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Austin to Seattle - A Train Travelogue
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Chandra Mouli
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Los Angeles - Austin
I boarded the "Sunset Limited" in L.A Union Station at 10.50 PM. Even though this train was supposed to be a 'superliner', the coach that I was assigned was not as good as the earlier ones -- the overhead baggage rack was very small and couldn't hold even a briefcase. The seats were quite comfortable though. I woke the next day morning to find myself in Phoenix, Arizona. The desert terrain of Arizona was totally different. It was cold and dry in Phoenix. When I was having my breakfast in the dining car, I came to know that this was a "special" trip for this train -- the "Sunset Limited" was being extended from New Orleans to Miami, making this the longest train route in this continent, and this trip was the first one to make all the way to Miami ! Actually, the train splits into two in San Antonio -- the "Sunset Limited" goes to New Orleans/Miami and the "Texas Eagle" to Chicago. It was nice to be one of the first person to travel in this long-distance train. We passed Tucson and Benson, AZ around noon and entered New Mexico. This region is so dry that the airline companies around the world find it most suitable to keep their planes here for a long time when they are not in operation. We could literally see hundreds and hundreds of planes, both military and commercial, parked right in the open desert (not in hangars !) When we passed Lordsburg in New Mexico, our train was very close to the White Sands National Monument and the Alamogordo, where the first atomic bomb was tested. The desert terrain of New Mexico has its own beauty and it has to be seen to be appreciated. We crossed the Rio Grande river before entering El Paso, Texas. On the other side of the train we could see white pillars planted all along signifying the border between US and Mexico. Just before we entered El Paso, we had a view of the city of Ciudad-Juarez, in Mexico. It was a stunning contrast to see the poverty on the other side of the border. (If the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), is going to change this, I hope it does so by improving the standard of living in Juarez and not by reducing El Paso to look like Juarez!)
From El Paso, the train followed the Rio Grande river for a while and then entered the Davis Mountain range. It was dark -- sitting in the lounge car we could see innumerable stars on this clear dark night. After we finished our dinner, we were about to return to our seats when they announced on the public address system that there was a huge fire spread over several miles outside the town of Alpine. (Alpine is very near Fort Davis (where UT-Austin has its McDonald Astronomical Observatory) and the Big Bend National Park) To prevent the smoke from entering into the train through the air-conditioning system, the train attendants locked up all the vestibule doors and requested people in the lounge car to stay there till we passed the fire. When we left Alpine, the driver obtained permission to cross the fire safely as it was not very close to the railroad tracks. It was a fascinating sight to see red flames spread over a several miles (about 25 miles) on a dark night. Some of them spewed huge flames into the sky and the interesting thing was that the fire was not contiguous -- it was sparsely spread over a wide area. (Later we came to know that this fire was started by lightning, and before it was put out after several days, it charred more than 12,000 acres) The next day morning I woke up in San Antonio. It was 10.00 AM -- about 45 mites late, when the train inched its way into the 'Solid-State' capital city, Austin.
Chandra Mouli
