Eagle and Sunset

Trains Magazine Passenger
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On Saturday I took the Eagle from Temple to San Antonio and returned today. I have a couple of observations to share and a couple of questions.

My meal in the dining car (pasta and a glass of wine) was respectable Denny’s quality. The server was pleasant, efficient, and effective. My table mates were congenial, and we had a good conversation. The train arrived in San Antonio about 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

Breakfast on the return trip this morning was awful. I had the scrambled eggs, raisin toast, and coffe. Should have stayed with cereal, etc. The car had a lead service attendant and one server, who quickly fell behind in serving the customers, in no small part because the lead service attendant did not help her. My table mates reminded me of the Simpsons, which is always a risk, but the train was on time into Temple.

Amtrak is a riddle. Sometimes the staff provides excellent service, but on other occasions it is awful. I got the best and the worst on this trip.

This morning the Sunset was nearly two hours late arriving into San Antonio. Turns out the lead Amtrak engine failed near Lordsburg, N.M. Apparently the Sunset limped into El Paso, where it acquired a UP locomotive for run to San Antonio. It looked like an SD70M, but I could not be sure.

To my questions: Can the SD70M run 79 mph, which is the maximum speed for the Sunset? Also, would the Amtrak engineer be permitted to pilot the UP locomotive, or would it have been operated by a UP engineer? Any idea how much Amtrak would have to pay UP for the use of one of its locomotives and maybe one of its engineers?

Just before the Eagle arrives in San Antonio, the passengers in the through sleeper and coach are advised to return to their cars. The coach passengers are further advised to gather up their belongings from the seat pockets, etc. because the seats are going to be turned around in San Antonio. The t

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SD70M are gear to 70 mph and 2 weeks ago I travel on Lake Shore Limited and the Empire Builder to Essex, MT the Food in the Dining cars to good to great eat. I ever had a bad meal in the dining car in my 25 years travel on Amtrak with my family, All in the sleeping car.[2c]

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I second the “70 mph for the SD70M”.

The Amtrak engineer is fully qualified on the route and can run anything they put on there. UP could put someone on there at their own discretion. Locomotive would likely come in at $500-1000 per day.

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Thanks for your response. Would the Amtrak engineer be entitled to any extra compensation for the switching move in San Antonio or does in fall under the category, “and other duties as may be assigned”?

I am almost certain that Amtrak does not use a switch engine to change out and re-couple the through cars.

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I don’t know. The railroads have been pretty aggressive about getting rid of almost all “arbitrary” pay in their agreements. I suspect Amtrak rides on these coattails, but I don’ t know for sure.

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One more question. The bad locomotive was towed from El Paso to San Antonio. At least one of the motors was bad. What adjustments, i.e. disengage the bad motor, all of them, etc., if any, would have to be made to the locomotive to tow it?

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I was on the Eagle about a month ago with a local RR group doing a rare mileage trip from St. L to Chicago. It was the reroute because of high speed rail.

Ate in the dining car for lunch and found the meal delicious. Ordered the Angus burger, which I’ve had before on Amtrak. I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the food.

But we ran very late getting into Chicago, missed the connecting train we were taking to Champaign, where a bus was going to meet us. Had to run slow on a line that doesn’t have passenger trains, went into “hole” for a number of freights and a nasty storm hit about one hour out of Chicago. But our group leader was on the phone and Amtrak had a bus waiting when we got to Chicago, in fact, there were many buses waiting to take people to destinations after they had missed connections. I’ve always been pleased with their service.

Have ridden on the Builder, Coast Starlight and Southwest Chief for LD trains,

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Like you, Sunnyland," I have never had a bad meal at any time of day on Amtrak, nor have any of my tablemates. Further, I am a frequent traveler on the Coast Starlight, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, City of New Orleans, and Empire Builder. All trains have been exceptionally well staffed, and generally on schedule (within minutes). The Conductor always has been pleasant and helpful, particularly in answering operational questions and in dealing with irritable passengers and law enforcement issues. But then, I do not look for something to complain about. I am fairly sanguine.

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These:

http://www.redrobin.com/menu

are burgers. Anything like this on Amtrak? Why not?

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Yeah, “not bad”. Me either, but that’s a pretty low bar to jump over…“not bad”.

Maybe, if they contracted out, we could get “really good” for a fair price and Amtrak wouldn’t lose so much feeding us.

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“Not bad” sounds like a race to the bottom.

I am sure that you overlooked it, but I had an additional questions regarding the breakdown of one of the locomotives on the Sunset Limited.

The bad locomotive was towed from El Paso to San Antonio. At least one of the motors was bad. What adjustments, i.e. disengage the bad motor, all of them, etc., if any, would have to be made to the locomotive to tow it?

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As to a “pilot,” as I recall (it has been many years since I had much conversation with anyone in road service), it refers to a conductor or an engineer of the road over which a foreign train is being detoured; the pilot advises the conductor or engineer of the foreign road train, but does not run the engine or take care of the freight or passengers. As has been noted, an Amtrak engineer should be qualified to run any engine that is pulling his train.

Agreements concerning extra pay do, indeed, vary. Going on sixty years ago, I watched switching moves at the passenger station in Charlotte, N. C., and I once asked a brakeman about the switching, and he told me that if he made more than one such move he was given extra pay (if you looked at all the switching of sleepers that took place in Charlotte back then, you would see that this agreement saved the Southern much money, since almost all trains carrying sleepers, except the Crescent, either dropped or added one or more sleepers there) Another illustration: in February, 1971, I rode the SCL’s train into Naples, Fla., and back. The operating crew consisted of the engineer, conductor, and one brakeman. As I remember, the brakeman told me that if he made one switching move, he was given another day’s pay. You cen be sure that the dispatchers were careful in ordering meets lest the passenger brakeman had to line switches.

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My wife and I returned just yesterday (Tuesday) from Chicago after making a round trip from Longview on the Eagle and Amtrak thruway bus between Shreveport and Longview. Northbound the train left Longview 45 min late but arrived on time in Chicago and southbound was right on schedule all the way. We’ve made this trip a number of times and were pleasantly surprised to arrive at our destination right on time in both directions. The train’s seven car consist was sleeper, two coaches, sightseer lounge, diner, coach and another sleeper. I believe the latter two were the through cars that would continue on to Los Angeles on the Sunset.

The purpose of our trip was to attend a family funeral so we made our reservations rather hastily and since the sleeper space was sold out we travelled coach. A Superliner coach seat is fine for daytime travel and while my wife slept well I only slept fitfully and often woke up to try to find a more comfortable position. We knew the Amtrak pillows were about the size and thickness of a postage stamp so we brought our own from home which I highly recommend if you’re making an overnight trip in coach. South of St. Louis the coaches were about 65% occupied but were filled both going into and out of Chicago.

The highlight of our trips is always the dining car and we weren’t disappointed this time. Our breakfasts were good (scrambled eggs and biscuits for my wife and pancakes and sausage for me) and the dinners were ample and very good. Northbound we both had herb roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, a vegetable medely and of course a fresh green salad and rolls. Southbound she had the crab cakes and I the marketplace special which was a thick (about 1-1/2") pork chop plus the other side dishes. The diner was always filled, but the service was good, and our table companions interesting and friendly as were the servers. Except for my inability to sleep very well it wa