We were leaving out of the Bryan/College Station, Texas area today and heading northeast on Hwy 6. Just north of Bryan and right before we got to Hearne, TX we saw an Amtrak train with about six cars in it heading southbound toward Bryan - all the cars seemed to be pretty full. We all commented that we didn't know that Amtrak had any trains running between Dallas and College Station. Could this perhaps have been a rerouted train that was sent down this way? If this is a regular route where was the train coming from and heading to? Thanks in advance for your help and answers.
Amtrak Train Near Bryan/College Station, TX
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The Texas Eagle is under a re-route detour until June 22nd between Longview, TX and Taylor, TX. Amtrak is using buses for the stops in between.
This! ( I rode it last week!)
That explains it then. After reading your post I found the following article that details exactly what the new routes are for both the north and south bound trains. This also explains why we haven't seen any of the twice daily Amtrak trains passing through Forney for the past few weeks. UP has the tracks all torn up here in town and it's a real mess at the crossings. http://texasrailadvocates.org/2017/05/16/rare-mileage-run-for-amtrak-fans-in-texas-through-june-21/
Philly Amtrak Fan
Engineer
I'd love to see Amtrak service to return to College Station, TX (Texas A&M). How does this reroute compare to the current TE?
VentureForth
Engineer
WOW! I wish I were in Texas! I would LOVE to take this reroute! How was the trip, Jim? Slow and lumbering along at 35 MPH or enjoyable? Looks like it passes through Palestine, the home of the Texas State Railroad (or whoever owns it now).
8 hours to cover what takes a car 4... Yikes.
8 hours to cover what takes a car 4... Yikes.
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There are 2 different Routes, #22 runs with a UP Pilot from Taylor to Rockdale, Hearne, Palestine, Kilgore and into Longview with a Crew Change in Hearne. (T&E)The Crews,spend the night in Ft Worth and commute in a Van to/from Hearne.
#21 Leaves Longview to Big Sandy, does a backing move there and heads to Tyler,Athens,Corsicana,Hearne (Crew Change)and into Taylor where it rejoins the Regular Eagle Route.
The Schedule has been readjusted to allow for an One Hour later arrival for #21/#421 from Longview to San Antonio and a One Hour Earlier arrival for #22 at Longview,but Heavy UP Freight Traffic is causing delays at all stops in Texas most days.
The going is Slow due to the track and switch conditions, butt's cool seeing the various towns in East Texas long without Passenger Rail and the Farms,Forests and Swamps of Green East Texas. ( it Rains alot)
The Texas State Railroad is a State Park ( from Palestine to Rusk)and bids are being taken to Operate the Trains since IPs Financial Troubles resulted in the,Contract being Voided and them being sued for Taxes and Fees due the State (Hundreds of Thousands).
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jis
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We (the OTOL Fest gang) just got notification that 22 will be departing one hour earlier than its usual schedule on the day we are taking it back from Dallas to Chicago in July. I wonder what is causing that.
printman2000
Engineer
I'd check with Amtrak for sure since there is strong talk among the Eagle Crews and Station Agents that the UP Track Work currently going on between Longview and Dallas will be extenxed past June 22nd, so the Reroute and Bustitutions will continue if so!
There could also be track work between STL and CHI!!!
Hope y'all don't have to ride a Bus from FTW to Longview!
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jis
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I received a modified itinerary that has the train picking us up at Dallas, but leaving one hour earlier. This may be to account for track work between STL and CHI. We'll see. The arrival in Chicago remains unchanged in the modified schedule.
And lo and behold, just got an email essentially reversing the change in the previous notification, returning the departure time to the normal 3:40pm from Dallas! Looks like they can;t quite make up their mind about stuff.
We are traveling after middle of the month, on the 20th to be precise.
And lo and behold, just got an email essentially reversing the change in the previous notification, returning the departure time to the normal 3:40pm from Dallas! Looks like they can;t quite make up their mind about stuff.
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So while this reroute is going on could I buy a ticket from Longview to Austin and then board in Longview and take this reroute all the way to Austin without having to get on a bus? This would allow us to ride this reroute while it's still running. Also, how do we determine if the reroute has been extended past June 22nd?
brianpmcdonnell17
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Yes, no bus would be necessary. If the reroute is extended Amtrak should make an announcement; someone will very likely also post the information in this thread.
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Train 21 took the normal route but 22 is on the detour. Officially, the detour is in effect through the 29th per Amtrak.
I took the detour last week going north. It was interesting and I could imagine passing through all the towns that don't ever get a passenger train. Crossing I-45 at Buffalo on a rail bridge I've seen a hundred times from the interstate was interesting too. I didn't get to the do the southbound as I would have liked to see Tyler, Athens, and Corsicana. Corsicana was an Amtrak stop as well for the Houston section of the Texas Eagle until it was canned in the 90's.
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I am looking forward to the detour this week.
dogbert617
OBS Chief
This'd be an interesting detour, to ride on for the TE. I'll have to look at this route on Google Maps, later. It is interesting to think there used to be a branch of the TE that ran from Dallas to Houston, years ago.
printman2000
Engineer
I was fortunate to get to ride the Texas Eagle from Houston to Arkansas when I was a Senior in high school.
dogbert617
OBS Chief
That's good you got to ride that branch in the past, and I presume probably at least several times? It is weird that branch was cut, but I guess that had to do with ridership numbers? A la what led to the Pioneer(Wyoming-SLC-Idaho(including Boise-Portland) and Desert Wind(SLC-Las Vegas-LA) being cut, back in the mid-90s. Hopefully all those areas do see a restoration of Amtrak long distance train service, someday. Though I worry it'll be a long process, if how long it has taken for steps to restore Sunset Limited service east of New Orleans is any indication. Though I've been hearing more talk that this might now be done, by extending the CONO route east of New Orleans.
I was able to ride from Dallas down to Houston back in the late '60s. My dad took me down to see the Astros play ball in the Astrodome - better known as "the eighth wonder of the world" back then. What I remember most about that train trip was going to the dining car and eating supper. For dessert the attendant brought me a slice of apple pie with cheese melted on top of it and vanilla ice cream on the side. Until then I never knew that you could get apple pie with cheese on it I still remember that moment just like it was yesterday. I also remember riding a train between Brownwood and Ft. Worth back in the mid-60s. We had family in Brownwood and would take the train a couple of times a year to go visit them. Not sure when the service ended but when it did we transitioned over to Continental Trailways bus service. Great experiences with riding trains when I was young.
Now a days all of the similar experiences with my kids is from riding trains around Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. When we go over we get a Rail Pass and basically spend our days traveling around those countries via rail service. The scenery is gorgeous and the trains and rail stations are great. Riding trains = great memories!
Philly Amtrak Fan
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From the Fall 1994 Timetable: http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19941030n&item=0031
I don't get why 521 got to DAL at 2:24pm but 21 arrived at 2:49pm? That would mean the train had to split before DAL but both routes still served DAL. Was the split in Longview? The northbound departure for both 522 and 22 were the same.
To me it was stupider to kill this portion of the TE than to kill the BL. I get when Amtrak's budget gets cut some routes have to be cut. But how expensive could it have been to run through cars for 300-400 miles, 7-10 hours (depending on where the split occurred) each way and how much money did they really save by not running the Houston leg? It couldn't have had that low ridership, DAL-HOS alone should've been very popular, especially among Texas A&M students traveling to both ends. You can argue that 3x/week hurt ridership but back then the entire TE was 3x/week. Could DAL-HOS have been that much less popular than the rest of the route? I would think Houston would have had close to if not more ridership to Dallas and north (St. Louis/Chicago) than San Antonio/Austin.
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The Houston section was connected and disconnected in Dallas. The engine off the Houston Section 522 was the lead from Dallas to Chicago. Then the reverse for 21/521. If I remember correctly there were 2 Coaches on 521/522.
