Texas Eagle discussion H2 2024

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Hi all. Next week I am taking the Texas Eagle #422 in coach from LAX to McGregor Texas. I am correct in assuming that at LAX the #422 cars will be at the end of the train? Are they offering Traditional dining in the Sunset Limited's dining car for coach passengers - I sure hope so.
Also, assuming we arrive reasonably on time in SAS, those two cars will be switched and added to Texas Eagle 22 - looks like breakfast that day will be in flex dining. Any suggestions on what folks have had for breakfast on the 21/22 with the flex dining. Thanks for any tips/suggestions.
 
billosborn said:
Hi all. Next week I am taking the Texas Eagle #422 in coach from LAX to McGregor Texas. I am correct in assuming that at LAX the #422 cars will be at the end of the train? Are they offering Traditional dining in the Sunset Limited's dining car for coach passengers - I sure hope so.
Also, assuming we arrive reasonably on time in SAS, those two cars will be switched and added to Texas Eagle 22 - looks like breakfast that day will be in flex dining. Any suggestions on what folks have had for breakfast on the 21/22 with the flex dining. Thanks for any tips/suggestions.
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Yes, the 422 cars are at the end of train 2. Yes, the Sunset Limited has traditional dining, and it is typically opened to coach passengers after the sleeping car pax dinner reservations are sorted out and seems to be pretty open for breakfast and lunch. Good question on the connection. I don’t believe the San Antonio connection policy has been tested, as nearly all of the train 2’s have been at least close on time since the change was made. I’ve had the flex omelette for breakfast, not great…not horrible.

Have a GREAT trip!!
 
I have noticed that the 2's arrival times at San Antonio have improved significantly. What change were you referring to? :)
 
billosborn said:
Any suggestions on what folks have had for breakfast on the 21/22 with the flex dining.
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Besides the flex-dining omelette, the breakfast menu includes pancakes and a "continental" breakfast. No recommendations yet, because the hubby and I will be riding the Texas Eagle for the first time roundtrip Pontiac, IL to Fort Worth, TX the week after next. We'll be having flex dining the whole time both ways, so if the hubby & I each choose different things, we should be able to taste-test most/all of the options on the Flex Dining menu.
 
billosborn said:
Hi all. Next week I am taking the Texas Eagle #422 in coach from LAX to McGregor Texas. I am correct in assuming that at LAX the #422 cars will be at the end of the train? Are they offering Traditional dining in the Sunset Limited's dining car for coach passengers - I sure hope so.
Also, assuming we arrive reasonably on time in SAS, those two cars will be switched and added to Texas Eagle 22 - looks like breakfast that day will be in flex dining. Any suggestions on what folks have had for breakfast on the 21/22 with the flex dining. Thanks for any tips/suggestions.
Click to expand...
The Texas Eaglete #21/#22 does NOT allow Coach Passengers to eat Breakfast and Lunch in the CCC,( Diner/Cafe) so you will be limited to Cafe fare between San Antinio and your destination in McGregor.
 
billosborn said:
Hi all. Next week I am taking the Texas Eagle #422 in coach from LAX to McGregor Texas.
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billosborn said:
- looks like breakfast that day will be in flex dining. Any suggestions on what folks have had for breakfast on the 21/22 with the flex dining. Thanks for any tips/suggestions.
Click to expand...
Breakfast will be picked up in the cafe end of the diner/lounge off this menu:
https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...ts/menus/national/National-Cafe-Menu-0723.pdf

Coach passengers do not have access to flex dining. IMHO you will not be missing much.

The sausage, egg and cheese bialy is pretty good if they heat it up correctly.
 
toddinde said:
I’ve always had great crews on the Eagle, and I haven’t seen any problem with Chicago based crews in general. That sounds like a sweeping generalization that’s unsupported. The Eagle is no more of an orphan than the City of New Orleans or the Capitol. It’s just the Texas folks are way more vocal.
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I agree, all 3 are Orphans as is the Crescent and the Cardinal!
 
billosborn said:
I have noticed that the 2's arrival times at San Antonio have improved significantly. What change were you referring to? :)
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I was referring to the 421/422 cars now being dedicated extra cars on 21/22 and not just using a sleeper and coach from that trains normal consist. Amtrak used to keep a coach and sleeper in San Antonio for Wed and Thurs nights when 1 and 2 don’t arrive on the same night. These cars could be used as protection cars when 2 was late on other nights. Since these cars are no longer there, I haven’t seen what the normal practice will be if 2 is significantly late.
 
F900ElCapitan said:
I was referring to the 421/422 cars now being dedicated extra cars on 21/22 and not just using a sleeper and coach from that trains normal consist. Amtrak used to keep a coach and sleeper in San Antonio for Wed and Thurs nights when 1 and 2 don’t arrive on the same night. These cars could be used as protection cars when 2 was late on other nights. Since these cars are no longer there, I haven’t seen what the normal practice will be if 2 is significantly late.
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Bustitution from SAS North ( Ft Worth or Longview are the usual spotsto catch #22/#422 if #2 is Late!
 
MccfamschoolMom said:
Besides the flex-dining omelette, the breakfast menu includes pancakes and a "continental" breakfast. No recommendations yet, because the hubby and I will be riding the Texas Eagle for the first time roundtrip Pontiac, IL to Fort Worth, TX the week after next. We'll be having flex dining the whole time both ways, so if the hubby & I each choose different things, we should be able to taste-test most/all of the options on the Flex Dining menu.
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"Flexible Dining" leads me to ask "Flexible for who?".
 
Bob Dylan said:
Bustitution from SAS North ( Ft Worth or Longview are the usual spotsto catch #22/#422 if #2 is Late!
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Yep, at least that was the former plan. Since there aren’t “protection cars” in SAS anymore, 22 will only have its 4 cars if it leaves prior to 2’s arrival. It’s very likely 22 won’t have the capacity to handle all of the 422 passengers.
 
The hubby and I will be getting off the Texas Eagle at Fort Worth, TX and returning northbound the next day. I was happy to see that there's a free "Molly the Trolley" service in downtown Fort Worth, apparently subsidized by the downtown hotels. Any suggestions/recommendations for restaurants very near "Molly the Trolley"'s route? Google Maps shows a Subway just N of the Amtrak station, which would do in a pinch, but places which aren't everywhere would be better. We're probably looking for a place to eat supper the day of arrival and lunch the next day before departure. (And inexpensive is good, too!)
 
There are several restaurants right on Sundance Square (where Molly goes), I know of a good steak restaurant but it's not inexpensive. The Subway is actually inside the station. Walk North toward the doors and make a left before you get to them. Subway's right there.

Here's an idea of what's around there but I haven't been to any except the steakhouse.
https://www.opentable.com/landmark/restaurants-

I hear the Mexican restaurant is good. The Molly driver can give you some suggestions, s/he's likely been to some of them.
 
jazzharris said:
There are several restaurants right on Sundance Square (where Molly goes), I know of a good steak restaurant but it's not inexpensive. The Subway is actually inside the station. Walk North toward the doors and make a left before you get to them. Subway's right there.

Here's an idea of what's around there but I haven't been to any except the steakhouse.
https://www.opentable.com/landmark/restaurants-

I hear the Mexican restaurant is good. The Molly driver can give you some suggestions, s/he's likely been to some of them.
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Thanks for the tips! The link provided is broken, but perhaps I can reproduce your search results by going to opentable.com and entering the address of our hotel in Fort Worth (on the Molly route, and about 1 block S of one of the stops).
 
I used to live in Frisco and worked out of Fort Worth. Riscky’s BBQ is on the Molly route, local, and pretty good. Prices are also good and the all-you-can-eat beef ribs don’t disappoint, just come hungry. As said before, Sundance Square has quite a few shops and restaurants and is fun to walk around. The other really fun spot and definitely worth the venture is the Stockyards. It’s just north of downtown and on the Orange Line. There is another Riscky’s BBQ and lots of other great eating spots, including the world famous Billy Bob’s and where the Grapevine Vintage Railway stops.

https://www.gvrr.com/
 
Boarding the Eaglette this afternoon. I will try to post trip report updates, as long as I can at least get a cellular signal. Might try to take pictures, too, although not sure if I'll be able to attach them to the relevant posts during the trip. (Typically, my phone saves pics to Amazon Photos, and then I download them to my desktop before uploading them to a social media post. It might be possible to link a photo directly from the phone's image storage, but I've never done it before, so I don't know how yet.)
 
Richard Anderson during his tenure as Amtrak CEO effectively destroyed TEMPO as an effective organization by taking way its participation in a unique joint Amtrak/TEMPO effort in setting fare levels and adjusting the consist on the TEXAS EAGLE. This was literally unbelievably stupid, as TEMPO's help had both increased ridership and revenue performance over multiple years, but Anderson would not tolerate that kind of user/advocate involvement. As with so many of his blindly stupid cost-cutting at all costs moves (of course tolerated/ok'd by his Board) this severely undermined the train's performance--compounded post COVID by deep cuts to the consist. The handling of the TEXAS EAGLE since 2017 has been (sadly) emblematic of Amtrak management's lack of commitment to the proper operation of its National Network trains.
 
MccfamschoolMom said:
Boarding the Eaglette this afternoon. I will try to post trip report updates, as long as I can at least get a cellular signal. Might try to take pictures, too, although not sure if I'll be able to attach them to the relevant posts during the trip. (Typically, my phone saves pics to Amazon Photos, and then I download them to my desktop before uploading them to a social media post. It might be possible to link a photo directly from the phone's image storage, but I've never done it before, so I don't know how yet.)
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I hope you’re not boarding one of the trains in Arkansas! They are extremely late.
 
F900ElCapitan said:
I hope you’re not boarding one of the trains in Arkansas! They are extremely late.
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No; boarding at Pontiac, IL. The southbound TE is usually pretty close to on-time when it passes my office window in Dwight on weekday afternoons, so I'll start monitoring train status shortly before its scheduled departure time from Chicago.
 
adt1982 said:
The 22 of the 5th is 9 plus hours late and isn't to Springfield, IL, yet. Ouch.
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We made up some time on the 421 between Alton and St. Louis, from 39 minutes late to only 21 minutes late. The hubby and I had the late slot for supper, though, so we kept having to grab the tops of seat backs in each coach car as we made our way to the dining car. Ouch! We ate fairly quickly, too, as we wanted to return to the sleeping car while the train was stopped at St. Louis. As it turned out, the coach car next to the dining car must have been the one which is dropped off at St Louis, because there were a lot of people getting off from that car, and we had to wait until they moved before we could continue to the sleeping car.
 

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