Texas Eagle Discussion 2025

[drdumont]

Also mid-March is spring break for like a thousand colleges and even more K-12 schools, could it be the trains just got booked up? I reserved really early

It is pretty routine for them to just post "No Availability" which looks like "Booked Solid" when this stuff occurs. Yheir website is so archaic, idiotic, confusing... (You get the picture)... I don't think the Commodore 64 on which it runs can handle the extra load.
Believe me when I say that being a member of AGW and calling THEIR number is the only way to go. Sure, use www.juckins.net for a trove of great information.

https://juckins.net/amtrak_routes/amtrak_routes.php MAPS!!!
https://juckins.net/amtrak_timetables/archive/home.php TIMETABLES!!!

to get timetables for your desired routes, do a little plotting, then call AGW and ax them (as my Cajun Grandma used to say) what's the best deal.

I don't work for them or get paid by them, I just would like everyone to know of the benefits.

 

[Keith1951]

Just called guest rewards. She checked for me based on my reservation number and said she saw no scheduled trackwork and that I would receive a text and an e-mail if anything changed.

So for now I'm assuming everything is OK but of course now I am going to worry I'll be up there and find out that SURPRISE I will be in St. Louis and will have to rent a car from there to get to Mineola. Which I GUESS I could do but which I would not like

I just heard that notices will be going out this week or next for travel in April.

 

[drdumont]

I just heard that notices will be going out this week or next for travel in April.

Good info. We may just fly (ACK!) or drive DFW-NOL and take the CONO for our Spring trip.

 

[Keith1951]

I saw this on Facebook. Don't know if it's real....
The previously announced disruption of Texas Eagle service for scheduled UP trackwork on specified dates has been modified.
Amtrak is planning to operate a bus bridge for Amtrak 21 and 22 between Marshall and Fort Worth. The through cars ticketed as Amtrak Trains 421/422 will not operate. Passengers will connect at San Antonio to Sunset cars which also entails a decrease in capacity between San Antonio and Los Angeles.
A Coach-only service will operate between Ft. Worth and San Antonio on the days of service disruption. The passengers who normally would be in sleeper on 421/422 will ride that segment in Coach.
At least that is what the powers-that-be back East are saying now.

 

[Sidney]

Not anymore. The CONO got a diner back in the consist when the Floridian started. It got the CCC cars from the Capitol Limited. It’s back to full flexible dining and with the return of the lounge car to the Eagle those two trains are basically equivalent now. I had the “plus” version of flexible dining back in January on the Lake Shore. I’d say a couple of the newer entrees are halfway decent. The breakfast apple crepe one is far better than the pancakes or French toast options they had before. My opinion of course so take it for what it is.

I took the CONO last year and cafe car food was offered. I'll take that over flex. To me, a downgrade. I've heard on some trains you are allowed to substitute food from the cafe for flex. Kind of hit or miss. Imagine riding from New York to San Antonio on the Capitol Limited and Texas Eagle. Three full days of flex.

 

[drdumont]

I took the CONO last year and cafe car food was offered. I'll take that over flex. To me, a downgrade. I've heard on some trains you are allowed to substitute food from the cafe for flex. Kind of hit or miss. Imagine riding from New York to San Antonio on the Capitol Limited and Texas Eagle. Three full days of flex.

A ghastly thought, but fortunately, once the two cars from the Eagle, the 422 section , are attached to the Sunset you get full diner service and good food.
One of the FSAs is a four star b**** but otherwise it is a fine experience. Don't dare to lay your tablet or phone on the table, she will call the Conductor and make all kinds of threats. Ask me how I know. When I told the conductor that I was reading my Prayer of Grace before eating, he told her to pipe down. For the rest of the trip, the other FSAs attended me. I am sure when she saw their tips versus the penny I left for her, she understood.

 

[Tom C]

I took the CONO last year and cafe car food was offered. I'll take that over flex. To me, a downgrade. I've heard on some trains you are allowed to substitute food from the cafe for flex. Kind of hit or miss. Imagine riding from New York to San Antonio on the Capitol Limited and Texas Eagle. Three full days of flex.

Ehh I’ll take a reheated airline style meal over what’s basically microwave gas station food. To each their own I guess. I don’t think customer satisfaction index scores went up when it was just free cafe food either - otherwise they’d probably just do it on all the flex dining trains since it’s likely much cheaper. I’m certainly not opposed to having an option to add variety as I could see if you only really like one or two of the meal options that a long trip may get old, but I don’t think the average passenger saw the temporary CONO dining setup as an upgrade.

 

[drdumont]

The dogs are Hebrew National, top quality dogs. If the FSA will nuke dog and not the bun, they are quite good. Never tried the burgers, alas.
The FLEX crap does not come up to the standards of airline meals. It is all slopped into one container, heated in a convection oven, not nuked. Sometimes underheaated, sometimes overcooked/burned/dried out. I don't know what "properly" heated would be. Like "properly heating" a Cleveland Steamer. It would make no difference.

 

[Tom C]

I recently took a trip to California where I took the Lake Shore Limited and Zephyr heading west and flew home on Alaska Airlines in first class back due to time constraints which prevented me from taking the train home and I got a pretty direct comparison. With the flex meals now plated on the Lake Shore it was basically equivalent quality wise to what I got on Alaska on the way home. The real vs plastic dishes was a nice touch on Alaska but it was otherwise pretty similar. I certainly wouldn’t note a major difference in food quality at least with what I had. But hey - one person’s opinion.

 

[F900ElCapitan]

The same Facebook group, mentioned earlier, had a post from someone trying to book a roomette on the Texas Eagle in late May. They were only able to secure a lower level room so they called in and requested the transition sleeper. Evidently (according to the agent and a SCA) they were told the space isn’t being released and that management is already considering removing the transition/dorm sleeper this summer. It’s second hand info, but supposedly the decision will be made in late April.
I sure hope they don’t jack with it. I’ve already been moved so a worker could have my room. Not fun.