Changes to Capitol Limited/Texas Eagle

[jpakala]

We were at Union Station (STL) in September to see the acquarium, ride the ferris wheel, and use the amazing rope & wire loops & routes of the indoor aerial 'course'; BTW the hotel dining room is excellent, and don't miss the scores of RR passenger streamliner pictures, Pullman ads, etc. on the hallway walls of the original station building section of the hotel (we stayed in a newly added section but could roam everywhere). The Metrolink station there is immediately adjacent outside on the southeast, down stairs or an elevator. At the Gateway station the Metrolink is just to the east between the long-distance bus section of Gateway station and a local bus 'hub' (across the street east from which is the OYO Hotel Saint Louis Downtown City Center).

 

[jpakala]

I think you can ride the Metrolink free between those 2 very close stations, but on a nice day walking between Gateway and historic Union Stations is very doable. Head west on Spruce then right on 16th then left on Clark to 18th which borders Union Station on the east side. Each segment is one block.

 

[juanee]

Walking is about the same amount of time as the metro because you will probably have to wait for one to arrive. It’s walkable with one roller suitcase and you are ok with walking.

I am pretty mobile, I place my garment back on top of my wheeled suitcase and can easily move about even when it is heavy.

I took the time to look at a map in detail. Looks like there are sidewalks on those streets, seems accessible walking with a rolling suitcase.

Thank you to everyone who chimed in on my question…

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I am pretty mobile, I place my garment back on top of my wheeled suitcase and can easily move about even when it is heavy.

I took the time to look at a map in detail. Looks like there are sidewalks on those streets, seems accessible walking with a rolling suitcase.

Thank you to everyone who chimed in on my question…

As I recall, there are streetlights too. I always try to remember to look for those if I might be traveling to an area after dark

 

[Palmland]

Trains’ Newswire reported today that with the run through equipment on the Capitol/Texas Eagle it will save one train set that will allow it to resume daily operation effective March 28. It also says passengers will not be allowed to remain onboard in Chicago and assumes the train will back into Chicago to add/suntract a St Louis coach and power.

I guess this reinforces the notion that lack of equipment due to lack of maintenance personnel really is the main driver in less than daily operation on some trains and reduced consist size. There was a time when this type of poor management would have had head roll- but maybe there aren’t enough heads left!
******
“CHICAGO — Shared trainsets, running through between Washington D.C. and San Antonio, Texas, via Chicago, are part of the plan when the Texas Eagle and Capitol Limited resume daily operation on Monday, March 28. This will end a reduction to five-day-a-week departures that began in January.”

 

[Amtrak25]

Won't a coach and sleeper from this consist proceed onto LA on Sunset days ? That will be a long journey from DC to LAX. They are capitalizing on the rather inefficent equipment utilization of the Capitol Ltd with 3 train sets laying over for nearly 24 hours in DC, but both DC and LAX will be dealing with very dirty trains by the time they get there. Article mentioned the poor reliability of NS in Indiana of train 29 could easily mess this up.

Does the the City of NOL do a same day turn in Chicago ?

 

[dadonatrain]

I’ve been following this out of curiosity and I think I understand but maybe not. So…

if psgrs from Washington to San Antonio must get off while in Chicago, how does what Amtrak is doing amount to anything different for those passengers than if they had booked the two trains separately as before this change? I get how it uses eqpt differently so that helps Amtrak, I guess, but is it really anything different for the psgrs? I’m not criticizing it. I just want to understand how a traveler should interpret it.

 

[Bob Dylan]

And the consist is going remain the same Sad, 4 Car Superliner Orphan( 1 Sleeper,1CCC and 2 Coaches, 1 a Bag Coach) pulled by One P-42!

The Texas Eagle Sleeper is generaly Full @ High Bucket Fares ( the Crew has to share the Rooms with Revenue Passengers since there's no Transdorm) and Flex Meals are served in the CCC which in the Case of WAS -SAS will amount to 7 Meals!!!!

The Eagle is notorious for running out of Food and Drink even before it reaches San Antinio,( and Is funky and ratty as it isn't cleaned properly in Chicago or at all in San Antonio) and must turn for Chicago the next morning without being Re-Stocked!

Also, the Train will spend 2+ Hours in St Louis for Inspections,and Gateway Station isn't exactly Moynihan Train Hall or LAX!

Include me out for this Route, Southwest Airlines will get you to Nice Cities that have Good LD Trains!!

 

[Rasputin]

Include me out for this Route, Southwest Airlines will get you to Nice Cities that have Good LD Trains!!

Very sad what has happened to the Texas Eagle and the Crescent. They both used to be such nice trains and I used to look forward to more trips on them.

I will be going to Tucson next year. My plan is to fly to New Orleans and take the Sunset to Tucson and to avoid the Crescent and the Texas Eagle.

 

[Cal]

if psgrs from Washington to San Antonio must get off while in Chicago, how does what Amtrak is doing amount to anything different for those passengers than if they had booked the two trains separately as before this change? I get how it uses eqpt differently so that helps Amtrak, I guess, but is it really anything different for the psgrs? I’m not criticizing it. I just want to understand how a traveler should interpret it.

No major differences, but I'll list the ones I can think of.

-If the inbound train is late, the outbound train will most likely also be late. I don't think the turn will be particularly long.

-Slightly modified schedule for the Texas Eagle (shown below).

-Cars may be a bit dirtier as I'm unsure of how much they will be able to clean the consist since it won't have a huge layover in Chicago. Some CL passengers will be getting on a sleeper that originated in Los Angeles, over 60 hours prior.

 

[dadonatrain]

No major differences, but I'll list the ones I can think of.

-If the inbound train is late, the outbound train will most likely also be late. I don't think the turn will be particularly long.

-Slightly modified schedule for the Texas Eagle (shown below).

-Cars may be a bit dirtier as I'm unsure of how much they will be able to clean the consist since it won't have a huge layover in Chicago. Some CL passengers will be getting on a sleeper that originated in Los Angeles, over 60 hours prior.

View attachment 27728

Thx. This helps.

 

[Sidney]

Thx. This helps.

I ll be on the Capitol Limited and Texas Eagle/Sunset in late August. I'll be starting in Martinsburg WV on Saturday and arriving in LA early Wednesday on the same train. Coach to Chicago. Sleeper to LA. One plus. With the 11:55 departure of the Eagle and the usually late arrival of the CL into Chicago I don't have to worry about making my connection.

 

[Trogdor]

if psgrs from Washington to San Antonio must get off while in Chicago, how does what Amtrak is doing amount to anything different for those passengers than if they had booked the two trains separately as before this change?

The trains are still booked separately. The passenger technically notices nothing except a different departure time from Chicago on the Eagle. What Amtrak does with the equipment is a behind-the-scenes action that is only getting discussion on here because of the level of attention people on this forum pay to stuff like that. “Ordinary” passengers have no reason to know or care where the equipment came from.

 

[Rasputin]

Just amazing to consider that the Capitol Limited which connects some minor metropolitan areas is now down to one sleeping car while airline traffic is bursting at the seams.

This is far from what I expected when Amtrak was created in 1971.

I have to wonder why I keep racking up points on my Amtrak credit card. I guess it is only so I can get to Chicago and travel west from there where apparently decent train travel sometimes still exists.

 

[Trollopian]

Even without counting the endpoints (Washington DC and Chicago), there are two very non-minor metropolitan areas on the Capitol Limited route, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Plus a whole host of smaller ones, such as Cumberland, Sandusky, Toledo (where there's a big exodus to Detroit), South Bend. You're right about one thing: it merits much better service. I've never been on one that wasn't well-filled.

Amtrak Capitol Limited route

 

[neroden]

I am pretty mobile, I place my garment back on top of my wheeled suitcase and can easily move about even when it is heavy.

I took the time to look at a map in detail. Looks like there are sidewalks on those streets, seems accessible walking with a rolling suitcase.

Thank you to everyone who chimed in on my question…

I've walked it (St Louis Amtrak station to St Louis Union Station and back, with luggage). Sidewalks are somewhat broken up so it's a bit bumpy for a rolling suitcase but it's fine. (At the time I was there the Union Station Metrolink was closed for construction so I couldn't try that.)

 

[Bonser]

I've noticed the CL westbound has all rooms listed as sold out through the end of June. At least it appears so with my spot checking. An earlier post said they were notified that the 3/27 CL sleeper car was cancelled so I was wondering what's going with the CL. The LSL had plenty of rooms available during the same period in my spot checks. Does anyone know anything about this or is the CL, in fact, just sold out?

 

[frequentflyer]

So what is done at a mechanical stop? Is this the reason why the Sunset sits at TUS for an hour even when running late? What is mechanical doing during that hour?

 

[JP1822]

My reservations (plural) have been unaffected to date on the Capitol Limited. But I also chose to book the lowest sleeping car number, which is the sleeper next to the diner. Typically if Amtrak takes a sleeper car off they re-arrange those in the higher car number. If the Capitol's consist was programmed with TWO sleepers, Amtrak's been taking the second sleeper OUT of the system (be it a full Superliner Sleeper or Superliner Trans/Dorm Sleeper), now that there's a run-through operation going on between Capitol Limited and Texas Eagle. At least ONE Superliner Sleeper is still there in the consist. With that adjustment though, there are MANY days now that the Capitol Limited is SOLD OUT in sleeper class. Demand certainly exceed capacity. Amtrak doesn't seem to care. Even when going tri-weekly, the Capitol started out with one Superliner Sleeper, but then it got so bad that they did add either a full Superliner Sleeper or Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper to ease congestion even from misconnects.

Right now though, eastbound there's only like one day between now and April 15th with a sleeper accommodation available, and just as bad as westbound. The Capitol Limited's demand, despite what Amtrak has said over the years, has ALWAYS warranted at least TWO Superliner sleepers AND Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper space being sold April through October. I've been onboard when Amtrak has even added a third sleeper for a couple of months. They save a train set in the run-through operation, but they've done nothing to increase capacity.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

I hope this is all documented when Amtrak goes to Congress and says the network is bleeding them dry. Some trains are sold out, others are priced out of the range of most people. The end result is the same ridership is being depressed. As the months go on it will be more obvious why this is. It was noted on the other board, just because Amtrak says it‘s “hiring”, doesn’t mean they are actively bringing new employees onboard with any sense of urgency.

 

[Bonser]

My reservations (plural) have been unaffected to date on the Capitol Limited. But I also chose to book the lowest sleeping car number, which is the sleeper next to the diner. Typically if Amtrak takes a sleeper car off they re-arrange those in the higher car number. If the Capitol's consist was programmed with TWO sleepers, Amtrak's been taking the second sleeper OUT of the system (be it a full Superliner Sleeper or Superliner Trans/Dorm Sleeper), now that there's a run-through operation going on between Capitol Limited and Texas Eagle. At least ONE Superliner Sleeper is still there in the consist. With that adjustment though, there are MANY days now that the Capitol Limited is SOLD OUT in sleeper class. Demand certainly exceed capacity. Amtrak doesn't seem to care. Even when going tri-weekly, the Capitol started out with one Superliner Sleeper, but then it got so bad that they did add either a full Superliner Sleeper or Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper to ease congestion even from misconnects.

Right now though, eastbound there's only like one day between now and April 15th with a sleeper accommodation available, and just as bad as westbound. The Capitol Limited's demand, despite what Amtrak has said over the years, has ALWAYS warranted at least TWO Superliner sleepers AND Superliner Trans-Dorm Sleeper space being sold April through October. I've been onboard when Amtrak has even added a third sleeper for a couple of months. They save a train set in the run-through operation, but they've done nothing to increase capacity.

I have car number 2900 on the CL westbound. How do I know if it's the first or second sleeper?

 

[John Bredin]

So what is done at a mechanical stop? Is this the reason why the Sunset sits at TUS for an hour even when running late? What is mechanical doing during that hour?

The Sunset Ltd. gets fueled at Tucson, and I believe watered too. You can see it on the Tucson station webcam.

 

[jis]

The Sunset Ltd. gets fueled at Tucson, and I believe watered too. You can see it on the Tucson station webcam.

And possibly 1500 mile mandatory mechanical inspection.

 

[frequentflyer]

And possibly 1500 mile mandatory mechanical inspection.

I believe it does, so what is happening that we are not seeing on the cam? What is involved in the mandatory inspection?

 

[frequentflyer]

With 21's 11:55am departure, what connection opportunities are there in CHI now? From Detroit, Milwaukee, LSL, CAP LTD and Cardinal?