Anyone done it?

Right now the Texas Eagle takes busses through part of Texas.

I haven't done this route, but did the Starlight Coast. We enjoyed the train travel and saw it has part of the vacation experience. If you are just wanting to get to your destination, it'll be frustrating.

We had a sleeping car for our 35 hour trip, absolutely worth it.

We did the california zephyr.. but we did it for the scenery.

Dallas to LA seems boring as hell as far as that goes. Not sure why else you'd want to sit/sleep on a train for 36 hours.. We had a family room, but it's still small, didn't sleep that well, and the bathroom leaves a lot to be desired.

It's also notoriously off schedule, so don't have anything planned at the end of it.
We arrived about 10 hours late. And they didn't have a second dinner planned, so they barely scraped by something for everyone.

All that being said, I'd do it again (another route), but only a scenic one. The starlight coast, crescent, empire, or the cascades all look worth the scenery.

I guess I'm in the minority but I think the scenery from TX to CA is pretty cool. You watch it go from prairie to plains to desert to the west coast. I also think the American southwest is beautiful. But because Amtrak has so few routes in this part of the country, I'm pretty sure you have to train down to San Antonio and then catch a train heading west which pretty much parallels I-10.

Idk, i'd probably do it if I had a few days to spare.

barbacoa taco said:

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I guess I'm in the minority but I think the scenery from TX to CA is pretty cool. You watch it go from prairie to plains to desert to the west coast. I also think the American southwest is beautiful. But because Amtrak has so few routes in this part of the country, I'm pretty sure you have to train down to San Antonio and then catch a train heading west which pretty much parallels I-10.

Idk, i'd probably do it if I had a few days to spare.

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This route is dark from about tuscon to destination though.. so you get to see west texas and that's about it. Never along a river that I can tell.

I love the southwest too, we've done arches/moab, zion, canyonlands, lake powell, hoover dam, 4 corners, monument valley.. all in the last 2 years. But this particular route is really far south, and seems like a boring trip for scenery considering when you have daylight.


And yes, the texas eagle ends in S.A. and you have to switch to sunset limited to continue west. I'm not sure how that works, but you're in S.A. for like 5 hours from 10am to 2:45 am.. I'm guessing you have to switch trains, so that sounds terrible if so.