Sunset on Time out of LA!

[Jack_S]

Yesterday (Friday Oct. 14) I took a little jaunt around the LA Basin via Metrolink. First from Fullerton to Orange on Train 600. Changed at Orange to Train 800 for San Berdoo via Santa Ana Canyon, Corona, and Riverside. In San Berdoo train 800 became #319 and went to LA Union Station thru Pomona and the San Gabriel Valley.

I left Fullerton at 8:37 AM and arrived in LA a little before 12:30 PM. All the trains left precisely as scheduled and arrived on time or slightly early.

With a couple of hours to kill before train 684 back to Fullerton at 2:50 PM, I had a sandwich in one of the Union Station eateries. (Next time I think I'll walk over to Chinatown for some Dim Sum.)Then I walked out to the head of Track 11A where the Sunset Ltd. was boarding passengers.

I watched the crew prepare to leave. The engine crew came along at about 2:10 PM. Two men and a woman.

Only one looked like a stereotypical trainman. He was about 6'2" and strongly built with gray hair in a little pony tail and a white beard neatly trimmed, wearing a Harley T-shirt and jeans.

The other guy was of medium height, a bit heavy around the waist, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and jeans. Looked like a tourist.

The woman was middle-aged, short and slight, with longish gray hair. She wore a red blouse and jeans. After passing her personal luggage up to one of the guys in the engine, she stood on the platform smoking.

At 2:20, 10 minutes before they were to leave I left my seat and walked up the platform about 100 yards ahead of the engines. They woman got on board about then, but the big guy was busy checking several things around the engines. He also walked back to where the conductors and car attendants were boarding the last passengers. He finally got on board about 2:25 PM.

And then the Sunset left precisely on time at 2:30 PM. The rear of the train was brought up by an old private car with PULLMAN on the side and an open observation platform on the rear.

Of course, I then heard some chatter on my scanner that may have indicated that, on its journey through SoCal UP-land, the Sunset was doomed to rapidly fall behind schedule by about two hours. Anyone know if that really did happen?

Train 684 left LAUS exactly on time and I was in Fullerton by 3:25 PM. I went home and took a nap.

Jack