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Marfa to New Braunfels – US Rail Journeys Series 3 Episode 24
‘Marfa to New Braunfels’ covers our 400 mile journey during the late afternoon and overnight. We travel from the very wet desert west of Marfa to New Braunfels on the way to our stop at San Marcos.
To see the photographs that accompany this podcast please click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:
The desert:
As we travel east the weather starts to clear. It is still raining and the clouds are grey but the desert is no longer under water.
We pass through Valentine and see a ‘blimp’ tethered beside a hanger. Luckily the mooring ropes look strong as anything less would have broken in the wind and rain we passed through.
We pass through Marfa and soon are back into the desert again.
Alpine:
The next city we come to is Alpine. The sun shone on my westward journey on the Sunset Limited in 2019. Not so today, it is grey, getting dark and with rain. That’s a pity for those who want to get off for a ‘smoke break’!
The community of around 6,000 has the normal large shops as well as smaller, interesting, ones. Sadly the Alpine Studio bed and breakfast has closed, to make way for a store whereas the historic Bottle House has more bedrooms than I’d need.
Onwards into the night:
The next station is Sanderson. 153 passengers use the station in 2022, that’s roughly half a passenger per train! The original station was demolished in 2012 and in 2021 a $3 million replacement facility opened. It consists of an open-air shelter with a built-in bench, providing shaded seating, a concrete platform, a concrete parking area, and concrete walkway.
We travel through the night, through Del Rio and on to San Antonio. The train splits in San Antonio as the coaches for the Texas Eagle are detached from the rest of the train.
The Sunset Limited continues on its journey to New Orleans whilst our coaches join the rest of the Texas Eagle. We are soon on the journey northward to Chicago and breakfast beckons ……
Next up:
If you enjoy these podcasts please join me in a couple of weeks as we continue our journey on the Texas Eagle.
Links:
To visit the Amtrak website please follow this link.
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Music:
AKM Music licenses Steam Railway and Corporate Winners for use in this podcast.