Photo Credit: The Whodunit  Photographer  - Henry Kisor - Chihuahuan Desert         

Sunset Limited Route Atlas

New Orleans, Louisiana to Los Angeles, California
Amtrak Train Numbers 1 (westbound) and 2 (eastbound)
(Also describes the currently inactive portion of the route between Orlando and New Orleans)

map of Sunset Limited Route from Orlando to Los Angeles

Numbers 1-17 represent the station stops on the Sunset Limited route that are currently inactive.  Amtrak suspended service to these stops, located in the States of Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina damage and has not yet restarted the service.  Numbers 18-39 on the map represent the currently active stops the train makes between New Orleans and Los Angeles.  

Using the following links you can either choose to tour the entire route between Orlando and Los Angeles, or hop on the train at any station along the way and proceed in either direction from there. Click here to start at the beginning of the guide or click on one of the stations listed below to start from there.

Once on board... click "next" next-arrow (toward Los Angeles) or "previous" previous-arrow (toward Orlando) to take the virtual rail journey at your leisure. 

Click on Overview Button at any time to go to the  "Route Overview Page" where you may again jump to any station along the route. 

Each "station stop" includes a photo of the station, a local street map, local transportation options, and links to many more items of local interest. Between station stop pages there are detailed station to station maps and links to all of the counties that you pass through along the way.

Enjoy the Ride!

Amtrak Route Description

The following has been extracted from Amtrak's "Sunset Limited" Route Guide.  

"The Sunset Limited is North America's only transcontinental train. If you're traveling all the way from Los Angeles to Orlando, you'll pass within just a few miles of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans."

"While many of the great transcontinental rail lines were forged from east to west, the Southern Pacific's Sunset line had its beginnings in California. Charles Crocker, Mark Hopkins, Collis P. Huntington and Leland Stanford, all of whom were involved in creating the first transcontinental railroad, achieved a second transcontinental rail link in 1883 with the completion of the route you're now traveling between Los Angeles and New Orleans. East of New Orleans, the Sunset Limited follows the route of the Louisville & Nashville and Seaboard Railroad's Gulf Wind to Jacksonville, and then heads southwest across Central Florida to Orlando, its final destination. The Sunset Limited is the oldest continuously operated named train in America, dating back to 1894. The Sunset Limited originally ran between San Francisco and New Orleans. Passengers on early trains could continue from New Orleans to New York by sea, with connecting passenger steamers owned by Southern Pacific."

"Nearly a century later, the Sunset Limited still provides a unique view of the South and Southwest."

The rail travel distance between New Orleans and Los Angeles via the Sunset Limited is 1995 miles. The rail travel time is about 22-1/2 hours.