Louisiana Eagle

Last updated
Louisiana Eagle
Overview
Service type Inter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued
Locale Southwestern United States
First service1949
Last service1963
Former operator(s) Texas and Pacific Railway
Route
Start New Orleans, Louisiana
End Fort Worth, Texas
Distance travelled547.4 miles (881.0 km)
Average journey timeWestbound: 13 hrs 20 min; Eastbound: 13 hrs 50 min
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)Westbound: 21, Eastbound: 22
On-board services
Seating arrangementsReclining Seat Coaches
Sleeping arrangements Open sections, roomettes and double bedrooms
Catering facilities Dining lounge car
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in)

The Louisiana Eagle was a long distance night train operated by the Texas and Pacific Railway that from New Orleans to Fort Worth, Texas. The route was distinct in contrast to other routes running west from New Orleans to major Texas cities. It ran northwest-ward from New Orleans to northwest Louisiana and to the major North Texas cities of Dallas and Fort Worth with continuing service to El Paso on the Missouri Pacific's Texas Eagle, whereas other east-west trains from New Orleans into Texas went to the south, to Houston and San Antonio. [1] [2]

The train was #21 westbound, #22 eastbound. It had a daytime counterpart in the Louisiana Daylight (#27, westbound, 28, eastbound). [2] The Missouri Pacific ran successor night and day trains to the Louisiana Eagle and the Louisiana Daylight as late as 1968. [3] By 1969, all that was left was the successor night train, which was shortened to a Marshall, Texas to New Orleans route. [4] [5] By 1970, passenger service was completely discontinued. [6]

Major stops served

Notes

  1. Streamliner Schedules, Louisiana Eagle, 1952 http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track9/louisianaeagle195208.html
  2. 1 2 Texas & Pacific September 1960 timetable http://streamlinermemories.info/South/T&P60TT.pdf
  3. "Missouri Pacific Lines, Table 2". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 101 (1). June 1968.
  4. "Missouri Pacific Lines, Table 2". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 102 (3). August 1969.
  5. "Missouri Pacific Lines, Table 2". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 102 (5). October 1969.
  6. "Missouri Pacific Lines". Official Guide of the Railways. National Railway Publication Company. 102 (12). May 1970.

Related Research Articles

<i>Texas Eagle</i> Amtrak service between Chicago and Los Angeles via Texas

The Texas Eagle is a 1,306-mile (2,102 km) passenger train route operated by Amtrak in the central and western United States. Trains run daily between Chicago, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas. Historically, it operated as a section of the Sunset Limited on the three days that train operates, and ran independently for the remainder of the week. However, it was reduced to tri-weekly service from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When operating as a section of the Sunset Limited, the westbound Texas Eagle joins with the westbound Sunset Limited in San Antonio and continues to Los Angeles, California; the eastbound Texas Eagle splits in San Antonio for the journey to Chicago. When combined with the Sunset Limited, the Texas Eagle runs for a total of 2,728 miles (4,390 km), the longest route in the Amtrak system. Prior to 1988, the train was known as the Eagle.

Dallas Union Station

Dallas Union Station, officially Eddie Bernice Johnson Union Station, also known as Dallas Union Terminal, is a railroad station in Dallas, Texas. It serves DART Light Rail, Trinity Railway Express commuter rail, and Amtrak intercity rail. It is located on Houston Street, between Wood and Young Streets, in the Reunion district of Downtown Dallas. The structure is a Dallas Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

T&P Station

Texas and Pacific Station, commonly known as T&P Station, is a terminal Trinity Railway Express and TEXRail commuter railroad station is located at 1600 Throckmorton Street in Fort Worth, Texas, on the south side of downtown. It is the current western terminus of the TRE commuter line, serving the Fort Worth Convention Center, the Fort Worth Water Gardens, Sundance Square and Tarrant County government facilities. T&P Station features free parking which can be accessed from West Vickery Boulevard.

Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad

The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railway is a former Class I railroad company in the United States, with its last headquarters in Dallas, Texas. Established in 1865 under the name Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch, it came to serve an extensive rail network in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. In 1988, it merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad; today, it is part of Union Pacific Railroad.

Missouri Pacific Railroad Defunct American Class I railroad

The Missouri Pacific Railroad, commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad operated 9,041 miles of road and 13,318 miles of track, not including DK&S, NO&LC, T&P, and its subsidiaries C&EI and Missouri-Illinois.

<i>Sunset Limited</i> Amtrak service between Los Angeles and New Orleans

The Sunset Limited is an Amtrak passenger train that for most of its history has run between New Orleans and Los Angeles, over the nation's second transcontinental route. However, up until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it ran between Orlando and Los Angeles, and from 1993 to 1996, continued on to Miami. It is the oldest continuously operating named train in the United States, introduced in 1894 by the Southern Pacific Railroad, and acquired by Amtrak upon its formation in 1971.

The Texas and Pacific Railway Company was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California.

<i>Argonaut</i> (train)

The Argonaut was the Southern Pacific Railroad's secondary passenger train between New Orleans and Los Angeles via Houston, San Antonio, and El Paso, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; and Palm Springs, California. It started in 1926 on a 61 hr 35 min schedule Los Angeles to New Orleans, five hours slower than the Sunset Limited; it was discontinued west of Houston in 1958. In earlier years it carried sleeping cars from New Orleans to Yuma that would continue to San Diego via San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway, a SP subsidiary. Westbound trains carried sleeping cars from New Orleans and Houston to San Antonio.

Union Depot (El Paso)

The El Paso Union Depot is an Amtrak train station in El Paso, Texas, served by the Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited. The station was designed by architect Daniel Burnham, who also designed Washington D.C. Union Station. It was built between 1905 and 1906 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Fort Worth and Denver Railway

The Fort Worth and Denver Railway, nicknamed "the Denver Road", was a class I American railroad company that operated in the northern part of Texas from 1881 to 1982, and had a profound influence on the early settlement and economic development of the region.

<i>Cincinnatian</i>

The Cincinnatian was a named passenger train operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). The B&O inaugurated service on January 19, 1947, with service between Baltimore, Maryland and Cincinnati, Ohio, carrying the number 75 westbound and 76 eastbound, essentially a truncated route of the National Limited which operated between Jersey City, New Jersey and St. Louis.

Little Rock Union Station

Little Rock Union Station, also known as Mopac Station, is a train station in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system.

Longview station

Longview is a train station in Longview, Texas, United States. It is served by Amtrak and was originally built by the Texas & Pacific Railway.

Temple station (Texas)

Temple is a train station in Temple, Texas, United States served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system. The station was originally built as an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway depot. East of the station on another railroad line through Temple, a former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad depot can be found, as the nexus for trains bound for Waco, San Antonio and Houston.

<i>Washington–Chicago Express</i>

The Washington–Chicago Express, an American named passenger train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), was one of four daily B&O trains operating between Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois, via Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the 1930s–1960s. Other B&O trains of that period on the route were the Capitol Limited, Columbian, and the Shenandoah.

Article X of the Texas Constitution of 1876 covers railroad companies and the creation of the Railroad Commission of Texas. The federal government later created the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroads, and eight of the nine sections of Article X were repealed in 1969 as "deadwood".

Gulf Coast Lines

The Gulf Coast Lines was the name of a railroad system comprising three principal railroads, as well as some smaller ones, that stretched from New Orleans, Louisiana, via Baton Rouge and Houston to Brownsville, Texas. Originally chartered as subsidiaries of the Frisco Railroad, the system became independent in 1916 and was purchased by the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1925.

<i>Wabash Cannon Ball</i> (train)

The Wabash Cannon Ball was a train line on the Wabash Railroad that ran from 1950 to 1971. The train was named after the song "Wabash Cannonball". It was the second train to bear the name "Cannon Ball", the first was the fast express Cannon Ball which ran in the late 1800s to early 20th century.

The Valley Eagle was a named streamliner passenger train of the Missouri Pacific Railroad that began in 1948. It ran from Houston, Texas's Union Station to Brownsville, Texas at the Mexico–United States border and a second section to Corpus Christi. It first carried the numbers #11 south and #12 northbound and in later years carried the number of #321 south and #322 heading north.

<i>Sportsman</i> (train)

The Sportsman was a named passenger night train of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It was the Chesapeake & Ohio's long-standing train bound for Detroit from Washington, D.C. and Phoebus, Virginia on the Chesapeake Bay, opposite Norfolk, Virginia. It was unique among C&O trains for its route north from the C&O mainline in southern Ohio. For most of its years it had a secondary western terminus in Louisville at its Central Station.