Trains run daily between Chicago, Illinois, and San Antonio, Texas, and continue to Los Angeles, California, 2,728 miles (4,390 km) total, three days a week.

The red brick Hope depot was built in 1912 by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, a subsidiary of Missouri Pacific Railway, more commonly known as the "MoPac."

[3] The tourism possibilities created by Clinton's presidency prompted civic leaders to approach Amtrak in 1993 about making Hope a regularly scheduled stop for the Texas Eagle.

Each section of the concrete platform is stamped with "Hope, a Slice of the Good Life"—the city's logo and a reference to its famous watermelons.

More than 150 local citizens boarded the Texas Eagle to ride to Texarkana, then returned on school buses to enjoy a community breakfast in Hope.