Southern
Pacific
Sunset Route
New York - Washington, D.C. - Atlanta - New Orleans -
Houston - El Paso - Los Angeles
NOTE:
Times shown for Arizona are one hour earlier than official time
observed April - Oct (DST)
NOTE: "Sunset" operates tri-weekly (from
Los Angeles on Tuesdays,
Fridays, Sundays; and from New Orleans on Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays).
Trains 1-2—Streamliner Sunset
Sleeping
Car—Through Sleeper with overnight occupancy at New Orleans
New
York—Washington, DC—New Orleans—Los Angeles (Roomettes, Bedrooms) (Via
Penn Cent.—Southern—SP)
Eastbound
on Sou. No. 2—PC No. 126
Westbound
on PC No. 173—Sou. No. 1
Chair
Cars—
New
Orleans—Los Angeles El Paso—Los Angeles
Reclining
leg rest seats. Advance reservations required (no charge).
Pillow
service available at nominal charge. Porter Service.
Dining
and Lounge Service—
New
Orleans—Los Angeles
Automatic
Buffet Car—
New
Orleans—Los Angeles
Baggage—
Interstate
checked baggage service to or from Los Angeles (Alhambra, Pomona,
Colton and Indio via truck—subject to delay), Yuma, Phoenix, Tucson, El
Paso, San Antonio, Houston, Lake Charles and New Orleans.
Intrastate service in Texas; also in
California to or from Alhambra, Pomona, Colton and Indio via
truck—subject to delay.
No pets or remains handled, except will
handle remains intrastate in Texas.
FOOTNOTES COMMON TO ALL SCHEDULES
We
suggest baggage be checked 24 hours in advance of the
passenger's departure where service is available.
AUTO
RENTAL
SERVICE—At most cities served by S.P., an auto rental
service will be found available. Some stations have direct-line free
phones to a rental agency. At other stations a pay-call will have to be
made for auto rental. Ask agents for directions.
Children—Under
12 years of age when accompanied by parent or guardian one-half
fare; except one child under 5 will be carried free with each parent or
guardian
over 17 years of age; 12 years of age and older, full fare.
SPECIAL
NOTICE—The schedules and information shown herein are subject to
change without notice. Every reasonable effort is made to insure
accuracy in these time-tables and to maintain schedules shown. However,
no responsibility is assumed for possible errors or for inconvenience
or damage resulting from delayed trains or failure to make connections,
such matters generally being due to conditions beyond our control.
A Redemption, of Sorts
On May 24 of 1968, Southern Pacific subnitted an application to the Interstate Commerce Commission for permission to discontinue the Sunset in one month. However, the ICC noted in so many words that SP had done everything possible to deliberately discourage passenger traffic on the train short of issuing shotguns to its passenger agents. They ordered SP to continue operating the train and to restore sleeping accommodations and on-train food service. SP shot back that the ICC did not have the legal authority to mandate levels of service. Deadlock. Neither party would give an inch. However, the ICC continued issuing stays of execution for the train, forcing SP to continue to operate it. Meanwhile, passengers suffered.
After more than a year of tussling over the issue back-and-forth, the Espee finally offered a compromise. They pledged to restore sleeping accommodations and real food service to the Sunset, in exchange for reducing its frequency of operation from daily to three days a week each way. Weary of the ongoing litigation, the ICC finally agreed.
Southern Pacific was as good as its word. The old sleeping cars were pulled out of storage and cleaned up, and the Pride of Texas cars were rebuilt from hamburger-grills back to their original coffee-shop/lounge configurations. Thus re-equipped, the "new" Sunset began operating on its tri-weekly schedule on October 1, 1970. It has continued to operate on those same three days a week on into the Amtrak era and even up to the present day (February, 2011).