Trip Report: October 8 - 28, 2000
by Ted & Sylvia Blishak
ONBOARD AMTRAK
WITH TED AND SYLVIA BLISHAK
October 20, 2000: To Texas on the Texas Eagle.
Arising at 7:30 AM at Malvern, Arkansas, the station stop for Hot Springs National Park, we dress and take our morning walk to the dining car six cars ahead. Only eight tables are being used this morning, possibly because the dining car is short-handed, so we are given a number and go back to the lounge car and wait to be called while reading the morning Arkansas Democrat Gazette, published in Little Rock. There are several articles about officials on the state and local level being accused of various types of malfeasance. In one of them the county prosecutor referred to the defendants as "skunks".
Travel Tip: Get up early for breakfast, which usually begins at 6 or 6:30 AM but is not announced, as many passengers prefer to sleep in. Otherwise, you may encounter delays.
After a few minutes we are called and seated across from two interesting ladies from Chicago. Both are frequent Amtrak travelers. Breakfast is served very quickly and turns out to be the best prepared breakfast that we have yet had on our Amtrak trip. Scrambled eggs, sausage patty, fresh fruit plate, and homemade oatmeal (superior to the instant kind the Capitol Limited serves) with brown sugar and currants, are all served on china by a pleasant and friendly staff.
Conversation revolves around the shockingly rough condition of the roadbed, even though this is fairly straight track in flat country. Amtrak's timetables used to list the name of the host railroad over whose tracks they were running. While they no longer do so, a look out the window when we're put in a siding for a freight train to pass gives us
the answer -- it is powered by Union Pacific engines.
Travel Tip: We can't emphasize this enough: wear flat shoes, keep knees slightly bent, and keep both hands free when walking through a moving train. Be ready to grab something solid in case of a lurch, which can happen at any time.
After breakfast, there is a fairly lengthy double stop at Texarkana, where we have a reasonably strong Sprint PCS signal and are able to check our e-mail and confirm some Amtrak reservations our clients have requested since we've been traveling.
Scenery outside is heavily forested, with the occasional swamp. We observe some lumber mills and logging trucks; since we are further south now the trees are not in full fall foliage yet.
At Gilmore, a stop which is not on our Spring/Summer timetable the latest version available an announcement is made that passengers destined to Houston and intermediate cities will transfer to buses here. Leaving Gilmore, we notice hundreds of local people waving at the train, but we are unable to find out why.
Lunch today is served with plastic cutlery and plastic plates (perhaps a dishwasher failure has occurred) and the portions are unusually small. But a tasty brownie for dessert helps to fill the empty spaces.
There are two eighteen-year-olds in sailor's uniforms who boarded in Chicago and are occupying nearby Deluxe Rooms. We assume that because of the growing tensions in the Middle East they are being transported by the government to active duty. One of them appears, understandably, ill-at-ease. He enters the dining room just as we are leaving after lunch and is apparently rebuffed as he comes right back out again into the adjacent coach, on his way back towards the sleeper. The coach car attendant notices this and asks him what is wrong. (Since he is a sleeping car passenger, the car attendant is going the extra mile as the sailor is not really his responsibility.) We don't hear the entire conversation, but the car attendant is doing his best to soothe some ruffled feelings, which is above and beyond the call of duty and shows an impressive dedication to excellent service.
We are running a bit late, but hope to make up time between Dallas and Fort Worth. Instead, we are stopped for lengthy periods, with the explanation that Amtrak has been sidelined for "heavy freight traffic ahead". When we finally reach Forth Worth, a service stop, we are able to take an exercise break and walk up and down the platform in light rain.
Two other Amtrak trains are in the station; the northbound Texas Eagle, loading passengers on one side of us, and the Heartland Flyer scheduled to depart for Oklahoma City. The latter has an unusual consist: F-40 engines on each end, one Superliner coach with the lower level converted into a snack area, and two ex-Santa Fe high-level coaches. They are similar in exterior appearance to the high-level lounges, used, in remodeled form, for the Coast Starlight's Pacific Parlour Car. While the train looks like it is powered at both ends, one of the F-40s has been revamped. Its diesel engine has been removed and the engine compartment is used to store baggage. The cab still has its controls and the crew operates the train from this location when running in this direction, although the power comes from the pushing engine on the other end.
From the station platform we observe some high-rise buildings with many missing glass panels or windows. This devastation was wrought by a tornado that hit the downtown area in April.
The "All Aboard" is shouted, but with three trains in the station, this leads to confusion as a passengers calls back, "Which train?" It is for the northbound Texas Eagle. Then, at last, we are aboard our train and on our way.
An humorous announcement from the lounge car comes over the IC: "We have a designated driver up ahead and he's doing a great job, so why not come on down and join us for a Margarita?"
We've been in touch with our son Mark, who is planning to pick us up in McGregor, Texas, where we were due at 5:05 PM. Our conductor now predicts a 6:45 PM arrival; we call Mark again on our cell phone and say we estimate a 7 o'clock arrival.
Travel Tip: Always carry a cell phone on Amtrak, as arrival times are problematical and if you have any type of arrangements to meet someone, keep an appointment, or if you've arranged for transportation, you'll need to update people at your destination.
As the sun sets, we are treated to an unexpected change of scenery. The tracks take us into rural country, with bluffs, cliffs, a wide river, and oak trees. This is obviously away from the very uninteresting route I-35 follows, and a refreshing surprise. It is dark by the time we reach McGregor, and we do a triple stop here: first for the forward 2120 sleeper, second for the coaches, and finally for the rear 2130 sleeper where we are. In spite of this complex triple stop, we are deposited on the ballast instead of the station platform, and we trundle our luggage to the unmanned, dilapidated station building.
The unmanned, yet mysteriously lit up and open McGregor station is located at 1 Amtrak Boulevard, a rutted, pot-holed, unsigned, dirt road one half mile from the nearest dim light on the deserted main street through McGregor, a town so small that it cannot support a single taxi. The station platform is crumbling, the restrooms cockroach infested, and the sole street light outside intermittently switching on and then off again. There is a pay phone, but no phone book. This station serves the city of Waco, Texas, ten miles east, population over one hundred thousand, home of Baylor University and many high-tech aerospace industries. If you do not leave your car here, or prearrange to be picked up, you are stranded, in the worst way. There is nothing in the station information section of Amtrak's computer to prepare passengers for this. Your only recourse would be to call 911. I am surprised that Amtrak would even consider dropping passengers, after dark, into such a potentially dangerous situation. Fortunately our son and his family were there to pick us up.
Travel Tip: If you are traveling to Waco on Amtrak, don't get off in McGregor. Use Temple, twenty five miles south, which has a beautifully restored former Santa Fe station building, manned by an Amtrak agent, and a vintage Santa Fe steam engine on display.
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