Texas Eagle Rolls Again!

Yesterdays (9/01)Texas Eagle #21 will be the first actual TRAIN to run between FTW and SAS in over Two Months and is running 3 Hours Late out of FTW! (UP Strikes again!!!)But UP and BNSF did finish the Tower 55 work On Time!☺

It will do the turn tonight in SAS and become tomorrows #22 Leaving SAS for CHI @ 7AM!

No more Bustitutions! ☺☺☺

Thanks for passing along the good news! With the Northbound Eagle route disconnected I had to head East to get my fix. Oddly enough UP has been running trains up and down here all throughout the maintenance period.

Hats off to the UP and BNSF for actually getting the Tower 55 Project done on time. They said Labor Day Weekend and they got it right!

Good news for sure. Frees up some options for rail travel out of St. Louis . . .

I read reports that the TE was running with two engines during the summer (maybe because of the track work?). Does anyone know if this will continue now that the track work has completed? It would be nice to have two engines on the train, instead of just one.

Just saw this mornings #22 Roll out 30 minutes late out of Austin heading North and there was only One P-42 on the Headend! You are correct, Two engines are needed on this Route especially between SAS and STL!!!

There used to be a protect engine kept in FTW but not sure if its still there? #22 and 21 have been buses between SAS and FTW most of the Summer so I haven't ridden since May!

Now if the Eagle could use TRE trackage on routine basis that would be great.

If the Eagles are flying again, the BBQ runs can resume!

Soon as the Fall Double Points Promo starts and it cools off, its still over 100 and Heat Index Dangerous, we need Rain and a Norther!

And I agree, the TRE Route FTW- DAL as the norm will be a big improvement!

jimhudson said:

Just saw this mornings #22 Roll out 30 minutes late out of Austin heading North and there was only One P-42 on the Headend! You are correct, Two engines are needed on this Route especially between SAS and STL!!! There used to be a protect engine kept in FTW but not sure if its still there? #22 and 21 have been buses between SAS and FTW most of the Summer so I haven't ridden since May!

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We had one of Amtrak's Dash Eights down here in SAS for the last few weeks and it was still there yesterday. It was being used for switching duties to cut in/out two Superliners that represented the disconnected 421/422 train while the bus bridge was in effect. Folks scheduled on those trains were allowed to rest on those cars upon arrival and until the next stage of their trip was ready to begin. Although I have no way of know I would presume that this locomotive could also serve as a protect engine if a hobbled Sunset stumbled into town during the MOW period.

2 engines were needed for the abbreviated run. They were configured back to back versus elephant style so they could be run from one end of the train set to the other in FTW eliminating the need to do any wye activity. Quick and easy though for the northbound Eagles it put the Transdorm on the back.

Would someone mind rehashing what was going on? Just tuning in.

Giant trackwork project at "Tower 55" (just south of the Ft. Worth station) caused the Texas Eagle to terminate at Fort Worth (from Chicago) for around two months. The Texas Eagle is now running to San Antonio again.

People are also discussing the long-planned, long-awaited reroute of the Texas Eagle between Dallas and Fort Worth; currently it runs on UP tracks, and the hope is to have it run on TRE tracks, which would be MUCH faster for various reasons. Some sort of legal dispute between Amtrak, DART/"The T"/TRE, and Texas has so far prevented this from happening permanently. Even though the Texas Eagle detours over the TRE tracks fairly often, including during the Tower 55 track work.

Wow, a 268 mile segment? How long was the construction zone?