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Part of the approach to San Antonio is on the old MP (IGN) track.  However, shortly after the train passes the location where the MP station stood, it begins a swing around to the Amtrak Station, which is in part of the old Southern Pacific Station.   The approach gives the impression that the train is turning left to get to the Amtrak Station.  And as far as I can determine, it is.  I believe it follows the track - you can see it on Google Maps - that runs past the San Antonio International Airport, then cuts under U.S. 281, I-10 and I-37 as it swings around to head into the Amtrak Station. I have ridden Number 21 into San Antonio at least 50 times.  I have never been quite certain where we are - it is not because I have spent too much time in the lounge car sipping on its offerings - since the train usually arrives into San Antonio after dark. From the time one can see the Hemisphere Dome until the trains gets around to the station can take as long as 40 minutes.  On several recent trips, people have used their cell phone to tell someone waiting for them at the station that they can see the Hemisphere Dome and should be arriving shortly. They are surprised at how long it takes. At this time of year the two sleepers (transition and regular) on Number 21 are located at the front of the train and the three coaches are on the back of the train.  The lounge car and dinning car are in between them. The cars are not turned in San Antonio. This is how I think it works. Sometime after Number 1 arrives from Houston, it makes a series of moves to pick-up the through coach from of the back of Number 21. Meanwhile, although not simultaneously, Number 21's locomotives pull the two sleepers from the train so as to able to place the through sleeper on the back of Number 1. The through sleeper is the second sleeper; the first is the transition sleeper. This is why your headboard/foot-board - figuratively speaking - is reversed. These procedures are reversed for Number 22/422.  Except the summer months, Number 21 and Number 22 has the two sleepers on the front of the train. Last year, during the summer months, for reasons that no one could tell me, the transition sleeper was on the front of the train and the through sleeper was on the back of the train.   When I am in Alpine, TX, which is frequently, I try to get by the station to see the Sunset Limited. Alpine is a crew change point. The usual configuration of the train, unless it has changed recently, is for the NO to LAX sleeper to be on the front of the train, just behind the baggage car, and the through sleeper (2130) from Chicago on the back of the train.
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