Texas Eagle 21 homeward bound

[Boxcar]

Due to the wrong date on our tickets, we had to cancel our previous reservations. Having to move to coach from Washington to Chicago on The Capital Limited, we were reimbursed nearly $500.00 bucks which helped smooth out some of the kinks we felt.

The blessing of the mix up was not having paid for a wrecked sleeper but it allowed the cancellation of our next sleeper which was on the Trans/Dorm.

I talked to several that were on the Trans/Dorm and they were all trying to

move from there. They said the noise from the train horn was terrible.

We instead were assigned room #12 downstairs on a new refurbished sleeper.This car was really nice and clean and had the new shower and area. I loved being below where the shower and restrooms were only about 10 ft away. Even our luggage was in sight, close and handy in the racks below. You can almost see as much as top side.

Of the other 3 sleepettes below, one was vacant and the other 2 were occupied by only passenger that were very quite. The handicap room was also vacant. The family room was occupied by a Grandmother and 3 early teen Granddaughters. They were very noisy singing and fighting and playing electronic games and T.V. without earphones. This went on till about 10:30 PM and the conductor wandered through and put a stop to that.

The Eagle made great time all the way to St. Louis and even came in about

15 minutes early. They quickly unhooked a empty coach car we pulled there

and prepaired for our 9:15 or so departure when our attendent was told we wouldn't leave till 10:00 PM. It seems our Conductors and Engineers went off duty there at 9:00 PM and the new ones didn't come on till 10:00 pm. The new Conductor and engineers didn't arrive till after 10:15 then had to place the empty coach we brought to a different siding.

We finally left St Louis 2 hours late. This turned into a rail fans nightmare.

All night long was spent flying down the rails for a while then setting for 20 or 30 minutes for a freight. We finally were down to being 6 hours late.

Our arrival in Austin was at 2 AM Thursday morning instead of 8:05 pm Wednesday. And the Conductors and Engineers that started this mess were relieved earler in the day. Their hours are regulated by law and they can only be on duty so long I was told. Anyway, the 21 didn't make it to San Antonio till 7:05 am about an hour before it was due to leave and go back North.

All in All, it was one Hell-of- a -trip and I look forward to the next one.

I shall be better prepared..........BD

 

[boratwanksta]

hmmm, the fact that the southbound Texas Eagle frequently gets delayed for several hours(especially south of St. Louis) is why i decided against doing a trip to Dallas a few months back, especially b/c of the chance that frequently, the #22(northbd.) arrives in Dallas before the #21(southbd.) does. this thus makes a 3-day trip from Bloomington-Normal or Chicago to Dallas impossible, unless you spend an overnight in Dallas(and why i realized the idea of going there wouldn't work, due to this risk). lol, its times like this i wish i could find a new job down here in Bloomington-Normal of some sort, so that i ACTUALLY could afford spending a night at some motel....

at least the schedule allows MANY hours for exploring Little Rock, unlike Dallas(which only has a 3 hr. gap between the arrival of #21 and #22, and which greatly doesn't stick to schedule at this point). to get to my point though, i'm not surprised that your train ended up being 6 hrs. late, as i usually check the OTS of the Texas Eagle(and of other trains) somewhat often myself, and've noticed that happens QUITE often. lol, if only all Amtrak trains ran on BNSF lines....

 

[Boxcar]

hmmm, the fact that the southbound Texas Eagle frequently gets delayed for several hours(especially south of St. Louis) is why i decided against doing a trip to Dallas a few months back, especially b/c of the chance that frequently, the #22(northbd.) arrives in Dallas before the #21(southbd.) does. this thus makes a 3-day trip from Bloomington-Normal or Chicago to Dallas impossible, unless you spend an overnight in Dallas(and why i realized the idea of going there wouldn't work, due to this risk). lol, its times like this i wish i could find a new job down here in Bloomington-Normal of some sort, so that i ACTUALLY could afford spending a night at some motel....
at least the schedule allows MANY hours for exploring Little Rock, unlike Dallas(which only has a 3 hr. gap between the arrival of #21 and #22, and which greatly doesn't stick to schedule at this point). to get to my point though, i'm not surprised that your train ended up being 6 hrs. late, as i usually check the OTS of the Texas Eagle(and of other trains) somewhat often myself, and've noticed that happens QUITE often. lol, if only all Amtrak trains ran on BNSF lines....

The one thing I didn't mention boratwanksta, was that passengers going to Houston, Galveston and places in Louisana usually get off in Longview and are bused from there. This time they had to get off in Texarkana and we bypassed Marshall and longview. we never were told why and it didn't add to our lost time. We were already 6 hours down. I suspect it had to do with the rail work that caused the Eagle to sat for 2 hours the day before.

 

[boratwanksta]

The one thing I didn't mention boratwanksta, was that passengers going to Houston, Galveston and places in Louisana usually get off in Longview and are bused from there. This time they had to get off in Texarkana and we bypassed Marshall and longview. we never were told why and it didn't add to our lost time. We were already 6 hours down. I suspect it had to do with the rail work that caused the Eagle to sat for 2 hours the day before.

interesting, i didn't realize that rail work was also being down to the tracks in that area. neither did i realize either that Houston-bound passengers were bussed in Texarkana instead. i suppose they also bussed passengers going to Marshall and Longview too(and to any other stops inbetween Longview and Texarkana i forgot about), did they? thanks for explaining those 2 things to me.

 

[Boxcar]

The one thing I didn't mention boratwanksta, was that passengers going to Houston, Galveston and places in Louisana usually get off in Longview and are bused from there. This time they had to get off in Texarkana and we bypassed Marshall and longview. we never were told why and it didn't add to our lost time. We were already 6 hours down. I suspect it had to do with the rail work that caused the Eagle to sat for 2 hours the day before.

interesting, i didn't realize that rail work was also being down to the tracks in that area. neither did i realize either that Houston-bound passengers were bussed in Texarkana instead. i suppose they also bussed passengers going to Marshall and Longview too(and to any other stops inbetween Longview and Texarkana i forgot about), did they? thanks for explaining those 2 things to me.

The rail work was only speculation on my part as we were never told why. I know we were held up for a couple of hours in that area on the way up to Chi by some work but also freight traffic.

Another thing as a possibility was the heavy rains that hit Houston that Monday ( over 7 inches I heard) may have also flooded areas up north around Longview.

 

[had8ley]

The one thing I didn't mention boratwanksta, was that passengers going to Houston, Galveston and places in Louisana usually get off in Longview and are bused from there. This time they had to get off in Texarkana and we bypassed Marshall and longview. we never were told why and it didn't add to our lost time. We were already 6 hours down. I suspect it had to do with the rail work that caused the Eagle to sat for 2 hours the day before.

interesting, i didn't realize that rail work was also being down to the tracks in that area. neither did i realize either that Houston-bound passengers were bussed in Texarkana instead. i suppose they also bussed passengers going to Marshall and Longview too(and to any other stops inbetween Longview and Texarkana i forgot about), did they? thanks for explaining those 2 things to me.

The rail work was only speculation on my part as we were never told why. I know we were held up for a couple of hours in that area on the way up to Chi by some work but also freight traffic.

Another thing as a possibility was the heavy rains that hit Houston that Monday ( over 7 inches I heard) may have also flooded areas up north around Longview.

Don't forget whose railroad you're running on most of the time~ the "Mighty MOP" or UP as it is known today. They seem to rather haul a carload of cattle than a carload of people.