Beaumont AmSlab

[Green Maned Lion]

I often drive to New Orleans from Beaumont with some of my cousins (they wouldn't even consider Amtrak, mainly because of where the station is). It is not too long of a drive, but I would much rather take Amtrak.

Friends don't let friends drive when ground transit is available. Ever.

 

[Ryan]

was cancelled most of the winter.

That might be just a little bit of an exaggeration.

 

[had8ley]

Hey...we're getting a station !!! Lafayette was a burned out mess less than 10 years ago. The same goes for Lake Charles. There will be free beer to the first 100 pax compliments of J&J's Bar,Grill and Emporium. Oh...almost forgot...the beer bottle deposit is $50 :lol:

 

[Guest]

Regardless of what Beaumont thinks it needs there was never a compelling case for the federal government to bankroll it. Beaumont could just have easily added a waiting area to their fancy new police station for their once-every-few-days train service.

It was Kansas City Southern who blocked any talk of using the original station or for having any station anywhere near downtown.

They already admitted they wanted the station to be downtown but were told to take a hike by KCS. They also realized that they were unlikely to get another chance to fleece the federal government and had to move fast before the free money was gone. Personally I don't consider those to be good reasons at all.

Wow, someone is just never happy. It was a broken up slab. People had to wait for the train in their cars. It is a perfectly good use of Federal money, far better than a lot of other uses. Beaumont is an oil town, a port, an industrial complex. It isn't pretty. Stations have to be located along train tracks. Train tracks go through the worst parts of town. The pictures I have seen of the new station look very nice. I think it is a good fix. The station is close to I10 and not that far from downtown, such as it is. Most of Beaumont shops at the mall on US69 north of town, which is no where near either.

And it is not a "once-every-few-days train service". There is a train in one direction or the other every day except Saturday and Thursday, and both trains stop on Fridays. Once the train goes daily there will be two trains a day. I see no reason for these scathing attacks on what was an obvious need.

If you need to attack something, then think about the total waste of equipment on the Empire Builder which hasn't run in either direction in days and was cancelled most of the winter. Send that equipment down here and put it on a daily Sunset Limited, restored to Florida, where it can do some good and earn some money.

An excellent post. Someone needs to do a population comparison between the Empire Route and Sunset route.

As far as Beaumont, why would the city build a grand central station for a train neglected by Amtrak, tri-weekly, and gets threats to be killed every year.

The downtown location would have been great and desired. The current location is not as bad as you all think. There is no housing ghettos, not a gang area, it is not the newest area of town but it is not the middle of nowhere. Take a look

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Beaumont,+TX&aq=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.724817,79.013672&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Beaumont,+Jefferson,+Texas&ll=30.080161,-94.126568&spn=0.018531,0.038581&t=h&z=15

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It was a broken up slab. People had to wait for the train in their cars.

Yeah, with the new million dollar air conditioned waiting room they won't have to sit in their cars anymore. Oh, wait.

If you need to attack something, then think about the total waste of equipment on the Empire Builder which hasn't run in either direction in days and was cancelled most of the winter. Send that equipment down here and put it on a daily Sunset Limited, restored to Florida, where it can do some good and earn some money.

I really don't follow you here at all. The Empire Builder runs through several pro-rail states and municipalities while serving as a lifeline to several communities and as a major attraction for vacationers who are simply looking for a good time. It runs a substantial consist daily and sells out on a regular basis. Meanwhile the Sunset Limited struggles to sell far less capacity through a series of anti-rail states that have made it clear they couldn't care less if the train simply fell off a cliff and never came back.

The current location is not as bad as you all think.

We know it's bad enough that they had to destroy what was left of the last station.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Following Up on Guest Guest Post re: It's Not in the Middle of Nowhere! Evidently this Person Hasnt Been There when the Sunset Stops Usually in the Dark and Frequently in Pouring Rain! The OBS on the Sunset have told me Many That They Wouln't try to Walk anywhere from this basically Vacan Lot that is Unlighted, doesnt have much of Anything Around Except Warehouses! :wacko: (Of Course the crew Changge here is Done via a Van that brings the New Crew/Transports the Old) Iv'e Never Seen a Taxi Here and Based on What Happens to Unmanned Stations in Almost every City I put the Under/Over on this White Elephant being Destroyed @ Two Years! The Poster that said it Should have been Located in Orange Was Correct! :help:

 

[the_traveler]

The current location is not as bad as you all think.

We know it's bad enough that they had to destroy what was left of the last station.

So the original Pennsylvania Station had to be destroyed because New York City was bad enough too?

And how about Chicago's Union Station?

Both are essentially just the underground portions of the original stations!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

So the original Pennsylvania Station had to be destroyed because New York City was bad enough too? And how about Chicago's Union Station? Both are essentially just the underground portions of the original stations!

Yes, critical transportation arteries of national prominence and importance arbitrarily destroyed at the behest of private interests have a everything in common with a tiny dilapidated shack left to rot in the middle of nowhere. :wacko:

 

[Guest]

Following Up on Guest Guest Post re: It's Not in the Middle of Nowhere! Evidently this Person Hasnt Been There when the Sunset Stops Usually in the Dark and Frequently in Pouring Rain! The OBS on the Sunset have told me Many That They Wouln't try to Walk anywhere from this basically Vacan Lot that is Unlighted, doesnt have much of Anything Around Except Warehouses! :wacko: (Of Course the crew Changge here is Done via a Van that brings the New Crew/Transports the Old) Iv'e Never Seen a Taxi Here and Based on What Happens to Unmanned Stations in Almost every City I put the Under/Over on this White Elephant being Destroyed @ Two Years! The Poster that said it Should have been Located in Orange Was Correct! :help:

Well let me school you. Your OBS lied to you. If you look at the picture posted, behind the cars, that long long long walk is a family dollar store.

Next to the store is a boat store, then a dollar general, then a day-surgery office. Move across the 5 lane street heading back to the slab, a charter school in the old Conn's corp headquarters, then a Popeyes, a small strip mall, a car sales lot, then car shop. Going to the other side of the tracks, a church, bus stop, wendys, eye-optical, a donut shop, car auction, office building, a very large strip mall. All within a 5 minute walk. A 10 minute walk;a large catholic church, BOF high rise, a hospital-the only trama center between Houston and Baton Rouge, a high school, I-10..

Check the link I posted instead of buying and spreading lies.

The slab did have working lights, up until 2 weeks ago when they were removed for the construction. The lights were along the platform, over the slab, and parking lot. Yes, I've have seen cabs there.

 

[Guest]

It was a broken up slab. People had to wait for the train in their cars.

Yeah, with the new million dollar air conditioned waiting room they won't have to sit in their cars anymore. Oh, wait.

If you need to attack something, then think about the total waste of equipment on the Empire Builder which hasn't run in either direction in days and was cancelled most of the winter. Send that equipment down here and put it on a daily Sunset Limited, restored to Florida, where it can do some good and earn some money.

I really don't follow you here at all. The Empire Builder runs through several pro-rail states and municipalities while serving as a lifeline to several communities and as a major attraction for vacationers who are simply looking for a good time. It runs a substantial consist daily and sells out on a regular basis. Meanwhile the Sunset Limited struggles to sell far less capacity through a series of anti-rail states that have made it clear they couldn't care less if the train simply fell off a cliff and never came back.

The current location is not as bad as you all think.

We know it's bad enough that they had to destroy what was left of the last station.

The Beaumont station was owned by Southern Pacific and used as a dispatch office and train station. When UP bought SP, UP abandon the building. After several years of no care by UP and the homeless, ofcourse the building was in bad shape and dangerous. This was UP private property so the city and Amtrak could not force UP to care for the building. The city has bought the property will care for it unlike UP.

As far as the Sunset, the EB gets the best equipment, daily service, and a friendly BNSF. Sunset gets leftover equipment, tri-weekly service, and anti-Amtrak UP/KCS. I've seen Sunset run without a diner. That would never happen on EB. Yet scratch your head as to why EB out perform Sunset.

Give Sunset equal treatment and it would out perform all LD trains. Sunset route could fill a daily 10 sleeper train everyday

 

[henryj]

The Beaumont station was owned by Southern Pacific and used as a dispatch office and train station. When UP bought SP, UP abandon the building. After several years of no care by UP and the homeless, ofcourse the building was in bad shape and dangerous. This was UP private property so the city and Amtrak could not force UP to care for the building. The city has bought the property will care for it unlike UP.

As far as the Sunset, the EB gets the best equipment, daily service, and a friendly BNSF. Sunset gets leftover equipment, tri-weekly service, and anti-Amtrak UP/KCS. I've seen Sunset run without a diner. That would never happen on EB. Yet scratch your head as to why EB out perform Sunset.

Give Sunset equal treatment and it would out perform all LD trains. Sunset route could fill a daily 10 sleeper train everyday

I agree with this guy. They could sell out a Sunset Limited everyday if they would give it the equipment. Amtrak just doesn't like us down here. The Sunset route is an all weather, all season route that seldom sees any disruptions. It's reliable, economical and punctual. All the improvements cited in the route improvement report could be made to the existing train regardless of daily service, yet nothing happens year after year. Imagine any other route with no connection to a metro area of 4 mmillion people(Phoenix) just 35 miles away from the train stop.

I don't know what gives with Jim Hudson, as he lives along the Eagle route and knows just how neglected Texas is by Amtrak. I have seen some of the stations on the Eagle route and they are bordering on pitiful also, but at least they have a daily train.....that is when it isn't cancelled south of Fort Worth.

There are other towns with no station on the Sunset route including Deming, Lordsburg and Benson. Last year when I rode it the Sunset let a group off at a road crossing in Lordsburg. Fortunately there was a car waiting for them.