I got called for a Q train going to LA. I am not qualified to go to LA, so I asked for a pilot from Barstow to LA. The PTC on my side of the cab wasn't working properly. It started out as a smoking trip. We made it to Barstow in just over 4 hours. It looked like we were going to make it to LA in time to yard our train. My pilot got n at Bartow. After that, thing slowed down. Our pilot told us that we weren't going to go all of the way to LA. They were going to dog catch us. The LA terminal didn't want this train for some reason. Sure enough, we got dog caught at Santa Fe Springs. MY engineer had a car and was nice enough to give me a ride to the hotel. We arrived at 9 am and they serve breakfast until 9:30 am. I had a waffle, scrambled eggs, and sauseges. I slept like a log, sent out for some food in the evening, and watched TV. I woke up in the middle of the night and it was showing me on a Z train at 8:45 am. They started serving the breakfast at 6:30, so I said to myself, "I'll have 15 minutes to eat before I get my call. That's exactly what happened. When I got the call I requested a pilot again. It LA you have to call the trainmaster and ask them to send the van. I did that. They showed up in about 20 minutes. I was ready to go about a half hour before we came on duty, and my train was ready to go by 8:45, our on duty time but my pilot was late. My engineer and I went out to our train and waited for him. My train was the Z LACNSA and it was on "Buggy 2." My pilot finally showed up. He apologized for being late. We pulled out of the yard. I found out that my radio handset wasn't working. I had to use my engineer's radio. There are a lot of homeless, and a lot of homeless villages along the tracks in LA. We stopped one place for about an hour or two because a train hit a car. If my pilot had been n time maybe we would have hit the car. We were not told any details about the incident. While we were stopped out pilot got off the train and got some food. He treated me to a burrito. When we went through the crossing where it happened there was no sign of an accident there. We dropped our pilot off in San Bernadino. As it turned out, I could have gotten by without a pilot. We had a 10 mph restriction in the yard in Barstow, and then a high wind warning reduced our speed to 35 MPH for 30 miles. We were dog caught at ASH Hill. My engineer and I tied up at exactly 12 hours. I am now on my rest cycle.