Share your stories of the most delayed trains you have ridden. The most delayed train I have been on was an 8 hour late Coast-Starlight due to forest fires in california and oregon.
Thanks!
------------------ ~The best train, are the late trains= More time on the train~
[This message has been edited by Amtrakman (edited 04-07-2003).]
[This message has been edited by Amtrakman (edited 04-07-2003).]
Posted by BNSF 1088 (Member # 2400) on :
When i was on the SWC two years ago we were 5hrs late.
Matt Marderosian
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Posted by CG96 (Member # 1408) on :
Several members of the forum have already done so. The remarks of my most recent train trip are posted in the "Travel" section of this forum, under "RDW-FTL and return." Overall, I would say that I had a good trip.
During the summer of 1988, while heading to the Scout Ranch on the SW Chief, my train was 11.5 hours late into Raton.
[This message has been edited by CG96 (edited 04-06-2003).]
Posted by irish1 (Member # 222) on :
a 10 hr. late cal z. due to an engine failure west of denver. they had to flag all the crossings. otherwise i have been very lucky.
------------------ The Copper Country Limited [Milwaukee Road] and the Peninsula 400 [CNW} still my favorites
Posted by Amtrakman (Member # 2403) on :
Thats intense! I have heard of a similar story on the Crescent where a tree had split and was hanging over the tracks when the Crescent's lead unit had its horn lost. It too had to flag at every crossing. Was not on this train, but heard the stories.
Keep them coming!
Thanks
------------------ ~The best trains, are the late trains~
Posted by Kairho (Member # 1567) on :
(repeated from a few days ago)
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.
Posted by stlboomer (Member # 2028) on :
I was on the California Zephyr Chicago to Emeryville on March 27-29. Trip was absolutely fantastic. Great service and food, awesome scenery, and a really entertaining bunch of fellow passengers. We actually got into Emeryville a few minutes early. Many thanks to JR, our sleeper attendant. He's a real pro!
-Mark
Posted by MPALMER (Member # 125) on :
By "latest" you mean "most delayed" not "most recent"?
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.
Most recent: round trip Surfliner to Ventura. Timely as always; MTA Gold Line maintenance facility in place now near bridge over LA river.
Posted by graynt (Member # 17) on :
My most recent trip was my most delayed trip. In January I took the Texas Eagle to Chicago and we were twelve hours lateinto San Antonio. Anything that could go wrong did...a man exposing himself in the lounge car..a drug bust at the Tucson station...freight traffic...broken tracks,etc,etc. Of course we were supposed to be in San Antonio by 5 AM and continue on at 9 to Chicago. We arrived at 5PM and were putup overnight and boarded the next days train. I loved it.I gave myself an extra day before returning to work. I enjoyed my night in San Antonio and the next day I was upgraded to a deluxe bedroom! Hey..more train time and a chance to see a lot of scenery that we normaly wouldn t see from Laredo to San Antonio.
Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :
7 hours on the CZ (would have been 8 if not for the padding on arrival at Chicago) last October. Trackwork in California, broken down freight in Colorado, car and driver totalled at grade crossing in Nebraska, crew out of hours (twice).
Geoff M.
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
Going waaaay back to the 70's when there was a North Coast Hiawatha on the old N.P mainline..., arrived at Bozeman on bicycles to find the train was 'annulled' due to a bridge washout. The very frustated bus driver had to get our bikes into his luggage compartment (no bike boxes in those days). Next he attempts to maintain the train speed to get to Miles City by scheduled train time (which included a lunch stop). No speed limits in Montana then...what a ride!
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!
Spent all night in Miles City waiting for the train in a cowboy bar. The party just moved to the bar car at dawn and lasted all the way to St.Paul. Much more fun than an uneventful trip.
Posted by vincen47 (Member # 2201) on :
Last Spring I took 351 from Battle Creek, Michigan to Chicago. What was to be a simple 3 hour trip turned into a 9 hour excursion due to locomotive problems and freight delays. We broke down just outside Kalamazoo and sat for 4 hours. A Conrail (NS) unit came to the rescue, but several freight delays added to the lossed time.
Posted by Eric (Member # 674) on :
Interesting stories! Keep 'em coming. The latest I've ever been was just three hours on Train 3 a few years ago, but it was enough to lose our connection to Train 14. We were taken off #3 at San Bernardino and bussed to meet #14 at Oxnard. When we arrived at Oxnard, we heard something about Ray Bradbury being on board the train, or at the station, or something else to that effect. We never did find out where he was, or what it was about!
In response to some of the 'locomotives breaking down stories.' Does Amtrak have the ability (or locomotive capacity) to put an extra unit DIC (dead-in-consist) on one unit trains, in case the lead unit dies? Breakdowns seem to happen pretty frequently, so if they did, the crews could start the second unit, and put it on the point. Possible?
Posted by Amtrakman (Member # 2403) on :
Great stories, keep them going!
Posted by Steve D (Member # 2344) on :
May, 2002, Longview TX to Chicago, 12 hours late. Texas Eagle delayed by a UP freight not having enough engines to negotiate a grade south of Ft Worth. Planned ahead anticipating delay -- lucky call. Needed to make connection with Cal Zephyr (Springfield to Galesburg) -- never would have made it. Worked out well getting to eat a Lou Mitchell's (the ultimate and consummate "greasy spoon" -- a must to try in Chicago and only 2 blocks from Union Station) the next morning. Still a great trip as always. Just remember to plan ahead, allow time, and ALWAYS enjoy the adventure!!
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Posted by Mike Smith (Member # 447) on :
May 2-3, 2002, Texas Eagle from Austin to Chicago.
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....
Thanks UP......
Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :
Last July on the Southwest Chief, Chicago to LA.
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.
[This message has been edited by dilly (edited 04-19-2003).]
Posted by Amtrak288 (Member # 1967) on :
Last August, I rode Train #448 (Lake Shore Limited's Boston Section), from Buffalo to Springfield, MA. Due to a massive speed restriction due to the heat (outside temp that day was as high as 96 degrees) I arrived into Springfield at 9:50pm, about 5 hours and 25 minutes late! If I remember correctly, I was one of the only people on that train who wasn't upset with the crew over something! I think if your an experienced Amtrak Traveler, you can take delays in stride, though I'm sure most people on the train that day weren't railfans, thus they were mad. The family I rode with from Buffalo where I boarded was really upset with the one ticket agent in Springfield when the train finally arrived as they had missed their connection. My best advice, allow a decent amout of time for connections and have a backup plan in place if you should miss one.
Posted by The Chief (Member # 2172) on :
The time: August, 1995. The train: Westbound Sunset Limited
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...
------------------ - - - - -The Chief
Posted by coach34135 (Member # 1979) on :
Sunset Limited:
last year due into NOL at 10pm, arrived at 3am on return home, we were due into LAX at 830am , we arrived 230pm
Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :
Two years ago I received word that my former boss who was Asst. GM - Engineering for the Santa Fe had passed away. Services were in Topeka, KS and I lived in AZ. I got reservations on the SWC to board in Winslow. There were no bedrooms until ALB but a Deluxe was available there thru to Topeka and I got it. This trip from ALB was across Santa Fe lines that my deceased boss and I had worked together for many years and I sat looking out and remembering experiences we shared at locations passing by.
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.
Posted by royaltrain (Member # 622) on :
I have posted my experiences before in Dec, 2000 when the w/b Texas Eagle was delayed due to ice storms in Arkansas, so I won't go into all the gory details. Essentially I was delayed three days arriving into Tucson. Of course my train wasn't three days late, I was. The Eagle was supposed to arrive in Dallas at 1:45 pm, instead we arrived at 2:00 am the next day, more than 12 hours late. Everyone was thrown off the train and (except for me) bussed to El Paso to connect with the w/b #2. I rented a car and drove to San Antonio where, after waiting three days, I finally connected with #2 out of that city.
Posted by Amtrak207 (Member # 1307) on :
Most delayed? Aw, heck, I guess one of my Eagles in '92 held around 2 hours late or so. Aside from that, 17 years, 10,000 miles and no missed connections. I was on a rained out train 49 in 2000 that lost two hours between Rochester and Buffalo; I assume we got to flag crossings and do stop-and-proceed. I did not have a scanner at the time, just when my friend leans over and says, "I thought you told me these things were efficient." If you rationalize lateness by distance traveled, my May 2002 trip on the Hiawatha takes the crown. We ran on time until 20 minutes out of Union Station in Chicago, and then we waited. At first, nobody knew why, then we were told a Metra train had derailed inside. Being on the tail end of the AM rush hour, we got to wait for the eight Metra trains ahead of us to unload in what had turned into a single-track boarding platform (out of eight.) We arrived an hour and a half late, but the family that was driving the same route (I94) only got there around 15 minutes earlier than I did. What a difference the train makes. Ironically, two months later the westbound Builder had the same thing happen to its rear sleepers. My least-delayed train was fun, too. Running Chicago to Rochester in 1998, the train was 50 minutes late in Indiana, 38 minutes late out of Cleveland, 22 minutes late out of buf-lo, and actually departed Rochester on time. It didn't just get to the station by the time they were supposed to leave, it left on time. That's remarkable enough to make me model one of the locomotives since it was obviously doing its job well.
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.
------------------ F40PH #757099-8 March 29, 1976-August 17, 2001 Requisecat in pacem
P42DC #53063 Around 2.5 million miles to go
[This message has been edited by Amtrak207 (edited 04-24-2003).]
Posted by TexasEagle (Member # 2449) on :
The latest train I've ever been on is the Texas Eagle, which was supposed to arive in Chicago at 2:49 PM, and arived at around 7:40 PM.
Posted by TexasEagle (Member # 2449) on :
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?
Posted by TexasEagle (Member # 2449) on :
I read a travelogue ware the Lakeshore limited number 49 into CHI was running over 8 hours late, because of major engine problems concerning Dewel-mode Genesis engine number 702. The whole train sounded like it was one piece of trash and another piece of trash put together.
quote: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?
Posted by Amtrak207 (Member # 1307) on :
The LSL runs deuwulleh moad engines from New York to Rensselaer only. The same applies to the Maple Leaves and quite possibly the Adirondacksesesses. They will change to normal power at Rensselaer. On my last ride up the Hudson, train 49 carried one of its normal road engines (P42 180) behind 711, the duewul moade engine with the dying horn. 711 provided the pulling power in third rail territory, then the P42 was cut in and we made track speed. 711 simply pulled off the front in Albany. It wouldn't surprise me if just one DM engine pulling a ten car LSL would fail eventually. The DMs only have a 12 cylinder engine, but with AC traction motors they boast a higher top speed and tractive effort. I've been told the DMs have crankcase overpressure problems. Amtrak and GE must have gotten things ironed out last summer when 700 and 706 were returned to service. 702 has since been repainted; I'd assume the mechanicals got a rebuild at that time. These engines are in daily use because there aren't too many of them. At least when you consider the number of Albany-New York trains on the timetable.
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.
------------------ F40PH #757099-8 March 29, 1976-August 17, 2001 Requisecat in pacis
P42DC #53063 Around 2.5 million miles to go
[This message has been edited by Amtrak207 (edited 04-27-2003).]
Posted by TexasEagle (Member # 2449) on :
is a ph42 another name for a Genesis engine or what?
Posted by Amtrak207 (Member # 1307) on :
P40DC: Genesis 1, AMD103, Genes#!t, whatever you want to call it, road numbers 800-843, built 1993, 4000 hp, 103 mph P32AC-DM: Genesis 2 dual mode, 3200 hp, AC traction, 110 mph, road numbers 700-717. 700-709 delivered in phase 3 and just now getting repainted, 710-717 in phase 4 NE. P42DC: Genesis (2?) road numbers 1-207 (I just love typing that) build in three main blocks (1996, 1997, 2000-2001), 4200 hp, 110 mph, includes 207. 1-100 and 111-120 delivered in phase 3, 101-110 (?) delivered in phase 4 NE, 121 and 122 delivered in phase 4, 123-167 delivered in phase 5 early, 168-207 (there's that number again...) delivered in phase 5 late. Anything else? Please ask me what "phase 3" means. Wasn't this originally about late trains?
------------------ F40PH #757099-8 March 29, 1976-August 17, 2001 Requisecat in pacis
P42DC #53063 Around 2.5 million miles to go
[This message has been edited by Amtrak207 (edited 04-27-2003).]
Posted by Amtrakman (Member # 2403) on :
Sure is about late trains!
------------------ ~Late train+more time on the train=The best trains~
Posted by rresor (Member # 128) on :
My champion late train was the "Silver Star" of December 23, 1982, NYP - Deerfield Beach, FL. We were right on time to Richmond, where we pulled up across the platform from the Palmetto and sat. Signal trouble, apparently. The conductor also said something about a winter storm...
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.