27 replies to this topic

[GG-1]

I'm there in mind if not in body.

Clearly I am not there in Body, But I am there in spirit. Including a flaky Internet connection.

Aloha and Enjoy

[steve4031]

It's pouring in Chicago. I'm in an uber taxi enroute to union station. Mike and Kim missed there flight last night. So they rebooked to 7:25 am flight out of Cleveland. They've arrived Chicago and are taking orange line. I hope they brought swimming trunks because it's raining hard.

[BillMagee]

Trip to Fest 1 of 2: Left home at 6:35am, parked at PHL and through security at 7:10. Spent a short time in the US Airways lounge, then went over to Terminal E for my Southwest flight to Chicago Midway. Pushed right on time with a packed plane. Nice flight most of the way, but clouds and some bumps nearing Chicago. We were put into a ahort holding pattern due to weather delays at Midway, but still got to the gate just 4 minutes late. I had an early lunch and I'm now killing time at MDW waiting for the weather to clear. Radar indicates things should be dry in about 30 minutes. That's when I'll head for the Orange Line, shoot downtown, and take the short, and hopefully dry walk to Union Station.

[pennyk]

The six of us on 49 are hoping that we will arrive in Chicago around the time Amtrak is currently predicting, 12:54. We are west of South Bend, and it is raining, but not pouring. We hope to see the rest of the group soon.

[steve4031]

Mike and Kim on way back from lunch. Bill walked into lounge a few minutes before 12:30.

[KevinKorell]

All told, 49 got into Chicago 12:45 PM, exactly 3 hours late. Most importantly, connection will be made.

[steve4031]

And I was sending texts predicting that all morning. Amtrak was predicting 12:25.

[amtrakwolverine]

Todays Zephyr was 90 minutes departing chicago due to engine issues. I was 90 minutes late getting into chicago on 351 due to traffic and flooding.

[saxman]

I rode the Coast Starlight up to Eugene, and turned around to come back to Sacramento. I'm sitting in the station now awaiting the Zephyr. I'm already sick of train food, and didn't bother trying to stay on board the CS. I'll do a quick points run to Davis and back to kill time. Unlike past fests, I've made all my connections now, and everything was early or close to on time. Both my CS consists had a PPC too! We shall see how my CZ #6 does today. I might actually beat the group into SLC in the morning.

[KevinKorell]

So here's the deal with 49. We came with diminished expectations and some skepticism as to whether we would make our connection. As you know by now, we made it. But what started out as an on-time trip deteriorated quickly in Albany. We got there on time, and the Boston section #449 had also arrived prior to us and was sitting in the yard north of the station. But on the platform next to us was #48/448 which had just arrived and was running several hours late. Crews began to go through the process of detaching the Boston section, moving it to another track, attaching a dual mode engine for the New York section, and they even changed out the P-42 engines on the Boston section for another one. So the three station tracks were taken up with our 49, plus 48, and 448. After 48 and 448 left, an Empire Service train came into the station and terminated. Then 64, the eastbound Maple Leaf, also came in and required an engine change. Still, nothing being done with our train. The Empire train was taken out to the yard, and yet another one showed up behind it and also terminated there. Finally they began working on our train. We ended up leaving Albany over an hour late, a deficit that was never recovered. And as we know, a late train usually gets later. To my dismay, my 5:40 AM alarm woke me up in the great city of Cleveland. We should have been closer to Toledo by then, so we had lost more time. We had a nice crew, especially Rob and Coco, the sleeper car attendants.