FL9

I remembered bedding down in the top bunk after leaving Little Rock after midnight, and the next thing I knew Judy was telling me she could see the MIssissippi River out the window.  I looked down and all I could see was trees, but then I realized she meant out the sleeping car’s corridor window on the other side of the train.  I climbed down to pull the door curtain aside, and sure enough she was right.

Hunger taking control, we cleaned up and made our way to the dining car.  Although everything is premade with no variations possible, we found the food on the Texas Eagle to be very good at all meals along with the service.  The prices were moderately expensive, but all we had to do was sign since all food is included for sleeper passengers.  The tables included a nice vase of fresh flowers, and as we approached St. Louis I was able to include them in a shot of a MetroLink light rail train as it passed us by.

We came to a stop in the station at the same time we were making our way back to our roomette.  On the corridor side of our train a Terminal Railroad of St. Louis transfer job with a couple of SW1500’s was waiting for his turn at the big bridge over the Mississippi.

I’m not sure if the engineer appreciated his sudden audience, and luckily for him he got his signal shortly after this picture.

This was an announced stop for smokers to detrain and lighht up, so I joined them with my camera to see the action on the platform, if you want to call it that.

I was still interested in the private cars, but they were stopped beyond the no trespassing sign for passengers.  I saw a man in a white uniform detrain and head my way, so I struck up a conversation with Chef Rodrigo who was stretching his legs.  I found out the cars were being operated by Trans-Texas Rail Shops in San Antonio, and that owner Harold Schroeder was hosting a chartered fall-folliage trip from San Antonio to New England and back.  The three cars were the ex-MP “Eagle View”, the ex-NYC “Swiift Stream”, and the ex-Reading “Henry E. Huntington”.  At that point Mr. Schroeder himself walked up, and we had a very pleasant discussion of his trip and all the work that goes along with such an adventure. 

A current issue was that the “Swift Stream” needed water before the train departed, but this was complicated by the fact I was now learning the Amtrak often adds an extra coach to the rear of Train 22 from St. Louis to Chicago, and removes it from the rear of Train 21 on the way back.  I thought private cars operating over Amtrak had to have HEP pass-through, but today the extra coach was going to be switched in ahead of the excursion cars.  In the first move, a P42DC acting as a yard switcher pulled up with the coach to cut away the private cars.

I had wanted to get Mr. Schroeder’s and Chef Rodrigo’s picture with their own cars in the background, but I settled for this one as the coach was being added to the rear of Train 22.

After we said our goodbye’s, I made my way back to our roomette.  Before long we were ready to depart, and the TRRA dispatcher gave us permission and a signal to cross the MacArthur bridge over the MIssissippi looming ahead of us as we curved up the trestle.

The view was great, and the St. Louis, Missouri skyline with its unmistakeable arch grew smaller as we headed down the Illinois approach to the bridge.

The next chapter will take us on into Chicago.