Need advice on Cardinal and Texas Eagle travel

Trains Magazine Passenger
1

Hello,

My wife and I are considering a trip from Indiana to Texas.

We would be taking the Cardinal to Chicago Union Station and then on the Texas Eagle - sleeper.

Many years ago, I rode and really enjoyed the passanger service in the Midwest and have good memories of that. Also I am active in model railroading and would like to try the trains again despite the time and cost (compared to flying).

My concern is what to expect in service and personal safety. I am looking for just clean and safe basic transportation, but am concerned that the stations, service and rider base may have degenerated toward the sleezy side (hope not…just don’t know).

Since you are up to speed on current conditions, I would appreciate your comments.

Thank you,

Dennis

2

The Cardinal is only one of two Amtrak long distance trains that I have not ridden, so I cannot comment on it.

I am very familiar with the Texas Eagle. I ride it three or four times a year. I usually take it to Chicago for a connection to another Amtrak train, but on occasion I take it to San Antonio to connect with the Sunset Limited or vice versa.

As Amtrak’s long distance trains go, the Eagle is not one of its better trains. Having said that, it has been clean, comfortable, and safe. It usually has a transition sleeper, regular sleeper, dinning car, lounge car, and two coaches. When I last took the Eagle in February, my roomette was a bit threadbare, but it was stocked properly, and the car attendant took good care of me. I have never run into a crew member on the Eagle with a bad attitude.

The meals are the Eagle are prepared off the train and heated in a microwave on the diner. They are a tad better than TV dinners but not by much. Some of the food in the lounge car has been better than that in the dinning car, i.e. sandwiches, pizza, and it is cheaper. However, meals in the dinning car are included in the cost of the sleeper, so it would not be a good move to eat in the lounge car.

The biggest problem with the Eagle is its persistent tardiness. To date in 2008 it has been late arriving into Fort Worth by an average of 103 minutes. It loses even more time, on average, between Fort Worth and San Antonio, where it has been late by an average of 125 minutes. Passengers going to San Antonio can expect to arrive in the Alamo City well after midnight. Or if they are amongst the very unlucky ones, they might find themselves arriving between 4 and 6 a.m., which happens more frequently than Amtrak likes to admit.

The stations in Marshall, Longview, Mineola, Dallas, Fort Worth, Cleburne, Temple, and San Marcos are in safe parts of their communities. Taylor is not a g

3

As one of the Engineers on the Eagle, I can back up some things Samantha said, offer hope for others and dispute a few.

The Eagle has, in the past 8 months run miserably, with the misery increased during trackwork in Illinois and also as a result of flooding in the midwest. The train is coming around however, and the last train I brought south was into SAS at 12:30AM, two hours off the mark, considerably better than the 3 to 5 hours off the mark which were regularities earlier in the year. Recent other arrivals have actually put the train into San Antonio before midnight, and we have not lost a connection to No. 1 for quite sometime, and have regularly started beating No. 2 into town, which is as it should be.

Northbound out of San Antonio, No. 22 tends to run very well, arriving on time regularly at Austin. Departure from Fr. Worth varies slightly, with the train on time to less than an hour late. Marshall sees the northbound closer to on time, if not completely there, and after that, the fun starts.

The train is now equipped with the new “cross country cafes” about which opinions vary from very nice to completely horrid. They seem nice and well designed inside, but my seat is up front, so I really do not get to sample the service or true functionality of the car.

The station in Austin, while not in the best part of town, certainly is not in what one might call the seedy part of town. Like San Antonio, passengers have told us that walking in groups seems safe enough, but what can you go do in San Antonio late at night that is worthwhile? The shops along the river are mostly closed as is the Alamo and other attractions. Cabs are now readily available at both locations, so local transportation should not be a problem. One word of note: a VERY nice high rise hotel has gone up only a block away from the San Antonio Depot, in the Sunset Station area, and there is now a considerable amount of walking security in the area i

4

Thank you Samantha and 4merroad4man for your detailed and helpful comments.

We appreciate the time you spent giving us your 1st hand information.

Regards,

Dennis

5

Could you answer a couple of Eagle questions for me?

  1. Am I correct that the south end crew operates the train from San Antonio to Austin and vice versa?
  2. If # 1 is correct, does the crew layover in Austin or San Antonio or is it driven back to its base?
  3. Earlier this summer an Eagle rider from Houston to Chicago, I believe, posted a trip report on the Eagle. He said it still had the sightseer lounge car, and it was staffed. Is this still the case? I had heard that Amtrak was placing the newly formatted dinner and lounge car on the Eagle with plans to continue using the sightseer lounge car but without an attendant.

Thanks!

6

One more question, please.

What is the station and area like at Longview, TX?

Dennis

7

Sure:

1/2. The Engineer is the only member of the crew laying over in Austin, with the exception of selected OBS personnel. The train crew runs to Ft. Worth.

  1. The full lounge was scheduled to come off in September, as I understood it, but I have not heard any further updates. Right now you get the full lounge, the half and half lounge-diner and the full diner with exceptions here and there. OBS crewing has been constantly adjusted.
8

The station in Longview occupies a portion of the old Missouri Pacific station and office building. It is nothing to write home about, but it is clean, or at least it was the last time I looked at it, which was about a year ago.

The Longview Station is on the wrong side of the tracks, but it is not in a bad area of town. The downtown area of Longview is immediately across the tracks. Like the downtown areas of many of Texas’ smaller communities, it has seen better days. With the exception of the banks and a few die hard business operators, most of the merchants fled downtown for the mall or strip shopping centers on the outskirts of town.

The southbound train arrives there at 9:00 a.m., whilst the northbound train is due at 6:15 p.m. However, as I mentioned, the Eagle is not noted for its on-time running.

Longview is the transfer point for passengers going to or from Shreveport, Nacogdoches, Houston, or Galveston on the Thruway connection.

Longview has limited public transit. The buses run about five or six fixed routes in Longview. You can learn more about it by typing Longview Public Transportation into Google or your search engine of choice.

If you plan to visit friends or family in the Longview area, the best bet is to have someone meet you at the train. If you just want to visit East Texas, you will need to rent a car. As best I can remember, the rental car agency is at the airport. You would be best advised to rent the car in advance and see if the rental car agency will pick you up at the train station. Amtrak usually has a rental car partner, so I would see if they have an agency in Longview.

If you plan to spend some time in Longview, the best restaurant in town is Johnny Cace’s. It may be the best inland seafood restaurant that I have eaten in. And I have eaten in a bunch of restaurants. I spent a lot of time in e

9

Hey, the other half of your question, albiet second hand: The Cardinal/Hoosier State is usually pretty good from what my Aunt and Uncle have said, Rode it last month they did. It usually gets in Indy at Midnight one way and 6:15am the other. Hoosier State is a local running between Chicgo/Cinncinati whilst the Cardinal is on it’s way out and back from Washington DC. There is not any food as I understand it on the Hoosier, the Cardinal maintains a diner of sorts for it;s long distance sprint. But you might pack a cooler or a bag with a hunk of artifical iceblock in it. Also been some debate from other Hoosiers though about it almost being easier and cheaper parking wise to board at a smaller station up the way. But Indy is porbably in better shape than any of the others. People have been nice.

10

I have ridden both but it was about 4 years ago and the delays due to track work tend to move around. I had planned on being late into Austin - based on general experience but the day I rode - we arrived 15 minutes early and I had to wait for my ride. Some of the cabbies in Austin monitor arrival time so there are generally several cabs waiting. I know that if I arrived at the station and no cabs were there - the train was late.

dd

11

Travel always is in the hands of the gods; and they can be jokers. Surrender to the trip, being forewarned that the schedule is fiction.

One of the great things about long-distance train travel is that you have a few chances to meet interesting people. You might even run into frequent-rider Samantha.

With any luck, you might get a day or night photo of the Arch in St Louis. If you’re not adept with a camera, try a few night shots out the train window beforehand. Go to maximum ASA and reduce resolution as needed to get as much shutter speed as possible. Image stabilization helps. Use a towel, blanket, shirt, sweater or jacket for a hood over you and camera by the window to cut down in reflected inside light. Or use it “artistically” for reflected portraits of yourselves on the train.

The best part of running late northbound is the charmingly bucolic Missouri countryside with hills and trees north of Poplar Bluff. First, don’t get caught praying to run late. Second, be careful what you ask for - remember the gods of travel?

Illinois and Arkansas are pretty flat - Big Sky Country in the Midwest. The seemingly endless farm fields impress with their bounty.

Approching St Louis along the Mississippi south of St Louis is marred by “brown field” abandoned, often cleared, industrial sites. Once across the Mississippi, you don’t see it again.

12

Phot suggestion: Place camera all the way to the glass to cut down majorly on glare and the oivios fact that you are shooting through a window.

13

Thanks to everyone who replied with the many helpful comments.

Your assistance is very much appreciated!

Dennis

14

The Eagle goes by my place at night. Usually about Midnight (Plus or minus 12 hours) it leaves Little Rock and passes through my crossing with that whistle. Then the other train comes south within a day.

The Mainline where I am in very heavily traveled, particularly at night but usually the Eagle glides through without trouble.

Once already this year a drunk high centered a car on the tracks in one of the local towns and Amtrack took it out, the two escaped and were prosecuted later.

I prefer to travel by Jet because my health does not allow travel taking many hours anymore. I need to get from A to B within a day or not at all including security, meals and check in.

15

Another question about the Texas Eagle:

Does Amtrak still run a through sleeper on the Sunset Ltd. from L. A., and switch it to the Texas Eagle at San Antonio? Or do I have to get off and pass the time until the Texas Eagle departs for points north?

I know that there was a through sleeper in years past, but it’s been a long time since I rode it.

Thanks in advance for any info.

16

An Eagle sleeper and coach(s) are transferred from Number 21 to Number 1 and to Number 22 from Number 2 in San Antonio. It is not necessary to change cars.

The layovers in San Antonio are pretty long if the trains arrive on schedule. Number 21 is carded into San Antonio at 10:25 p.m. The Sunset is scheduled to leave San Antonio at 5:40 a.m. Number 2 is due in San Antonio at 10:25. Number 22 does not leave San Antonio until 7:00 a.m. Technically speaking, the Eagle cars west of San Antonio are Train Numbers 421 and 422.

Since the first of the year Number 21 has been late into San Antonio by an average of 127 minutes. Number 2 has been late by an average of 84 minutes.

17

That info is very helpful. Thanks, Samantha.

Good thing I won’t be in a hurry if I make this trip! As long as I’m allowed to snooze in a through sleeper, it should all work.