Call for Texas Eagle experiences

[Gringo]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this board (a wonderful forum!), and I am planning a trip from Dallas to Chicago on the TX Eagle with my son, later this summer. We are planning on travelling in a bedroom. If anyone has made the trip recently, I would greatly appreciate if you could share them here. I have a few specific questions too: (1) Have the cars been refurbished on the Eagle, or do they plan to do it before this summer? (2) Have they already switched to "dinner lite"? (3) I expect the Eagle to be running behind schedule, but by how much?

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

 

[Bill Needles]

My wife and I took the Eagle from Austin to Chicago in October. It was a very nice trip. We ate dinner east of Dallas and fell asleep near Texarkana. We woke up the next morning coming out of the Ozarks. We ended up about 4 hrs late in to Chicago tho I heard it is worse lately because of freight delays. It seems to run better on weekends because of less freight traffic I have been told. I read elsewhere that the Eagle was on of the first switched over to Dinner Lite. The superliner cars were very clean but had not at the time been remodeled like the car we had on the Capital Limited between Chicago and D.C. Bill

 

[saxman]

I just rode the Texas Eagle from Fort Worth to Chicago in January. I had a roomette. You will not have the refurbished equipment, however you may get the new blue apolstered seats in your sleeper. It's really just luck. Assuming nothing happens with that train, you'll have sighseeer lounge, and dining car using the diner-light menu. It was ok I guess. The train was pretty full, and was ontime into Chicago!

Chris

 

[daveyb99]

Did a roundtrip late Dec 2005. Not too bad overall. Very late along the way, but arrived both ends on time. Imagine that.

"Diner Lite" still new, and had some glitches, but the food was overall fairly good - but the prices still seem a little high. Service was HoHum by the crew.

I would suggest getting a room in the rear sleeper, not the transistion sleeper up front. That is unless you like hearing the horn all night !!!

Only problem with that is you have to pass through three coach cars to get to the sightseer and diner.

A bonus is if you get rooms #9 or #10 you have a clear shot out the back of the train!!

Another hint: try pricing your trip from Fort Worth. Should be the same. If so, take the TRE to Fort Worth for a couple of bucks each and get an extra hour or so of Amtrak travel time for no additional cost !!

The TRE and Amtrak stop on adjoining tracks at the FTW station.

 

[gringo]

Thanks to all who took the time to respond. I like the idea of leaving from FW instead of Dallas. Also, I think they take dinner reservations right after the train leaves FW, so boarding in Dallas might restrict dinner choices. Thanks also for the tips of booking rooms 9 or 10 in the rear sleeper. I don't mind crossing three cars to get to the dining car. Should be a fun trip!

BTW, how do you request specific rooms? Can you do that on the website or do you have to call Amtrak?

Thanks again!

 

[gswager]

BTW, how do you request specific rooms? Can you do that on the website or do you have to call Amtrak?

The only way is to call Amtrak reservation system and chat with a live agent, not "Julie". Make sure that the layout of sleeper car on the internet is ready before calling.

 

[AlanB]

I don't recall having any problems getting a dinner time out of Dallas last July, and that was during the OTOL Eagle Fest and there were 6 of us if I recall correctly. That's not saying that leaving from Fort Worth isn't a neat idea. However, please keep in mind the day of week that you would be arriving and departing from that area. The reason being, TRE does not run on Sunday's at all, and they have limited service on Saturday.

As for the sleeping car diagram, you can find that here with thanks to Friends of Amtrak.

 

[MichigantoTexasbyrail]

I took the Texas Eagle in October. Overall, it was enjoyable. We will probably do it again late this coming summer.

The quality of equiptment and service varied between the trip down to Ft. Worth from Chicago and the return. The run south had very good dining attendants and excellent-plus car attendant. She earned a nice tip and thank you. The car was clean, but the apholstry was a "colorful" assortment. We were 6 hours late due to a tank derailment in Texarkana. Up to then, we were close to on time. On the return, our roomette had the new upholstery. The car attendant was mediocre. The dining attendants were not close to great and not even that good. We were 4+ hours late in to Chicago. We were really slow all the way through Missouri, where we had been going fast on the trip south. I don't know why that was. Overall, the tracks were pretty smooth. There were a lot fewer people on the trip north than the trip south.

You will enjoy the trip if you aren't in any big hurry. I am pretty sure of that.

-Les

 

[Bill Needles]

One more note about the sleeper car. We were in the last sleeper car which I think gave us a lot of "whip" and bounce, especially on the track east of Dallas. Once they added a coach to the end of the train in St Louis, the ride became alot smoother. I guess its a trade off between the noise of the car closer to the engine and the rougher rider in the last car...Bill

 

[AlanB]

I guess its a trade off between the noise of the car closer to the engine and the rougher rider in the last car...Bill

Bill,

You hit the nail right on the head. That is exactly the delima of where to put the sleeping cars.