On Thursday, September 23, 2004, Amtrak's Texas Eagle, No. 21, ran consistently early or close to on-time at every station between Little Rock, Arkansas and Austin, Texas. I was on board the sleeping car 'Colorado' and decided to write a trip report. Amtrak No. 21 was running with this good timekeeping for several days before and after September 23 as well. Also included in this web report are a few freights passing the Austin Amtrak station on Monday, September 27.

The Texas Eagle, Amtrak 21, arrived at Little Rock at 435 a.m., 5 minutes late. On the other hand, the northbound Eagle that night, No. 22, arrived about 10 minutes later - it was 4 and a half hours late. Passengers for both 21 and 22 were in the Amtrak station (Union Station) in Little Rock and crews for both trains were there as well, making it a rather bustling place in those wee hours. The conductors had to explain to those waiting for the late northbound No. 22 that the train arriving at 435 was not their train and that they should remain in the station.

As No.21 was speeding southward out of Little Rock, we passed No. 22 in southwest Little Rock.We arrived at Malvern and Arkadelphia about 5 minutes late, and Texarkana about 7 minutes late. It was announced at Texarkana that smokers could de-train and have a short smoking break. Other cities that had announced smoking breaks were Longview, Dallas, Fort Worth and Temple.

Between Texarkana and Marshall, there's about an hour or so padding in the schedule for the southbound No. 21 due to Amtrak running south against the northbound Union Pacific freight traffic. Today, this paid off with what I think was excellent dispatching. We held for two freights on a siding somewhere between Texarkana and Marshall, then a few minutes later we again held for two freights. However, this waiting for freights put us into Marshall only 5 minutes late, so the padded schedule 'paid off,' so to speak. The dispatcher knew exactly how many he could move past us in that hour's time.

The conductor that got on in Little Rock was excellent in announcing why we were stopped and apologized every time we let a freight pass. He said 'sorry for the inconveneince' and did so every time we stopped for anything other than scheduled station stops. Cudos to whoever this was as it was appreciated by all.

We left Marshall 5 minutes late, then the timekeeping got precise. We arrived in Longview at exactly 10:20 a.m. to the second according to my WWV-time-signaled watch. I hadn't seen a to-the-second arrival since old Santa Fe days on the Texas Chief.

Arrival at Mineola was also to the minute at 11:10 a.m. Arrival at Dallas was 34 minutes early at 12:46 p.m., which gave us almost an hour ground time. Here are some photos I took while in Dallas. I also wrote down No. 21's consist in Dallas: Locomotive 60, baggage 1241, transition sleeper 39014, diner 38060, sightseer lounge 33002, coach 31502, coach 34092, coach 34084, sleeper 32074-Colorado (my car - more on this car later).










These scenes were all taken in Dallas at Dallas Union Station. The RDC's belong to the Trinity Railway Express operation between Dallas and Fort Worth. Most of their equipment is different from these..

We left Dallas on the dot at 1:40 p.m. on UP tracks to Fort Worth. We sped through Arlington and other places, arriving in Fort Worth at 2:40 p.m., 35 minutes early (scheduled arrival was 3:15 p.m.). This gave us ground time in Fort Worth of 1 hour and 20 minutes. I've never been on board the Eagle when it was this smooth backing into Fort Worth. There was not a freight to be seen around the Tower 55 area. We glided around the curve to the south, and even before stopping, he blew the 3 whistles for backing. We immediately started backing into the Fort Worth station as soon as we had stopped.

Northbound No. 22 arrived in Fort Worth while we were at the station, and you can see the activity between the two trains while we were there in one of the photos below. There was some passenger confusion here about which train to get on, since No. 22 comes in engine first and No. 21 backs in. There was one family who was going to Chicago who got on our Austin-bound train thinking it was heading for Chicago. Fortunately, the conductor caught them just after they had gotten on board.

The conductor had announced that we should go over to the Rail Marketplace and see some of their shops and restaurants while we were in Fort Worth. Well, a group of us did and found an empty shell where all those businesses were once located. It was closed entirely (I thought there were supposed to be a few things left). All they have now is a farmers market on some days. This complex used to be the Santa Fe District offices. A big disappointment. Here are some Fort Worth photos:


At the Fort Worth station, looking north toward the city, about 3 p.m.


Peeking through a window of the defunct Rail Marketplace in the old Santa Fe District Offices. There used to be shops and restaurants inside.


The south side of the old market.


Our train pointing south. The old Amtrak/Santa Fe passenger station is just to the right of the superliner.




A BNSF coal train was heading north past the station.


Time was 3:30 p.m. September 23, 2004.


The northbound Texas Eagle, left, arrived while we were at the station.




Good crowds were boarding both trains bewtween 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. Almost looks like a 1950s scene except for the Superliners.






These top three photos show the old Santa Fe passenger station in Fort Worth. I remember in the 1950s and 60s boarding Santa Fe's Texas Chief here and walking down the stairs under the tracks to meet Santa Fe trains 15 or 16. Also the photo immediately above shows the track where Santa Fe once had a sleeper/pullman for overnight occupancy that tied onto the northbound Texas Chief the next day. I always wanted to be on that car, but never did.


A TRE commuter train rounding the curve toward the T&P station in Fort Worth.

They announced at Fort Worth that there would only be one seating for dinner out of Fort Worth, that being at 430 p.m. She said the reason there would be only one seating was that arrival into Austin was expected to be on time. (Does this mean that if the train were an hour late into Fort Worth, they'd have two seatings?)

Anyway, we left Fort Worth at 4:00 p.m., on time. We arrived in Cleburne at 4:45 p.m. (3 minutes late), McGregor at 5:59 p.m. (9 minutes late - there were slow orders on the BNSF), Temple at 6:28 p.m. (5 minutes early), Taylor at 7:29 p.m. (3 minutes late) and Austin at 8:07 p.m. (13 minutes EARLY). It was great seeing us run this way for a change.




The Cleburne station as taken from my sleeper, the Colorado.

At times, especially in the MoPac Expressway median into Austin, we were going fast enough to be passing most cars and trucks. About my ride on the last car on the train, sleeper Colorado: since this car was on the rear of the train, the ride was a little rougher than it would have been had the car been in the middle of the consist.








These top photos were taken in Temple, Texas during our stop.

Our train arrived in Austin at 8:07 p.m., 13 minutes early. I got a rental car in Austin, but had to take a $30 taxi ride to the Austin Airport to pick it up. The pits.

All in all, it was a great trip. The diner was good as usual (our waiter had a French accent so bad that 'biscuit' sounded like 'briscuit') but service was great.

The following photos were taken on my return trip to Arkansas from Austin, Monday, September 27, 2004. They mainly show freights going by the Austin Amtrak station. Our return trip was also pretty timely, about 30-40 minutes late.






How's this for a colorful train, northbound passing the Austin Amtrak station about 8:41 a.m. September 27? Blue, green, yellow and black.




Notice the bent electrical poles behind the Austin station.


UP 9854, 9:54 a.m.


Hauling gravel.


Cement ties. There was a good group getting on the southbound Eagle.


Number 22 arrived at 10:29 a.m.., on time.

Ken Ziegenbein