December 22, arrive in Chicago - It was either early or ontime I did not pay close attention was distracted with a cell phone call.
Arrival in St. Louis - 6:30 a.m. Departure 8:00 a.m.
Also, held at Marshall, TX longer than normal.
So once again, only guessing here… due to the complete lack of normal freight traffic on the line, the Texas Eagle bested it’s normal scheduled run time on the route. Some observations from the trip.
2 Sleeping cars placed directly behind locomotive with baggage car at end of the train. One passenger asked me why Amtrak did this and then proceeded to blow the horn all night long. I told them they had to blow the horn for crossings but I have no idea as to the rest and he should ask the conductor.
Track conditions at some of UP RR switches are getting quite crappy on this route, not sure if it is speed of the passenger train, deferred maintenence or both but the lateral (side to side forces) when going over some of the switches on this route are starting to throw people out of balance and they are falling on the train. Last year we did not have this issue. Not sure what causes this as I am not a track engineer but probably needs to be addressed before someone gets hurt. Overall the rest of the track on the route is in pretty good shape and smooth, just the switches seem to be an issue.
Car attendant was excellent but she was put in charge of two sleeping cars. Still she covered all those compartments, kept the toilet spotless, and took care of the malfunctioning toilets as you would expect (see item below). Definitely earned the $40 I tipped her at the end of the trip.
Fell asleep early Northbound, for some reason the Hope, AK stop brings out the best in me and when I went to the restroom for #2 I noticed every single toilet on the sleeper ha
Quoting CMStP&P: “December 22, arrive in Chicago - It was either early or ontime I did not pay close attention was distracted with a cell phone call.” You arrived 16 minutes early (from Train Status on Amtrak’s website).
All I remember was the clock reading 5 min to 2:00 p.m. in Union Station but I had been off the train for a bit by then. So do you have that website link you can post? I have this theory that Amtrak Texas Eagle over this holiday period will be ontime more than the yearly stats indicate (excepting any bad weather of course).
I think your hypothesis was right; less freight during the holiday period, improving the closer to Christmas. So you were fortunate. Arrival into Chicago on Dec. 20 was 126 minutes late; Dec. 21 was 42 minutes late; Dec. 22 was 16 mins. early; Dec. 23 was 21 mins. early.
All I remember was the clock reading 5 min to 2:00 p.m. in Union Station but I had been off the train for a bit by then. So do you have that website link you can post? I have this theory that Amtrak Texas Eagle over this holiday period will be ontime more than the yearly stats indicate (excepting any bad weather of course).
Just log on to www.Amtrak, and you will see “Train Status.” Click on that, and start filling in train number, location, and date. Add
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Another site which allows you to compare actual arrival times over any chosen time period:
I saw No. 21 yesterday at Taylor, TX. It had a transition sleeper, regular sleeper, lounge car, dining car, and two coaches. It did not have a baggage car.
Apparently one of the crew members did not allow being away from home over Christmas to dampen his/her seasonal spirit. H/she had strung colored lights around the inside of one of the crew room windows. Pretty neat!
I have been told by one of the Eagle’s San Antonio based conductors that the sleeper on the Eagle is positioned at the front of the train to facilitate the through car transfer in San Antonio. But his explanation may be questionable. I believe the sleepers are at the head end of most of the western trains irrespective of whether there is any enroute car switching.
The crew that makes the transfer to No. 1 or from No. 2 uses the Eagle’s power to transfer the through sleeper and coach.
I thought the Eagle or Sunset Limited crews would make the car switch in San Antonio, but I was told that Amtrak has a night crew that just works the transfers. Seems a bit pricy!
When I was in Alpine in October, I noticed that No. 2 had the transition sleeper and New Orleans sleeper on the front of the train, but the Chicago sleeper was on the back. Again, I believe this is to facilitate the transfer in San Antonio.