Texas Eagle discussion

[drdumont]

End of May my wife and I are returning home from DC to Austin by Capitol Limited [fam BR] and Eaglette [2 roomettes]. We will pack some food out of Union Station DC and from the Jersey Mike's in Chicago if the connection is timely.

We have tentatively decided to rely on the cafe rather than the flex meals, except for our complementary wine, and we have two questions for recent travelers on each train:
1] Which cafe food? and
2] Have you had any luck getting the attendant to sub cafe choices for flex?

Family BR is our favorite!
You will likely not be allowed to sit or eat in the snack bar. Depends on the FSA. Sometimes it closes while the FSA slings the FLEX at mealtimes. YMMV.
Attendant has always subbed a hot dog (sometimes 2) or pizza for the FLEX garbage. At least you can sit at the table.
The hot dogs are the best, you can ask the attendant to nuke just the dog, as sometimes the buns get very tough. Still the best dog anywhere, Hebrew National.
Pizza is - meh -. Edible, but be careful the cheese gets super hot and can fool you! Ak me how I know...
ISTR premade sandiwiches? Always a roll of the dice...

---> The FLEX omelette and sausage is pretty good, pancakes are sticky and mushy.
Beef tips range from inedible chunks of gristle to fairly tasty mystery meat chunks slopped in a mystery sauce and instant potatoes
Pasta ranges from school cafeteria to almost Chef Boy Ar Dee, depending on how long heated.
Daughter likes the salmon, At least it doesn't stink up the place.
"Salads" are a joke. I once actually got some green letuce. Thought it was a Sign from God. Paul Newman dressings are a joy.

Freeze bottles of water, use them as icepacks, and take some snacks. We take chips (even Pringles will do), dip, cheese (Tillamook singles are hardy), Star Kist tuna and their Chicken packets are a must. SPAM singles, too! Lunchables, sometimes pepperoni or beef sticks, individual JELL-O snacks. Hostess Donettes, even Peanut Butter, Jelly (Packets from convenience stores - also relish, mustard, onion) and Hamburger Buns (They stand up better to the rigors of transport.
I carry a Keurig Single Cup brewer with coffee, tea, and hot chocolate K-Cups. Individual OJs, and a small bottle of Meyer's Rum. (Mai-Tais in the afternoon...)
I never go anywhere wihout my little bottle of Cholula
Daughter takes wine, I take my flask of Jack Daniel's.
As bottles melt, you get fresh cold water. A little work and you get crushed ice. Make sure you carry a small pocket knife/screwdriver/corkscrew.
Take a clip on reading light if you are old like me. (Amazon has cool battery/USB clip on piano lights).
Soled MocSocs from AMAZON keep your feets warm and are legal for walk to the <ahem> porcelain convenience.
--- >Make sure you have a power adapter/extension cord< --- AC outlets are inconvenient. Mine is about 6 feet long, has two USB-C outlets and 3 AC outlets (From Amazon). We have a small electric cooler bag (Amazon, natch!).
A small can of Lysol spray, hand sanitizer, and a small roll of duct tape for those annoying rattles, quieting the PA, even regulating cold air. A Baofeng or Wouxon scanner or W/T from Amazon, and the frequency list from ontrack-online.com if you want to stay informed. (They also can receive FM stations along the way. And when you are not on a train you can hear aircraft, some police/fire. Less than $40. Fun. They are Chinesium, but they work amazingly well. If you are a Ham Radio Operator, you can use repeaters along the way.
Most of all, relax and enjoy! Let us know how your trip went.
--- >This just in! Taking my long suffering wife of 53 years on her first AMTRAk ride May 8-11. Finally!
-- 73s, Doc W5VD

 

[drdumont]

I refer you to a prior string of posts in this forum.

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/texas-eagle-discussion.84791/post-1038493

Thanks! I missed that whole thread.

 

[Rasputin]

Thanks! I missed that whole thread.

Here is an item about Texarkana:

https://www.ktalnews.com/news/texar...BImI9ntYJfR-jwBVJlre8nfrxYzWn3_c7BRlF6GqZqCi2

 

[John Santos]

If you are going to spend the night in Austin, I recommend using a hotel shuttle or LYFT/UBER from the AMTRAK station. The area around there can be dicey after dark. When I was commuting on the Eagle, the Holiday Inn On The Lake shuttle worked well.
As I noted elsewhere, food service on the Eagle is execrable, and no "breakfast" service when leaving Northbound. If you connect to the Sunset Westbound, you get wonderful Diner service starting with breakfast.

They did serve us breakfast on the northbound Eagle shortly after leaving SAS on April 10, which I think is the day after you took it. The coffee machine in the sleeper was also up and running no more than an hour after departure (6:48 AM). I'm pretty sure this was not a day where the Eagle had split off from the eastbound SL in the middle of the night, so maybe on days they are arriving from LA, they are running low on supplies. But on those days, the through passengers from LA are starting their 3rd day on the train and I would think they would be very peeved to wake up and discover they weren't going to be fed!

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Individual crew making decisions?
One off event?

Amtrak has a reputation for been very inconsistent on service levels.

 

[joelkfla]

They did serve us breakfast on the northbound Eagle shortly after leaving SAS on April 10, which I think is the day after you took it. The coffee machine in the sleeper was also up and running no more than an hour after departure (6:48 AM). I'm pretty sure this was not a day where the Eagle had split off from the eastbound SL in the middle of the night, so maybe on days they are arriving from LA, they are running low on supplies. But on those days, the through passengers from LA are starting their 3rd day on the train and I would think they would be very peeved to wake up and discover they weren't going to be fed!

Doesn't the cafe car originate in SAS, rather than transferring from the SL? If so, I would think it would be freshly provisioned leaving SAS.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Doesn't the cafe car originate in SAS, rather than transferring from the SL? If so, I would think it would be freshly provisioned leaving SAS.

The cafe originates only in the sense that the Eaglet is turned from the previous night's inbound train. SAS can perform cleaning, refueling, and light maintenance with a protect sleeper and coach. I am not aware of an active commissary at SAS for restocking foods and beverages.

 

[joelkfla]

It originates only in the sense that the Eaglet is turned from the previous night's inbound train. SAS can perform cleaning, refueling, and light maintenance and still hosts a protect sleeper and coach. I am not aware of an active commissary at SAS for restocking foods and beverages.

OK. Either way, being or not being on a SL connection day would have no impact on supply levels.

 

[John Santos]

The cafe originates only in the sense that the Eaglet is turned from the previous night's inbound train. SAS can perform cleaning, refueling, and light maintenance with a protect sleeper and coach. I am not aware of an active commissary at SAS for restocking foods and beverages.

I don't think they provision in SAS. We were told there were no hamburgers or cheeseburgers available from the diner or cafe car (two halves of the same care, serviced by the same people) because they had run out. This was at lunch out of SAS northbound, so I suspect the last re-supply was two days earlier before the train left Chicago southbound.

I thought the cafe/dinner travels with the Chicago (TE) sleeper and couch attached to the Sunset between San Antonio and LA, and serves as the coach cafe for that portion of the trip, but mostly because that's how the LSL and EB (the other trains that split/rejoin midway in the journey) work. Maybe the TE cafe always gets turned at SAS or maybe they changed it all since I last rode the TE through form Chicago to Arizona in 2018 or 2019 (pre-Covid).

 

[Rasputin]

I don't think they provision in SAS. We were told there were no hamburgers or cheeseburgers available from the diner or cafe car (two halves of the same care, serviced by the same people) because they had run out. This was at lunch out of SAS northbound, so I suspect the last re-supply was two days earlier before the train left Chicago southbound.

Sounds like a true third-world operation to me. But wait, this is the Texas Eagle which is a third-world operation although it certainly didn't use to be. No thinking outside the box for the benefit of passengers here.

P.S. I believe they have supermarkets in San Antonio, maybe even Sysco.

 

[joelkfla]

I don't think they provision in SAS. We were told there were no hamburgers or cheeseburgers available from the diner or cafe car (two halves of the same care, serviced by the same people) because they had run out. This was at lunch out of SAS northbound, so I suspect the last re-supply was two days earlier before the train left Chicago southbound.

I thought the cafe/dinner travels with the Chicago (TE) sleeper and couch attached to the Sunset between San Antonio and LA, and serves as the coach cafe for that portion of the trip, but mostly because that's how the LSL and EB (the other trains that split/rejoin midway in the journey) work. Maybe the TE cafe always gets turned at SAS or maybe they changed it all since I last rode the TE through form Chicago to Arizona in 2018 or 2019 (pre-Covid).

The difference is that the diner and the cafe (SSL on EB) each go in different directions when the EB & the LSL split. On the SL, the diner and the SSL/cafe both stay with the SL to NOL.

 

[John Santos]

The difference is that the diner and the cafe (SSL on EB) each go in different directions when the EB & the LSL split. On the SL, the diner and the SSL/cafe both stay with the SL to NOL.

The cafe/diner on the TE is different from the the Superliner diner and from the SSL/cafe as I've seen on the other Superliner trains (I've ridden almost all of them, though I don't really remember the Capitol Limited, and they are subject to change!)

I don't know if the TE is the only train with this style of cafe/diner nor if it always turns in SAS or accompanies the TE stub (421/422) between SAS and LAX.

The cafe/dinner was split in the middle, with a separate closed in area and counter for the cafe service. There were 2 or 3 tables (on each side) of the cafe end, which were mostly or entirely used by the crew (I think) and 6 tables at the diner end, the two closest to the counter also occupied by crew. The other 4 tables on each side at the front (diner end) were reserved for sleeper passengers. There were regular upper level Superliner windows, not the huge SSL windows. The downstairs was apparently a full kitchen like the kitchen on a SL diner, not the cafe counter and microwave oven and tables as on an SSL.

Passengers were not allowed downstairs, so I don't know for sure what was down there. There was one cook heating up the flex meals down stairs, one attendant upstairs serving the sleeping car passengers, taking orders and reservations before meals, doing setup and busing tables, and running the cafe when not busy. There was another cafe attendant during meal times manning the cafe counter, who I think was one of the coach conductors doing double-duty. The dining car/cafe staff seemed pretty hammered despite there being only one sleeper and two coaches. They would have definitely needed a second chef and maybe a full-time person at the cafe counter to share in the serving and prep, assuming the downstairs kitchen is fully equipped to prepare traditional meals.

I think it is dreadful lack of planning by Amtrak to no have sufficient space for the crew to do their paperwork and take breaks, which is why they take up half the diner or lounge space on most LD trains. The transition sleeper do seem to reserve the space on the lower level for roomettes 11-14 and the family bedroom for one big crew room with a table and chairs. I wonder if trains with a transition sleeper have more room for passengers in the diners and lounges?

I hope these problems are solved by the return of traditional dining and the new LD equipment order, though that will take years.

 

[JamesWhitcombRiley]

I think it is dreadful lack of planning by Amtrak to no have sufficient space for the crew to do their paperwork and take breaks, which is why they take up half the diner or lounge space on most LD trains. The transition sleeper do seem to reserve the space on the lower level for roomettes 11-14 and the family bedroom for one big crew room with a table and chairs. I wonder if trains with a transition sleeper have more room for passengers in the diners and lounges?

What's the deal with all that paperwork? I suspect every time some issue comes up they add another paperwork requirement. But from the stories here, it would be better to hold conductors accountable and hire more sub-conductors, if that's what they're called. Personnel is expensive, and business has a bias against increasing employee counts even more than is economically justified, perhaps. (Unless it's boom enterprise, pursuing a bubble-till-going public-or-getting-bought venture strategy.) So call it a safety issue, and hire more on a safety line in the budget! Meanwhile, get some tablets and software, from a vendor under a very strict contract. (These IT things tend to go awry, whether in the private sector or not.) Not that tech is the sole answer, as seen in front-line medical care, where doctors now must spend more time clicking tablets than seeing patients.

 

[Rasputin]

We have a four-car train which operates from Chicago, with a metro population of around 8 or 9 million to San Antonio which has a metro population of two and a half million and somehow the cafe car/diner cannot maintain a sufficient supply of hamburgers and cheeseburgers, which are probably the most popular items on the menu. Looks like brain-dead thinking to me. What year is it - 1851?

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

We have a four-car train which operates from Chicago, with a metro population of around 8 or 9 million to San Antonio which has a metro population of two and a half million and somehow the cafe car/diner cannot maintain a sufficient supply of hamburgers and cheeseburgers, which are probably the most popular items on the menu. Looks like brain-dead thinking to me. What year is it - 1851?

And there's a fifth car between Chicago & St. Louis. Maybe the St. Louis passengers are eating all the burgers?

 

[Shanson]

Westbound, the TE café/diner and one coach turn at San Antonio. The sleeper and one coach couple to #1, and continue west. There is a protection coach and sleeper in San Antonio, which are used to create the four-car consist for the next day's 22 once the 422 cars arrive. If there's no #2, the sleeper and a coach from 21 get cleaned and become the protection cars. Logistics.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Doesn't the cafe car originate in SAS, rather than transferring from the SL? If so, I would think it would be freshly provisioned leaving SAS.

There is no Canteen in San Antonio, the Eagle is supplied in Chicago for the 2 day,overnight run and return,so 9 Meals are served during the Roundtrip!

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

There is no Canteen in San Antonio, the Eagle is supplied in Chicago for the 2 day,overnight run and return,so 9 Meals are served during the Roundtrip!

That probably says something about my fellow Illinoisans restocking the TE's cafe car in Chicago -- but it might not be printable!