AMTRAK FOOTBALL SPECIAL

[OlympianHiawatha]

Once again Amtrak is offering special service on this Friday and Sunday's Heartland Flyer for fans going to the OU-Texas Red River Shoot Out in Dallas. For $40, you get round trip Coach straight through to Dallas (I'm not sure if the Flyer will actually make the turn in FTW and head across or if it's a "bustitution" to DAL). Two extra cars have been added, bringing the consist to 5 cars and more cars are being sought as every seat has been sold.

I'll have to be sure to leave my scanner on tonight so I can hear the final axle count when it goes by in the morning.

 

[JohnF]

Once again Amtrak is offering special service on this Friday and Sunday's Heartland Flyer for fans going to the OU-Texas Red River Shoot Out in Dallas. For $40, you get round trip Coach straight through to Dallas (I'm not sure if the Flyer will actually make the turn in FTW and head across or if it's a "bustitution" to DAL). Two extra cars have been added, bringing the consist to 5 cars and more cars are being sought as every seat has been sold.
I'll have to be sure to leave my scanner on tonight so I can hear the final axle count when it goes by in the morning.

I for one would be interested in knowing how they handle this. Will they run that Friday train over to Dallas and deadhead it back to Ft Worth to return or use buses or attach the cars to one of the commuter trains. It's only about 30+ miles over to Dallas or about an hour. If anyone follows up on this, please post the info here for us.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

For many of the riders, this will be their first rail trip and the perfect opportunity for Amtrak to "show their stuff" and bring in a batch of future riders. And being Texas Weekend, I can just imagine that train will be one loud rolling party. And considering normal low bucket OKC-FTW is about $23 OW, that $40 is a great deal.

 

[Crescent Mark]

Hopefully someone goes out and gets some nice pictures of this thing...a longer consist would be cool to see.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

I love Amtrak. I don't see any planes talking bout a great game of FOOTBALL!

 

[daveyb99]

The Flyer will run to Dallas, not a bus. Please.

The consist will be: 34001 35007 34035 35008 35004

I would imagine the HF will head back to FTW for the trip to OKC, then return to Dallas and so forth.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I do hope they leave the consist intact for the entire weekend so I can hopefully run by the Norman station Sunday morning to take a look. Trying to get there Sunday evening will be a zoo with everyone coming back. If they do, the "in between" riders will have plenty of train to relax on.

 

[Crescent Mark]

Any updates? Pics?

 

[VentureForth]

Very poorly advertised ride. Didn't even think about it until I saw this thread. A google search pulled up two articles about it - one from 2007 and one from 2005. Even the Heartland Flyer website barely mentioned it as a calendar event, but with ZERO details.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I grabbed my video camera and ran by the Norman station last night. When the Flyer arrived (about 15 minutes late) it was a zoo with about 200 pax getting off there and most seemed up tempo despite the Sooners having lost the game. The Flyer does not carry Coach Attendants; so one of the Conductors had to go to the back Coaches and open the doors from the outside.

The trip was well advertised in Norman and other places along the route. They probably could have easily filled 2 more cars if they had been available.