Texas Eagle Discussion

hi55us wrote:But it's always great to see Amtrak adding stops to it's LD trains, as it makes little time difference (on a 24 hour + run like the Eagle)

Ah, but it does make a difference! 7 minutes for a low level stop plus many other associated costs oft overlooked!

When the Texas Eagle detours off the Lincoln corridor between Chicago & St. Louis in either direction, what route is used?

The former Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad, a route that manages to avoid any place of decent population (although it is only a couple of miles from my house).

I have to ask - are you in the Heights? I used to have an office there for a few years. The CHTT was a great bit of trackage to chase trains on. Nothing fast, nothing boring, and plenty of non-turbo locomotives that barked like a dog when they accelerated.

I live in Crete, but I spent most of my childhood in Chicago Heights. I actually worked for the CHTT as a yard clerk for a short time in the late 1960's.

Here's another Texas Eagle reroute question:

Recently the train has been detouring between Taylor and Longview, missing Fort Worth and Dallas altogether. What routing is being taken here?

It takes the UP route that runs east of Champaign-Urbana. I rode it in spring of 2011. We went 60 mph most of the way.

Here's a IL railroad map

http://www.dot.il.gov/officialrailmap.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And to eastwind's question, the route in Texas is the old International-Great Northern, the freight mainline that skips Dallas and cuts the corner direct from Longview to San Antonio.

In other words, the route of the South Texas branch of the Missouri Pacific's Texas Eagle through Palestine?

Yes, otherwise known as the MoPac.

According to this link, Amtrak will stop at Palestine to interchange cars and passengers with the Texas State RR: http://www.highirontravel.com/site1/schedule.html

Rare Mileage: Amtrak Re-Route on ex-MP San Antonio to Longview, TX
Not only is this an opportunity to ride the former Missouri Pacific line from Taylor, TX to Longview, but it also includes a steam side trip over the Texas State Railway from Palestine to Rusk and return.

Nov. 11 Lv. Chicago on #21, 1:45PM (Usual route via Dalls/Ft. Worth)
Nov. 11 Lv. St. Louis 8:00PM

Nov. 12 Arr San Antonio 9:55PM

Nov. 13 Lv. San Antonio 7:00AM (Via re-route)
Nov. 13 Arr. Palestine 2:30PM (est.)

Nov. 13 Steam trip to Rusk; arr. about 5PM; overnight in Rusk

Nov. 14 Steam trip back to Palestine; Lv. 11:30AM
Nov. 14 Arr. Palestine 2PM (est.)
Nov. 14 Lv. Palestine 2:30PM (est.) on #22.

Nov. 14 Arr. Texarkana 8:43PM
Nov. 14 Arr. 11:39PM

Nov. 15 Arr. St. Louis 7:19Am
Nov. 15 Arr. Chicago 1:52PM

Equipment: Caritas and ex-Santa Fe "Big Dome": Chicago to San Antonio to Rusk Big Dome Rusk to Palestine on return trip; Caritas Rusk to Palestine to Chicago.
Includes all en route meals.
Fares:
Chicago to Chicago on Caritas; bedroom, double occupancy $2750
Dome seat: San Antonio to Palestine and on to Rusk $950
Seat in Caritas: Rusk to Longview or Texarkana $495
Seat in "Big Dome:" Chicago to St. Louis $295.

I have a couple of little questions about the Texas Eagle. I was looking at the timetable on Amtrak.com and it includes this little nugget at the bottom of the page:

The Texas Eagle serves all stations between Chicago and San Antonio daily. Through service west of San Antonio operates tri-weekly, departing Chicago, Poplar Bluff and intermediate stations on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Eastbound trains departing Los Angeles on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday arrive Dallas on Tuesday, Friday and
Sunday, and stations between Walnut Ridge-Chicago on Wednesday, Saturday and Monday.

That paragraph is apparently included there at the bottom of the page twice word for word, once in a white box and again in a green box. I'm a little confused by what it means. Does the Texas Eagle actually continue West to Los Angeles on those days, or is this referring to the possibility of connecting to the Sunset Limited at San Antonio and continuing one's journey that way? I don't really know that much about the Texas Eagle myself.

Also, I'm curious if there's any particular reason why the Texas Eagle/Lone Star didn't revert to its pre-Amtrak name when ATSF allowed Amtrak to go back to using the "Chief" name for the Southwest Limited.

When I did it in 2007, the Texas Eagle set out a sleeper and a coach, which the Sunset Limited picked up overnight, when I woke up, we were on the move, attached to the Sunset Limited. I am almost 100% certain that this is the way it is still done.
Cheers,
Nick

Yes! I believe the cars that switch trains are listed as train 421, although they never have their own locomotive. Usually one coach and one sleeper switch between the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited on the days the Sunset Limited runs, and they are always placed at the end of the train. The regular sleepers on both trains are always placed on the front of the trains.

Dreezy wrote:Also, I'm curious if there's any particular reason why the Texas Eagle/Lone Star didn't revert to its pre-Amtrak name when ATSF allowed Amtrak to go back to using the "Chief" name for the Southwest Limited.

Amtrak's Texas Eagle is, in part, a reincarnation of the Missouri Pacific's Texas Eagle, not ATSF's Texas Chief (which later became the Lone Star). The Texas Chief operated Chicago-KC-OKC-Ft Worth-Houston. The only portion of that route that the current Eagle uses is Ft. Worth to Temple.

The Lone Star didn't revert to Texas Chief because it was discontinued in 1979, and ATSF didn't let Amtrak resume use of the Chief moniker until, IIRC, 1984.