trimetbusfan
OBS Chief
Well, I finally took a ride on the Texas Eagle this summer. My first time riding the 'non-sunset' portion between Chicago and San Antonio.
It wasn’t my initial plan to ride this train, but due to a change in my travel plans, my travel partner and I opted to extend the back end of our trip by a few days. I have already taken most of the routes out of Chicago, but the one reason I really ‘bit the bullet’ and actually booked a ticket for the TE was that on my travel date, I was able to score a low-bucket bedroom (and with roomettes in the high bucket, the upgrade was was only $13!). This is such a nice change, as bedrooms are in the thousands on almost every other Amtrak route.
I also want to note that I had already taken the builder in from Seattle, so I already had my fix of traditional dining and sightseer lounge, and I was willing to give that up for a few days on the Eagle. Anyways, onto the actual trip. We rode from CHI-SAS. Upon leaving Chicago on time we had PTC issues delaying us an hour. On day 1 it was quite fun to hit 100 mph in a superliner. I think this is the only part of the system where superliners go that fast (runner-up being the SWC at 90 mph).
After that initial delay, we were late for the entire trip. STL stop seemed longer than expected. It also seems like there is an attendant (LSA?) who rode the train in uniform 'off-duty' from CHI-STL. He unloaded a few cartloads of food from the cafe. Is this how they get food for the River Runner trains 311/316? Never seen that kinda maneuver before.
Anyways, most of the additional delay was gained overnight, so it didn’t really ‘feel’ like we were late at least. On the second day, UP had kept us moving for most of the day. We were stopped twice, both times for less than 20 minutes. At FTW we had an extended stop. Aside from all the normal servicing work, we also swapped one of our engines with the Heartland flyer. I don’t know if that’s a daily occurrence or not. All in all got to SAS about 2 hours late.
While there is still flex dining, there is a dedicated ‘dining car attendant’ for it in the CCC. This meant the cafe attendant doesn't have to close to run the flex meals! However, to me, it’s quite comical to receive ‘table service’ when you are getting served flexible dining. Other than the fact that entrees aren’t served with tin foil over them, the presentation is still about the same. The attendant even warmed up our deserts a little before serving them, which was something I’ve yet to have happen with traditional dining (the same brownie/butter cake deserts are served at lunchtime on traditional dining now). I found that to make the desserts taste a little better. Also, I will say, it is a little nice to be able to eat in the dining car and not be forced to do communal seating at each meal.
I rode two trains with flex dining last summer, and unfortunately, I think those meals were slightly better than what is being served on the menu this year. While the meals were cooked fine and edible, I just didn’t like them that much. (However, I did find the continental breakfast to be pretty good. The new breakfast sandwich is pretty nice). I feel bad for people who exclusively ride the trains with flex dining.
That LSA was also nice enough to allow sleeper pax to use the dining car side of the car as a lounge in between meal services. Definitely didn’t feel ‘trapped in the room’ as many people on this forum have described this route to be.
Also, to my surprise, the ride quality on this route is 20x better than the empire builder (which again, I had just gotten off of). This route doesn’t feel like a roller coaster at every bump possible! (Probably also helped to have a Superliner II car for this route instead of a I). The scenery isn’t incredible, but by this point in my trip, it was kind of nice to be able to take a nap and know I wouldn’t miss any crazy scenery.
The consist was the same ‘baby’ train. 2 P42s, a sleeper, CCC, and 2 coaches (one being coach-bag). I was riding on a 421 day so the sleeper and rear coach were destined for LAX. The attendants on this route were pretty good too. Cafe LSA made announcements about their opening and closing (which some don’t). When they closed for meal breaks it wasn't that long before they reopened. SCA was good enough, no issues there.
I feel like one thing that people do not talk about when they mention this route is the fresh air stops. On the TE (just from CHI-SAS) there are a generous 9 daytime fresh air stop opportunities (not including the one at Little Rock, which most people sleep through). It’s very nice to be able to get off the train so frequently. For that reason, I enjoyed this route much more than the Crescent, which I rode last summer. (On that train, not only was the cafe car closed half the day, two of the four fresh stops are overnight).
I understand when people say this train needs another sleeper (or at least a transdorm). Even overheard the crew talking about this during one of our meals in the CCC. It also would be nice to have a ‘lounge car.’ Personally, I wouldn’t mind if they even used a dining car as a lounge regularly if SSL cars aren’t available.
All in all, there were some delays but it was pretty average for Amtrak. 2 hours late is nothing. I am glad I waited a little bit to ride this train. I definitely wouldn’t ride this train unless you’ve had some experience with Amtrak. But it's not the worst train I've ever been on, and it was good enough that I’ll likely ride it again someday (and hopefully the traditional dining is back by that time).
It wasn’t my initial plan to ride this train, but due to a change in my travel plans, my travel partner and I opted to extend the back end of our trip by a few days. I have already taken most of the routes out of Chicago, but the one reason I really ‘bit the bullet’ and actually booked a ticket for the TE was that on my travel date, I was able to score a low-bucket bedroom (and with roomettes in the high bucket, the upgrade was was only $13!). This is such a nice change, as bedrooms are in the thousands on almost every other Amtrak route.
I also want to note that I had already taken the builder in from Seattle, so I already had my fix of traditional dining and sightseer lounge, and I was willing to give that up for a few days on the Eagle. Anyways, onto the actual trip. We rode from CHI-SAS. Upon leaving Chicago on time we had PTC issues delaying us an hour. On day 1 it was quite fun to hit 100 mph in a superliner. I think this is the only part of the system where superliners go that fast (runner-up being the SWC at 90 mph).
After that initial delay, we were late for the entire trip. STL stop seemed longer than expected. It also seems like there is an attendant (LSA?) who rode the train in uniform 'off-duty' from CHI-STL. He unloaded a few cartloads of food from the cafe. Is this how they get food for the River Runner trains 311/316? Never seen that kinda maneuver before.
Anyways, most of the additional delay was gained overnight, so it didn’t really ‘feel’ like we were late at least. On the second day, UP had kept us moving for most of the day. We were stopped twice, both times for less than 20 minutes. At FTW we had an extended stop. Aside from all the normal servicing work, we also swapped one of our engines with the Heartland flyer. I don’t know if that’s a daily occurrence or not. All in all got to SAS about 2 hours late.
While there is still flex dining, there is a dedicated ‘dining car attendant’ for it in the CCC. This meant the cafe attendant doesn't have to close to run the flex meals! However, to me, it’s quite comical to receive ‘table service’ when you are getting served flexible dining. Other than the fact that entrees aren’t served with tin foil over them, the presentation is still about the same. The attendant even warmed up our deserts a little before serving them, which was something I’ve yet to have happen with traditional dining (the same brownie/butter cake deserts are served at lunchtime on traditional dining now). I found that to make the desserts taste a little better. Also, I will say, it is a little nice to be able to eat in the dining car and not be forced to do communal seating at each meal.
I rode two trains with flex dining last summer, and unfortunately, I think those meals were slightly better than what is being served on the menu this year. While the meals were cooked fine and edible, I just didn’t like them that much. (However, I did find the continental breakfast to be pretty good. The new breakfast sandwich is pretty nice). I feel bad for people who exclusively ride the trains with flex dining.
That LSA was also nice enough to allow sleeper pax to use the dining car side of the car as a lounge in between meal services. Definitely didn’t feel ‘trapped in the room’ as many people on this forum have described this route to be.
Also, to my surprise, the ride quality on this route is 20x better than the empire builder (which again, I had just gotten off of). This route doesn’t feel like a roller coaster at every bump possible! (Probably also helped to have a Superliner II car for this route instead of a I). The scenery isn’t incredible, but by this point in my trip, it was kind of nice to be able to take a nap and know I wouldn’t miss any crazy scenery.
The consist was the same ‘baby’ train. 2 P42s, a sleeper, CCC, and 2 coaches (one being coach-bag). I was riding on a 421 day so the sleeper and rear coach were destined for LAX. The attendants on this route were pretty good too. Cafe LSA made announcements about their opening and closing (which some don’t). When they closed for meal breaks it wasn't that long before they reopened. SCA was good enough, no issues there.
I feel like one thing that people do not talk about when they mention this route is the fresh air stops. On the TE (just from CHI-SAS) there are a generous 9 daytime fresh air stop opportunities (not including the one at Little Rock, which most people sleep through). It’s very nice to be able to get off the train so frequently. For that reason, I enjoyed this route much more than the Crescent, which I rode last summer. (On that train, not only was the cafe car closed half the day, two of the four fresh stops are overnight).
I understand when people say this train needs another sleeper (or at least a transdorm). Even overheard the crew talking about this during one of our meals in the CCC. It also would be nice to have a ‘lounge car.’ Personally, I wouldn’t mind if they even used a dining car as a lounge regularly if SSL cars aren’t available.
All in all, there were some delays but it was pretty average for Amtrak. 2 hours late is nothing. I am glad I waited a little bit to ride this train. I definitely wouldn’t ride this train unless you’ve had some experience with Amtrak. But it's not the worst train I've ever been on, and it was good enough that I’ll likely ride it again someday (and hopefully the traditional dining is back by that time).
