Texas Eagle now with baggage car

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

printman2000

Engineer
Joined
Nov 9, 2005
Messages
3,785
Location
Amarillo, Texas
Seen reported elsewhere that the Texas Eagle is running with a through baggage car to the Sunset Limited.

This baggage car operates from Chicago, and continues past San Antonio to Los Angeles on the Sunset Limited.

Baggage from initial terminal (Chicago) for Sunset stops will be placed in the Baggage Car. Checked baggage to/from Texas Eagle stops is to be handled in the Coach Baggage. At San Antonio, any Sunset bags that were loaded into the Eagle's Coach Baggage are to be transferred to the full Sunset Baggage Car. Also, bags in the Sunset's Coach Baggage are transferred to the full Baggage.

The full Baggage also operates Los Angeles-Chicago on the Sunset and Eagle. At San Antonio, baggage for Houston and New Orleans is transferred to the vSunset's Coach Baggage and baggage for intermediate Eagle stops is transferred to the Eagle's Coach Baggage.

Also, effective this past Friday, the Sunset was to begin carrying a second baggage car, handling Express for Chicago on Fridays. This is a pilot program to carry Greyhound Express; we'll see how well it does.

Above is pieced together from reports in the field.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow,carrying package express for Greyhound! Amtrak might also consider going after the Greyhound passenger market by price matching on the fares, thus helping to fill the Coaches on the Sunset and Texas Eagle which, during non-peak times, run light loads!

And what happens when the new Viewliner Bag Cars enter Service, will the Heritage Bag cars be transfered to this route even though they are on their last legs?

Note: the TE runs with one P-42 that is prone to frequentbreakdowns and mechanical problems on this route!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I wonder how they will handle switching at SAS since there will now be a Bag to deal with. Normally the through Coach and Sleeper are "flipped" but now if the Bag is the trailing car, it will need to be uncoupled and flipped as well. Of course that means a partial loss of the Railfan Window on the Sleeper.
 
I saw a couple of pics of the Texas Eagle with the baggage up front behind the engine. Will be interesting to see where it is on the Sunset Limited.
 
The Eagle has needed more baggage space and I hope this helps.On a trip a couple years ago on a full train the racks in the coaches were full and also the wheel chair space in the lower level was full.The coach baggage was so full that the assistant conductor was climbing on top of the checked baggage to find the bags to transfer to the thruway at Longview.Thankfully I handled my own bags.This is a popular train seasonally and has needed a baggage car or a second coach baggage.I hope this helps.
 
Is the baggage car sent to New Orleans when the Eagle equipment is sent out as the City of New Orleans?
 
The Bag car now gets switched in San Antonio to and from behind the locomotives of the Sunset both ways, and the same for the Eagle. This is in addition to the normal transfer cars. Coach-Baggage 6 car consist SAS-NOL.
 
Motorcar said:
The Bag car now gets switched in San Antonio to and from behind the locomotives of the Sunset both ways, and the same for the Eagle. This is in addition to the normal transfer cars. Coach-Baggage 6 car consist SAS-NOL.
Click to expand...
That is good to hear as it keeps the Bags in their traditional position behind the Locomotive(s). I've always thought a train with a Bag trailing on the rear looks sloppy.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top