Texas Eagle getting "Contemporary Dining?"

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Technically they are. But the Texas Eagle between LA and San Antonio consist of only 1 sleeping car and 1 coach car that is attached to the Sunset Limited. The SL is keeping the Dining Car.

The daily TE operates from San Antonio to Chicago.
 
Yeah, so if the Eagle's diner (or technically CCC) gets the contemporary treatment, that only affects pax between SAS and CHI. Between SAS and LAX, the dining car, Sightseer Lounge, etc, are all from the Sunset Limited. Put simply, your three meals west of San Antonio will be hot and your two meals east of San Antonio would be cold.
 
Well you're only going to be on the Texas Eagle proper between San Antonio and Dallas, which means you'll only be getting two cold meals each way, which in my opinion really is not too bad. It isn't ideal, but you're still eating hot food for most of the trip, so it really could be worse.
But aren't the Sunset Limited and the Texas Eagle actually the same train from Los Angeles to San Antonio? So wouldn't the change in dining be applicable to both, and run the whole way through?
It doesn't quite work like that. Between LAX and SAS, it really is just the Sunset Limited. Two cars from the TE hitchhike on it, but the rest of the train and the route itself counts as the Sunset Limited. So when we talk about a change happening to the Texas Eagle, we're just talking about the full SAS-CHI train, not the SAS-LAX portion. Hope that makes sense!
Ah, okay. It's a little confusing. When I went on to the Amtrak site to look at prices, I was offered both the SL and TE from Los Angeles to San Antonio. Both were the same price, so I guess it doesn't really matter which I select, or does it? I'll be fine with cold meals just on the portion from San Antonio to Dallas, as it isn't that far and we can always grab a decent breakfast before boarding the train.

The three-day-a-week SL makes planning a little more difficult, but I can work around that. Thanks for the information!
 
It DOES matter whether you ride #2 or #422 between LAX and SAS!

The #422 Sleeper and Coach are on the end of Train #2 ( with the Sleepee being the Last Car in the Consist)between LAX and SAS. Upon arrival into SAS, they are Switched to the Texas Eagle #22 during the Layover and you don't have to get Off the Train.( the Sleeper will be next to the CCC on #22, the #422 Coach will be the end Car on #22)

If you ride in a Sleeper or Coach on the Sunset Ltd. #2 you will have to de-train @ o-dark-thirty and wait until boarding @ 630am. The Small,Uncomfortable Amshak in SAS is NOT a place you want to spend several hours in!

If the Prices are the same for both #s, or even close, chose Train #422/#421! Trust us!!
 
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Actually, it does matter!

If you chose train #2 connecting to train #22 or train #21 connecting to train #1, you will have to get off the train in San Antonio and wait inside the station overnight to board your connecting train. If you chose train #422 or train #421, you can if you wish stay aboard and sleep thru the stop. Those 2 cars are switch to the other train. Trains #2 and #1 go to/start from New Orleans.
 
Oh geez. I hope that isn't true. Hubby and I just decided this weekend that we'll take a trip to Dallas in the spring to visit his daughter, with a one-night stop in San Antonio on the way. That's a total of more than 80 hours on the Texas Eagle from Los Angeles to Dallas and back again, to say nothing of around $1,200 fare for a roomette. Cold, boxed food is not my idea of a meal, especially for that amount of time on a train. Might have to reconsider that trip, or at least our mode of transportation to get there.
Well you're only going to be on the Texas Eagle proper between San Antonio and Dallas, which means you'll only be getting two cold meals each way, which in my opinion really is not too bad. It isn't ideal, but you're still eating hot food for most of the trip, so it really could be worse.
There's also currently a hot entree available for lunch and dinner. Only one, so not much choice, but it is there.
True. They're technically only constrained to cold food for that one breakfast. Even if I ate meat, I still wouldn't have the short rib for both lunches and the dinner, but as you said, it is there.
While the short rib is hot, since it is heated in the bowl, the entire meal tastes like short rib. While I actually liked the flavor of the short rib but it was way too salty. I don’t think I’d have it again and no way I’d have it twice in one day or one trip.
 
It DOES matter whether you ride #2 or #422 between LAX and SAS!

The #422 Sleeper and Coach are on the end of Train #2 ( with the Sleepee being the Last Car in the Consist)between LAX and SAS. Upon arrival into SAS, they are Switched to the Texas Eagle #22 during the Layover and you don't have to get Off the Train.( the Sleeper will be next to the CCC on #22, the #422 Coach will be the end Car on #22)

If you ride in a Sleeper or Coach on the Sunset Ltd. #2 you will have to de-train @ o-dark-thirty and wait until boarding @ 630am. The Small,Uncomfortable Amshak in SAS is NOT a place you want to spend several hours in!

If the Prices are the same for both #s, or even close, chose Train #422! Trust us!!
It does if you don't want to get off the train, but when you're spending a day in San Antonio anyway, which she said they are, it ultimately doesn't.
 
I would say that a pretty simple but useful rule of thumb with Amtrak is that if it shows two trains on your itinerary, you're going to have to switch - whether that be to an entirely different train or just to another car. If it shows it as one train the whole way through (like with 421/422), you know that you're not going to switch. I know that that sounds pretty basic, but I feel like it clears up a lot of stuff and confusion with the Lake Shore, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle, etc. So if you don't want to change trains, make sure you're ticket is for one train.
 
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True, she did say “spending a day in San Antonio one way”, but I assume that they will be traveling straight thru in the other direction. Thus the recommendation for booking #422 or #421.
Exactly. We'll travel from Los Angeles to San Antonio, spend at least one night, maybe two, then continue on to Dallas. Two nights there, and then straight through back to LA. So coming back, we won't have to move to any different car or get off the train during the layover in San Antonio?
 
True, she did say “spending a day in San Antonio one way”, but I assume that they will be traveling straight thru in the other direction. Thus the recommendation for booking #422 or #421.
Exactly. We'll travel from Los Angeles to San Antonio, spend at least one night, maybe two, then continue on to Dallas. Two nights there, and then straight through back to LA. So coming back, we won't have to move to any different car or get off the train during the layover in San Antonio?
So long as you're booked on #421 the whole way through, you will not have to do anything during the San Antonio switch. If you're booked on #421 to #1, #21 to #421, #21 to #1 or anything like that, you'd have to change trains or cars. If it just shows it as #421 DAL-LAX, you're all set.
 
To be clear, I'm not actually recommending Waffle House run Amtrak's dining airs, but I think that having an actual restaurant or restaurant chain take over the diners could work.
I hope not the Waffle House. They have one of the worst heath dept inspection histories.
This! Not too mention that their menu's nutritional values would make the current dining car offerings look like health food. Customer service skills and attitudes would be also be worse. IMHO of course!
 
To be clear, I'm not actually recommending Waffle House run Amtrak's dining airs, but I think that having an actual restaurant or restaurant chain take over the diners could work.
I hope not the Waffle House. They have one of the worst heath dept inspection histories.
This! Not too mention that their menu's nutritional values would make the current dining car offerings look like health food. Customer service skills and attitudes would be also be worse. IMHO of course!
Just to clarify, I would not want Waffle House running Amtrak's dining cars. When we're on vacation down south we'll usually get lunch there, if primarily because we don't have it up here, but I would not want or recommend Waffle House as part of someone's daily diet.
 
You said just that exact same thing in your post!
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Since we don't have any up north, and we like waffles and hash browns, my dad and I are huge Waffle House fans. I'd be down with them "outsourcing" the dining cars to Waffle House. I imagine they can run a tighter ship than Amtrak would.
 
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I've been seeing posts on social media that Dining Car staff on the Texas Eagle are getting termination notices, and starting this fall the TE is getting boxed meals. These reports are coming from passengers on board the TE, who are getting their info directly from the DC staff on board.

Has anyone else heard this? I'm on the TE this week and will find out more.
I can assure you part of this is untrue. No employees on the TE will receive "termination notices". If jobs were being eliminated, there would be an abolishment notice posted showing which jobs are being eliminated and the effective date. Contractually they are only required to give 10 days advance notice although sometimes they are posted two to three weeks early to allow time to rebid any revised positions. If abolishment notices had been issued, these employees would know the exact date of any change. Also, no one is terminated, employees just bid or bump onto another job in the OBS system based on their seniority...
You do realize that some of them will be furloughed if there are not enough positions for all of the SA and SLAs right? I guess it's not technically being terminated, but they won't get a paycheck either.
 
I've been seeing posts on social media that Dining Car staff on the Texas Eagle are getting termination notices, and starting this fall the TE is getting boxed meals. These reports are coming from passengers on board the TE, who are getting their info directly from the DC staff on board.

Has anyone else heard this? I'm on the TE this week and will find out more.
I can assure you part of this is untrue. No employees on the TE will receive "termination notices". If jobs were being eliminated, there would be an abolishment notice posted showing which jobs are being eliminated and the effective date. Contractually they are only required to give 10 days advance notice although sometimes they are posted two to three weeks early to allow time to rebid any revised positions. If abolishment notices had been issued, these employees would know the exact date of any change. Also, no one is terminated, employees just bid or bump onto another job in the OBS system based on their seniority...
You do realize that some of them will be furloughed if there are not enough positions for all of the SA and SLAs right? I guess it's not technically being terminated, but they won't get a paycheck either.
You do realize they can also bump (move) into TA positions, redi crew positions, as well as transfer to other crew bases around the country? Not to mention with the turnover rate in OBS as well as people transferring into other crafts (ie conductor or office or management positions) , most crew bases are always short of personnel....Very rarely are OBS personnel furloughed other than sometimes by their own choice.
 
Would this mean that the dining car itself is being eliminated from the consist and that meals will be served in people's bedrooms or at their seats?

That would be rather regrettable, as I find the whole communal dining thing and getting to mingle with your fellow passengers has always been one of the highlights of LD trains on matrak.
 
Would this mean that the dining car itself is being eliminated from the consist and that meals will be served in people's bedrooms or at their seats?

That would be rather regrettable, as I find the whole communal dining thing and getting to mingle with your fellow passengers has always been one of the highlights of LD trains on matrak.
That is not how Contemporary Dining has been implemented so far. What they do is convert the Dining Car to the Sleeper Lounge and serve food there or in rooms. It becomes out of bounds for Coach Passengers.

You can mingle all you want with fellow Sleeper Passengers in the Sleeper Lounge with no time restrictions on getting out of the car because it is closed etc. If you must mingle with Coach passengers, you have to go to the Sightseer Lounge on Superliner trains or the Amfleet II Lounge on single level trains.
 
Would this mean that the dining car itself is being eliminated from the consist and that meals will be served in people's bedrooms or at their seats?

That would be rather regrettable, as I find the whole communal dining thing and getting to mingle with your fellow passengers has always been one of the highlights of LD trains on matrak.
Please remember all we have, at this point, are rumors.......
 
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Since Amtrak lists the Eagle as a potential trip from Chicago to LA. On its website, I wonder if the leg from S.A. to LA will be included in this? I know it begins in NOLA, but it seems like Amtrak can make a case for eliminating the diner pretty easily.
 
Since Amtrak lists the Eagle as a potential trip from Chicago to LA. On its website, I wonder if the leg from S.A. to LA will be included in this? I know it begins in NOLA, but it seems like Amtrak can make a case for eliminating the diner pretty easily.
Hey Tony, how's things in the Metroplex?Long time no hear from.
As for inside info, Thirdrail17 does an excellent job of providing us with hints,teases and plans and disspelling rumours before they are announced by Amflacks.

The old saying that where there is Smoke there's Fire usually proves to be True!

As my namesake sings,"..the answer my Friend is Blowing in the Wind.."
 
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Since Amtrak lists the Eagle as a potential trip from Chicago to LA. On its website, I wonder if the leg from S.A. to LA will be included in this? I know it begins in NOLA, but it seems like Amtrak can make a case for eliminating the diner pretty easily.
That would be "converting the Sunset Limited to Contemporary Dining. The Texas Eagle as an independent train is Chicago to San Antonio. There are two through cars conveyed on the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles.

But so far even the Texas Eagle thing is a scared Amtrak Staff propagated rumor, and we know how many actually come true and how many don't. So let us see how this one unfolds before jumping the gun and broadening the scope of rumors being fed.
 
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Would this mean that the dining car itself is being eliminated from the consist and that meals will be served in people's bedrooms or at their seats?

That would be rather regrettable, as I find the whole communal dining thing and getting to mingle with your fellow passengers has always been one of the highlights of LD trains on matrak.
That is not how Contemporary Dining has been implemented so far. What they do is convert the Dining Car to the Sleeper Lounge and serve food there or in rooms. It becomes out of bounds for Coach Passengers.

You can mingle all you want with fellow Sleeper Passengers in the Sleeper Lounge with no time restrictions on getting out of the car because it is closed etc. If you must mingle with Coach passengers, you have to go to the Sightseer Lounge on Superliner trains or the Amfleet II Lounge on single level trains.
You do bring up what is actually a slight benefit of implementing "fresh choices" on a Superliner train rather than a single-level. On single-levels, anyone who wants to "mingle" with coach passengers, now has to do so in the pretty dismal AmCan Lounge. And since most people are not going to want to spend much time chatting in that 85 foot trashcan, there probably won't be much mingling happening anymore. Meanwhile Superliners have the SSL, which most people already choose to spend their time in during the day. So on the TE, you'd still have ample opportunity to talk and mingle with coach passengers, even if you can't do it at meal time That said, considering the TE is 15 hours longer than the LSL, and serves more than twice as many meals, IMHO it's still by far the worse candidate for contemporary dining.
 
Since Amtrak lists the Eagle as a potential trip from Chicago to LA. On its website, I wonder if the leg from S.A. to LA will be included in this? I know it begins in NOLA, but it seems like Amtrak can make a case for eliminating the diner pretty easily.
Amtrak shows it as Chicago to LA because they don't want to explain to rail novices how through cars work. The diner between SAS and LAX is from the Sunset, and even says so on the menus, so unless the SL gets the new system, you'll have full meal service west of San Antonio (and of course between SAS and NOL)
 
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