On
December 26, 2009, all Amtrak Texas Eagle passengers were bused from
San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas, Texas and points north to Little Rock,
Arkansas to get on the waiting Eagle
#22, which had arrived that morning as Amtrak #21, then turned to head
back north as Amtrak #22. Reason for all this busing was a washout that
occurred Christmas Eve on UP's line north of Little Rock. On Christmas
Day, the southbound Eagle #21 had been stopped at Bald Knob, AR due to
this flooding, and passengers bused to Little Rock and points
south. Bald Knob is about
50 miles north of Little Rock. This stopped train eventually made it
through to Little Rock
at 7:33 a.m. December 26 and headed south. But since Amtrak #21 had
been stopped in Bald Knob on Christmas Day, it could not make it to San
Antonio in time to become the northbound #22, so on December 26, no
trainset was available out of San Antonio. Thus the busing.
I
understand 160 passengers were bused and all got on at Little Rock in
the middle of the night. It took 5 buses. The train was full out of
Little Rock. Below are some photos and one Youtube movie of the
activity.
LEFT-One
of the Lone Star Coaches at Union Station at 9:56 p.m. December 26. Two
other buses had just pulled out and 2 more buses were yet to arrive.
RIGHT-Lots of luggage. Note the Christmas lights on the Arkansas State
Capitol in the background.
The waiting Texas Eagle #22 at 10:01 p.m.
The waiting room was packed with Texas passengers.
10:08 p.m.
LEFT-Getting ready to board. RIGHT-Cars
and hundreds of people in the middle of the night at Little Rock, just
to ride a train!! Where was the media? I guess I'll spread the word.
The line stretched from the platform to inside the waiting room. It was COLD too, 30 degrees and windy.
Starting to board about 11 p.m. The passengers kept coming and coming. Here's a video of this scene:
LEFT-The
waiting room finally cleared out at 11:26 p.m. The train was still
waiting on another bus, so it didn't leave until 2:13 a.m. RIGHT-For
consist buffs, the consist of Texas Eagle #22 this night was:
Locomotive 184, Superliners 39019, 32028, 37006, Lounge 33005, 34116,
31015, 34139.
That's
me in the ghostly yellow jacket in the center. I had the camera on a
10-second delay but I didn't make it there in time to stop, thus the
invisible effect OR the camera has a secret xray function! Amazing effect. I'll try to reproduce it sometimes.
I got stopped in time.
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