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I LOVE Amtrak, but I am curious... for fun... what's the MOST LATE you've been?
For me, I would say 8 hours... on the CZ that arrived into Chicago on August 28, 2005.
We lost about 1 1/2 hours right out of Emeryville (problems with the dining car freezer)... then we lost about another 4 hours when a freight train engine died on a single-track portion between Roseville, CA and Lake Tahoe, CA/NV. Then we lost another 2 1/2 hours en route somewhere.
I didn't have a connection, so I didn't mind.
In fact, it was cool being late crossing into Nevada and Utah because we crossed the Great Salt Lake when the sun was coming up. Something you usually don't get to see... it was just beautiful.
They even served dinner that night for us first class passengers going into Chicago (because it didn't arrive into CUS until like 10:00pm). The dining car folks called it the "infamous Amtrak stew". Hehehe...
Posts: 100 | From: Milwaukee, WI | Registered: Feb 2006
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10 hours--on my very FIRST overnight long-distance trip, returning from Savannah. Obviously, it didn't put me off Amtrak travel.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Had to be The Texas Eagle a couple of years ago from LA to Chicago when train 2 left at 10:30PM. Anything that was possiblehappened...a drug bust in Tucson, freight delays, broken section of track, a man exposing himself in the lounge car,etc. We were supposed to be in San Antonio by 5AM and three hours later head north on #22. We didnt get to San Antonio until 7PM..14 hours late. We were put up overnight and took the next days #22. I didn t mind I got upgraded to a deluxe sleeper
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Sixteen hours plus, on the Auto Train during Feb 1996.
Ice storms through both Carolinas had disabled the signals and caused "dark railroad' operations.
However, South of Charleston schedule was held.
Amtrak wisely paid lodging for Sleeper passengers after the 1AM arrival. After all, there are a lot of folk in the Bennie-Caddy-Lex crowd using AT "in season' that really have no business driving after dark. I know that even at my age of 65, I try to avoid doing so.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Desert Wind...how late? Well the train was annulled due to loss of locomotive and HEP. Had to rent a car in Vegas. Probably my worst rail trip ever (and I was only 6 at the time...but still clearly remember it)
Coast Starlight...never made it. Last southbound train to run for quite some time last year (remember those huge California rains). Stopped in San Louis Obispo. Bussed to LA. Funny that the bus made my Surfliner connection. Doubt the Starlate would have.
Southwest Chief (westbound #3)...9 hours late. Never good when you wake up in Barstow. Small derailment in Cajon caused a huge delay.
Desert Wind 6.5 hours late. Loco died, but HEP remained. Just had to wait for UP to provide some helper power.
Coast Starlight. Don't remember if we were late as a result, but funny incident nonetheless. A guy jumped form the lounge car and fell into a ravine. I was traveling on a private car (Louisa) and thankfully we had a hose in a supply cabinet. It was used to help pull the guy up. Police came and took him away. Likely a 3 hour delay, but when you're on a private car time is not really an issue.
Coast Starlight...4 hours late into Portland (on another Louisa trip...maybe she's an unlucky car). Not a long delay but an interesting one. Moderate earthquake caused us to have to wait for the line to be checked before we could proceed. Surprisingly didn't loose that much time from it. Just normal Starlate was the main reason for 4 hours.
-------------------- Matt Visit gallery for photos of our train layouts Posts: 579 | From: San Bernardino Subdivison | Registered: Dec 2001
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3 days. During hurricane Isabel there were no trains running east of Chicago. We were to leave Denver the day all that happened so we stayed in Denver the 3 days. Amtrak kep us informed and redid our reservations several times as conditions changed. Had we been flying we would have been sleeping in the airport.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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7 hours, 50 minutes late into Portland on the northbound 'Coast Starlight' just this last summer.
Previous record was a 4 hour, 15 minute late 'Southwest Chief' into Chicago in 2002.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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I've been 8-9 hours late a couple times -- once on the Cardinal from Cincinnati into Chicago around 1990 or 1991 - reason bad winter weather & frozen switches. Then on my last train trip in 2002, we were 7-8 hours late on the Sunset into L.A. (if it hadn't been for schedule "padding," I would have been 9-10 hours late)
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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10 and a half hours late into chicago on the late shore limited in december 05.
Posts: 416 | From: St. Albans, Vermont | Registered: Feb 2003
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7 hours late on the Desert Wind back in 1993. There was a major fast moving grass fire somewhere beyond Vegas (If memory serves me right around the California/Nevada state line) and since the fire was going back and forth across the tracks we couldn't go anywhere, In fact at one point, we had to back up about 5 miles.
5 hours late on the LSL in 2005 (Chicago to Springfield MA.)because of track work and engine failure.
4 Hours late on the City of New Orleans in 2002. A derailment just north of Memphis forced the CNO to go completely around Memphis (following slow moving freights)and then back up from the south into the station.
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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I set my new and all time Amtrak late record of 13 hours and 32 minutes on a Detoured Coast Starlight over the Highline and down the Feather River Canyon all in daylight plus the next morning we all got a ride along the California Coast in daylight. It was one great trip and not one person complained.
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8 hours late Lake Shore Limited Chicago to Rochester, NY - we left Chicago 5 hours late (in February 1999) because everything was frozen. Fortunately I was in a sleeper - my first Amtrak trip in 20 years. I have NEVER taken the LSL eastbound CHI-ROC and been less than 5 hours late. The last time (Feb 2004) I found out trackside that there was no sleeper (the first we heard that we were being dumped into coach) and no diner.
Posts: 122 | From: Milwaukee, WI USA | Registered: Jun 2004
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5 1/2 hours on the westbound Empire Builder.Due to a wreck near Milwaukee,we were rerouted on the BN between Chicago,and La Crosse,WI.We got a late start because we had to wait for a pilot crew to arrive from Galesburg on the Cheif.
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8-1/2 hours my first train (ouch in coach) last summer: Lateshore Limited from NYC to Chicago. Left ontime but was several freight trains behind a fatal track crossing accident. The snackbar - excuse me: Cafe Car - ran out of food by lunchtime and we got in about 4ish or 5ish with connecting trains held for us.
Posts: 64 | From: NYC (NYP) | Registered: Aug 2005
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Last year -- week after Thanksgiving -- 8 hours late coming into Chicago on the SW Chief -- Amtrak put connecting passengers up overnite in hotel. Next day on Lake Shore Ltd we were 1 hour late into Springfield, MA. All total -- arrived home 1day and 1 hour late.
And still I love train travel. 56 days until my next trip. Dee
Posts: 460 | From: North Central CT | Registered: May 2004
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I'm jealous because my Wife and I painfully decided to fly to Orlando this Fall. We love train travel, but the expense was too great!
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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10 hours late into Pensacola, Fla. from San Antonio, Texas on the Sunset #2 in 2003.
Posts: 113 | From: San Antonio, Texas,USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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Ten hours on our first EB Lake Shore Ltd. Twelve hours on our first (and last) WB Sunset...and we jumped off at Ontario, I would guess it arrived LA nearly fourteen hours late Five hours on our second (and last) EB Lake Shore Ltd.
Posts: 83 | From: MERRIMAC,MA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Whoops, almost forgot: Seven hours late on WB CZ into Emeryville A mere three hours late on a SB CS into LA and finally a respectable four hours late into SEA on a NB CS.
Actually the ONLY time we've been on time has been on the NEC.
Posts: 83 | From: MERRIMAC,MA | Registered: Feb 2005
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10 hours late on the northbound Coast Starlight. 5 hours late on the southbound.
I have heard of some people being 14 hours late on the Sunset Limited...Jaw droppin'!
Posts: 1082 | From: Los Angeles, CA. USA | Registered: Aug 2003
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Me: about 12 hours late. Once on 12/25/05. and again during 8/88. Other than that, just a few hours late at the most.
-------------------- "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the Earth all one's life." Posts: 506 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Mar 2002
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6 hours on the Northbound Coast Starlight 6 hours on the Southbound Coast Starlight ... at least it was consistant Posts: 82 | From: San Lorenzo, CA | Registered: Mar 2006
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6 hours on the CZ a few years ago. It was a hoot. First they had to wait to clear an abandoned van off the tracks outside Chicago, then we had to stop because the swing bridge over the Mississippi was open for a barge passing through. Then the remains of a derailment in Nevada just after sunrise delayed us some more, and the crew's time was up just outside Sparks, so we sat for 15 minutes while a new crew showed up (fortunately, it was close to Sparks). Then to top it all off, the locomotive went around a curve in the Sierras and clipped an SUV that was next to the tracks. Two kids scrambled out and headed for the tall timber. They obviously weren't expecting a late train to get in the way of their making out.The locomotive nudged the SUV out of the way, and we continued merrily on. It was fun, sort of, but we had nobody waiting for us or anycommitments.
Posts: 58 | From: Owensboro, KY USA | Registered: Apr 2002
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