ATXEagle
Service Attendant
I live in Austin, Texas and my friend lives in Lawrence, Kansas. We are planning a joint train trip to Seattle this summer. The plan is that I'd start out in Austin on train 22 and then connect to the Southwest Chief, train 3. We'd take this train to LAX and then the Coast Starlight up to Seattle.
Anyway, since this trip will involve AGR points, I'm limited to segments that are given through the normal reservation process.
For the leg from Austin to Lawrence, I'm given two options to connect from 22 to 3.
The first is a layover in St. Louis from 7:19 a.m. to 4 p.m. Then they have me take the Missouri River Runner to Kansas City where I'd catch the Chief. Nothing against St. Louis, but I've already had a long layover in that station before, and explored downtown and the arch. I do like the RIver Runner, but that layover just seems too long.
The second option is to stay on 22 to Sprinfield (SPI) at 9:55 a.m. Then I'd take the thruway bus (5522) to Galesburg (12:10 to 2:25 p.m.). The Southwest Chief arrives in Galesburg (GBB) at 5:38 p.m. This would give me a more relaxed morning on the Eagle, dinner on the Chief, and more train time. It seems like it should be plenty of time for the connection.
So although I'm leaning toward option two, I'm worried about train 22's poor on time performance at Springfield. It's arrived after noon several days recently. From what I've read on this site, it seems like work being done at Fort Worth might slow the Eagle's progress throughout the summer. Does anyone know how long the thruway bus will wait for train 22? Is this connection too risky? If we're really late into St. Louis, would Amtrak let me bail and switch over to the River Runner connection?
Thanks for advice from those who've made this connection or know more about it!
Anyway, since this trip will involve AGR points, I'm limited to segments that are given through the normal reservation process.
For the leg from Austin to Lawrence, I'm given two options to connect from 22 to 3.
The first is a layover in St. Louis from 7:19 a.m. to 4 p.m. Then they have me take the Missouri River Runner to Kansas City where I'd catch the Chief. Nothing against St. Louis, but I've already had a long layover in that station before, and explored downtown and the arch. I do like the RIver Runner, but that layover just seems too long.
The second option is to stay on 22 to Sprinfield (SPI) at 9:55 a.m. Then I'd take the thruway bus (5522) to Galesburg (12:10 to 2:25 p.m.). The Southwest Chief arrives in Galesburg (GBB) at 5:38 p.m. This would give me a more relaxed morning on the Eagle, dinner on the Chief, and more train time. It seems like it should be plenty of time for the connection.
So although I'm leaning toward option two, I'm worried about train 22's poor on time performance at Springfield. It's arrived after noon several days recently. From what I've read on this site, it seems like work being done at Fort Worth might slow the Eagle's progress throughout the summer. Does anyone know how long the thruway bus will wait for train 22? Is this connection too risky? If we're really late into St. Louis, would Amtrak let me bail and switch over to the River Runner connection?
Thanks for advice from those who've made this connection or know more about it!