A possible new stop on the SL

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Gratt

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Apparently some group has established a Memorandum of Understanding with Amtrak to establish a stop for the SL in all places, Flatonia, TX

While I am glad Amtrak is now seriously thinking about adding a stop between HOS and SAS (maybe it will make the LAX arrival a little later) I am still surprised why they picked Flatonia over say, Schulenberg or Columbus, but maybe their are local reasons involved that I dont know about.

Anyways, I thought I should pass this info along :lol:
 
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Seems doubtful that this would impact the LAX arrival since the SAS layover would remain between those two stops. Flatonia can do whatever they want so far as I'm concerned. If I'm heading East of San Antonio I fly. The road is too long and too bumpy and the train is too slow and too boring. I've already picked my arch nemesis station, otherwise known as Beaumont, so what more is there to discuss? :lol:
 
Flatonia is half way between Houston and San Antonio. Other than that there is nothing there, not even a station. Passengers could gather at the railfan viewing platform. lol. Like you said, there is Richmond, Columbus, Schulenberg, Luling and Seguin, all bigger and more important than Flatonia.
 
Maybe Flatonia has what is more important- money to build a station and local political support for train service. That beats population numbers or popularity of a place when it comes to deciding where the train should stop. Also, bigger towns have other options for people to travel, it is these small communities that fall along Amtrak routes that really need the Amtrak option to travel. I recently traveled by Sunset and every time we passed by a sizable village/town without stopping I wondered, hey there is only one train out here, so why not stop it here too? Anyway these LD trains aren't known for their great speed or schedule, might as well add 2 minutes and serve a remote population.
 
You are all blaming Amtrak for picking Flatonia as a stop when the opposite is true. The city of Flatonia is the one that has spent several years now trying to get a stop for their town. If Columbus or Luling want a stop too, the locals in that town will have to start a grassroots project to get the ball rolling. Just like Hope, Arkansas has done. I agree that I wouldn't have picked Flatonia for a stop between SAS and HOS but if the city wants a stop, and they work hard enough, they should get one, by all means.

I'm also hearing rumors that Hondo, Tx wants a stop on the route as well. Perhaps Uvalde too.
 
Wasn't Flatonia the name of the town in that Marx Brothers Duck Soup movie? "Hail, Hail, Flatonia ..."? They probably have "Sylvania" bulbs!

OK, so it was Freedonia - but it's probably close. They can sing as the train comes by. :giggle:
 
saxman said:
You are all blaming Amtrak for picking Flatonia as a stop when the opposite is true. The city of Flatonia is the one that has spent several years now trying to get a stop for their town. If Columbus or Luling want a stop too, the locals in that town will have to start a grassroots project to get the ball rolling. Just like Hope, Arkansas has done. I agree that I wouldn't have picked Flatonia for a stop between SAS and HOS but if the city wants a stop, and they work hard enough, they should get one, by all means.
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Wait, so does Hope actually have a stop now?

saxman said:
I'm also hearing rumors that Hondo, Tx wants a stop on the route as well. Perhaps Uvalde too.
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I don't see either of those towns spending their rather limited resources building a million dollar ADA-compliant park bench for a train that is already under threat and passes by in the dead of night only once every few days.
 
Well, if it's in the Schulenberg Sticker, it must be true!

By the way, the name of this town is familiar....this is where Amtrak gets their Flatonia Iron Steaks, right?
 
Flatonia - named for the Flato family (pronounced FLAY'-toe) which founded the town. I know some of the descendents who live in Houston.
 
henryj said:
Flatonia is half way between Houston and San Antonio. Other than that there is nothing there, not even a station. Passengers could gather at the railfan viewing platform. lol. Like you said, there is Richmond, Columbus, Schulenberg, Luling and Seguin, all bigger and more important than Flatonia.
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I understand your point Henry but those towns arent exactly cities, more like places thats Best times are behind them (ie Luling) or Bedroom Burgs for Large Cities (Houston and San Antonio!)Flatonia actually advertises in Trains Magazine, they have some old Equipment and the Train watching Platform and Tower/Museum! I Dont think there would be many Boardings/Deboardings there but can see possibly Sequin. Columbus and Uvalde! When I was a Boy and the SP was still running Steam I caught Trains in most of these places but of course there were Manned Depots and Many Trains a Day running then! (not all of them stopped in each town, just the Locals/Milk Runs/Mail Trains/)
 
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saxman said:
You are all blaming Amtrak for picking Flatonia as a stop when the opposite is true. The city of Flatonia is the one that has spent several years now trying to get a stop for their town. If Columbus or Luling want a stop too, the locals in that town will have to start a grassroots project to get the ball rolling. Just like Hope, Arkansas has done. I agree that I wouldn't have picked Flatonia for a stop between SAS and HOS but if the city wants a stop, and they work hard enough, they should get one, by all means.

I'm also hearing rumors that Hondo, Tx wants a stop on the route as well. Perhaps Uvalde too.
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I am with you that may the town who wants it, and works hard enough should get the top. I am still that it would be Flatonia of all places, but may be the best town win :giggle:

As for Uvalde, I (and to a lesser degree Hondo) really hope they do get an Amtrak station, they have a sizable population and they are far away from near by stops. The main problem is the stop would likely be very early in the morning or late at night, and the tracks are at the far edge of Uvadle so you would have a station in the middle of nowhere, at night, with no pubic transit. It is not a deal killer, but it does not make it any easier.
 
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Texas Sunset said:
saxman said:
I'm also hearing rumors that Hondo, Tx wants a stop on the route as well. Perhaps Uvalde too.
Click to expand...
I don't see either of those towns spending their rather limited resources building a million dollar ADA-compliant park bench for a train that is already under threat and passes by in the dead of night only once every few days.
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Well ask the locals that. Plus Hope's platform cost them about $250,000. That's it.
 
If anyone has ever visited the beautiful city of Flatonia they would notice the HUGE space on both sides of the track right in the downtown area. Talking to the locals, that seems to be a necessary requirement for building the new required stations.
 
Flatonia is a great spot for a stop on the Sunset Ltd. Get your map:

Austin is only about 80 miles northwest, not far at all by Texas measuring. Of course, Austin is huge, 900,000 city pop, another million in the metro. But it does have a busy airport.

Victoria is only 70 miles due south. It's not nearly so big, about 115,000 in the metro, with only 5 highly-subsidized "Essential Air Service" daily flights going to Austin.

Leave Houston at 7:05 p.m., it's five hours to San Antonio, so let's say, stop in Flatonia around 9 p.m. where your friend will pick you up. Get back to the UT campus in Austin well before midnight. Helluva lot nicer than asking your ride to go all the way down to Houston and back, or to pick you up in San Antone after midnight. (Neither of those highways are the pride of the Lone Star State.)

Coming from the west, San Antonio is scheduled for 6:25 a.m. (but it ain't so reliable, know what I mean?) So who's gonna ask their brother-in-law to get up very early to drive from Victoria to pick you up in San Antonio? But asking relatives to meet you in Flatonia at 9 a.m. doesn't seem unreasonable.

To be fair to the Aggies, the A&M campus at College Station is about 110 miles northeast of Flatonia, no worse than Houston and without the traffic. So a Flatonia stop could improve the lives of students and others coming in from New Orleans or Tucson and beyond.

And excuse my oversight here, but Texas State at San Marcos is also an hour or two away, WNW. The Sunset Ltd's service hours in Flatonia work much better for those 36,000 students than the San Antonio times.

Flatonia will be a worthwhile stop, even if it is a remote little town out in the middle of miles and miles of wildflower fields.
 
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If Hope,AK and Sanderson, TX( Flagstop but surprisingly people do board/de-train here) can have Station stops, ( well, Sanderson used to have a Station, now it's just a crumbling platform,) Beautiful little Flatonia certainly can!

They advertise in the Tourist Section of Trains Magazine as being Rail Friendly!!!
 
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Believe any new stop is welcome. If SL becomes daily and word of mouth get out about Flatonia stop, comments about neighboring towns coming into play could result in higher boarding numbers than anyone of us would have guessed. Flatonia really worked hard on getting this far.
 
Gratt said:
Apparently some group has established a Memorandum of Understanding with Amtrak to establish a stop for the SL in all places, Flatonia, TX

While I am glad Amtrak is now seriously thinking about adding a stop between HOS and SAS (maybe it will make the LAX arrival a little later) I am still surprised why they picked Flatonia over say, Schulenberg or Columbus, but maybe their are local reasons involved that I dont know about.
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Looks like it's being done by "Flatonia Rail Park Station, Inc.", a local 510©3 which obviously has its own local bias -- and it appears to have fundraised some of the money to build the stop already. If Schulenberg or Columbus had done so first, then Schulenberg or Columbus would be the one getting the station.
 
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I lived in San Antonio for awhile and the headline once read "Beachball size hail flattons Flatonia." I guess they got it pretty bad. In Hondo, I thought nothing was there but Color Weather Radar for KSAT12. I was even in Uvalde once, but I can not remember why. Maybe a water park or swiming spot? Be cool to take the train there.
 
Hondo used to have an Air Force Base up to the 50s. Not much there now.It has a sign on Highway 90 that says " This is God's Country, Don't Drive through it like Hell!" LOL

Uvalde is sort of an Oasis on the way to nowhere, gateway to the Texas Hill Country, hometown of Cactis Jack Garner ( Museum and all), one time US Speaker of the House and Vice President under Roosevelt for 8 years! Famous for saying: " The Vice Presidency isn't worth a pitcher of warm ****!" ( which the media changed to "spit")

**The Sunset rolls thru both towns in the dark on the way to Del Rio!Would probably do good business if it stopped and was Daily!!

Also Dolph Briscoe, ex Governor of Texas and at One Time the Largest Land owner in the World ( Ranches), was from here! Its a nice place to have Lunch, see the Museum and head for the Hills and the Beautiful Frio River! Wouldn't want to live there! There used to be a nice SP Depot there back in the SP Days!!
 
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