OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
Moments ago I got home from a very pleasant 4 day each way run from Norman OK to West Palm Beach and before I left I was curious how the truncated southbound (21) Texas Eagle was turned in less than 2 hours in FTW. Some great planning went into this. Rather than hurry and turn a potentially late set and send it out half baked, the arriving set is unloaded south of the station just before the platform peters out by the Tower 55 Interlock. Then it is moved aside for a good overnight cleaning and restocking. Meanwhile the set that arrived the day before is pulled up to serve as that day's northbound 22.
The 2 engines are configured back to back and simply run around, putting the Coaches up front and the Trans Dorm in back. That set is then pulled up to the normal platform area, loaded and sent east to Dallas via TRE. In STL the power is pulled forward and the local Coach put right behind it.
And a big hats off to the FTW turn around crew for how well they ready that train, even making sure curtains are tucked back, headrests are on the seats and cleaning supplies and air freshener are in the johns, at least on the Trans Dorm.
As for the Heartland Flyer, because the 2 Eagles have its normal make ready track tied up it simply stays on the receiving track, nipping and tucking between the traffic when it leaves.
The 2 engines are configured back to back and simply run around, putting the Coaches up front and the Trans Dorm in back. That set is then pulled up to the normal platform area, loaded and sent east to Dallas via TRE. In STL the power is pulled forward and the local Coach put right behind it.
And a big hats off to the FTW turn around crew for how well they ready that train, even making sure curtains are tucked back, headrests are on the seats and cleaning supplies and air freshener are in the johns, at least on the Trans Dorm.
As for the Heartland Flyer, because the 2 Eagles have its normal make ready track tied up it simply stays on the receiving track, nipping and tucking between the traffic when it leaves.