stlouielady
Lead Service Attendant
This is a LONG overdue trip report from my trip on the Texas Eagle, and a thruway bus, from St Louis, MO to McAllen, TX. This trip was paid for by using a voucher I had won from filling out a trip survey; so, you know that I will continue to fill them out! It was also my first (real) long distance trip, first overnight trip, and first trip in a sleeper; a lot of firsts going on here.
On March 13th, I took a cab to the St Louis station, since they have NO long-term parking on-site. The closest parking that is available is at the Sheraton Hotel for $17/day, or at Union Station, for $18/day. The new station in St Louis is nicely organized, with access to Amtrak, Greyhound, and the MetroLink (the areas' light rail). I checked my one larger suitcase, and settled in to wait for the train departure. One small concession area is there, with a selection of juices, soft drinks, water, a few sandwich choices, and snack items. We were scheduled to depart at 8:00 pm; about 7:40, people started lining up, and they made a boarding announcement for "groups of more than 3" to head to the front of the line so that they could get seats together. When I got to the front of the line, the conductor verified my room assignment (car 2120, roomette 5), and told me "we've been waiting for you". As I got to the car, the attendant (Frank) greeted me, and told me that the diner was still open, but if I wanted to eat, I better head there immediately. I took my luggage upstairs, and headed to the diner. We pulled out of St Louis right on time, as I was sitting in the diner. I was informed that they were out of the special (didn't even mention what it was) and out of pizza. So, I had the half chicken, with veggies and rice, a glass of milk, and chocolate ice cream for dessert. Others at the table had the flat iron steak, another chicken dinner, and one veggie burger. The food was excellent, and our attendant, Jane, was a riot.
I headed back to my room to try to get settled in. I set up my GPS, grabbed the scanner, and settled in with a good book. About 9:45, the people across the hallway decided to get ready for the night, and they rang for Frank. Since I'm not a person that goes to bed early, I declined Frank's offer to make the bed up at that time. Finally, about 11:00, I decided to call it a night, and decided to go ahead and make up the bed myself. It actually wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, and I managed to get it all figured out. However, I had a terrible time trying to get to sleep, first time overnight in a sleeper and all, and I don't think I slept more than 15-20 minutes at a time all night. It certainly seemed like the roughest part of the trip was the route from St Louis to Marshall. I don't know if I couldn't sleep because I was excited about the trip, or for some other reason, but, it was a struggle. I woke up every time we stopped, but, I didn't think to look at the watch and see what time it was, or, for that matter, where we were.
I woke up for good about 6:30 on the morning of the 14th, and headed to the adventure of a shower on the train. I walked downstairs to the shower, and had to track down a towel; I ended up having to use a couple of hand towels, because I couldn't find any regular sized ones anywhere. The shower definitely was an adventure; kind of like trying to take a shower in a telephone booth! But, I got along fine, got dressed again, and headed back up to my roomette. The diner had opened for breakfast at 6:30 or 7:00, so, when I got finished with the shower, I headed to breakfast. I had the breakfast special, which was a Mexican omelette (red and green peppers, roasted corn, and cheese), along with hashbrowns, a croissant, and a cup of coffee. It was good, for the first half. Then, I just got tired of it. We were stopped at the Marshall, TX station, and then, the conductor made an announcement that, because we were early, we would have to back away from the station and sit for 45 minutes before we could go proceed back into the station, pick up any passengers, and continue on. I headed back to my room after breakfast, and, since Frank hadn't done it yet, put the bed back into daytime configuration.
We left Marshall, and headed on. Then, somewhere between Marshall and Longview, we stopped, and sat, and sat, and sat. Turns out there was a freight and a rock train that couldn't make it up the incline. It had been raining off and on for a few hours, making the rails wet, and that, coupled with the heavy load, gave the train fits. The finally sent some more power to push the train out of the way, but, we got behind schedule at that point. We were behind schedule by an hour at Longview and late at Mineola, but, by the time we got to Dallas, we only 24 minutes behind, and we actually backed into Fort Worth 15 minutes AHEAD of schedule. I had lunch before we got to Dallas; the diner was out of pizza, so, I had a BBQ beef brisket sandwich, with chips, and an ice tea. It too was good.
While in Ft Worth, I took the time to walk the length of the train, and wrote down the consist of it. It was Engine 122, transition dorm 39033, sleeper (the Missouri) 32093, Diner 38043 (full traditional diner, NOT a CCC), sightseer lounge 33032, coach/baggage 31003, coach 34075, and coach 34078. I also spotted the NB Texas Eagle, and I think the Heartland Flyer. We left Ft Worth right on time, after the hour stop, and we had the one and only call for dinner at 4:20 PM. I declined dinner, as that was WAY to early for me to eat, and I had eaten lunch just a short time before. For the rest of the trip, we arrived at every station early. We actually arrived into San Antonio a full hour early, at 9:15 PM. I went in to the station to claim my luggage and wait for my bus to McAllen. This is where things changed from my scheduled itinerary.
I had called Amtrak Customer Service the day before I left, and verified that the bus picked up from the Amtrak station; I was told 'yes'. However, when I got to San Antonio, the agent behind the counter called me over and informed me that I had to go the the bus station to catch the bus. She informed me that there was an earlier bus to McAllen, leaving at 12:20 AM, rather than the one that I was scheduled to take, that left at 5:15 AM, and that if there was room on that earlier one, I could take it instead. She also told me that there were two other people outside waiting for a cab to the bus station, and that I should go wait with them. We were given a voucher for the cab fare, and we were off to the bus station. Once I got there and got my ticket changed, I called my folks and gave them the news that I would now be arriving in McAllen at 4:35 AM, and NOT at the original 9:55 AM. The bus was packed, and not very comfortable, so, thankfully I didn't have to ride it for more than the 4.5 hour trip. I arrived at the McAllen bus station at 4:45 AM. Very nice, comfortable, and clean station.
All in all, a pretty good trip. I didn't see much of the sleeper attendant, but, I chalked that up to him having a full car of passengers to deal with. The food was good, the overall trip went well, and the on-time performance certainly can't be complained about.
This report has gone on long enough; sorry for rambling. I will work on part 2, the northbound leg, when I get back home later in the week. I also have pictures of the Texas Eagle menu, that I will try to get posted at that time.
On March 13th, I took a cab to the St Louis station, since they have NO long-term parking on-site. The closest parking that is available is at the Sheraton Hotel for $17/day, or at Union Station, for $18/day. The new station in St Louis is nicely organized, with access to Amtrak, Greyhound, and the MetroLink (the areas' light rail). I checked my one larger suitcase, and settled in to wait for the train departure. One small concession area is there, with a selection of juices, soft drinks, water, a few sandwich choices, and snack items. We were scheduled to depart at 8:00 pm; about 7:40, people started lining up, and they made a boarding announcement for "groups of more than 3" to head to the front of the line so that they could get seats together. When I got to the front of the line, the conductor verified my room assignment (car 2120, roomette 5), and told me "we've been waiting for you". As I got to the car, the attendant (Frank) greeted me, and told me that the diner was still open, but if I wanted to eat, I better head there immediately. I took my luggage upstairs, and headed to the diner. We pulled out of St Louis right on time, as I was sitting in the diner. I was informed that they were out of the special (didn't even mention what it was) and out of pizza. So, I had the half chicken, with veggies and rice, a glass of milk, and chocolate ice cream for dessert. Others at the table had the flat iron steak, another chicken dinner, and one veggie burger. The food was excellent, and our attendant, Jane, was a riot.
I headed back to my room to try to get settled in. I set up my GPS, grabbed the scanner, and settled in with a good book. About 9:45, the people across the hallway decided to get ready for the night, and they rang for Frank. Since I'm not a person that goes to bed early, I declined Frank's offer to make the bed up at that time. Finally, about 11:00, I decided to call it a night, and decided to go ahead and make up the bed myself. It actually wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, and I managed to get it all figured out. However, I had a terrible time trying to get to sleep, first time overnight in a sleeper and all, and I don't think I slept more than 15-20 minutes at a time all night. It certainly seemed like the roughest part of the trip was the route from St Louis to Marshall. I don't know if I couldn't sleep because I was excited about the trip, or for some other reason, but, it was a struggle. I woke up every time we stopped, but, I didn't think to look at the watch and see what time it was, or, for that matter, where we were.
I woke up for good about 6:30 on the morning of the 14th, and headed to the adventure of a shower on the train. I walked downstairs to the shower, and had to track down a towel; I ended up having to use a couple of hand towels, because I couldn't find any regular sized ones anywhere. The shower definitely was an adventure; kind of like trying to take a shower in a telephone booth! But, I got along fine, got dressed again, and headed back up to my roomette. The diner had opened for breakfast at 6:30 or 7:00, so, when I got finished with the shower, I headed to breakfast. I had the breakfast special, which was a Mexican omelette (red and green peppers, roasted corn, and cheese), along with hashbrowns, a croissant, and a cup of coffee. It was good, for the first half. Then, I just got tired of it. We were stopped at the Marshall, TX station, and then, the conductor made an announcement that, because we were early, we would have to back away from the station and sit for 45 minutes before we could go proceed back into the station, pick up any passengers, and continue on. I headed back to my room after breakfast, and, since Frank hadn't done it yet, put the bed back into daytime configuration.
We left Marshall, and headed on. Then, somewhere between Marshall and Longview, we stopped, and sat, and sat, and sat. Turns out there was a freight and a rock train that couldn't make it up the incline. It had been raining off and on for a few hours, making the rails wet, and that, coupled with the heavy load, gave the train fits. The finally sent some more power to push the train out of the way, but, we got behind schedule at that point. We were behind schedule by an hour at Longview and late at Mineola, but, by the time we got to Dallas, we only 24 minutes behind, and we actually backed into Fort Worth 15 minutes AHEAD of schedule. I had lunch before we got to Dallas; the diner was out of pizza, so, I had a BBQ beef brisket sandwich, with chips, and an ice tea. It too was good.
While in Ft Worth, I took the time to walk the length of the train, and wrote down the consist of it. It was Engine 122, transition dorm 39033, sleeper (the Missouri) 32093, Diner 38043 (full traditional diner, NOT a CCC), sightseer lounge 33032, coach/baggage 31003, coach 34075, and coach 34078. I also spotted the NB Texas Eagle, and I think the Heartland Flyer. We left Ft Worth right on time, after the hour stop, and we had the one and only call for dinner at 4:20 PM. I declined dinner, as that was WAY to early for me to eat, and I had eaten lunch just a short time before. For the rest of the trip, we arrived at every station early. We actually arrived into San Antonio a full hour early, at 9:15 PM. I went in to the station to claim my luggage and wait for my bus to McAllen. This is where things changed from my scheduled itinerary.
I had called Amtrak Customer Service the day before I left, and verified that the bus picked up from the Amtrak station; I was told 'yes'. However, when I got to San Antonio, the agent behind the counter called me over and informed me that I had to go the the bus station to catch the bus. She informed me that there was an earlier bus to McAllen, leaving at 12:20 AM, rather than the one that I was scheduled to take, that left at 5:15 AM, and that if there was room on that earlier one, I could take it instead. She also told me that there were two other people outside waiting for a cab to the bus station, and that I should go wait with them. We were given a voucher for the cab fare, and we were off to the bus station. Once I got there and got my ticket changed, I called my folks and gave them the news that I would now be arriving in McAllen at 4:35 AM, and NOT at the original 9:55 AM. The bus was packed, and not very comfortable, so, thankfully I didn't have to ride it for more than the 4.5 hour trip. I arrived at the McAllen bus station at 4:45 AM. Very nice, comfortable, and clean station.
All in all, a pretty good trip. I didn't see much of the sleeper attendant, but, I chalked that up to him having a full car of passengers to deal with. The food was good, the overall trip went well, and the on-time performance certainly can't be complained about.
This report has gone on long enough; sorry for rambling. I will work on part 2, the northbound leg, when I get back home later in the week. I also have pictures of the Texas Eagle menu, that I will try to get posted at that time.
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