:30 for a nice relatively cool walk through downtown Phoenix to photograph the light rail stations there that I hadn’t the day before. I returned to the Youth Hostel around 9:15, packed up, had a bagel that had been left out as part of there continental breakfast, and chatted with a man in Phoenix on business the following week who had arrived early to see the city and couldn’t find a place to stay (upon arrival) for less than $400 dollars. He was planning to move into a hotel once he was officially there on business. I then grabbed my luggage, and made my way out to the end of the light rail line in Mesa stopping at the Light Rail stations (this time not walking between them) that I had missed the day before. Service headways were just a little bit worse than the day before with trains every 15 minutes instead of 12, so railfanning on Saturday was not a big deal.
I eventually got out to mesa an hour early for my bus, the Rapid Route that only runs once an hour on weekends down to the greyhound station in Mesa where I had scored a dollar ticket online on Crucero USA down to Tucson, I got to the station as a bus was pulling out around 2:00 and the ticket agent strangely looked at my ticket. Saying the bus was actually at 2:45, when the bus arrived I was told it was going to Phoenix actually and that I should take the bus at 5:45 that afternoon instead because they had changed all the times to an hour earlier because of Arizona not observing daylight savings time. They said they had no way of reaching passengers with e-tickets. I got really annoyed saying that Greyhound knew my e-mail address and phone number and could have e-mailed or called me (Amtrak does), when schedules I change. I was then stuck to wonder a strip mall for an hour that did not have any cafes to sit and use the internet in. I ended up brosing and buying some magazines at a really interesting model train store and loading up on some supplies at a 99-cent store. Then around 5:00 wondered back to the station with its few seats to continue waiting. At 6:00 my bus finally pulled in. It was Crucero USA, an actually comfortable bus, I had to snag an asile seat towards the front doubling up but it had tons of legroom. The only annoyance was the audio from the movie playing that the entire bus could hear (it was relatively soft) and the fact the reading lights were a bit dim.
It was an uneventful bus trip down I-10 to Phoenix where I arrived at 7:30 and started walking up the hill into downtown from the Greyhound Station that is on the edge of town near the freeway. I went straight to the Amtrak Station and checked in, getting my ticket and leaving my luggage at the ticket counter for a little walk and quest to find the Old Pueblo Trolley. I saw the tracks through downtown but could not find evidence of a stop or train, I followed the trolley tracks beneath the main train tracks (right at the train station) and found some cones in the middle of the street where the trolley tracks were alongside a short branch up to the trolley barn which I photographed, and notice a streetcar was out and about. I started walking the street and soon enough the car pulled in and I hopped on paying the $3 fare for a day pass which the conductor left unpunched and then handed me some more day passes for future rides (that I will give to a friend from Tucson), how strange. I had a fairly uneventful trip on the short trolley route riding on their Japanese streetcar to and from the University of Arizona. I chatted with the operators who told me the reason the trains did not run all the way into downtown is that the Japanese car is not certified to run down there, due to the street grades on the underpass beneath the main railroad line through town. After the ride I did not have a whole lot of time and bought some street food of a quesadilla from a gulf stream trailer serving as a food shack. I took some night photos of the Tucson Depot before walking to a pizza parlor I noticed in town and picking up a few slices for the train because I was still hungry. At that point I walked back to the station and noticed the Sunset had arrived it was about 9:30 about an hour early.
The train was already boarding so I grabbed my luggage and made my way towards the gate in the fence to the platform (there is grassy evidence of many more platforms and even the former pedestrian subway to the platforms, although that is unused). I gave my conductor my ticket and joined the line for the coach attendant for a seat assignment. I got up to her and she was the most surly and rude I’ve ever dealt with shrugging off my request for a window seat (I just have the numbers. B.S. all evens are aisles and odds are windows). The train was not all that full but I was told to sit with the man behind me, and given an aisle seat. He did not care so I took the window but went straight to the lounge car to eat my pizza. While there a couple offered me some wine and we chatted into the night as the Sunset left almost all the way to Maricopa. When we got to Maricopa the train stopped about four times to let everyone out. The train was basically on time. The stop has a short platform and is not designed to be high volume, a real problem. While pulling into the station I went downstairs and found that out of the three Superliner Coaches two’s restrooms were fully out of service. The only open ones in the last coach that came from the Texas Eagle. At this point I also ran into people trying to get off and noticed that my awful coach attendant was fast asleep. It told the nice attendant on the Eagle Coach about it and saw him shaking her. We eventually left Maricopa with fewer passengers than we arrived with but the conductor reserved off a few rows of seats specifically for Palm Springs passengers, a stop at almost 5 in the morning. As soon as the train and gotten a good distance away from Maricopa I grabbed my blanket and decided to sleep across two of the empty seats. Waiting to be woken up. I was not and slept quite well fully through the Yuma Stop awaking to the announcement of the first and only call for breakfast and stop in Palm Springs shortly before 5am. Palm Springs was a short fresh air stop so I detraine, and get a bit of a middle of the night photo essay which included me reaching up for the latch helping my coach attendant open a door from platform side that she could not reach. After leaving Igo to the lounge car and buy some donut holes for an early breakfast. I read a bit, see what I believe is the San Bernardino Metrolink Station off in the distance, were taking a UP line, a unique route into LA that is not on a Metrolink Line until after the Ontario Station. I eventually get out my computer and do a minute-by minute until we enter LA:
- 6:21 – Announcement is made for Ontario as were passing the parking lots that surround the airport. Its still darkness, were early.
- 6:26 – We arrive Ontario, a brief stop with just a little shelter to detrain passengers
- 6:28 – Moving again and my awful coach attended calls the conductor over the PA saying she has an Ontario passenger still standing waiting to get off.
- 6:32 – Pomona, the Metrolink Station, 5 minutes, I do not know of stations closer together on such a long distance Amtrak route except for Boston South and Boston Back Bay.
- 6:33 – Pass a giant and full of buses (it is Sunday morning)
- 6:36 – We arrive at Pomona as I see hints of dawn, blocking a grade crossing, we’ve pulled up in a way that only coaches can detrain although the platform is mighty long.
- 6:39 – We slowly leave Pomona, the lines wide with probably four tracks
Running fast I’m watching dawn one again (yesterday was the first time in four days where I was not, being up at dawn is generally a rarity for me, although I was up at 7am but Airizonas wiered no daylight savings thing ) - 6:51 – passing huge freight yards and intermodal yards as we pass through the sprawl around L.A. entering the city through its industrial back door
- 6:54 – Were on a brief concrete viaduct over city streets before we return to grade to continue into L.A.
- 6:56 – pass over one of L.A.’s Rivers and then another track joins us as we go through a residential area
- 6:58 – take us through El Monte’s Metrolink Station a stop I am planning to visit during my time in LA (after Tuesday or Wednesday, I have not decided yet)
- 7:00 – passing little houses typical LA style, followed by a mini-storage area
- 7:04 – pass a golf course with people already golfing
- 7:06 – going through an extremely boring concrete trench with nothing to see
- 7:08 – Slowing down before entering a new trench in another simple residential neighborhood.
- 7:12 – now were slowly passing a long double stack train, all are blocking a siding
- 7:16 – now a huge freight train I see LA’s skyline and realize were very close, crossing the slightly flowing Los Angeles River. And then Mission Tower.
- 7:18 – Shortly arriving Los Angeles Union Station. Double doors next to the subway sandwich shop for checked luggage. Do not know if there aware of that free advertising. It is the standard slow LA entry.
- 7:20 – The platform is visible. We have arrived.
I detrain and go to the ticket counter to exchange my ticket for an earlier Surfliner at 8:30 instead of 9:40. I then spend the layover exploring the station area, finally doing a full photo essay of it including gateway center. I also notice that the Southwest Chief has pulled in a bit after us.
Tomorrow I’ll get the Surfliner post up but here is something for now!