I rode the shortened Texas Eagle from Austin to Dallas and back last week. The train consisted of a P42 locomotive and four Superliner cars, i.e. sleeper, diner, and two coaches.
On Number 22 I had an economy room. Only two other rooms were occupied. I did not count the number of people in the coaches, but there did not appear to be many. The train was showing 15 percent occupancy on Amtrak.com the morning of departure. On Number 21 I had a lower level economy room. The family room at the end of the car was occupied by two people; on the upper level two of the economy rooms and two of the bedrooms were occupied. The toilets in both cars were squeaky clean.
I ate lunch in the diner. I was the only one in the car going and coming. It was rather weird. But the service was great. I had pasta and meatballs on both occasions. They were passible. Amtrak made them somewhat more enjoyable by throwing in a free glass of Chardonnay.
In addition to the engineer, the crew consisted of a conductor, assistant conductor, sleeping car attendant, dining car server, and an attendant for the portion of the dining car that had been set up for coach passengers to buy drinks and eats. It takes the place of the lounge car. Coach passengers were not allowed to sit in the dining section of the car.
The crew on No. 22 was surprisingly upbeat given that several of them said they were facing furlough when they got back to their Chicago base.
I actually am for the new consist and I think that is a more efficient way to run the Texas Eagle, I never use the other cars. Well the Lounge Car I use as a backup if I do not like the meal choices offered but I never sit in the upper portion of the Lounge Car on the Texas Eagle as there is nothing to really see…Cafe part of the Dining Car should be sufficient. Also, shorter train I believe is easier on supervisory portion of the crew to traverse and supervise. Now I am curious on how that short type of train works on some of these older signalling systems that seemed to have issues before…or if that has been fixed now.
I think second generation LD equipment they need to be designed better to be more flexible as far as interior configurations and customization to specific market conditions. I think a decent engineer could design such a car, just that the railroad industry has never done it before on the passenger side. Rather interesting we had a range of sleeper configurations before Amtrak and after Amtrak we are down to one for bi-level and one for single level. Is that really how markets work?
You guys got me curious about the Eagle, so I looked at the schedule. I was very surprised that Austin-Dallas is like 6 hours, when Google Maps tells me I can drive that in 3.5 hrs. Even accounting for the intermediate station stops, that seems like a huge difference. Why such a disparity?
And CMPStP&P, you mentioned there’s nothing to look at, and I believe you’ve said that before. You mean all the way from San Antonio to Chicago there’s nothing to look at!? I mean maybe it’s not dramatic like the Rockies, but I would have thought there’s lots of interesting scenes along the way, like Americana and of course railroad stuff. Is it really that boring?
Ha-ha, JPS rides it South of Dallas, I will probably only do it once to get the mileage. I drive that route when I take it because of what you pointed out. Yes so San Antonio to my driveway in NW Dallas suburb is about 4 to 4.5 hours driving the Texas Speed Limit. San Antonio is a lot more temperate in Winter than Dallas plus it is much cheaper cost of living. So excellent escape from the Winter that if you budget right…actually cheaper than living in Dallas. Not that you need an escape from the 8-10 week Dallas Winter but some folks like the option. San Anotino is much more Mexican in culture and food than is Dallas but I love that about it.
The topography from Dallas to Austin is flat as a pancake with few if any trees over some stretches…I’ve only done that driving. Topography gets a little interesting between Austin and San Antonio but for the most part the railroads did a good job avoiding challenging features. The scenic part of the Texas Eagle is limited to between St. Louis and into Ark but that is covered in both directions at night time…you can see from the light of the train that there are bluffs along the tracks but that is
When the train is actually running (as opposed to being stopped at a station, or for signals) what is the top speed, 79 mph? And of that time running what perscetage do you think is done at top speed? You seem to be saying that those tight curves have to be slowed down for. And what about small towns that are not stops? Does the Eagle have to slow down because of local ordinances?
Yes they have to slow for some of the curves. I have not noticed speed limits via towns that are not rail junctions. Towns that are rail junctions, yes the speed limit drops noticeably in some cases down to 30-40 mph. UP knows the curves are an issue in places. I would think if they spend maybe $4-5 Billion they could have a much faster railroad via former MoPac and TexPac. They almost had a deal with TX Dot for Texas to build them a new mainline but 20 miles west of current route between San Antonio and Austin. It would have avoided the curvy mainline they have now that tries to hit a lot of communities. The new mainline would have been very straight. The new mainline would be in exchange for Texas taking over the curvy one for passenger trains. It fell through or was tabled.
Yes most of the Amtrak trip is 79 mph (caveat here) and smooth. There are rough patches when your sleeping between St. Louis and the Texas Border…not sure what the deal is with Arkansas and Southern Missouri track. It is smooth ride North of St Louis and for a bit North of Texarkana down to Dallas. They can hit 79 mph when not behind an intermodal or freight train which sometimes happens and then the Amtrak is lucky to see 60 mph (that is the caveat on speed)…sometimes I have been onboard doing 20-30 mph with a train in front. On Holidays when there are hardly any frieght trains it is 79 mph most of the way and then
The ATK route thru Missouri is mostly on a secondary line. The main freight line follows the east side of the Mississippi thru Illinois then into extreme southern Missouri. At that point the main line becomes paired one-way traffic (ex-MOP and Cotton Belt) except that the Eagle sticks to the one-way ex-MOP in both directions, so maybe a lot of going into sidings.
Ahh, that explains the rougher track over that segment. Yeah so I woke up arround 2:00 a.m. on more than one trip just before or after Little Rock Ark and the track was pretty crappy and the car was shaking quite a bit. It’s kind of humorous because most passengers that are asleep…never feel that section of track, they just sleep through it. No complaints prior to the pandemic when they had dining car service in the morning.
Part of the reason is the Eagle does not go directly from Austin to Dallas. From Austin it runs north to Round Rock, where it turns east to Taylor, after which it heads north northwest to Temple, McGregor, Cleburne, and Fort Worth, where it again turns east for the run to Dallas.
According to Google Maps, the highway distance from Austin to Dallas via I-35 is 195 miles. The rail distance is approximately 240 miles. The difference and five stops account for some of the time difference.
Another factor is the speed limit on most of I-35 – 75mph, which is just 4 mph less than the Eagle’s top speed. According to DPS, approximately 70 to 80 percent of motorists on I-35 exceed the posted speed limits by 7 to 10 percent.
From Austin to Taylor the Eagle runs 79 miles per hour in spots, but it has to slow for the curve in Round Rock as well as a speed restriction through Hutto. From Taylor to Temple the Eagle rarely if ever gets above 65 mph. I have ridden it many times. And I have paced the train on numerous occasions as it runs parallel to Texas 95; it never got above 65 mph.
From Temple to Fort Worth the Eagle hits 79 mph for a good bit of the run, but it is rare not to have meets with one or two freight trains, which kills the average speed. On my last trip we had to sto
Regarding scenery, a lot of is that most people like something different. Being from New England, I find expansive farm land and ranches to be fascinating. And I find agriculture-related buildings and devices very interesing. Grain elevators in particular strike some chord for me.
If you don’t mind my asking, why do you get a bedroom for a 6-hour daytime trip? Is it simply because you are a railfan and that’s your preference (as it would be mine, if I were not on a budget), or is because of social separation during the pandemic? Feel free not to answer.
It was an economy room. On my most recent trip I booked rooms because of the pandemic.
Since retiring 15 years ago and moving to central Texas from Dallas, I have taken the Eagle from Austin or Taylor to Dallas an average of 6 or 7 times a year.
I like riding trains. I have ridden over every mile of Amtrak’s system with the exception of Sacramento to Portland and Chicago to New Orleans. Some of the mileage was racked up when the routes were operated by the private carriers, i.e. Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Airline, etc.
If my stocks are doing well, I book an economy room; if they are not doing so well, coach works for me. Sometimes I go one way in an economy room and return coach class or the other way around.
“Passible” is the way you described the food. Passible is not really acceptable when there are good microwavable entrees available from numerous suppliers. I don’t ride Amtrak for the food but there is no excuse for the quality of the food currently served. They obviously don’t care because I’ve seen reviews from “passible” down to “terrible”. Just another nail in the coffin.
Well, here’s a guy who hated Amtrak’s coffee, so he stopped to grab some at a convenience store on the way to the depot. The time was tight, but he figured “that train’s always late …”
Now, Coffeeguy pulled a really dumb stunt, no question, for which I guess the conductor felt he should be “punished.” But if the conductor had stooped to being human initially, the guy would have been on the train. It’s not like a subway, where the guy can wait 15 mins for the next one. I’m assuming the guy had a ticket.
What happens if you ran for a train, and made it just in time, but to do that you had to bypass the ticket booth. Will the Amtrak conductor sell you a ticket onboard? Will he do it politely, skipping the lecture? There are lots of stations without a ticket agent (Yemassee SC comes to mind); to board there, do you HAVE TO buy a ticket online?
I wonder how far he could have hung on as the train accelerated to 79mph. And if there are any wayside clearance things that could knock him off. Not where I would try to ride. Stupid.
Yes, stupid. I am 81. I have concluded there is no shortabe of stupid people in the world. Come to think of it, I have done some pretty stupid things myself, but I am not going to tell you about them.
