Thanks!

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~The best train, are the late trains= More time on the train~

[This message has been edited by Amtrakman (edited 04-07-2003).]

Matt Marderosian

During the summer of 1988, while heading to the Scout Ranch on the SW Chief, my train was 11.5 hours late into Raton.

Keep them coming!

Thanks

Not earth shaking, but I was on 91 (Silver Star) on Friday. Apparently a freight broke down on the single track north of Orlando and the nearest CSX engine was at least 2 hours away (or so the announcements went).
So Amtrak uncoupled our engine (running with only one at that point) who went up, hooked onto the end of the freight and dragged it back onto a siding. We were without power (read A/C) for about an hour.

But no complaints from anyone even though we were already running 95 minutes late. Excellent announcements from the crew and they even discovered that a diner was deadheading at the end and they opened that up for smokers (obviously no one was allowed to get off). The crew didn't even snipe at CSX like I would have expected! Kudos to Amtrak.

In contrast, the return trip yesterday was routine.

Most delayed: Desert Wind to Las Vegas in summer '89. UP signal system was having problems in southern Nevada. Train had to stop-and-proceed s-l-o-w-l-y after each red light. 7 hour trip grew to 10 hours. people were in an ok mood though; no one is in a super-hurry on the train anyway.

Arrived in Miles City in our warp speed bus at scheduled train time only to find out the train was 9 hours late (no speed limits, no cell phones, no Julie!) due to reroute via all but abandoned Milwaukee Road transcon tracks, where we were told the conducter had to walk the tracks ahead of the train to make sure they were safe. Wish I could have been on that run!

We arrived in Ft Worth on time and attempted to leave 5 minutes late. We had a long freight cutting along behind us, so we couldn't make the backup move for about 20 minutes. UP was working on one of the mains and totally forgot that Amtrak needed to get to Dallas at around 3 pm. After our conductor had discussions with the UP maintenance crews, we were allowed to creap down the line towards Dallas. We arrived at Dallas a little after 7:30 pm (normally a 1 hour trip).

When we arrived in Chicago, we were 5 1/2 hours late....

The train pulled out of Chicago Union Station precisely on time. It managed to make it a few hundred feet into the yard, came to a complete stop, and then sat there for the next two-and-a-half hours, waiting for the box cars to be attached.

In the dining car, my table companions and I spent our entire meal admiring the rust patterns on an empty commuter coach parked on an adjacent track.

Unfortunately, by the time we finished dessert and got up to leave, our train was still sitting in the Chicago yard.

The next day, we pulled into Albuquerque five and-a-half hours late. Ultimately, the train managed to make up a couple of hours, and arrived in L.A. about three hours behind.

Scenario: Hurricane Erin slams Florida and the Dixie Gulf Coast. Massive electric outages forced the headend crew to flag / walk all crossings, as no power for the gates and lights.

The result: 8+ hours late into New Orleans, but we made up a leetle time by Houston.

And I've got a story to top a hurricane, too...

Arriving in Topeka at about 6:00 AM another former associate met me. We attended services that morning and saw many more friends who were there to celebrate the life of this fine man. That evening at about 1:00
AM I boarded the WB SWC, with a Deluxe bedroom, for the return trip to AZ. Again I sat at the window and reflected on the many experiences I had shared with all those I had just seen as the many miles of the former Santa Fe passed by.

This trip served me in my mourning so completely that I still tell former associates that this was a most appropriate
way to remember a great boss and his accomplishments.

As for asking if spare units could be hauled dead-in-train, those were called F40s. If you want to have an F40 on your train with you now, buy a six pack and stuff it in your carry-on bag. Chances are (very slim) one of the cans now has some F40 in it. Now that the bulk of the locomotive fleet is young and being MAINTAINED engine failures should become less common. Also, now that the older units are assigned to corridor service, the intercity trains should be more reliable in that area. My Hiawatha had two brand new P42s (for three cars) so that's a bit redundant.
Probably the least reliable engines used by Amtrak are the P32AC-DM units. Although marginally more reliable than the FL-9 they replaced, they could use a few more. Of course the Turboliners will eventually free a few up... Wouldn't it be great to have enough to make the series 700-724 though?
Of course, I have seen nightmare trains during the "heat" restrictions last summer and during bad winter storms. Included in that list is the only thing that traveled between Erie, PA and Rochester, NY on December 28, 2001. The train was late, but was rumored to be carrying 480 people.
Don't get annoyed at the Amtrak crews when this happens, especially on CSX in the summer. It's not their fault.
How about a post describing your most-delayed automobile trip? Silly Americans, you don't even think about that.
It was a good idea for a post, anyway.

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F40PH #757099-8
March 29, 1976-August 17, 2001
Requisecat in pacem

P42DC #53063
Around 2.5 million miles to go

quote:

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Originally posted by TexasEagle:
Hi Amtrak207, now, the Lakeshore Limited is running "Dewel-mode" Genesis engines. Those tend to break down. What locomotive did you model? What number and what kind?

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I am currently modeling 280, 519 (soon to become 504), 826, 207 and 207. 826 was the trailing unit to which I referred on a previous post. I have previously modeled 217, 332, 350, and 711. I will eventually move on to model 217 and 350 again, along with 192 or 202, maybe 271 or 226 or 414, and 705. And of course, a couple more 207s. I skipped modeling 705 because I don't feel like kitbashing all the dual mode (note spelling) accessories right now, and nobody sells them. From the intake vents to the roof vents to the truck sideframes and all the underbody dren... Later.
Notice that DM #702 is the engine that has it all backwards and 414 is twice 207.

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F40PH #757099-8
March 29, 1976-August 17, 2001
Requisecat in pacis

P42DC #53063
Around 2.5 million miles to go

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F40PH #757099-8
March 29, 1976-August 17, 2001
Requisecat in pacis

P42DC #53063
Around 2.5 million miles to go

I woke up somewhere in (snow covered?) Georgia. We were running at track speed between interlockings, then stopping so the crew (in their Amtrak-issue raincoats) could brush out the switches (no switch heaters south of Kingstree, SC). We were into Jax about 3 hours late, but the Palmetto arrived after we did, and with all its toilets frozen. At least the crapper in my Heritage sleeper worked just fine.

The Jax platform was a sheet of ice, the city was shut down. It was the first significant snowfall in a hundred years. CSX's almost-new Dufford Center went off line for eight hours due to loss of commercial power and failure of the emergency generators (fuel was so cold the paraffin clogged the fuel filters).

South of Jax the pole line on the old Seaboard had been downed by ice, so we "stopped and proceeded" most of the way to Wildwood.

Finally arrived West Palm Beach 8 hours late, on Christmas Eve, with the crew almost dead on the law. There was some discussion on the radio about stopping the train at Boynton Beach (a Tri-Rail station), but after some thought the conductor took the train to Deerfield Beach, where the crew got off and that was all she wrote. Happily, that was also my station, and my parents (after checking with Amtrak every hour all day) were there to meet me.