The Sunset Limited: Amtrak's OLDEST Route! | Houston to San Antonio with Amtrak in Coach

Hello and welcome to the great city of Houston, Texas. Today we are going to be taking a sunset ride to San Antonio on Amtrak’s Sunset Limited.
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- Train Information -
Train Number: Amtrak Sunset Limited #1
Train Consist: GE P42DCs 208 and 148, 6 Superliner Coaches, 1 Private Coach
Departure Time: 6:55pm
Scheduled Arrival Time: 12:05am
Journey Time: 5 hr 10 min
Top Speed: 80 mph
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Equipment:
Camera: iPhone 12 Pro Max
Gimbal: DJI OM5
Camera: GoPro Hero 9 Black
Camera: Sony AX-43
Mic: Rode Videomic Pro+
Tripod: Coman DF06 + Manfrotto 502 Head

[@MariaHernandez-jd2bi]

The train station in Houston, Texas is so sad. What a shame for such a large and rich city.

[@kim.in.nature.]

I have noticed many destinations end up arriving after midnight. It would be easier & safer to disembark in the daytime.

[@Nekomikuri]

The trains are coming from New Orleans and going to LA. The destinations are at midnight because they kinda have to be

[@weinito]

I took the Sunset Limited from LA and San Antonio and then the Texas Eagle from San Antonio to Austin and it was a great trip. This was the first overnight train I took and i hope to do more in the future.

[@johnsons74thsquadron74]

Unbelievable that the 4th largest city in the US only has a triweekly long distance train that’s unreliable! Houston is easily the most underserved when it comes to rail!

[@Shaken_AND_Stirred]

This is an excellent video. Even better narration. I have traveled out of that station four times. One time our train was supposed to leave Houston at around 8:00 PM, but it ended up not arriving until after 1:00 AM in the morning. It was rough. Fortunately, I worked for one of the super majors (I’m now retired) in downtown and we were able to go to the office and lay down on the couches for a few hours. Thanks for mentioning the old SP Central Station that Houston used to have. You are the first to recognize that station. Kind of reminds me of the old Shamrock Hilton and Vallian’s Pizza restaurant over on Holcomb Blvd. It’s odd that Houston not only had that wonderful station, but also that wonderful station that is now Minute Maid Park. So odd for Houston of all places to have had two grand rail stations. Really a great video! Thank you.

[@davidburrow5895]

Interestingly, compared to your experience, the Sunset Limited is one of the few Amtrak trains I've been on that consistently ran ahead of schedule. I rode from New Orleans to Los Angeles. We had long stops in Houston, El Paso, and Tucson because the train couldn't leave before the scheduled time. Then we got into L.A. about an hour ahead of time.

[@mirzaahmed6589]

It got into LA early because of schedule padding.

[@NickP16]

I rode the sunset Limited in November of 2021, from New Orleans all the way to Los Angeles. We were stuck outside of Houston for 3 hours because of a broken down Union Pacific freight train We ran late all the way through to the end, heck we didn't leave San Antonio until 6 a.m. the following morning Luckily, got to see Western Texas in the daylight when it's usually in the middle of the night, and when I got to Los Angeles I had just the perfect amount of time to hop in and Uber and head to my Los Angeles fully guided tour! I made it just in time Definitely a great run

[@buffalojoe78]

The wife and I took the Sunset Limited the opposite direction and onward, from San Antonio to New Orleans for our Honeymoon. We arrived at the station but the train was an hour late. Once we got moving though it was smooth trekking to Houston. You are correct about the backing up into the station. It was weird. However, we ran into a problem between Houston and Beaumont because some jackass decided to cross the tracks in his truck and ended up getting stuck on them. So they had to remove his vehicle, have a Union Pacific rep come out and make sure the track wasn’t damaged and only then were we allowed to get rolling. The viewing car was cool and it was nice seeing the pines and the bayou from the windows.

[@jessicachuang7912]

We took the Sunset Limit to New Orleans last year, it was amazing. The food and the view from the sightseeing cart are great, the sleeper car is comfortable and clean. We would love to plan another trip by train to San Antonio this year 😊

[@MariaHernandez-jd2bi]

The old train station was grand.

[@johnc.3791]

Great video! I'm just surprised how ghetto Houston is.

[@markdavid7013]

The Sunset Limited has the worst time keeping for Amtrak's long distance trains....The UP "Gods" are not kind to her (despite the law)

[@RealGaryGibson]

Good video! The dining car restrictions really suck! I used to enjoy that experience of dining there while the scenery rolled by.

[@LonestarTrips]

Me too. The dining car was one of the best parts of riding in coach. That and the swivel chairs in the observation cars.

[@johnpatterson4816]

The Grand Central Station in Houston was torn down in the late 50's .

[@johnpatterson4816]

I lived in Flatonia from 1974-96 and I'm very familiar with the Sunset Limited. Amtrak's supposed to be stopping there soon.

[@NicholasNormand]

Grand central station is now Minute Maid park home to the Astros

[@fxancisco_]

Awesome video

[@Reveller120]

The trip was 7 hours? I think this helped me decide whether to drive or take this Amtrak for this specific route.

[@davepov]

Very well done!

[@LonestarTrips]

Thank you!

[@htowncougstro]

Not sure what has changed, but I was just at POST Houston and observed the Sunset coming in from the East to the station a couple of days ago.

[@AbelG8781]

Nothing has changed. Sometimes TD Spring does it if there are situations at T26.

[@idxluaviation]

Ayo, I subbed at like 1K!

[@LonestarTrips]

Glad you’ve been around for so long! I really appreciate your support!

[@idxluaviation]

@@LonestarTrips Yw

[@weinito]

The sunset limited is my second favorite Amtrak route behind only the Southwest Chief. You missed all the scenic highlights west of San Antonio. If you have the chance, I recommend riding the full route and witnessing the incredible scenery.

[@AbelG8781]

This is a common practice by UP dispatchers to do this weird backing in to the station if Amtrak runs west on the Beaumont sub which is not necessarily "rare" but is certainly not the normal route west into Houston. This backing in practice is thanks to the way Tower 26 is setup. No direct connector from the West Belt sub to Main 2 UP Houston sub. Only other way is to send them down Settegast yard to T87 at Englewood back onto the Houston sub but that would be a HORRIBLE idea due to extreme freight train traffic at T87.

[@dwightmcqueen5771]

Great video

[@LonestarTrips]

Thanks!

[@samtrak1204]

Damn, the swivel chairs were removed from Sightseer lounge? I wonder who came up with that bright idea to further downgrade the Superliner passenger experience?

[@broyofroyo1207]

Yeah their needs to be some swivel chairs and some others

[@Dovietail]

I wonder when the wonderful Houston train station was torn down and where it used to be? Because you know it used to be there somewhere....ah. there it was!

[@johnburke1317]

Nice video

[@broyofroyo1207]

Yeah dude

[@MasonColemanWright1234]

I we’re taking Amtrak to Houston for my birthday this year but unfortunately not for my birthday this year I heard you had to take the train to NYC to avoid tolls on the interstate

[@chrisdobrowolski2783]

Now on selected trains on for Traditional dinning coach passengers will be able to buy dinning food from the dinning car and the prices are I think $25 for breakfast, $35 for lunch and $45 for dinner which includes 1 free alchoic drink, appetizer, an entree, 1 beverage, and 1 dessert.

[@mr.george5370]

I didn't understand what you said about the train coming from the West, backing up into the station because there is no connection?, can you explain this part

[@sabio2009]

I make that trip by car in 2 hrs 45 min. And I don’t need to go to either city’s downtown & Uber/Lyft my way around the suburbs.

[@LonestarTrips]

That’s great. Not everyone has a car, nor wishes to drive.

[@TCNix-xt7pt]

Sad video on the state of our passenger rail service. The host was upbeat about pitiful circumstances. Main failing was delays making schedule virtually meaningless. Freight used to yield to passenger service which meant the passenger trains kept schedules and could be counted on by travelers. Not so any more. Also trains can transport a human for a FRACTION of the hydrocarbon needed to fly them city to city.

[@richardhendrix7894]

Seven Hours wow travel at night to go about 225 miles no.. Maybe during the day

[@samtrak1204]

I'm trying to decide which Amtrak station is worst - Houston or Detroit? When I passed through Houston on the "Sunset" in 2017 both restrooms inside the cramped hut were out of order so passengers had to use outdoor toilets.

[@broyofroyo1207]

Huh

[@user-jj1uy5qg6n]

Question How many batteries do you travel with I have 5 batteries

[@LonestarTrips]

Depends which kind of batteries you're referring to. I travel with 5 batteries for my GoPro, plus 1 power pack for my phone, and if I'm bringing my AX-43, then 3 for that as well. I do my best to keep everything plugged in when power is available, but sometimes that's not an option, so having some backups is always nice.

[@user-jj1uy5qg6n]

How long has it been since Hurricane Katrina Amtra is in the planning stage of just getting rail service to just Mobil Boy I think that I would put my head in the sand But again do not depend upon Gov for any thing If they are going to budget cut it is you and me Medicare Deptment of Defence or Amtrak Our highways are over crowed So lets invert into some high speed rail so we can travel faster We built us a very good highway system But it is time to invest into rail maybe get some of these cars off of the interstate

[@kerrydinwiddie2080]

I have not riden it if did it would ne the amtrack texas egale in dallas texas

[@broyofroyo1207]

IDK why you stay up so late I would never stay up so late and can you please show your face😀 You said their is awesome content months ago and it still isn’t here, when is awesome content and will you got to NEW YORK CITY for 9/11 tomorrow

[@leereeder2293]

Houston you have a problem