Amtrak Texas Eagle at Joliet

20150523 1881

When I stopped by the Joliet Amtrak platform to see if my uncle and his friends were still railfanning, I noticed that an outbound Amtrak train was arriving on the CN+UP/GM&O tracks. It was going slowly enough that I waited for the text on the sign to scroll to "This is Joliet." to take my first picture, which is facing North. Note that the signal heads are turned sideways. This is because the route was converted to the new Positive Train Control signals a few weeks ago.

Because of the Superliner cars, I assumed this train was the Texas Eagle. According to the Amtrak schedule, the Texas Eagle is due at Joliet at 2:40pm. Since the time stamp on the following picture is 2:50pm, I believe the Texas Eagle assumption is correct.

Below shows the trains first stop so that passengers could load the  front part of the train. You can see that there is construction in progress. The Amtrak platform is being moved from the west side of the tracks to the east side of the tracks so that the passengers do not have to cross the BNSF/SantaFe tracks to get to the CN+UP/GM&O trains. Note that the "dome car" is still north of the platform near the old signal bridge.

The train then pulled forward and stopped again with the rear part of the train at the platform at 2:55pm. The "dome car" is now south of the platform.

It then left the station at 2:59pm. So it left the Chicago area about 20 minutes behind schedule.