Passenger Trains > Yesterday's Texas Eagle Detour

Hello from Austin. Waiting to board No. 22 for the detour to Longview. But why is the train a service disruption? A call to Amtrak indicated such but when speaking to a live agent, the train is on the road and on time. Service disruptions should only be for the parts of the route affected...in this case Tayor, TX to Lonview, TX. The rest of the route is running as normal.  The trip south on 21 was fine. We had an excellent crew in the dining/lounge which is adequate for this train. Both the LSA (who referred to herself as the Steward) and waiter were top notch. I ordered both the French toast and burger well cooked and that's how they came out. Other crews have informed incorrectly that "they all come out the same way". So no consistency in policy or service. The only minor issue was lack of table cloths. The LSA indicated because of the little holders on the table by the windows, they wouldn't fit. But on the Capitol two weeks ago, they simply folded the table cloths over. Again, lack of consistency. As for the detour, everything was handled efficiently. Passengers indicated they were called the night before to inform them of the bus situation but some apparently didn't get the call or didn't understand it so almost ended up staying on the train. No on board announcements were made upon arrival to Longview. The route was largely treed in as some others have posted. Not much to see but I netted approximately 152 miles of new track. Arrival was 30 minutes with most of the time lost in Illinois. Over an hour was recovered on the shorter route.  A couple of other observations.  Illinois looks to have spent millions on station improvements. Overkill in some places like Pontiac where 3 of us boarded a beautiful but unecessarily large station. Why did the crew between Pontiac and St. Louis tell everyone to be seated during a back up move? They said it was dangerous. Huh? Later down south there were several back up moves to get into sidings and no such dire warning was given. We also double stopped at some of the newer platforms even though the 8 car train easily fit the platform. More time lost. And last but not least. I had room 24 in the Transition sleeper. I anticipated a baggage car between the car and the single loco. But there wasn't one. So the horn would have made sleep impossible. Fortunately the friendly Conductor was able to secure room 10 in the LA sleeper which is now positioned up front. So on days with no LA sleeper, apparently only the Transition sleeper is available?  Why anyone at Amtrak thinks putting a sleeper directly behind the loco allows for sleep is beyond me. But then, apparently they don't think or don't care about their premium (I won't begin to call it first class) service.  Now heading to the station for the trip north and 222 new miles (train takes a different route north bound). We have the same crew so I should get my hockey puck burger and burned French toast in the morning with no snarky (they are all cooked the same) comment.

On days without the LA car, their is a full sleeper in addition to the trans dorm.

You make mention of a diner/lounge. Are you saying that they had no sightseeing lounge car ?

I guess it's not a service disruption for you, but it sure is for passengers traveling to Dallas.

You will be in my neck of the woods (literally) when between Jacksonville and Longview. Look for the HOB switcher
(Henderson Overton branch) on the south side of Overton. The Longview depot was recently restored, and there
Is a lot of UP freight traffic there.

When I rode #21 on 5/20 it had a baggage car.

Where did you stay in Austin and did you have any trouble finding a taxi??? On my trip on june 5 & 6 we had a new baggage car, dorm sleeper, regular sleeper, diner and then the lounge car. A lot of extra horn blowing because the crossing circuits were set for freights (so I was told). It was all day time, so really no bother.