# #21 CHI-SAS, #2 SAS-NOL; 5/27-5/29



## NativeSon5859 (May 31, 2009)

Well, I finally got the chance to ride the full Texas Eagle route from Chicago to San Antonio. Now, the only LD train I have yet to experience is the Coast Starlight.

The trip started with me taking Delta Air Lines from Atlanta to Chicago. The flight was operated by a small CRJ-900 aircraft, and I was pretty much squished in like a sardine. Thankfully the flight was short and uneventful, and I soon found myself stepping on the CTA blue line train at O'Hare airport which would whisk me away to downtown Chicago in roughly 45 minutes for just a couple of dollars.

After getting off at the Clinton Street stop, I made the quick two-block walk to Union Station and checked into the Metropolitan Lounge. The time was 10:30, so I had a couple of hours to kill before my train stated boarding at about 1:10pm. The lounge filled up to near capacity by around noon, with huge crowds destined for both the California Zephyr and Empire Builder trains. At about 1:10pm boarding for the Texas Eagle, train #21, was called. There seemed to be around 15 sleeping car passengers boarding in Chicago. The consist for the train was as follows: 2 P42, Sleeping car (2), Cross Country Cafe, Sightseer Lounge, Coaches (3). I made my way to the regular sleeper and took room 13 on the lower level. It was clearly a newly rebuilt Superliner 1 car and, while nice, showed its age in spots.

The train departed pretty much on time and we made our way out of town at a pretty slow pace, but eventually picked up some speed after we departed Joliet, even though by that time we were running behind schedule by about :30. However, with the padding in the schedule, some of that time was made up as the afternoon progressed. I had a 5:30 seating for dinner in the Cross Country Cafe which was acting as a normal dining car. I actually think the cars themselves look great; however, after experiencing all the different seating arrangements on this ride, I can't say I'm a huge fan. The regular booths are okay...the curved three-seat booths are very annoying. Anyway, I had BBQ ribs for dinner, and they were pretty decent, although not great. I had dinner with fellow Amtrak Unlimited member Rick J. and his wife. They were really nice and the three of us had a nice conversation about....what else....all things Amtrak. Also during dinner, I got a great (and my first ever) view of the Illinois state capitol in Springfield.

After dinner I hung out in the Sightseer Lounge for about an hour before returning to my room for our approach into STL. I took a nice video of our passage over the Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis, and at that station stop, I stepped off for some fresh air and to have a chat with the friendly sleeping car attendant. After we departed STL the A/C came over the P.A and announced that we would probably lose time through Arkansas overnight due to flash flood warnings. I was wondering just how much time, knowing that I had a connection in SAS. My bed was turned down at approx. 9:30pm and I decided to call it a night. As usual it took me a while to fall asleep but I'd say I managed 4-5 hours of solid sleep when all was said and done, only waking up briefly in Little Rock and Arkadelphia. When I woke up for good just after we departed Texarkana, I noticed we were only about an hour late. Not too bad at all. And with all the padding south of Fort Worth, I figured my connection would not be in jeopardy. Breakfast was actually excellent. I had eggs, grits, a biscuit, and a high quality and good sized hot tamale with salsa. It was the "chef's special" for the morning and it was very, very good.

The rest of the morning was a relaxing jaunt through the woods of East Texas. Before I knew it, we were approaching Dallas, and we were very early there, so we had around an hour to kill. I stepped off for a few pictures and watched as an old lady came within inches of being creamed by an arriving light rail train. She was just walking across the tracks without checking to see if any trains were approaching. Well the train was blasting its horn but she seemingly didn't hear it until she was within maybe three inches of the track. She then looked up suddenly as the train was right there and backed away. Then, as it passed, she continued on her way like nothing happened. It was the closest I have ever seen to witness someone getting flattened by a train. And for the record, several of us were screaming out to her to "look out for the train! and waving our arms at her to get her attention, but obviously it didn't work.

At 12:00pm, while we were still parked in Dallas, I went in for lunch. During that meal I got to experience the dreaded "three seat booth" in the CCC...and I had the middle seat. It was just awkward and not very comfortable. And having to constantly turn my head to talk to my seatmates face to face was just annoying. The meal itself was okay...BBQ beef brisket sandwich. The portions, however, were very small, and I would not pay $7.75, or whatever it was, for it if I was riding coach...the angus burger, at least, is a nice size. After Dallas it was just a quick 45 minute ride to Forth Worth, where we had about an hour and a half to kill. The medics met the train here and wheeled off via stretcher the guy in the room next to mine. I had my eye on him the whole way and he definitely seemed a little "off". Apparently he was given a clean bill of health as about thirty minutes before departure, he made his way back on the train. We departed FTW on time for the final leg of our trip down to SAS, and we did so with one less engine. The lead unit was taken off and attached to a spare Superliner coach sitting on the adjacent track.

Since the dining car crew detrains in Austin (according to an employee because Amtrak doesn't want to pay the employees for the extra time), there was only one call for dinner at 4:30pm. I can't say I was really hungry but when you have a sleeping car, you might as well get your monies' worth. So, I had the flat iron steak, and I finished off most of it, surprisingly. The CCC was completely full for dinner (except for the 4 "lounge" booths which were never in use) and the LSA and his assistant were able to serve all meals in less than an hour. They worked very hard and were very pleasant in dealing with the usual short staffing. After departing Austin more or less on time, we made a quick stop in San Marcos before making the slow, tedious approach into SAS. It took us a good 45 minutes to loop around the city and line up with the station. But, thanks to the padding, we were well early. #21 is scheduled to arrive SAS at 10:25pm and we pulled in for 9:50pm.

My layover in SAS was about as seamless and painless as possible. I stepped off the train at 9:55pm, and train #2 pulled into the station at 10:15pm. After waiting for the passengers to detrain, I showed the coach attendant my ticket, and he said I could go ahead and board. I walked upstairs, picked out an open pair of seats, and settled in. Train #2 the Sunset Limited had a typical consist: 2 P42, Sleeping cars (2), Dining car, Sightseer lounge, Coaches (2), TE Coach, TE sleeper. I put on my headphones and reclined the comfortable seat and I was out like a light. I woke up at about 12:45am as the train was getting ready to depart. I noticed a few more people had boarded, and most rows of seats had at least one person on them. We had an on-time departure at 1:00am and then we detached the 2 TE cars from our train and were on our way for good at about 1:10am. We made good time between SAS and HOS and arrived there at 5:35am, about 10 minutes early. We would have 40 minutes to wait in Houston. I counted around 15 people detrain, and about the same number board.

Due to congestion on the normal route between Houston and Beaumont we took a detour on the old T&P route. This made my day since it was new mileage for me. I actually like this route more as it includes the trestle crossing of Lake Houston, and it seemed to be much faster...it only took us an hour and a half where the normal route can take two hours or more. In between HOS and BPT I had breakfast in the diner and sat with three people from New Mexico going on vacation in New Orleans. I also had a chance to chat with the diner crew and pick their brains about the proposed "end" of the SL and all the options on the table. They said they have heard them all and not to believe anything until something official is said. They also made it clear that cutting off the NOL Sleeper would be stupid, and they gladly pointed out that they had 35 sleeping car passengers bound for NOL on this run.

After a nice breakfast I spent some time in the Sightseer Lounge before returning to my seat. I fell asleep and woke up to find us in Lake Charles, where several people from my car detrained. Also, a group of U.S Border Patrol agents (with canine) boarded the train and they were going person to person asking us for our nationality. That was a first. We arrived in Lafayette about fifteen minutes late and about a dozen people detrained here and to my surprise about a dozen boarded...probably off to New Orleans for a weekend of fun, I would presume. I got a bite from the Cafe somewhere between New Iberia and Schreiver, and while downing a burger, I saw a sight which I was not expecting to see, to say the least: a steam train, engine and about a half-dozen cars, chugging along through a field in the distance. We were going too fast for me to get a really clear picture of it but I got one. It was sort of a surreal sight. Not long after we climbed the 4.4 mile Huey P. Long bridge spanning the Mississippi River...always quite a thrill on the train...and I got some good pictures out the rear window of the train. Twenty minutes later we backed up into the New Orleans station, thus concluding another enjoyable Amtrak adventure.

Thanks for reading, and I'll have a link to the pictures up as soon as I can.


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## the_traveler (Jun 1, 2009)

Great report!

I did just the opposite in March - NOL-SAS-CHI on #1/#22. And worse, it was not a night that #422 came from LAX. Thus I had the "pleasure" of waiting in the seats at SAS all night from ~2 AM (#1 was 1 hour early  ) until ~6:30 AM!


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## GG-1 (Jun 1, 2009)

NativeSon5859 said:


> Well, I finally got the chance to ride the full Texas Eagle route from Chicago to San Antonio. Now, the only LD train I have yet to experience is the Coast Starlight.


Aloha

I've Got some catching up to do with you, As there a few long distant trains I haven been on yet, The CONO being the closest to you.

I think you will Enjoy the Coast Starlight when you get the chance to ride it.



NativeSon5859 said:


> After dinner I hung out in the Sightseer Lounge for about an hour before returning to my room for our approach into STL. I took a nice video of our passage over the Mississippi River Bridge in St. Louis, and at that station stop, I stepped off for some fresh air and to have a chat with the friendly sleeping car attendant.


 I did about the same thing as you with the video camera, the Saint Louis views are fantastic. Was the Car Attendant, R Gee, I found him to be excellent, causing the minimalist attendant replacing him in SAS to appear poor.



NativeSon5859 said:


> At 12:00pm, while we were still parked in Dallas, I went in for lunch. During that meal I got to experience the dreaded "three seat booth" in the CCC...and I had the middle seat. It was just awkward and not very comfortable. And having to constantly turn my head to talk to my seatmates face to face was just annoying.


I had the same 3 seat booth, but with 4 in it, But it wasn't too bad as this time beside myself was a very attractive Theater teacher, and a young (?20) year old mother and her son. So the setting was fun.



NativeSon5859 said:


> Thanks for reading, and I'll have a link to the pictures up as soon as I can.


Mahalo For your report I enjoyed reading it and helped me remember my TE trip in April, but in SAS I went west.


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## NativeSon5859 (Jun 1, 2009)

As promised here's the link to a bunch of pictures.

CHI-SAS-NOL on Eagle/Sunset


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## printman2000 (Jun 2, 2009)

NativeSon5859 said:


> The lead unit was taken off and attached to a spare Superliner coach sitting on the adjacent track.


The TE usually only has one loco. Seems they were ferrying the Fort Worth protect unit back to Fort Worth. It is there in case of a need for the Texas Eagle or Heartland Flyer.


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## GG-1 (Jun 2, 2009)

NativeSon5859 said:


> As promised here's the link to a bunch of pictures.


Mahalo for the pictures, very nice. Your route into ST Louis was different from mine. I had read there were two ways in, Seems I better get busy and post mine.

Aloha

Eric


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## rms492 (Jun 3, 2009)

I will be doing the Texas Eagle this summer from L.A. all the way to CHI. (on 422 through)

My question: I don't understand the consist set-up. While on the Sunset, I understand that the last two cars (coach and sleeper) are the Eagle cars. So of course in SAS, they get attached to the REAR of the Eagle?? I have never seen an Eagle with a sleeper and coach at the END. I always see them up front.

To me, this seems like a lot of switching. My question is this: Once I'm on the Eagle, where will the two thru cars be placed??

What is the consist of the Eagle when it has the Sunset's two through cars?

Many thanks and look forward to the longest journey currently offered on Amtrak.


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## RandyJay (Jun 4, 2009)

Steve,

Thanks for the great trip report - really enjoyed meeting you and being able to talk trains during dinner - we'll have to do it again sometime! Yeah that approach into SAS on 21 is always super slow. Just about a mile before the station our young engineer was tested by UP when they red-flagged the track. He caught it and stopped, and when the UP guys told him rather informally to pull up to the crossing for a debrief, he said "sure, as soon as you take down the red flag". He wasn't going to pass that red no matter what. Cost us about 10 minutes, but we still made it in early (lots of padding here). Glad you had an early #2 and were able to board upon its arrival!

Cheers,

Randy


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## the_traveler (Jun 4, 2009)

rms492 said:


> I will be doing the Texas Eagle this summer from L.A. all the way to CHI. (on 422 through)
> My question: I don't understand the consist set-up. While on the Sunset, I understand that the last two cars (coach and sleeper) are the Eagle cars. So of course in SAS, they get attached to the REAR of the Eagle?? I have never seen an Eagle with a sleeper and coach at the END. I always see them up front.
> 
> To me, this seems like a lot of switching. My question is this: Once I'm on the Eagle, where will the two thru cars be placed??


The thru cars are kept near to the station, but not at the platform. I saw them when I came in on #1. And yes, there is a lot of switching done.

NOTE: If you are booked on trains #422 or #421 prior to SAS thru to a station after SAS, you can stay on board and sleep thru the stop. (They will switch these cars only.) However if you book #2 connecting to #422 in SAS or #421 connecting to #1 in SAS, you must get off and "enjoy" the station all night. You can not re-board until departure time.


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## RandyJay (Jun 4, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> rms492 said:
> 
> 
> > I will be doing the Texas Eagle this summer from L.A. all the way to CHI. (on 422 through)
> ...


The sleeper off of #2 gets placed just ahead of the diner on #22 (behind the trans-dorm), and the coach gets tacked on to the end of 22. Used to be the #2 sleeper was on the tail end of 22 - but no more. Current way keeps the consist a bit more normal and avoids a long walk for sleeper pax to the diner, but does make for more work for the SAS yard crew.


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## Guest_rms492_* (Jun 5, 2009)

RandyJay said:


> the_traveler said:
> 
> 
> > rms492 said:
> ...



Thanks for the answer, wow, a lot of work. So one car (the sleeper) is behind the trans-dorm, while the other (the coach) is at the end, amazing Amtrak would go to such great lengths. You'd think they would just slap the two cars on the end of the Eagle. Anyhow, with this info. in mind, I will bring ear plugs, as my sleeper will be one car away from the engine.


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## had8ley (Jun 5, 2009)

RandyJay said:


> Steve,
> Thanks for the great trip report - really enjoyed meeting you and being able to talk trains during dinner - we'll have to do it again sometime! Yeah that approach into SAS on 21 is always super slow. Just about a mile before the station our young engineer was tested by UP when they red-flagged the track. He caught it and stopped, and when the UP guys told him rather informally to pull up to the crossing for a debrief, he said "sure, as soon as you take down the red flag". He wasn't going to pass that red no matter what. Cost us about 10 minutes, but we still made it in early (lots of padding here). Glad you had an early #2 and were able to board upon its arrival!
> 
> Cheers,
> ...


That red flag test is an old one but it works (for the officials) quite a bit. Another one was to highball a train passing with a rag that had just a little red in it~ a definite test failure if you don't stop. The best one I ever experienced was an approach order to a track gang in a driving rain storm. There were two well dressed men standing on the side of the track. The brakeman said, "keep a knocking, they're not section men." The rule stated you had to stop if you came upon two or more men within the limits of an approach order. It didn't say they had to be in overalls or a tuxedo. After about 20 minutes the two officials gave up and got on the engine. The brakeman started blurting out that he told me to proceed with the train. The trainmaster coldly told him, "Then you would have been standing in the rain and out of service!" You could have filled an aquarium with the water that dripped off the two officials. Come to find out they had already called another crew to relieve us they were so certain that we would go flying by them.


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## Rail Freak (Jun 5, 2009)

All of ya know I'm a Southern Boy,  , so Texas Eagle Question????

(Please Answer Slowly)

21/22 vs 421/422?

In the Time Table it doesn't really show a difference. The page 61 map doesnt list the 421/422???

RF


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## the_traveler (Jun 5, 2009)

Rail Freak said:


> (Please Answer Slowly)21/22 vs 421/422?


T h e y a r e a l l t h e T E ! (S l o w e n o u g h  ? :lol: )

Back to speed!

#21 runs from CHI to SAS only. #421 runs from CHI to SAS, but is also the 2 cars that connect to #1 and run to LAX. #22 runs from SAS to CHI only, #422 is one of the 2 cars that come from LAX and connect to #22 in SAS.


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## Rail Freak (Jun 5, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> Rail Freak said:
> 
> 
> > (Please Answer Slowly)21/22 vs 421/422?
> ...



Wow! Glad I'm not color blind!

Thanx 

So, if going to/from LAX-CHI, take the #421/422?


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## Rail Freak (Jun 5, 2009)

$611 is the low TE Bucket, I assume???


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## the_traveler (Jun 5, 2009)

Rail Freak said:


> So, if going to/from LAX-CHI, take the #421/422?


You can take either. The only thing is if you take #421 or #422 all the way, you get to stay aboard and sleep thru the *LONG* stop if you want. However, if you take #22 or #422 connecting to #422 or #2 - OR - #1 or #421 connecting to #421 or #21, you _may_ have to get off at SAS and _may not_ be able to re-board until just before departure time - many hours later!


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## Rail Freak (Jun 5, 2009)

the_traveler said:


> Rail Freak said:
> 
> 
> > So, if going to/from LAX-CHI, take the #421/422?
> ...


Damn Dave, you're getting down to my speed! (That's exactly my point!)

Thanx


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## the_traveler (Jun 5, 2009)

My brain's not working right - I had the train numbers backwards. I should have #421 or #21 connecting to #421 or #1 - OR - #422 or #2 connecting to #422 or #22! (#1 runs westbound and #2 runs eastbound.  )

Nothing that a trip can't fix!


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## PaulM (Jun 6, 2009)

Rail Freak said:


> $611 is the low TE Bucket, I assume???


I'm guessing you are referring to the roomette upgrade. If so, I don't believe so. I while back I investigated LAX to CHI for January and February, 2010. On the appropriate days the SSL-TE shows up along with the SWC (and a 2-bus CZ option). The some days the upgrade was $611, others $295. On all days the coach fare was $143.


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## Rail Freak (Jun 6, 2009)

PaulM said:


> Rail Freak said:
> 
> 
> > $611 is the low TE Bucket, I assume???
> ...



I checked several Dates for the next year & found $611 to be the lowest. Maybe it's my bad luck or I was'nt including bus routes!


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