Tonight I'll be boarding Train 21 in St Louis to ride to San Antonio....will provide reports along the way if I can...
That will be a nice train trip. Done it many times...well at least from (Chicago, then) STL to Dallas. I've thought about documenting it sometime but wasn't sure of the interest. Looking forward to your updates.
Sent my wife off for a few days back in April. Her train (#7) was actually a few minutes early getting here, and she left right on the schedule. Surprising, knowing past performance. Coming back, they were seven hours late....
Bed turned down at 9:50pm last night. Then we hit some really rough jointed rail track south of DeSoto, Missouri. Lasted for about 2 hours. Woke this morning in Hope, Arkansas. New station is really nice. Headed to the diner for Breakfast... we're an hour twenty down off the advertised....but I don't really care much!
Breakfast was fantastic, had the special, crab cake over English muffin with Hollandaise sauce. Chris in the dining car provided excellent service! We've made up some time, only about an hour down now. Approaching Eastern side of Dallas. Unexpected find so far; passed the Trinity Railcar tank car factory.
Had lunch during hour service stop in Ft Worth. Chipotle Veggie burger was awesome for lunch. Chris provided great service again. During lunch was able to watch 3 UP mixed frieghts, 2 TRE Commuters and the Heartland Flyer. Were back on schedule thanks to fluff time in Dallas and Ft Worth.
The shops are still there but did not look to be in use. Find #3, Temple, Tx, tons of patched ATSF Blue and Yellow units to include GP30s and two paired SD series B units. Will post pics when I get home
Yeah, those SD45 B units have been parked there for years unused. Don't know the story on them, if they ever plan to use them again or if they are going to get rid of them.
Arrived approximately 50 minutes early, San Antonio Depot, the old one next to Amtrak's, is beautiful
That's odd, the facility is now owned by Greenbriar and has been busy (I thought)...and they used the Cleburne facility for a big PR event to announce their new Multi-Max autoracks...couldn't have been more than a few weeks ago. Of course they're being built in Mexico. (so we should call them Mexi-Multi-Max-Rax?) Guessing maybe some final prep work or staging being done in Cleburne, not sure. I've attached a fairly recent Google Earth pic... There are actually a few Trinity plants out in the east Texas area. (and at least one other rebuilder, I think) It's a very interesting area, plus beautiful scenery with the Pineywoods and all. I've always thought it would be a neat line to model. It's been awhile since I've been on the Eagle west of Dallas...I wouldn't mind heading down to Austin/SA sometime for a long weekend via Amtrak. Thanks for the report. I will try to do something similar next time I take the trip to Chicago and back.
