19-03-28 PHOTOS: Texas Eagle - Part 2

If you tuned in for Part 1 of my March 2019 Texas Eagle trip, here is the continuation starting at Longview and proceeding on to my destination of Dallas, TX. This part of the Texas Eagle route runs over the formerly Missouri Pacific controlled, Texas and Pacific line, now operated by Union Pacific (which apparently bought every railroad with "Pacific" in its name). In case you forgot, the full set of photos can be found here (mirror).


Longview,TX is the last smoke stop before Dallas and features a UP yard and administrative hub. By this point in the journey my train was running about 2-3 hours late, but that would ensure that I got lunch on board as normally it is served between Dallas and Fort Worth. Apart from meals I was positioned in Superliner I coach #34039, which can be easily identified as a "I" due to the German-built trucks.

Waiting to depart the west end of the yard was a train with UP AC4400 #5889 and SD70ACe #8452.

A few miles outside of Longview we hit a bit of a traffic jam with a UP mixed freight led by SD70M #5039 and SD70ACe #8815 tucked into the Greggton siding along with a local powered by GMTX GP38-2 #2653, UP GP38-2 #520 and Up GP40N #1437.

Another Up freight headed by SD70M #4895, ES44AC #7876 and a second SD70M was waiting in the Gladewater siding. 

I decided to break for lunch just past the former Southern Pacific diamond at Big Sandy.

I returned in time to pass by the town of Wills Point which features a brick paved main drag.

In the Will Point siding was another mixed freight led by UP SD70M #3893 and CSX C40-10W #5384. UP was doing a pretty good job of getting the freight movements out of the way, but we were delayed in a siding for another 30-45 minutes while I was at lunch.

19-03-28 PHOTOS: Texas Eagle - Part 1

Of all of Amtrak's "western" long distance trains, the Texas Eagle is probably the second most bland, in terms of scenery, behind only the City of New Orleans. The only scenic part of the trip, through the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas, takes place at night in both directions of travel. My westbound Texas Eagle, despite being between 60 and 90 minutes late, had just departed Texarkana when I finally finished up breakfast in the dining car and started my work for the day. South of St. Louis the Eagle runs on former Missouri Pacific territory and within the State of Texas this means a single track with passing sidings, lots of pine trees and more than a few swamps. Still it was an interesting journey with more than a few classic signals still in service and a healthy amount of Union Pacific freight traffic.

You can find the full set of photos here (mirror), but I am going to be splitting this up into two parts with Part 1 covering Texarkana to Longview and Part 2 Longview to Dallas.

Crossing the KCS Diamond south of Texarkana it was only about 90 miles to Longview and, despite our lateness, the dispatcher had done a good job clearing opposing traffic into various passing sidings. The first of these was a train of autoracks hauled by UP ES44AH #8169 and AC4400 #7187 sitting in the Sulphur siding.

We were all set of a quick dash to Longview when the engineer slammed on the brakes and stopped short of a random red flag placed by the side of the right of way by persons unknown. Calls to the dispatcher could not ascertain who placed the flag and it took over an hour to resolve the issue as nobody wanted to run afoul of what could be an FRA rule compliance test. Although an MoW crew was nearby, the flag resembled something used by a local freight to protect crossings or mark the end of a train. 

Classic MoPac signals and relay huts were sprinkled around such as at the south end of the Springdale siding.

The hour delay on the main had forced opposing traffic to pull off into sidings and because the delay was the fault of UP and not Amtrak I suspect the dispatcher was told to give us clear track as much as possible. The first train we passed was led by UP SD70ACe #8844, NS C44-10W #7700 and UP GP40N #1575 on the Queen City siding.

The old MoPac station in Atlanta Texas.

Another northbound train in the Bivins siding with UP ET44AC #6314 and CSX ES44AH #3021 leading a merchandise train.