# Bloomington Normal To St Louis



## Partyman (Jan 30, 2011)

Sat I took the Lincoln Service 301 to St louis to meet my parents at the airport. They were flying back from a cruise and I wanted to meet them at the airport and surprise them. They are both in there 70's ans get along well, but don't feel comfortable driving in a lot of traffic.

I got to the Bloomington/Normal station about an hour early, my ride had another appointment, hence the early time. Pretty bare at the station, so I walked to the hotel next door and got a cup hotel coffee. The train was right on time. I took my scanner and listened to the train communication and the milepost announcements. The milepost things were pretty cool. Several times I heard no defects, total axles, which I assume is good. Also the mile marker number, teperature and speed. The train seemed to top out about 82 mph, is this normal.

One neat thing, when we got just south of Springfield, we had a 40 minute delay. They were waiting for clearance to move onto the up tracks. Apparantly someone at Amtrak dispatch forgot to request clearance.

When we left Alton, 2 people forgot to get off so they actually stopped the train and after about 1 5 minute delay, they actually backed the train up so they could get off. Very Cool.

Like the comedian say, the view was corn corn corn beans corn corn corn. Or last least the empty fields. The best part of the trip I think was actually coming across the Mississippi and into St Louis. Finally, something to look at.

When I got off the train, I went over to the mall at Union Station to kill a couple of hours. Than I jumped the metro red line for the trip to the airport. When I got to the airport I went over to the uso for a hot dog and killed a couple of hours.


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## JayPea (Feb 1, 2011)

I took the Texas Eagle from Bloomington to Los Angeles last year and when we approached St. Louis, the sun was setting over the skyline and the Gateway Arch. Unfortunately I was in the dining car at the time and had left my camera in my seat (covered up, out of view of course). Story of my life, missing great shots like that! :angry:


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## Partyman (Feb 2, 2011)

I took several pictures of the arch and tried to get some pics of Busch Stadium for my mom, but there was a little fog or maybe smog, not sure. But didn't get any very good ones.


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## cattrain (Mar 27, 2011)

Has anyone experienced the bus bridge between Bloomington and Alton? How acceptable/horrible is it? Went online to book tickets ALN to CHI and back, but am now considering driving. :-( Advise? The last time there was a bus bridge scheduled on this route, I got lucky and it was cancelled.


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## Steve4031 (Mar 27, 2011)

I did one Stl-sprinfield. It was ok. I hate buses but it was for a good cause. No problems. I went express, not local.


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## Everydaymatters (Apr 2, 2011)

cattrain said:


> Has anyone experienced the bus bridge between Bloomington and Alton? How acceptable/horrible is it? Went online to book tickets ALN to CHI and back, but am now considering driving. :-( Advise? The last time there was a bus bridge scheduled on this route, I got lucky and it was cancelled.


I did the bus bridge from Bloomington to St. Louis last October for the AU Gathering. It was OK. There were no stops as there was a different bus that took passengers who had stops between the two points.


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