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Texas Eagle 21, My Time In Dallas and the Sunset Limited Home 4/22-27/2003

Passengers boarded the Texas Eagle about 3:00 PM and I took my large window seat in the middle of the car. We left on time and the Southwest Chief was picking up its express cars when we stopped to pick up a passenger who boarded the wrong train by mistake. I was still reading "King of Torts", listening to music and doing the odd word fill-in puzzles as the train sped to Joliet, with the scenic high point leaving Joliet being the deep gravel pits on the left side of the tracks. Further south after Odell, we crept along a little then the train rocked, which caused the gentleman playing chess on his seat a couple of seats behind me to lose all his pieces which went everywhere. The passengers started to help to pick them up and I found the last missing piece, the white queen.

We resumed our speed and reached Pontiac, leaving town twenty-two minutes late and I went to the lounge car to wait for dinner, meeting a man from Michigan, travelling on his ninth North American Rail Pass. We went into the siding north of Lincoln waiting for the Anne Rutledge for Chicago to pass. I was joined at dinner with my pass rider and a gentleman from Arkansas. I had the Delmonico steak and a chocolate bundt cake from Menu 3.

As we departed Springfield, here is the Illinois State Capitol in the last light of day as the sun set slowly in the west. I read more and listened to music the rest of the way to St. Louis and enjoyed the views, which brought back memories of the 2001 National Railway Historical Society convention. We departed after the arrival of the ninety-minute late St. Louis Mule and I called it a night.

4/23/2003 I awoke in the forests of southern Arkansas and went straight for the dining car for a breakfast of French Toast and sausage. We departed Malvern an hour and ten minutes late, then as I was eating, met a northbound Union Pacific freight. This would be the norm for the morning as the Eagle was running the wrong way on a directional mainline out of the time slot. We arrived at Texarkana, our last stop in Arkansas, and departed at 9:11 AM {7:35 AM} and made our way into Texas with its rolling hills and forests. After we passed the large Union Pacific tie plant, we crossed the Arkansas River then ran down to Jefferson, where the former Missouri Pacific line crosses the Kansas City Southern, which was going to be the route of the Crescent Star under a former Amtrak's president's plan. It was unfortunate that did not happen since I would have ridden that new route as well.

We reached Marshall with the beautiful Texas and Pacific station built in 1912. It contained a waiting room as well as the company's eastern regional administrative offices. The three-story, 7,500 square foot structure is the only survivor of a once bustling 66-acre shop complex comprised of 75 buildings that included a roundhouse, car shops, a water tower and a warehouse. Today, the beautifully restored depot houses an Amtrak stop and the Texas & Pacific Railway Museum. The exterior has remained essentially the same since its construction. The striking red brick building is outlined in white and features a projecting center bay with a prominent porch, giving the station a homey-feel. The interior has been significantly altered over the years to meet modern railroad needs. During a major rehabilitation in 1999, whitewash was removed and the original red brick restored.

We departed Marshall at 10:36 AM {9:35 AM}, a rainy Longview at 11:26 AM {10:20 AM} and continued our run around freight trains as we did at Greggston. It was a very cloudy day as the Eagle sped west and we crossed the former Cotton Belt diamond at Big Sandy at 11:45, which was the point where we rejoined the regular Eagle route on the Janesville Jaunt trip in June 2000. I then saw the lowest petrol prices at Hawkins, Texas, a $1.35 for unleaded regular. The Texas Eagle arrived at Minneola under brighter skies and departed at 12:06 PM {11:10 AM}, bound for Dallas. The pool power on the Union Pacific freights today had been the usual CSX and Norfolk Southern assortment, as well as Canadian National. The countryside opened up to cattle land but as we neared Dallas, the more urban the landscape became, arriving there five minutes early. While here, I managed to run into the station to acquire both Trinity Rail Express and DART Light Rail schedules, as well as extras for my Orange County Railway Historical Society brethren.

A Trinity Railway Express RDC train, which I planned to ride on this trip. We departed on schedule, bound for Fort Worth and crossed the Trinity River then stopped at CP Powder while a freight train cleared to cross over. As we went through Arlington, I saw the Ball Park in Arlington where I would be seeing the game tonight then we arrived at what was once Tower 55, taking the wye on the southeast corner onto the BNSF. As soon as the dispatcher could throw the switch, we reversed across the Union Pacific mainline, passed the boarded-up Amtrak, former Santa Fe station. and arrived at the new Fort Worth Transportation Center 25 minutes early.

I ventured into the new station crowded with the Arlington High School Band going to a competition in St. Louis, as well as the normal passengers. I called Enterprise car rental and while I waited, learned we were under a tornado warning. About ten minutes later, Tony from Enterprise picked me up and drove me to their offices on West 7th Street where I received a Chevrolet Nova which I drove to the Ramada Inn and parked in the lowest level of the parking garage and checked in. My room was on the tenth floor overlooking the former Santa Fe station, Amtrak yard, Trinity Railway Express, BNSF and UP mainlines then having a great idea, walked past the Transportation Center to the grade crossing where Trinity Railway Express goes through the Tindall Storage Company.

A Trinity Railway Express train came out of the building. I picked up some postcards before going back to my room, watching the Weather channel and the local weather, tracking a storm cell with a tornado coming straight for us then made the decision not to go to the baseball game before calling home to my mother. Due to the weather situation, I decided not to risk the rental car safe in the basement and to forgo the baseball game. Why risk the car and even my life when I could see a game another time. I value my life so much more now that I am sober here on Day 3,017. I enjoyed a great Texas-sized steak dinner in the hotel's café. About 7:40 PM, as I sat in my room, the lightning started so that squall line was beginning to pass through. It was an exciting storm but I saw on the news that the game was played, with the Rangers beating the Boston Red Sox and I went to bed for a good night's rest.

I drove out to Grapevine through the stop-and-go rush hour traffic, stopping for petrol and food, then found the train station with no problem and saw the passenger cars. I met Bill, our fireman on today's run of former Southern Pacific 4-6-0 2248. She pulled out onto the turntable which was built for the Santa Fe in 1927 and originally came from Slaton. In 1974, it moved to Saginaw before being sold on August 25th, 1992 with the condition to be off the Santa Fe property in 48 hours. It arrived in Grapevine on two days later.

The engine turned a quarter turn to be face west, then reversed down a stub track as I took more pictures and switched onto a line to get it out on the main line built in 1888 for the Cotton Belt. It then reversed onto its consist of coaches 208 "P.W. McCallum", 1808 "Rob Robertson", 206 "Sue McCafferty", 209 "Mayor Wm D. Tale", 1818 and 207 "Doug Hanman". The cars were named for friends of the railroad and the civic leaders of both Fort Worth and Grapevine, who supported the train in its early days. Rob Robertson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Tarantula Steam Train.

The cars were hooked on but then pulled away and returned to the shop with a steam valve leak and today's run was cancelled.

More bad Texas luck. I was now going to change all of that so went into the station and received a refund for my two trip tickets and directions to the Ball Park in Arlington.

I found the ballpark and the place I would park with no problem then went to buy my ticket and they let me exchange my ticket from last night to today's game. Everything works out if you let it. I went to the top level once they opened and purchased two hot dogs and sat in the 335 no alcohol section on the first base side with a great view all to myself. The pre-game music was Aerosmith's "Just Push Play", U2's "Beautiful Day" and the Eagles' "Already Gone". The game started after a beautiful Star Spangled Banner was played on bells.

In the top of the first, Manny Rameriz reached second on a two-base error to produce the first run of the game for the Red Sox. In the bottom of the inning, Juan Gonzalez hit a three-run home run then in the second, the Red Sox singled in two runs. At the end of that inning, out above center field, two children played a word search spelling out Eimar Diaz. The Red Sox scored another run but blew the chance to widen their lead. A whiffle ball home run set off fireworks behind center field between innings. I left when the Rangers took a 7-4 lead since I had other things to do. The final score was Rangers 16 Red Sox 5. I drove back to Enterprise and returned the car then was driven back to the hotel and immediately walked over to the Texas and Pacific station to catch a train to Dallas.

Named after the Trinity River, the West Fork of which flows from Fort Worth to Dallas, the TRE was launched on December 30, 1996, shortly after the inaugural service of Dallas' DART light rail system, operating from Dallas Union Transit Station to the South Irving Transit Station. It runs along a former Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific line that the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth purchased in 1983 for $34 million. Service initially operated only in weekday rush hours, but midday and evening service was added in December 1997 and Saturday service was added in December 1998. On September 18, 2000, the line was extended to the suburb of Richland Hills and, for the first time, there was rail service available between downtown Dallas and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. On November 13, 2000, the West Irving Transit Station also opened. On December 3, 2001, the TRE was extended to its current terminus at the T&P station in downtown Fort Worth.

I walked through the old waiting room, noting the "T&P" on the door handles then through their tunnel to stairs leading up to the platform, where I walked to the east end to watch the rail action at Tower 55 before photographing the incoming train, which arrived just as the Texas Eagle was departing for San Antonio. Each station has message boards that announce when the train will depart among other information. The train's consist was F59PHI 569, coaches 1054, and 1052 and cab car 1002. The coaches are typical Bombardier commuter cars but have more padded seats and there are overhead luggage racks in the cab car.

We departed on time crossing the curved bridge, passing the former Santa Fe depot and freight house, now shops, and proceeded to our first stop at the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Centre. From there, we went through the Tindell Storage Company building to 6th Street Junction and on to the former Rock Island Junction trackage, ducked under Interstate 35 through Dalwor Junction before crossing the Trinity River then passed through the siding at Sylvania, where we met the three-RDC Train 2929 on the fly. We crossed Little Fossil Creek before Big Fossil Creek on our way to our second stop at Richland Hills. Our journey was through the suburbs and industries between Fort Worth and Dallas, as well as any open areas still remaining. We crossed Rock, Walkers and Mesquite Creeks and our train was becoming quite crowded with Dallas Stars fans, since the team was playing the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Game One of the Western Conference Semifinals tonight at the American Airlines Area.

The countryside became more forested as we crossed Walker and Hurricane Creeks and I could see the Dallas skyline in the distance. We went into Tarrant siding to meet Train 2931, a four-car Bombardier set, before we arrived at CentrePort/DFW Airport stop, then passed the TRE shops at Irving Yard before arriving at the West Irving stop, where the two-RDC Train 2733 was waiting for his run to CentrePort. We ran across Irving to the South Irving Transportation Center located on the southern leg of a wye at EC Junction and I noted they use the old style of handicapped lift machines for wheelchairs due to the variance in height of the platform. We then crossed the Trinity River again at slower speed since a new bridge is being built on the south side and entered the siding at Mockingbird, meeting Train 2935, a four-car Bombardier train. A Union Pacific freight yard was on the right side of the tracks, after which we crossed the busy Interstate 35 East before arriving at Medical/Market Center.

At Dallas Junction, we passed Train 2737, a three-RDC consist before arriving at Victory Station where the American Airlines Centre is and at least 75 hockey fans detrained here. With downtown Dallas to the left, the train proceeded to North Junction and on into Dallas Union Station, completing another all-new mileage trip. Once we arrived, a flood of commuters boarded and I jumped on the first coach of Train 2939 for the journey back to the T&P tation in Fort Worth. It was then time for the headphones and relaxation, arriving back in Fort Worth where I returned to the hotel and ate in their café but I sent the meal back and it never returned. I watched the Ducks win in overtime 4-3, called a few people and planned tomorrow's DART light rail riding.

4/25/2003 The rail action at Tower 55 woke me early enough to take the first TRE Train 2902 to Dallas. It arrived late and departed twenty minutes late west but the conductor apologized since the regular train had mechanical problems. We stopped at the first red signal right out of the station and waited for future Train 2906 to arrive before we proceeded east through the darkness of a Texas morning, picking up the early birds from Train 2906 and from Hurst onward, Train 2804's waiting passengers. You were either late or early boarding the train this morning. Dawn was taking hold with a crescent moon to the south and we met Train 2101 at Tarrant and later Train 2903 at the South Irving station, arriving at Union Station at 7:01 AM {6:46 AM}. The engineer ran to the front end, performed the air test and they were off for Fort Worth.

The DART Blue Line was part of the initial launch of Dallas Area Rapid Transit's light rail service opened on June 14, 1996. At the time, the line only ran from Illinois to Pearl in the northeast corner of downtown. In May 1997, the Blue Line was extended south to Ledbetter and was extended along the Red Line to Mockingbird in September 1999, in preparation for the future extension to Garland. On September 24, 2001, the Blue Line extended to White Rock, just northwest of White Rock Lake. On May 6, 2002, the Blue Line was extended to the LBJ/Skillman, just beyond LBJ Freeway (Interstate 635). It was extended to Downtown Garland on November 18, 2002.

The system, all new construction, serves 65 stations and four lines, covering 93 miles: the Blue Line, the Red Line, the Green Line and the Orange Line.

I boarded a train of Kinki-Sharyo Super Light Rail Vehicle cars bound for Ledbetter and this was, of course, my first sampling of DART services. We departed Union Station and went under the Convention Center, our first stop. It was a beautiful sunny but windy morning as the train made its way to Cedars then we came through a junction and turned left before crossing the Union Pacific mainline, on which the Texas Eagle runs, and the Trinity River with a great view of the Dallas skyline. We stopped at 8th/Corinth and waited for a train to clear the junction from Westmoreland then went through the junction with an old railroad viaduct crossing the line to Westmoreland.

We climbed a hill to our next stop at Morrell then the line was undulating as we made our way out into the southern suburb, arriving at Illinois then climbed a flyover across Illinois and Lancaster before arriving at Kiest. The cars have message boards that show the weather, advertisements and sport scores. VA Medical Center was our next stop and I had an opportunity to see a wheelchair unloaded from the car onto a high level ramp. We descended to our final stop at Ledbetter, where I detrained then boarded the next train back to City Place station in Dallas.

At intersections are eye-catching flashing "Train Coming" electric signs. We made our return to Dallas Union Station, where I changed to a Red Line train to Cityplace. A three-RDC TRE train passed us at North Junction where we turned right in downtown Dallas with traffic signals and travelled down Pacific Street, stopping at West End at Akard in the shadows of the tall buildings. We turned northeast onto Bryon to the St. Paul and Pearl stops then turned to align ourselves into a tunnel, that has a few curves in it, to CityPlace station inside the tunnel. It took two long escalator rides and stairs to return me to the surface from ten stories below. Back out in the sunlight I found the McKinney Avenue Trolley and waited.

Dallas' first streetcar company opened in 1872, running along Main Street to connect Downtown to the newly opened Houston & Texas Central Rail depot. Mules pulled the cars, much like a horse and buggy, until electric streetcars were introduced in 1890. At the height of the era, streetcar service in Dallas covered almost 200 miles of tracks with a fleet of nearly 400 streetcars. Although Dallas enthusiastically adopted the automobile, streetcar service remained an important transportation mode for decades. Nevertheless as automobiles gained in popularity, motor coach (bus) routes became favored over expanding the streetcar network. Ridership declined until service finally ended in 1956 after serving Dallas for more than seven decades.

The McKinney Avenue Transit Authority was founded in 1983 to return heritage streetcars to the urban fabric of Dallas. Two Dallas residents, Phil Cobb and Ed Landrum, began championing the idea after discovering tracks on McKinney Avenue that had been paved over and forgotten. In 1989, the McKinney Avenue Trolley celebrated the grand opening of its 2.8-mile route at an event that was attended by thousands of Dallas locals. The line has expanded several times to now serve a 4.6-mile route with seven vintage cars. The first expansion opened in 2002, extending the route north to connect to DART's CityPlace/Uptown light rail station.

Around a corner came "Matilda", car 369, built by James Moore, Limited in 1926 for service in Melbourne, Australia, where she operated in continual service for six decades. MATA purchased the car in 1986, saving her from being scrapped. "Matilda" came to Dallas in running order and a few cosmetic changes were made at the site of what is now the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Uptown. This is the only car in the fleet with a center entrance and has some of the most beautiful woodwork in the MATA fleet.

I met Doug Goldsmith, the operator, who was a very friendly person. On the trip we talked baseball, hockey light rail and of course, this line. The CityPlace station is on a stub-end of the track and we proceeded west to McKinney and at the junction, turned right then left onto Blackburn, passing the Magnolia Theater before turning left onto Magnolia Street. The car rode smoothly and provided an enjoyable ride. We went down Magnolia and turned ight to gain access back to McKinney, passing the Uptown Galleries, Hard Rock Café and the Crescent Hotel with its shops then turned onto single track at St. Paul, taking that street to the end of the line at Ross Street. After switching ends, we returned via McKinney and had a meet at St. Paul and McKinney.

On the way back, Doug pointed out the car shops and all too soon we returned to CityPlace station and said goodbye to Doug before going ten stories underground by stairs back to DART since the escalators were not working today.I caught a Ledbetter train back to Union Station and wrote this section of the story along the way then detrained at Union Station.

I went out to TRE Train 2713 and found that great train crew that had saved the day this morning in a much more relaxed state. I planned to ride as far as CentrePort where I would then switch to a Fort Worth-bound train after a few minutes wait. I sat in the same seat I had this morning but on the other side on this bi-level train and I finally saw Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys, to the north and it was a relaxing trip. I detrained to wait for Train 2115 to Fort Worth and on the way there, at South Irving, we met the three-RDC Train 2720 and passed Rock Island Center, named after the former owners of this line. In fact, this is the third segment of the former Rock Island line that I have ridden, since I rode Metra from Chicago to Joliet, Illinois, Union Pacific 3985 excursion last June down the Spine Line from Minneapolis to Kansas City, and now this line between Dallas and Fort Worth. We arrived at CentrePort early and I detrained.

After that train departed, a dead-heading bi-level train passed through and ten minutes later, my two-car RDC Train 2115 arrived to pick up the large group of passengers going west. I chose a seat in 2006, while 2002 was the lead unit. I really wanted to ride these former VIA Rail of Canada, originally Canadian National cars and the rumble of their engines brought back fond memories of other times I had ridden in RDCs. Where else in 2003 can you ride an RDC in regular commuter service in America?. I have always loved the acceleration of an RDC engine and the hum it produces while rolling down the rails and remembered the first RDC I saw while camping in South Edmonton, Alberta along the Canadian Pacific Railway line down to Calgary very late in the evening's twilight back in 1972. I knew I really wanted to ride one someday and I have had plenty of opportunities, namely BC Rail, VIA Rail of Canada and now TRE.

As we travelled along, I noted a new siding was being installed at Garrison, halfway to Hurst/Bell. All too soon we were back at the Fort Worth-ITC, where most passengers detrained before we continued over to the T&P station, where I had now completed riding Trinity Rail Express for this visit to Texas.

The ceiling of this beautiful station.

I checked out of the hotel and walked back to the Amtrak station photographing the RDC's stopping as TRE Train 2926, then paid to store my bags in a vain attempt to see a film. Neither theater opened early enough to suit my needs since I was told the train was on time. I went to Barnes and Noble for a book on the "Streamliners" then went to the Rodeo Steak House but found it closed so a trip to the Santa Fe Freight House Marketplace was in order. At Suppenhuas, Soups and More!, I asked for a plain roast beef sandwich which was excellent. I next witnessed the arrival of the Heartland Flyer with P42DC 83, Superliner snack coach 65005, high-level coach 39940 and P42DC 91.

I then learnt my train would be late so returned to the theater and saw the musical "Chicago" which I really enjoyed then walked back to the station, reclaimed my bags and watched the eastbound Texas Eagle arrive. At 4:15 PM, a passenger told me that the train had just left Dallas and was expected to get here by 5:15. Then the Amtrak agent updated it to 5:30, but since I had a sleeper, I did not care and was still reading John Grisham's book.

At 5:25 PM, the Eagle reversed into the station but it was directed to be on the same track as the Heartland Flyer, so it could not reverse down the platform to the station. However, as my sleeper was the last car, the walk was not that bad. I had my ticket taken by sleeping car attendant Elbert Flowers and at 6:00 PM, we departed but only made it to Tower 55, being delayed for fifteen minutes by a Union Pacific freight train that went across our way, ran the power around the train and was now pulling west bound for Centennial Yard. At 6:15 PM, we proceeded south out of Fort Worth.

Elbert provided me the options for dinner, a choice of cold salmon, roast beef or chicken. I went to the dining car for this pre-wrapped meal which was horrible. To give this to someone who paid money for a sleeping car is ridiculous and it was worse than any airline meal. My solution, if no dining car was available, something that saves $200,000, then just let the sleeping car passengers order from the lounge car menu. A hot dog would have been far superior to that meal they gave me. I stopped by the lounge car for some meal-saving M&Ms then returned to my room to listen to Olivia Newton John and to read USA today and the Fort Worth Star as we crossed the green rolling Texas countryside on the way to McGregor. We departed at 7:59 PM {5:50 PM} as the sun had set on another wonderful day of train riding and I relaxed listening to music before making up my bed and calling it another Texas night.

I awoke in San Antonio to the banging of cars as the crew prepared to take us down and turn the train, with me picking up additional mileage. All that noise, as well as the the lady in the next compartment gabbing on her cell phone, made this sleeper a very noisy place in the middle of the night. Once they respotted us, the Texas Eagle's power was right outside my window, after which we departed on time after the Sunset picked us up.

I slept through Del Rio and woke up to the view of water of the Amistad Reservoir outside my window and went to the dining car for French Toast with Stephen as my steward and enjoyed the Pecos River High Bridge while eating. John, a former San Diegan Business Class attendant, working as a coach attendant, stopped by for a visit then I returned to my room for more reading, music and West Texas scenery, finishing the book just before Alpine and as we were twenty minutes early, I detrained.

Crossing Paisano Pass before I napped from Marfa to about thirty minutes from El Paso since tiredness hit me all at once and I did not feel all that well. I listened to Frank Zappa's "One Size Fits All" the rest of the way to El Paso and seeing the gap in the mountains in Mexico brought back memories of that Bosque de Chihuahua excursion in 1998. After some freight train interference, we finally arrived and I detrained to obtain our consist, namely P42DCs 41 and 3, baggage 1711, transition 39017, sleepers 32070 "Alabama" and 32080 "Idaho", dining car 38066, lounge 33038, coaches 34090, 34139, 31519 and 34046 and sleeper 32003 "Edward L. Ullman".

We departed El Paso on time and I listened to Frank Zappa's "Apostrophe" and started to read "Streamliners" by Bob Johnson and Joe Welsh with Mike Schafer. We went into the siding at Afton, New Mexico, for a hot eastbound freight and were held out of Deming for another one. I still did not feel that well and having skipped lunch, thought I should eat something so went to the diner to order from menu 3. I was not all that hungry so only had half of the beef tenderloin. Stephen thought I looked horrible and on the way back to my sleeper, John felt my head and said I was burning up. Me playing doctor to my own disease ordered lots of sleep so I went to bed with an extra blanket about Benson and the fever broke about Maricopa. I had a weird language dream, a first for me, where people were speaking in odd languages, yet I was able to understand them all. It was a long night.

4/27/2003 It is always a joy to be woken up from a sound sleep and told "LA in an hour and ten. Good news, we shall be early!" I arose, showered and felt like a new man as we rolled the pre-dawn hours towards Los Angeles while listening to U2. We departed Ontario at 5:35 AM {4:39 AM} and I went to the lounge car for a cup of tea. After Pomona, I met the ever-friendly conductor Fred Banuleos and Conductor X = Xi, another really special person.

At El Monte, we took the flyover and since there were no express cars on the rear, photography was very easy. We ran down the Metrolink line in the middle of the San Bernardino Freeway in order to reach the Los Angeles River, which we crossed to get to Los Angeles Union Station, arriving there at 6:25 AM {7:55 AM}, an hour-and-a-half early.

I walked across to Track 9 and found Pacific Surfliner 761 bound for Santa Barbara parked ahead of Train 564 bound for San Diego. However, when I saw engineer Bob Morgan, I knew I was in the correct place. About five minutes before departure, Joe Nappa took my ticket and we were on our way to Santa Ana. At Hobart, we passed a special Metrolink train on its way to the California 500 car race in Fontana. The BNSF dispatcher did an excellent job weaving us through the westbound BNSF fleet and we passed the on-time Southwest Chief just east of Norwalk. Pacific Surfliner 564 ran on time to Fullerton, Anaheim and to my stop of Santa Ana.

My train on its way south. I walked through the station to a taxi to my home, ending another fantastic trip aboard Amtrak. Home for two nights then I would be off again.

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