I hope you're not sick of seeing my photos from my trip in July, because I have another one for you this week! This photo is from San Antonio, TX, where the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle split and go their separate ways. The Sunset Limited runs from Los Angeles to New Orleans, and the Texas Eagle meets the Sunset here in San Antonio and goes to Chicago. All of this happens in the middle of the night, so it is easy to just sleep right through the entire switching operation. I got out of the train, because I wanted to watch, and to see what else there was to see in San Antonio. Here is the photo:
The San Antonio station was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad and there is an old SP steam engine on display outside of the photo. The Sunset Limited pulled up to the station and let people off the train. The last two cars on the train, a coach and a sleeper, were uncoupled from the train and left there. The Sunset left at about midnight, about an hour and a half after getting there. Another trainset, which would become the Texas Eagle, was parked on an adjacent track, and pulled ahead, switched tracks, and backed down on the two cars left in the station. It was a very simple switching procedure, no extra locomotives or anything were needed. The Texas Eagle could have left then, but it was not scheduled to leave until the morning, so it sat in the station all night.
I was riding the Texas Eagle, so I had all night to wander around the city. I wanted to see the Alamo. It was closed, so I couldn't get a tour or anything, but it was cool to see anyway. There are other things to do in that city too, but they are all closed at night. It would be cool to go back there. But in the middle of the night, the temperature was around 100 degrees, and there was a hot wind blowing in off the desert! I can't imagine what it would be like during the day! In New Hampshire, we just don't get weather like that. If I were to go back, I'd go in January.
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