CMStPnP Amtrak won't do it though because it wants the centralized hub to be Chicago for LD trains.
Amtrak is stuck in the past. I hope someone can find the data source for the contention that most Western LD passengers do NOT ride endpoint to endpoint. If that is true, then a logical reconfiguration would make enough sense that even Amtrak could recognize the implications.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
CMStPnP schlimm Little Rock should be retained, as it served 19,676 passengers last year. Some poster pointed out last year that the majority of LD train passengers in the West do not ride endpoint to endpoint (not verified). So perhaps if trains like the Sunset and Eagle were segmented (shorter corridors, such as StL-DFW or SA) better arrival times could be managed. And if the demand were there, daily frequency could also be increased. I'd be all for making Saint Louis the terminus of the Texas Eagle. That should allow for better times between Dallas and St. Louis, in my opinion. With all the corridor trains between Saint Louis to Chicago. Not much of a hassle to switch trains in Saint Louis. Amtrak won't do it though because it wants the centralized hub to be Chicago for LD trains.
schlimm Little Rock should be retained, as it served 19,676 passengers last year. Some poster pointed out last year that the majority of LD train passengers in the West do not ride endpoint to endpoint (not verified). So perhaps if trains like the Sunset and Eagle were segmented (shorter corridors, such as StL-DFW or SA) better arrival times could be managed. And if the demand were there, daily frequency could also be increased.
I'd be all for making Saint Louis the terminus of the Texas Eagle. That should allow for better times between Dallas and St. Louis, in my opinion. With all the corridor trains between Saint Louis to Chicago. Not much of a hassle to switch trains in Saint Louis. Amtrak won't do it though because it wants the centralized hub to be Chicago for LD trains.
And they shouldn't. Transfers suck. I speak from experience. Passengers from Philly and most of PA have to transfer to get to Chicago. I missed my connection. If the Texas Eagle terminated in St. L, you couldn't go directly from Texas to Chicago and you'd have to transfer twice to get from Texas to the Northeast.
schlimmLittle Rock should be retained, as it served 19,676 passengers last year. Some poster pointed out last year that the majority of LD train passengers in the West do not ride endpoint to endpoint (not verified). So perhaps if trains like the Sunset and Eagle were segmented (shorter corridors, such as StL-DFW or SA) better arrival times could be managed. And if the demand were there, daily frequency could also be increased.
CJtrainguyAny time I ride the Texas Eagle, there's a good-sized crowd getting on and off in Little Rock, so I'm apparenly not alone in taking the train around here.
Little Rock should be retained, as it served 19,676 passengers last year. Some poster pointed out last year that the majority of LD train passengers in the West do not ride endpoint to endpoint (not verified). So perhaps if trains like the Sunset and Eagle were segmented (shorter corridors, such as StL-DFW or SA) better arrival times could be managed. And if the demand were there, daily frequency could also be increased.
CMStPnP I would also cut the stops after midnight to around 5:00 a.m. unless it brings on a lot of people, that would speed up the train time across the route at least an hour or hour and a half. Would be nice for the Texas Eagle to arrive in Chicago at noon instead of 2:00 p.m.
I would also cut the stops after midnight to around 5:00 a.m. unless it brings on a lot of people, that would speed up the train time across the route at least an hour or hour and a half. Would be nice for the Texas Eagle to arrive in Chicago at noon instead of 2:00 p.m.
Right, because that would mean that the Texas Eagle southbound would roll right through Little Rock without stopping, really making the train totally useless to the state of Arkansas. While I would prefer to arrive home from a trip from the north or leave on a trip southward at a more civilized time than 3:10am, I'll take it over no train at all.
Presumably you would allow us to keep the northbound Texas Eagle stop since it's at 11:39pm, but what's the use of a train that can only take you in one direction?
Any time I ride the Texas Eagle, there's a good-sized crowd getting on and off in Little Rock, so I'm apparenly not alone in taking the train around here.
As for when to arrive in Chicago, I'd prefer to arrive in the morning, having left Little Rock the previous evening. I'd love to see track speeds increased and schedules speeded up. In the end, I prefer to arrive at all though.
If I were to drive, it's 10 hours of constant on, plus time to stop at rest areas and for food every so often. And I don't arrive rested and get no work done during that time. Amtrak takes marginally longer, and I arrive rested and have had time to get work done on the train.
BTW, last time I took the Texas Eagle south from Little Rock, I don't really recall any stops during the night. Slept right through them, I guess. Woke up somewhere in east Texas.
Philly Amtrak FanI would say any stop with less than 5,000 should be a flag stop. Or if it is a reservation required train, require advanced notice (even as little as 3-4 hours before departure) or the stop is skipped (assuming no one gets off at that station). I am more concerned about the Cardinal which has many stations with tiny riderships and the train is a waste of money and equipment which can be better used for other trains not currently running. They canceled the Three Rivers back in 2005 when it had higher ridership and revenue than the Cardinal (I can attach an old NARP report if you don't believe it). You can say the Cardinal isn't daily but then why run the train 3 days/week when you can run a different train daily?
What I would do is put in a on demand local van service to another Amtrak station from Hope and add a surcharge to the Amtrak tickets for it. Close out the Amtrak service to Hope entirely.
Agree on the minimum Passengers threshold. I don't want to sound like one of the "passenger train nostalgia" folks on here but time schedules do matter. Not only to me as a point to point passenger but I am fairly sure it is more disruptive of frieght operations to have an Amtrak train stopping every 30-40 miles.......not only once but twice because the folks in Hope were too cheap azz to put in a full length platform. I would think the frieght railroads would prefer Amtrak to just keep running as much as possible.
Amtrak does need more flagstops on their schedules or at least use a thruway bus and eliminate some of the intermediate low volume train stops.
schlimm CMStPnP C'mon 1,612 passengers boarding a year so far? Why is this even an Amtrak stop? Amtrak should establish minimum patronage requirements before they accept a new station stop. Now I am reading they are going to add yet another station closer to St. Louis..........Texas Eagle is slowly becomming a Milk run, in my opinion. One of many such stops. In ARK, there are also: Arkadelphia 1305 and Malvern 1760. In NC, Gastonia gets 1508. On the 3-day per week route of the Cardinal, you get really low numbers: In WV, Montgomery 639, Alderson 432 and (not kidding folks) Thurmond produces 295. In New York state, the town of Port Kent produces 727. And in PA, N. Philadelphia had a paltry 832. On the WI CHI-MSP 2nd train thread, one low use station popped up, but with larger numbers. Perhaps those interested can track down others? Go the Amtrak State Fact Sheets. With these kind of numbers, is it any wonder that much of Amtrak is regarded as a joke?
CMStPnP C'mon 1,612 passengers boarding a year so far? Why is this even an Amtrak stop? Amtrak should establish minimum patronage requirements before they accept a new station stop. Now I am reading they are going to add yet another station closer to St. Louis..........Texas Eagle is slowly becomming a Milk run, in my opinion.
C'mon 1,612 passengers boarding a year so far? Why is this even an Amtrak stop? Amtrak should establish minimum patronage requirements before they accept a new station stop. Now I am reading they are going to add yet another station closer to St. Louis..........Texas Eagle is slowly becomming a Milk run, in my opinion.
I would say any stop with less than 5,000 should be a flag stop. Or if it is a reservation required train, require advanced notice (even as little as 3-4 hours before departure) or the stop is skipped (assuming no one gets off at that station).
I am more concerned about the Cardinal which has many stations with tiny riderships and the train is a waste of money and equipment which can be better used for other trains not currently running. They canceled the Three Rivers back in 2005 when it had higher ridership and revenue than the Cardinal (I can attach an old NARP report if you don't believe it). You can say the Cardinal isn't daily but then why run the train 3 days/week when you can run a different train daily?
If every town that had a history connected to someone in its naming were an Amtrak stop....
Excerpt from Nevada County Depot and Museum
James Loughborough was born near Shelbyville, Kentucky, on November 2, 1833. His father served as the land-agent for Illinois and Missouri. Loughborough gained experience in land work by leaving college at the age of nineteen and becoming a clerk in his father's office. During the Civil War, he joined the Confederate forces and served as a colonel on the staff of General Sterling Price. He was also a prisoner of war for a time. After the war, he practiced law in St. Louis and superintended the land sales for both the Cairo and Fulton and the Iron Mountain railway. His work took him to Little Rock, so he moved his family there. He served in the Arkansas legislature from 1874 to 1875 where his work on the state debt helped improve the financial credit of the state. He died suddenly on July 31, 1876, at the age of forty-three. The city of Hope, Arkansas, was named for his young daughter.
Excerpt from Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis (1899)
Col. James M. Loughborough returned here and became identified with the Iron Mountain Railroad, then owned by the late Thomas Allen, to whom he was a great acquisition in the management of the Land Department. He was accidentally killed at Little Rock by the explosion of his shot gun.
Excerpt from Historical Review of Arkansas (1911)
[Loughborough] who died in the very prime of his strong and useful manhood, in the year 1876, was born at Frankfort, the capital city of Kentucky, and he was reared and educated in that city whence he finally removed to Missouri. In 1872 he established his home in Little Rock, Arkansas where he became counselor for the old Cairo & Fulton Railroad, which was then in process of construction from the north into Arkansas. This line is now a portion of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad. Mr. Loughborough had charge of securing the right of way for the road and after its completion he was made its land commissioner. Later he became attorney for the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad and the Little Rock & Hot Springs Railroad, and while incumbent of these positions he was selected to the Arkansas senate during the session of 1876, the year which marked his death. In the senate he was the author of the bill which enabled Pulaski county to secure relief from a heavy burden of debt and he also negotiated on behalf of the state what were known as the Loughborough bonds the placing of which brought financial succor to the state whose fiscal affairs had been greatly disrupted during the war and the so called reconstruction period. James M. Loughborough was an able lawyer, a man of broad views and of distinctive executive ability. He did much to further the best interests of Arkansas and his memory is here held in lasting honor. His cherished and devoted wife survived him and was summoned to the life eternal in 1887 and they are survived by two sons and two daughters.
https://archive.org/stream/mycavelifeinvick00loug#page/n7/mode/2up
https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/mary-loughborough.htm
http://loc.gov/exhibits/civil-war-in-america/biographies/mary-ann-loughborough.html
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