This trip was around Christmas in 2013, when I took Amtrak Southwest Chief #3 from Chicago to Los Angeles!

I had wanted to cross the U.S. by train for quite a while, but long-distance sleeper fares were just too expensive to justify. Later, I found that Amtrak also has its own frequent-traveler program, and redeeming tickets with points was a good way to do it—simple, convenient, and quick.

Redeeming Amtrak train tickets

Back then, Amtrak’s redemption system was based on Zones. Chicago to Los Angeles is in the "Two Zones" chart, and a Roomette required 20,000 points (see image below). The only downside was that only seat tickets could be redeemed online; sleeper tickets had to be handled by calling Amtrak and speaking with them by phone. Fortunately, my spoken English was fine, and the person I spoke with was a lady with a standard American accent, so there were no issues. PS: As a Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard cardholder, you can get a 5% points discount when redeeming train tickets, so the net cost is actually 19,000 points.

PS: Right now, Amtrak redemption is a direct points-for-cash model. If I remember correctly, for regular trains one point equals 2.9 cents; for the Acela Express, one point equals 2.5 cents. Compared with the old zone-based redemption standard, each has its strengths.

After considering everything, I chose to redeem Amtrak #3, the Southwest Chief ("Southwest Chief") from the schedule, covering 2,265 miles (3,670 km) with a planned travel time of 43h15min.

Departure - Chicago

On 2013.12.27, in the afternoon, I started with Chicago’s iconic building, Willis Tower (although I still call it Sears Tower). From here, you can clearly see the Skydeck of Willis Tower.

The west side of Chicago River (upper-left photo) is Chicago Union Station (upper-right photo). This was where our trip began.

Here, I could not help but call out an ad on the wall (lower-right photo): that left one is obviously Beijing, just with a plate that has been Photoshopped.

Boarding started shortly after, and the consist for the train we rode was: P42DC+P40PC+1 baggage+3 sleeper+1 dining+1 dome+4 coach.

Inside the sleeper car

Once we boarded, I first shot the interior of the sleeper car. The entrance and stairs of the Superliner bi-level sleeper are both at the center of the car (upper-left photo).

My compartment was here. In the third sleeper car from the rear, room 011 on the lower level of car 0331 (upper-right photo). From here, I recommend reserving a lower room for long-distance travel; on the upper one, it sways a lot more while the train is moving. The room has a 110V AC outlet, a reading light, and an air-conditioning temperature dial (middle photo).

During the daytime, the upper berth can be pulled up, and the lower bed can be split into two sofas. At night, the two lower sofas are combined and the upper berth is lowered, making an upper-and-lower bunk setup. The berth area is a bit wider than domestic RW setups.

Each coach has three restrooms and one shower. The shower can be used for free by sleeper passengers, no one was really queuing, and there was no hot-water incident. Bath towels and soap are provided free of charge; shampoo and conditioner should be brought separately (see the next two photos).

Sleeper passengers get three meals included, but you need to reserve a time in advance. Since the Southwest Chief departs Chicago at CST 3:00PM, a conductor came shortly after departure to reserve our dinner time.

Scenery along the way

Southwest Chief is roughly an express service and skips the smaller stations. Not long after departure, we arrived at Naperville, IL (upper-left photo).

I spent a bit of time in the dome car (upper-right photo, middle photo). Mendota, IL arrived right on time, and there is a small Railroad Museum next to the station building (lower-right photo), but the stop was so brief that getting off to see it was impossible.

Before long, it got dark.

T-Mobile signal quality was, to say the least, not great (even though my phone had an AT&T logo, I was actually using a Deutsche Telekom SIM). Soon after leaving Mendota, my own signal disappeared, then switched to IOWA Wireless USA, then back to AT&T.

As night came, the train crossed the Fort Madison Toll Bridge over the Mississippi River and entered Iowa (photo below).

Dinner time came, so we went to the dining car. I ordered a steak, and it tasted decent.

Quick reminder: even though meals are included in the sleeper fare, tips are still expected, so don’t forget.

2013.12.27 21:55. Amtrak #3 was approaching Kansas City, a major stop in MO. Kansas City sits on the MO/KS border, split between two states, while Amtrak’s station is on the MO side.

On Christmas 2011, I had flown over Kansas City on DL6 and shot aerial footage; two years later, I passed through the city by train.

Locomotive IDs: Amtrak locomotive #817 is a P40DC, serial number 47285, built in 1993, six years younger than me (third photo on the left). Amtrak locomotive #117 is a P42DC, serial number 49969, built in 1997, ten years younger than me (third photo on the right).

It was getting late. After departure, we continued on and soon entered Kansas.

The first stop in Kansas was the tiny station at Lawrence, KS. It seemed the platform was too short, and part of the train actually blocked a grade crossing (upper-left photo).

That ended the first day of travel. I went back to the sleeper car and went to bed as 2013 December 27 came to a close. Since we entered CO and switched from CST to MST, we gained an hour.

I don’t know how many small stations we passed, but after getting a morning start the next day, I went to the dining car for breakfast (upper-right photo, lower-left photo, lower-right photo). I ordered an omelet.

During breakfast, the train stopped at La Junta, CO.

The train kept moving across the Colorado Plateau and reached Trinidad, CO ("Chru-?" in my rough pronunciation).

In the morning in Colorado, under a deep blue sky, the curves, the train, and the distant snow mountains looked incredibly beautiful—I saw range after range, mountain after mountain, one chain linking to another. That was the Colorado Plateau (upper-left photo).

The train kept climbing, and altitude kept rising. Since we were climbing, our speed couldn’t outpace the eighteen-wheelers on I-25 (lower-left photo).There were so few cars on I-25 next to the tracks that it could be called a great place for beginner drivers to practice.

At the tunnel entrance: welcome to NM. Once we exited the tunnel, we officially entered New Mexico.

Raton, NM arrived, with a ten-minute stop.

This is the conductor from our car—let’s take a close-up of him! (left)

The coupler, air hose, and power cable~~ (right)

We kept moving on, and the climate was so dry. (top two pictures)

After going for a while, we finally saw some decent vegetation. (lower-left)

It was noon, so we went to the dining car and ordered a burger. (lower-right)

At the small station in Glorieta, we met the Amtrak Southwest Chief to Chicago, train #4. (lower-left, lower-right)

The train slowly threaded its way through the valley and reached a one-platform stop—Lamy, NM (the two pictures below).

After a two-minute stop, we were back on the road.

One thing to mention: this morning in CO, my phone kept a 2G data signal and sometimes even 4G. After entering NM, even 2G disappeared; sometimes the connection showed a solid red X and contact with the outside world was cut off entirely. NM is so sparsely populated, no wonder America once chose this state for a nuclear test range.

With no choice, I could only pin my hopes on Albuquerque, NM’s largest city. As expected, the phone finally got the long-missed 4G signal again, and about ten minutes later the train pulled into Albuquerque station. Since I had a scheduled one-hour stop there, I decided to get off and check out this city that Route 66 runs through.

Outside Albuquerque station: Amtrak and Greyhound are in the same building. (upper-left)

We had already traveled 1,345 miles from Chicago, and had 790 miles left to Los Angeles. (lower-right)

Old cars and the accordion-style bus on Albuquerque’s streets!

It was getting close to time, so we headed back to the station. The train was still sitting there quietly (obviously, if it had already left, we would have been in big trouble).

Dinner time came soon after, and I ordered a catfish.

Night fell. The train entered Arizona.

Winslow, AZ (lower-left), and Flagstaff, AZ (lower-right).

It was getting late, so I went back to the sleeper car to sleep—the day of 2013-12-28 is over.

While sleeping, the train entered California at Needles, CA, and the time zone shifted from MST to PST, gaining another hour.

Here is the GPS track. The Superliner can really move fast: the top speed jumped to 150 km/h, already faster than domestic express 25,000 (though still a fair distance behind 25T).

Since the train would reach the final station after 8:00 AM, breakfast was served early, and I was forced to get up at 5:30 AM to head to the dining car.

Non-sleeper-car passengers are not allowed into the sleeper car, which is the same rule as back home.

Finish—Los Angeles

Before dawn, the color of lapis (夜明け前より瑠璃色な—this is a song lyric, oops:).

Fullerton, CA arrived, and the scenery outside was already so familiar.

With a train whistle, a familiar train pulled in (lower-left). A familiar railcar—of course it was the Pacific Surfliner (lower-right)!

At last, at 2013.12.29 7:25AM, the Amtrak Southwest Chief arrived at Los AngelesUnion Station almost an hour early, and Lizi was back on familiar ground.

And so Lizi’s 2013 Christmas rail trip came to a happy end: CHI to LAX, 2265 miles (3670 km). Land that once took only 4 hours by plane took 42h25min by train.

As train fans, we ride onward, with the tracks leading us forward.

Along these never-crossing parallel lines, we have crossed thousands of miles and gone through every station, airport, and harbor in the world.

Maybe one day we’ll stop all this. And when that day arrives, perhaps we’ll truly be old.