posted
naturally the whole thing was the fault of Amtrak. The complainers should have had airline tickets then they could sleep on the airport floor and figure out hw to get food. BAH HUMBUG !!!
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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--- just blame Mother Nature. Call it an act of God. Bad Karma. Whatever.
Life Happens.
--- how we react and adjust to what happens says a lot about us.
One thing always amazes me -- It is the we were not kept informed statements. Look out the window people. A simple "trees and power lines are down and we will proceed as soon as we can do so safely" should suffice. Having that repeated every fifteen minutes or so will not change a thing. -- We have become an impatient people.
And yes I have been on severely delayed trains several times. (Sometimes handled wonderfully by Amtrak Train Attendants and/or Customer Services and sometimes not.)
In every case, as near as I can determine, it did not affect or alter the rest of my life.
Life is short --- enjoy the ride.
Posts: 460 | From: North Central CT | Registered: May 2004
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I too was wondering how AMTRAK was doing in the NE with all the snow. I realize no one can change the weather, but it seems to me, back in the hey-day of railroading (1930's and 1940's), passenger trains were very seldom delayed, even by such massive snowstorms. Highways were shut down, planes (what few there were then) were cancelled, but how did the railroads handle situations like this "in the olden days?"
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Simply a case of "more boots on the ground" Rich.
Lest we forget that when the 1952 City of San Francisco Donner Pass stranding occurred, railroad industry employment was about 1.2M; today it is about 185K or some 15% of 1952 levels.
Railroading today by comparison is one big 1:1 Lionel set - and it is handling considerably more traffic today than it did back then - Korean War notwithstanding.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Acording to the reports massive numbers of lines and trees are down on therails. also the crews may have trouble getting to work. The roads are incredible.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Thanks for the 1952 newsreel link, Gil! As always, I enjoy your vast archives of railroading history.
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Just as long as they don't handle the Donner Pass stranding Mr Norman describes as it was handled in the 1800s . . .
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Sojourner, did you know that there is a tourist spot in the pass called the "Donner Camp Picnic Grounds"?
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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I would be checking the lunch meat in those picnic sandwiches very carefully at that spot!
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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Funny how things weren't so bad in worse snow conditions, back in 1996 (fourteen years ago). Nobody coined the inane term "Snowmageddon" either. Has the younger generation just turned out weaker or weaker-willed?
Pity about the real Capitol Limited too. Riding out of CRRNJ Terminal and stopping at Baltimore Mount Royal en route are things that one can merely imagine, these days.
Posts: 566 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I have been delayed at the Denver Airport in February and can not count the times in Chicago and I have been stuck between Spokane and Seattle for hours in the snow. I will trade any of my airport delays for the comfortable wait on a train. Delays on a train are more relaxing than an airport floor. I won't go through Denver in the winter ever again unless it's on Amtrak.
Posts: 139 | From: myrtle creek oregon | Registered: Jul 2006
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As a lover of wordplay, I enjoyed "Snowmageddon" the first couple of times it was used. Also "Snowpocalypse," for a while. And "Snopocalympics," the caption a Maryland newspaper reportedly put on a photograph of kids sledding downhill Monday.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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Jusr this AM a woman reported her son looked out and called it a snowdado (age 10 not bad!!)With the blizzard going on that is a very apt discription
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Seems like everything has to be a 3 second soundbyte nowadays, and I don't necessarily blame the younger generations. I blame "news" casters or their writers. Can't resist adding it is ruining thoughtful discourse in politics as well.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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My wife and I just returned from our 7,000 mile train trip, and all went well except the final 400 miles on the Capitol Limited from CHI to PGH.
We arrived in CHI Sunday night on the Empire Builder, and the Capitol was canceled due to "trees on the tracks."
We were staying in Chicago for two nights anyway, but the CL departure of 2/10 was still canceled and Amtrak in Chicago doesn't expect the CL to be operational for "3-5 more days."
So we rented a car and returned home via the Indiana and Ohio Turnpikes. Weather was okay until Akron. Slow driving after that.
Posts: 76 | From: Steubenville, OH | Registered: Oct 2004
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AHALL, will we be getting a trip report? Since I can't ride as often as I'd like (work, bills, college funding etc.) I vicariously enjoy all the reports published.
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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Well, with respect to "snowverkill" or whatever you want to call it, I need to point one thing out. This one broke records set more than a hundred years ago, so those "back in the day" railroaders never dealt with anything quite so severe, at least not on the East Coast. In Philadelphia, we're now up to 72 inches so far this year -- previous yearly high was 54 inches, back in 1996, and 52 in 1898.
A friend sent photos of his neighborhood south of Washington, and there were LOTS of downed trees, so that made the problems on the RF&P pretty clear.
We're got about three feet on the ground here. Main roads are okay, side streets still iffy in spots. But hey, I work for the government, and they've been closed all week so I've got nowhere I need to go. Good thing, because Amtrak sure won't get me there.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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The word play here is excellent and amusing. Trying to survuve in the snow is not. People in the area are being taken out by helicopter for medicaal emergencies, the National guard is helping get the emergency equipment through, in some communities there ate 8 ft. drifts, people can't get out to get food, Some have been without electricity for days and the temps have been below freezing. No life for many here is not a game nor are the reports overkill.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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that was also in the Washington Post this morning. Hmmm, I wonder who copied whom?
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Come to think of it, that was an AP story -- presumably the AP puts headlines on all its stories.
Posts: 2236 | From: Evanston, Ill. and Ontonagon, Mich. | Registered: Feb 2007
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While off rails, the best of these contracted terms I've heard along the way has got to be 'Invoicetation", or otherwise an invitation which best translates 'send gift to....'
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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