Buses from Cline Tours showed up at 12:26 p.m. Yes, it was raining lightly AND sleeting pretty good at times (but the temperature was well above freezing, 38 degrees).
A UP freight passes at 12:34 p.m.
12:43 p.m.
Passengers were boarded by 12:50 p.m. and the Amtrak agent Richard goes over each bus's itenirary. Two buses would go directly to Dallas and Fort Worth and the 3rd would make all the station stops enroute.
View from the now-empty waiting room showing one of the buses.
Buses leaving at 1:06 p.m.
A passenger onboard Amtrak Texas Eagle 21 on February 28, 2014 emailed me about his experiences and events aboard the train, at the Little Rock station, onboard the buses and in Fort Worth that evening after the buses arrived at 7:45 p.m. His name is Jeffrey Lentz.
"I saw your post on Trainorders.com regarding the Texas Eagle which led me to your website. I was one of those 119 passengers aboard the Texas Eagle #21 with HEP problems on Feb. 28th. I assume you were the person with the large DSLR camera roaming around the station. I would have been doing the same had I had mine along. I make an appearance in the second photo down on the webpage, standing next to the glass doors. I don't have a Trainorders account to chime in, but I thought like Paul Harvey, I would share with you the "rest of the story" from my perspective as a passenger.
The first time I noticed HEP problems was moments after we pulled out of St. Louis station. The power blinked off for a second then immediately came back on. I thought that was a bad omen, but then it stayed on without further hints of trouble until I feel asleep about two hours later. I was pretty tired, but I know we stopped at least once for them to try to fix the HEP power in the nighttime hours before I was fully cognizant. When they would turn the power on, it would cycle on and off several times per second, causing the night lighting of the coach to have a strobe light-like effect. The air cycling system was also turning on and off several times a second which was undoubtedly rough on the equipment. I didn't test it personally, but according to another passenger, the one-off cycling of power was working just enough to allow the toilets to operate. This, combined with the fact most people were sleeping prevented the restrooms from becoming a problem in the early overnight hours.
After a time I finally woke up enough to start paying attention to what was happening and turn on my GPS. We made another stop for an extended period of time just short of the Hazel St. crossing in Tuckerman, AR while the crew attempted once more to fix the HEP. They gave up and at this point, opting to just turn the whole system off and continue without HEP.
I fell asleep again at this point, and when I next woke up we were parked at the fuel rack of the North Little Rock yard. They were once again trying to turn the HEP power on with the same result. I assume repairs were attempted again there because the fuel rack area was well lit. Some smokers onboard were begining to get antsy and asked if they could get off for a quick smoke. The assistant conductor informed them smoking by the fuel rack was probably not a good idea. That was the most easily-accepted reason I've ever seen at convincing passengers that they should not be allowed to smoke during a stop.
After a few minutes without success, power was turned off completely again and we continued onward to Little Rock station. We were told via a PA announcement that we "may be here a while" as they assess whether the train can continue. By this time, without the air system on, the coach had become quite stuffy from everyone's breathing. I decided to head for the lounger car. After a few steps into the lounge, I changed my mind. The lack of heat had already caused the temperature in the car to dip probably into the high 50s.
Within about 10 minutes of arriving at Little Rock, they completed their assessment and came on the PA system asking us to gather our belongings and head into the station and that the train could not continue. As many coach passengers were just waking up for the first time, they were understandably confused and a bit irritated as they had not yet noticed any of the effects of lack of HEP. I'm guessing with fewer people inside, the sleeping cars were probably cold like the lounge car and the sleeping car passengers were likely already more aware of the effects no HEP could have. I heard a few negative comments when the train pulled out of the station a few minutes later. Many people took that as a sign the train was working properly and we just got kicked off for not good reason.Complaints subsided within minutes though when Mike, an Amtrak employee (roadmaster I think he said) came on the station PA system and explained what head-end-power was and how things were about to get uncomfortable real fast for everyone. He also promised that food and coffee were on its way and that buses were being ordered.
The food took longer than promised, but eventually dozens upon dozens of Krispy Kreme donuts arrived along with milk and orange juice. As you mentioned in your Trainorders post, the the owner of the catering place inside the station opened his doors and began offering coffee, soft drinks, popcorn and breakfast sausages with biscuits. This alleviated some of the overcrowding in the station's waiting room. All of food and drinks was provided to passengers at no charge. It was far from a gourmet breakfast for sure, but everyone's hunger was averted. The setting and linen covered tables made it seem as if we were all there for a private party rather than as stranded passengers and when the background music which was playing came on with "Midnight Train to Georgia" it got a chuckle out of some.
Relatively early on it was announced that the buses were coming from Memphis and would not arrive until 10:30 or 11:00 A.M. This caused a collective groan and lots of, "Why can't they get a bus from Little Rock?" comments. I did not know until reading your Trainorders post that a marathon was taking place in Little Rock and that is the reason no buses were available locally. If they announced that, I missed it along with the passengers I spoke to during the bus ride. That information may have calmed a few people down.
I personally was supposed to connect to the Heartland Flyer #822 with my end destination being Norman, OK. I was told that if the charter buses actually arrived at 11:00 A.M. there was a chance I could still catch the Heartland Flyer train or that if I missed it, a taxi was the likely substitute. At 11:00 A.M. the assistant conductor made an announcement that the buses were 30 minutes away. I'm not sure where that came from, but it definitely was not correct. As your photos show, it was nearly 12:30 P.M. by the time they actually arrived. Boarding the buses was delayed while the local Amtrak employees waited on a communication from corporate headquarters as to what the seating assignments should be. While everyone's composure was terrific all morning, this delay, even though it was for only about 10 minutes, really got to people. There were many comments such as, "They've had six hours to figure this out!" I have to agree. Finally, boarding of the three buses began. One bus served intermediate stops Malvern, AR through Mineola, TX. The other two buses, including the one I was one, drove non-stop (excluding a 45-minute lunch stop in Texarkana) directly to Dallas and then Fort Worth.
The driver for the Cline Tours bus I was was an older gentleman named Bill, although he went by "Uncle Bill." Uncle Bill was exceptional. He didn't seem to differentiate between a bus full of tired and agitated Amtrak passengers versus one of his tour groups. Between his easy-going demeanor, occasional jokes, geography facts, and the the shared experience of everyone on board, a certain camaraderie formed among us. It turned out to be one of the more fun bus rides I've been on, more akin to a high school athletics team bus than a bus full of strangers. The only problem was that other than taking us as far as Fort Worth, Uncle Bill wasn't informed by Amtrak of the overall plan. He said Fort Worth was the end of the line for him, yet passengers were being told by Amtrak phone representatives that they were going to be taking the bus all the way to their destinations beyond Fort Worth. There were no Amtrak employees on my bus to ask directly. Some passengers were already assuming the worst and anticipating there would be at least a several-hour layover in Fort Worth while Amtrak scrambled to find another bus and driver (after driving from Memphis, our current drivers were no doubt reaching the end of their allowed hours of service). During our Dallas stop, a ticket agent boarded and check our destinations which was at least a little reassuring that they were doing some planning in advance.
When we finally did arrive at Fort Worth around 7:45 P.M, I was pleasantly surprised by how prepared they were. While some Trainorders comments speculated that passengers bound for points south were going to reboard the train, that did not happen. From my location along the street, I could not see whether the train was still there being serviced or if it had already moved on toward San Antonio to prepare to serve as the next day's #22. We were greeted by a Fort Worth ticket agent as we stepped off the bus. Those going southward were directed to claim their checked bags (removed from the train before our arrival) from the luggage carts parked on the sidewalk and then board another bus ready and waiting for them. I was directed with the two other would-be Heartland Flyer connecting passengers to get into a taxi that would take us to our Oklahoma stops. Within ten minutes, our taxi was on the road. Partly thanks to the long scheduled layover at Fort Worth from connecting from train #21 to #822, despite leaving nearly 10 hours late from Little Rock, I arrived in Norman, OK at 10:55 P.M., only 1 hour and 53 minutes behind my originally scheduled arrival time. As an Amtrak fan I know I'm forgiving of their failings, but overall I was pleasantly surprised at how well we were taken care of at LIttle Rock and how close to on-time I actually arrived at Norman, OK.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Lentz"
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Below is some stats on number and mileage of long-distance trains and how many locomotives each has. The Eagle only has one locomotive every day:
California Zephyr - 2438 mi - 2 locomotives
Southwest Chief - 2265 miles - 2 locomotives
Empire Builder - 2255 miles - 3 locomotives
Sunset Limited - 1995 miles - 2 locomotives (tri-weekly)
Coast Starlight - 1377 miles - 2 locomotives
Texas Eagle - 1305 miles - 1 locomotive
Silver Service (Meteor and Star) 1164 mi - 2 locos each (225 additional miles with electric loco)
Crescent 1152 mi - 2 locos each (225 additional miles with electric loco)
City of NO 934 mi - 1 loco
Cardinal 922 miles - 1 loco (tri-weekly) (225 additional miles with electric loco)
Lake Shore Limited - 818 miles - 2 loco (141 additional miles with electric loco)
Capitol Limited 780 miles - 2 locomotives
Palmetto 604 mi - 1 loco (225 additional miles with electric loco)
Carolinian 479 mi -1 loco (225 additional miles with electric loco)