Texas Eagle

[teekster]

2 adults, 4 teenagers, traveling early April from Chicago to San Antonio via the Texas Eagle, reserved coach.

Haven't traveled via Amtrak for nearly 20 years. Any tips on traveling? What to expect? Do most Amtrak trains run late? Can we bring some of our own food/soda in a cooler? Is it better to sit in a front car versus one more towards the back? How is that train normally set up? Lots of questions....

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[coronado]

Chicago to San Antonio in coach... should be interesting!

Lately, the Texas Eagle has a pretty good on-time performance record, often arriving into San Antonio early... I hope that is the case for you.

I know that you can bring your own food and sodas with you in a small cooler, but health laws prevent Amtrak from heating up your food in their microwaves, etc... so don't bring anything you have to warm up to be palatable. Otherwise, the lounge car has a wide variety of snacks (candy, chips, cookies), meals (breakfast items, hot dogs, pizza, lasagna), and beverages (milk, sodas, beer, wine) available from morning until late evening.

Also, I wouldn't count on being able to get ice for your cooler throughout the trip. You won't be able to get it on-board in quantity and I can't recall any of the longer station stops having ice available along the route.

Also important, there is no dining car service between Fort Worth and San Antonio... the only food service available to coach passengers is in the lounge car after Fort Worth. So if you are planning to eat a meal in the diner, be sure you do so before Fort Worth!

For scenery purposes, it is better to sit toward the rear of the car, but since the coach seating is reserved, you may not have a choice of where you are seated in your coach. If there coach isn't too crowded, you may be able to move around a bit.

However, you can go to the sightseeing lounge car when you want to see the sights, as seating there is unreserved and open to all on board.

The Texas Eagle operates with two different consists, depending on whether the rear portion of the train is through-service to LA (3 days a week).

On most days, it is 1 locomotive, baggage car, transition sleeper (partly for the crew, partly for paying customers), dining car, sightseeing lounge, and two coaches, and sometimes a sleeper either on the end or in between the transition sleeper and dining car. I say this because I recently saw the train with a sleeper on the rear end on a non-LA through-service day. On my most recent trip two weeks ago, I don't recall there being a revenue sleeper on the front end, just the transition sleeper, but I was in the LA sleeper on the rear and didn't get up to the front of the train to check.

On days when the rear of the train continues through to LA, there is an additional coach and sleeper on the rear of the train that is uncoupled in San Antonio and attached to the Sunset Limited the morning following arrival in San Antonio.

Photos of Union Pacific Challenger 3985 en route to the Super Bowl in Houston, Jan. 2004

 

[panamaclipper]

So, do they just park the diner in Fort Worth and then pick up on return? Why would they bother to do that? Does it have to do with splitting the train in SA?

 

[coronado]

No, the dining car remains with the train to San Antonio... albeit empty.

The dining car crew gets off the train at Fort Worth, spends the night, and then gets back on at Fort Worth the following day as the train returns north.

Otherwise, the dining car crew would arrive late into to San Antonio and have to turn around after only a few hours of sleep to prepare for departure the following morning. The alternative would be to have an additional dining car crew available in San Antonio. By having the crew turn around in Fort Worth, Amtrak gives them their much needed rest and avoids having to have another crew based in San Antonio.

Photos of Union Pacific Challenger 3985 en route to the Super Bowl in Houston, Jan. 2004 B)

 

[AMTK@AUS]

All the previous posts have included some very helpful advice. I've ridden coach from Austin to Fort Worth a couple of times, and it is a nice ride. I've also been from Austin to Chicago several times in a sleeper. The times that the Texas Eagle has are pretty good for each town. The southbound train often arrives early into SAS if it has been on-time, because of the extensive padding in the schedule. If the train becomes late, don't worry - everything will work out. The best ting about train travel is that it's relazed, so you should be relaxed as well.

More info on the Texas Eagle can be found at their official website - www.texaseagle.com

 

[Amfleet Fan]

Want advice? Don't.

Spend the extra bucks and splurge on sleeping compartments if you have the means.

I've traveled this train and while having to endure walking through the coaches, I can tell you it was not a pretty sight.

This train seems to get a lot of religious camp, boy scout, and other groups consisting of young kids who basically take over the train.

Some of which thought it would be fun to invade the unoccupied sleeping compartments. The LSA and Conductor had a field day with them when they were caught.

The lounge car was overrun with some of the most uncivilized, loud, obnoxious people I have ever encountered. One group decided to plug in their "boom box" and play the most annoying rap music I've ever heard. For some reason, the crew did not want to stop this behavior after many passengers complained.

Overall, a nice trip, but due to the size of your group, I would suggest booking a family sleeper and a standard room to get away from the madding crowd.

Just my opinion.

 

[AMTK@AUS]

The lounge car was overrun with some of the most uncivilized, loud, obnoxious people I have ever encountered.   One group decided to plug in their "boom box" and play the most annoying rap music I've ever heard.  For some reason, the crew did not want to stop this behavior after many passengers complained.

I saw that and was reminded of a time I was on the Texas Eagle and the dining crew had a boom box in the dining car and was listening to rap music while lunch was being served... (About 2 years ago)

I have to mention that after a five hour trip I was ready to get out of that coach car, even after several trips to the lounge. You might want to consider upgrading to a sleeper... But don't count on upgrading en route, because as far as I know the single sleeper is usually booked. Sometimes there isn't even a sleeping car, they just put everyone in the transition sleeper.

Speaking of the Texas Eagle, I just heard the horn of train 21! A little late, but no problem. B)

 

[coachseats]

All kinds of different people in coach, youth groups, boom boxes, this kind of diversity is one of the main reasons I think travelling on Amtrak and specifically in coach is fun! Getting to talk to some of these people and realizing everyone has a great story to tell is part of train travel that airplanes will never be able to duplicate. Have a great trip and enjoy the scenery both out the window and across the aisle!

 

[amtrakmichigan]

Even if you can't get sleepers to hold everybody in your party at one time, I would still consider getting at least 1 standard room so you guys could take turns taking a short nap in piece and quiet. Also 2 people would then be able to get free meals in the diner.

 

[amtrakmichigan]

The lounge car was overrun with some of the most uncivilized, loud, obnoxious people I have ever encountered. One group decided to plug in their "boom box" and play the most annoying rap music I've ever heard. For some reason, the crew did not want to stop this behavior after many passengers complained.

Boy if i was one of the ones complaning and nothing was done about it, you can bet I would have a big cheese from Amtrak on the cell phone. In fact I would make the call while I was standing next to the conductor so I could hand the phone to him. That way he could personelly explain why he is letting such behavior continue after many complaints.

 

[Amfleet]

Most likely this happened during the Warrington era when there was no supervision for crews. Thus, the kitchen crew would care less if they were blasting rap music. Even if you would've called some top level manager at Amtrak, they would just handed you over a $200 voucher to get you to shut up. Nowadays, Amtrak has crew base and product line suporvisors to make sure instances like that don't happen.

 

[battalion51]

You can see the results of this, as you'll see many of the Chefs wearing bud earphones while they're in the kitchen working. One of the Conductors actually got into it with the Dining Car crew about the music, both sides ended up in trouble (the Conductor for something else).

 

[teekster]

Thanks all for your responses. I did call Amtrak and inquire about getting a sleeper. There are some available but the person I talked to made it clear that the only time our group could get together would be in the dining or lounge car since those of us who did not have tickets for the sleeper would not be allowed into the sleeper cars, not even to visit. Are staff on the trains that strict? I thought two of us could have tickets for a sleeper and then we could take turns "getting away from the maddening crowd."

When I last traveled Amtrak 20 or so years ago, we traveled coach via the Empire Builder. We did not have any "bad" experiences with others traveling coach. Have things changed that much???

 

[AlanB]

Well technically the maximum occupancy for a standard sleeper would be two adults, three for the deluxe room. So if you tired to put four people in the sleeper at once, then I suspect that only the nicest attendants would allow this.

However unless you were to encounter a particularly surly attendant, I strongly suspect that he/she would allow you to swap people. After all only the first person booked into the room actually pays for the room. The second person booked into the room pays only the railfare charge. Anyone booked into coach is also paying the railfare charge. So those booked into coach have paid the same, if not more, than the second person booked into the bedroom.

Therefore swapping shouldn't really be an issue. The two main reasons that Amtrak would frown upon swapping would be, first the security issue. The attendants try to keep all coach passengers out of the sleeper. If you keep changing whose in the sleeper, then it gets hard for them to keep track of who belongs in the sleeper. The second reason would be that they don't want to end up giving away free meals to the whole group.

However I suspect that as long as one of the party in the sleeper escorts one of the coach members to the sleeper, while the other person booked into the sleeper remains in coach, that you should be able to trade off. No promises though, but again I rather doubt that most crews would have a problem with swapping.

Plus you can always trade ticket stubs, so that you can show that you belong in the sleeping car. As long as no one asks for ID, you can flash the stub and no one except for you sleeping car attendant would ever be the wiser.

 

[Amfleet]

While it isn't Amtrak policy, I'm sure some attendants will allow it under certain conditions. For instance only 2 people from your group in the sleeper at one time. The attendant will not want all four of you grouping around your room deciding who's going to be where or just talking. For one it is a safety hazard having that many people in one room and two it can be an annoyance to your fellow passengers. If the group needs to communicate, that should take place in the lounge or back at your coach seats. As for the meals, the four of you will not be able to get free meals, only two of you as that it is Amtrak's new policy. So while Amtrak crews aren't strict, they will keep a measure of safety for all passengers.