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A Train Ride to Nowhere, Then a Long Train Ride
I have followed the various posts in this forum for quite a while and would like to share our recent Amtrak experience. After writing all of this, I realize it is long, but so was the ride and the train.
My wife and I left Washington, DC Saturday, January 10th on the Capitol Limited bound for Toledo, Ohio. It became an interesting experience that included a train trip that took about eleven hours without really getting anywhere, a twenty mile trip traveling in reverse in the dark, and a bit of rare (probably very rare) mileage, and one of the longest Amtrak trains we have ever been aboard.
We left DC on time on Saturday, settled in, and looked forward to getting home after a post Christmas visit with family in Northern Virginia (we arrived via Amtrak on Tuesday, December 30th). Dinner in the diner while passing through West Virginia was Flat Iron Steak for both of us. My wife and the folks (from Battle Creek, Michigan) we shared a table with all thought the steak was very good. I thought it was ok, but not exceptional. Desert of ice cream for my wife and yellow cake with blueberries and raspberries for me topped off a satisfactory meal.
When I got off the train for a smoke break (I’m a pipe smoker) at Cumberland, Maryland shortly after seven p, m., I learned from some other smokers that there had been a derailment in front of us somewhere between Cumberland and Pittsburgh. What is normally a seven or eight minute break stretched on while our crew was trying to determine the next course of action. There was talk of busing the passengers the rest of the way, going ahead to Connellsville, Pennsylvania and busing from there, taking a alternate route (our engineer wasn’t qualified on the alternate route), or staying in place while Amtrak headquarters made the call.
Finally, around nine p.m. the decision was made by Amtrak headquarters to have the train return to DC. We waited for another engineer and finally left Cumberland (in reverse) around ten p.m. We backed up about twenty miles, at times moving at what seemed to me at 30 to 40 mph, to Green Spring, West Virginia where the train was to be turned using a wye (this was the rare mileage [or at least rare footage or yardage] portion of the trip). Although it was quite dark outside, I was able to see portions of the track within the wye. It looked old and little used and I wasn’t sure our train would make it on this track. I think the engineer and what I believe were CSX personnel on the ground might have had the same thoughts as we traveled very slowly through the wye. We did make it successfully (I finally went to sleep as we remained stationary in the wye for quite a while before going back on the main line). I woke up once as we were going back to DC and it appeared that we were moving at maximum speed through what I think was Maryland somewhere after passing through Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
The next time I woke up we were at Union Station (about 3 o’clock Sunday morning). We were told we could stay on the train and that Amtrak personnel would be on the platform to assist passengers with travel arrangements. I went out on the platform around seven in the morning to listen to the Amtrak personnel who were there, but still didn’t know what we were going to do, or how we were to get to Toledo. It seemed to me that if Amtrak needed to transport all of those on our train and those on the Sunday train, there wouldn’t be enough space for all.
My wife wasn’t feeling well (we think she caught a bug from the grandkids) so I went to breakfast alone. I had French toast and Pork Sausage Patties with Coffee and Orange Juice. It was all very good. The sausage patties were good, but very thin and about four inches in diameter, not like the ones I was used to on Amtrak that were about the diameter of a half dollar and about a half inch thick.
Sometime between ten and eleven, it was announced that all passengers would have to leave the train and take all of their belongings including luggage, with them. On the platform, one of the train attendants told me I would have to go to the ticket office to get reticketed. Upon entering the station, one of the Amtrak folks told me the same thing. After going to the Acela Lounge and stashing our luggage, we went to the ticket windows and were told that we did not need to be reticketed. Now, more confused than ever, we found the Amtrak person we had first seen when we entered the station and explained the situation. He took our ticket stubs and said he would take care of it. When he returned 15 or 20 minutes later, he gave us back the stubs and said they were all we would need. He also explained that they were going to attach our train to Sunday’s Capitol Limited and we would have the same space we had previously occupied.
We went for a short walk outside (it was a cold Sunday morning) and then returned to the Acela Lounge. My wife, who was feeling a little better, would end up sleeping most of the day in the lounge. I spent my day wandering and admiring the station interspersed with trips up to the third floor of the parking garage where I could smoke my pipe and watch trains. I also visited the Great Steak and Fry Company in the food court for one of my favorite lunches.
About 3:20 in the afternoon they started the boarding of the train. Passengers from the Saturday train were boarded first. The train was not in its normal position on one of the tracks just outside the Acela Lounge, but rather on Track 26 (it needed the longer track due to the length of the train). The train was made of up of three locomotives followed by the normal consist (baggage car, transition sleeper, two sleepers, diner, lounge car, and two coaches) followed by the same consist in reverse (this was our train). Boarding was completed within the allotted time (passengers on the Sunday train had a really long walk to get to their cars at the front of the train) and left on time at 4:05 p.m. We had an uneventful ride to Cumberland where I again went out for a smoke break (much shorter this time).
I stayed awake for much of the ride to Pittsburgh (about a four and one-half hour trip) and went out for a smoke at Pittsburgh. We were in the second sleeper so we had three locomotives and thirteen cars ahead of us. This was the furthest back on the platform I had ever been and hadn’t realized it was that long. After a short break, the “ all aboard” was heard and I again boarded the train. Then we sat, and we sat, and I went to bed. Apparently, there was a problem with the engines and we finally left Pittsburgh at 3:35 Monday morning. I slept nicely until it was time to get up and get ready to leave the train at Toledo. We arrived in Toledo at 8:35 Monday morning. Train 29 (11) was 3 hours and 49 minutes late. Train 29 (10) [I don’t know if we kept our identity] was 27 hours and 49 minutes late.
After all of the problems, my wife and I just consider it an Amtrak experience. The derailment wasn’t the fault of Amtrak, and although I think we could have had better communication about what was going to happen, it all worked out. Our train crew was great. The crew (Cliff, our sleeper attendant, Lou [of Good Morning America fame] the other sleeper attendant, the coach attendant [whose name I don’t know] and the dining car folks) all worked from the time we originally left on Saturday through the Monday morning arrival in Chicago and performed professionally and courteously.
We just made the same trip at the end of February and were early into DC inbound and early into Toledo outbound.
Geoff M Member # 153
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An interesting story - thanks for sharing. When such events happen, it's a nightmare to reschedule everything as equipment and personnel are all in the wrong place.
So were there two active diners and lounges on the train, i.e. both pairs in use? I think only the Auto Train has that kind of situation!
Geoff M.
Henry Kisor Member # 4776
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Tony, you are the kind of traveler I most enjoy meeting on Amtrak -- a person with a calm, relaxed, mature, accommodating outlook on life who takes things as they come and even finds adventure in unusual circumstances.
Cheeriness begets cheeriness. This is a useful dictum to keep in mind when encountering passengers and crew aboard trains everywhere.
rresor Member # 128
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Great story! As it happens, I've been on the west leg of the wye at Green Spring, on a "Potomac Eagle" trip down the South Branch Valley.
As for the length of the train, hard as it is to remember, in the postwar days 20-car passenger trains were not unusual, which is why the platforms at many stations are so long. In fact, up until 1971 the Seaboard Coast Line trains to Florida regularly ran 22 cars in the winter. It's nice to see Amtrak running a train of that length again, even if the reason is a derailment.
smitty195 Member # 5102
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Thanks for the interesting story. You are much more patient than I am, that's for sure. I understand, and I am patient when these things happen that are beyond Amtrak's control. You just have to go with the flow when you're stuck like this. However, my big problem with Amtrak is how often they are completely unprepared, totally blindsided, utterly shocked, outrageously stunned, and frozen like deer in a set of headlights when things like this happen. Amtrak is in the transportation business, and they are in the railroad business as well if I'm not mistaken. Further, they have been in this line of work since, oh, let's say 1971 or so. So as we approach a half a century of service, I fail to understand why they are always so disorganized, confused, and handle these things like it's the first time it has ever happened. A constant updating of passengers with information would go a long way. Someone in charge to direct what is going on at the scene (for the passengers) would go a long way. My entire adult life has been in the emergency services business---I know what it means to be prepared for things. And when things aren't exactly as you trained for, then you become flexible and do what you can to make things go smoothly. But at Amtrak---this RARELY happens.
As I said, I have no problem being patient and just going with the flow.....as long as they have their act together and tell people what's going on, and as long as someone in control at the scene directs passengers where to go, what bus to get on, and tells which buses to go to which location. I have to be honest---THIS IS NOT A DIFFICULT TASK! It's almost a no-brainer, but it does require a little bit of training, and a little bit of managers doing their jobs and telling people what to do. These scenarios have played out again and again on Amtrak, and they will continue to play out again and again in the future. Why we are supposed to sit back and take it, and not say anything, or not do anything about it, is simply not in my DNA.
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