It's been over seven years since I've taken a long-distance Amtrak train. Recently, I took Amtrak 422 from Los Angeles to Dallas for a football game—flying home as I need to get back to work, and the triweekly Sunset Limited schedule unfortunately didn’t mesh well for the return leg from Dallas to LA.

From time to time, I'll read trip reports on railfan websites. Amtrak is a popular punching bag in the railfan community, and I know there are occasions where this may be merited. However, Amtrak often does well, and I wanted to share my experience to highlight that.

Questions of mine are in boldface.

I reserved a standard room on the Texas Eagle through sleeper. The sleeping car attendant, F, was very friendly and helpful. Apparently, with the new 22:30 departure time (last time I rode, the train left at 14:30), the beds are already turned down upon boarding the train. As I was traveling by myself, I chose the lower bunk (for purposes of looking out the window).

We didn't even make it to the LA River bridge when we encountered a small delay—apparently, our train was routed on the CTC-less main track through LATC. We crawled through LATC at yard limits as a stopped UP train was blocking the CTC main. Isn't UP inconveniencing themselves by blocking the CTC main (which is further from the LATC yard) and forcing Amtrak to crawl through at yard limits? (Amtrak could have went a little faster on the CTC main.) I can only imagine the reactions of first-time Amtrak passengers when we lose 20-30 minutes before we even enter the Alhambra trench.

It was neat to see the progress made by Alameda Corridor East on railroad underpasses, overpasses, etc. between LA and Ontario. I finally turned in before Palm Springs. During the night, it seemed like we were going track speed (if not faster) between Palm Springs and Maricopa.

We reached Maricopa at sunrise. I feel sorry for the folks on Arizona Highway 347 who must wait for the train to stop four times because of the way-too-short platform. There are plans to remediate this, but not for a few years (I think). This could be a good smoke/stretch your legs stop with a longer platform; it's also the crew change point.

With schedule padding (and fast running), we arrived early into Tucson. After leaving Tucson, near the Vail crossovers and the hill climb, the lounge car attendant instructed everyone to look at a castle on a hill, northeast of the tracks. Google seemed inconclusive; does anyone know the name of this castle?

After stopping in Benson and not stopping at one of the two New Mexico flag stops, we made our way into El Paso. For lunch, the dining car was doing reservations off of Mountain Standard Time, when we were already in Mountain Daylight Time.

Apparently, Alpine is now a smoke/stretch your legs stop, as a nice long platform exists there. We were early into Alpine, allowing time to explore the city blocks around the station. My exploring Alpine was cut short as the dining car was doing dinner reservations off of Mountain Standard Time, when we were already in Central Time. (Aside from the time zones, the dining car staff was excellent.) Alpine was a lot colder than anywhere else on the trip!

I attempted to stay up long enough to try to see the crossing of the Pecos River, but I fell asleep soon after Sanderson (where we did a slow rollby as no passengers boarded or detrained). We were close to on time in Sanderson, but left San Antonio 30 minutes late, making me think we lost time somewhere between Sanderson and San Antonio.

As the moon was nowhere near a full moon, the stars were amazing out in West Texas. Once again, during the night it seemed like we were going track speed (if not faster) between Sanderson and San Antonio.

Upon leaving San Antonio on the Texas Eagle, we did the familiar backup move out of the station, backing up to then join the old MKT/Katy line. Apparently, the dining car now opens at San Antonio for breakfast; on previous Texas Eagle jaunts I remember the dining car crew getting on the train at Austin. We passed through the beautiful terrain between San Antonio and Austin, with another smoke/stretch your legs stop at Austin.

It seemed like my scanner was not picking up the detectors anymore (it had done so the first day or so). It wasn't battery problems, as I could hear the crew call out signals/talk to the BNSF dispatcher at Temple. Are the railroads "scanner-proofing" their detectors?

We were flying on the BNSF "roller coaster" between Temple and Cleburne. I forgot how fast we cross over the Brazos. The dining car crew, as well as sleeping car attendant R, were as professional and friendly as the Sunset Limited crew.

At Fort Worth, it appeared as though the lead conductor (this crew runs from Fort Worth to Marshall) removed a coach passenger from the train who had a small dog. Apparently, this dog was not a service animal. Now, I understand that there are probably rules against pets on Amtrak, but why did she (most likely) remove the passenger in Fort Worth, when the passenger (and Fido) had boarded way back in Los Angeles or somewhere? (I believe I saw the man and his dog at Tucson, El Paso, Alpine, and/or Austin; at what point do you just "let it ride"?)

Since I hadn't taken the Texas Eagle in over seven years, I was used to backing up after leaving Fort Worth, re-crossing Tower 55, and taking the busy, double-track UP (former Texas & Pacific) between Fort Worth and Dallas. Instead, the train now travels over the former Rock Island, now Trinity Railway Express commuter line. We stopped two or three times to let a commuter train and BNSF freight train pass, but we made excellent time and arrived early into Dallas—imagine if Amtrak is out of its timeslot.

Overall, I was very pleased with the trip. Amtrak's crew were all great representatives of the organization. UP and BNSF did a good job of moving Amtrak through; the longest wait I remember was 20 minutes around Sierra Blanca.


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Thank you for your time!