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"It is really surprising Amtrak would allow idling like that at San Antonio.  That's 1970s behavior.  I wonder if it's to keep the HEP going.  Perhaps they haven't had a chance to install the standby power stations yet so they can plug in the cars and shut down." Amtrak has installed an external power station for the "protect cars", but I did see one for the Eagle's through cars.  The Eagle arrives in San Antonio at 9:55.  Number 1 arrives from Houston at 12:05 a.m. and departs for Del Rio at 2:45 a.m.  The through cars are transferred from the Eagle to the Sunset Limited sometime between 12:05 a.m. and 2:45 a.m.  I did not see any external power sources for the through cars, so I presume that the locomotives stay powered up to provide power for the through cars.   I wonder if anyone at Amtrak told Boardman about the additional costs, i.e. protect cars, when the decision was made to abandon the idea of making the Eagle a through train with a connecting coach train from NO and Houston.  I don't know why they could not have run the Eagle through on a three day a week basis, which would have added no addition strain on the UP, until they could have worked out a suitable arrangement for daily service.  A connecting coach train would require no through cars and no protect cars.
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