20 replies to this topic

[pennyk]

I wonder if this is the same passenger who fouled Jishnu's original roomette in Denver. I think that was the reason for the bad-ordering of the room.

There was a passenger vomiting incident on 30 also, which resulted in a medical emergency. I heard it was a result of too much alcohol. The passenger was transported by ambulance in Cleveland. Lots of incidents.

[jis]

Apparently, while I was eating dinner, a passenger got sick and vomited in the hallway from the dining car to her room.

I wonder if this is the same passenger who fouled Jishnu's original roomette in Denver. I think that was the reason for the bad-ordering of the room.

Yup. My original room was bad ordered because of a "barf incident" as the SCA of car 632 informed me while directing me to car 630, same room number.

The next notable incident was that of the shopping lady, who left her baby and husband on the train and went off shopping in Denver. When she returned to the station the train had already left. After some discussion it was decided that the train will not back into the station to pick her up. She was instead packed off on a taxi or some such to a point down the line to get picked up. There were two options discussed, one was at the crossing with Ironwood Road near the old Stapleton Airport, and the other being Fort Morgan. We are not quite sure which option was finally exercised. The train did stop briefly near the Ironwood crossing, but that could hav =e been for something else too.since Alan did not hear any chatter on the radio at that point.

Then in the car 630 room assigned to me, the door fell off its rails and got stuck, fortunately in the open position. So I was moved to the room right across from it, thus retaining my railfan window position.

Compared to that the ride on LSL was completely free of "events". The SCA told me that my Alaska Railroad T-shirt brought luck to the LSL since it arrived in Albany and then in New York apparently the earliest it has in this entire month! The only bad part was the completely clueless LSA in the Diner, but we survived through that.

One interesting thing that is going on is that all light fixtures seem to be progressively getting converted to LED as cars cycle through maintenance. The Super I on 6 has some corridor lights that had been converted to LED from CFL. In the Viewliner I was on the roomette ceiling lights and possibly some corridor lights have been converted to LED. Only remaining CFL appears to be the wall lights in the roomettes. The reading lights in the Viewlibner were still incandescent, but in the Super I they were LED. This should reduce the load on HEP to quite some extent as the conversion is completed.

Meanwhile there was high drama going on in 49(19). Afigg from AU was on that train. It got stuck behind the rockfall near Peekskill and left Albany over 8 hours late. By the time it got to Toledo it was 12 hours late. At Toledo it was terminated and turned as 48(20). Passengers to Chicago and point between were bused from Toledo. Passengers for 48(20) we transported from Chicago and points between by 30(20) and bus to Toledo. Out of Cleveland 48(20) is running about 90 minutes late according to a report from someone on the train..

[saxman]

Well I didn't have any drama on my train to NOL. I boarded 59 around 7:20 and I got another refurbished S 1 car, this time room B. I went to the diner where there were serving from the express menu. I had chicken. Breakfast and lunch were both served off the normal menu's. We arrived in to MEM about 30 minutes early but still departed 22 minutes late. I wasn't up in time to step off. Despite that, we arrived into NOL 30 minutes early, and I hopped a quick bus back to my apartment. Very glad to be home. I realized on this trip, I took all 3 trains serving NOL into or out of of the city.

[amtrakwolverine]

Final part home. Boarded 358 The Wolverine from the great hall and departed on time only to get stopped due to freight traffic. It was stop and go for a while and by the time we got to Michigan city Indiana the trains 2nd stop We had lost a hour and 15 minutes due to delays.Then lost more time due to being put in a 10MPH siding for awhile to let sister train 355 pass. Then lost more time due to freight traffic near detroit. had to wait for a freight to clear the platform as we came in on the 2nd track. Then Shortly after departing detroit there were some switch issues and the conductor who was working by himself had to get off and set the swtich for the direction we wanted to go so that took a few minutes. Ended up arriving into Royal oak at 11:48PM 2 hours and 3 minutes late. Was supposed to get in at 9:47PM. Always a adventure with amtrak lol.

[jis]

Then Shortly after departing detroit there were some switch issues and the conductor who was working by himself had to get off and set the swtich for the direction we wanted to go so that took a few minutes.

At least the Conductor did not have to take out his handy chain saw and cut down a tree or two!

[pennyk]

Although, I am already home, one of our group is still on his way home. Kevin is on train 50, the Cardinal, which left Chicago last evening, pretty much on time. Due to freight issues, and probably a lot more which he will explain when he gets WiFi, the train is now almost 10 hours late out of Charleston, WV. I will never attempt to speak for Kevin, but I cannot imagine that he is ecstatic about the delay.

[steve4031]

I've been exchanging texts with Kevin. The delay was caused by a freight that broke down between Connorsville and Cincinnati. They sat for about 7 hours. Additional time was lost in Cincinnati waiting for a new operating crew. In addition to this mess Kevin had what has to be one of the worst scas on amtrak. Guy has been negligent and abrupt. Kevin observed him wearing headphones and singing as he walked down the corridor. He thus was unable to hear Kevin request that the bed be put down. Eventually the bed was made, and Kevin asked for a wake up call that would give time to get ready for his 4 am arrival in washington. The attendant told Kevin he knows how to do his job. At least Kevin got through the gorge in daylight.

[KevinKorell]

The freight that broke down had to be rescued by an engine sent from Cincinnati. Not sure why it took 7 hours to get there, but it did. I awoke to stare at the same backyard for many hours, including my entire breakfast period. After the freight moved, we did too, but slowly, until it could pull off into a siding so we could pass. Yes I got through the gorge in daylight, waning daylight. And I got two nights instead of one on the train. Because I saw the writing on the wall, I called my Embassy Suites in Crystal City from Cincinnati and released the room I had reserved. Why stay there if I would only get a couple of hours sleep? Besides, Metro is closed at night so I would not have been able to get there in the wee hours. My attendant Eugene on the Cardinal started out bad and got worse. No matter what you asked him, you would get attitude. Perhaps I am spoiled because we had some pretty good attendants over the past couple of weeks. But this guy was hard to find when you needed him, and was visibly disturbed whenever asked to do something. One woman across the hall from me in Chicago was confused as this was her first Viewliner sleeper after being in Superliners. She didn't know where to put her luggage. Eugene said to her, "does this train look anything like the train you were just on?" As Steve mentioned, when I wanted the beds put down so I could sleep before getting to Washington, I could not find Eugene. As he passed, I called his name and he didn't hear me because he was singing to whatever was playing in his headphones. I gave Eugene a tip, but it was a written one I left in my room, telling him to lose the attitude and giving him some bullet points as above. I did leave him a penny (the coin) for his thoughts, so he can't say I totally stiffed him. The trip spanned THREE days, Tuesday night to early Thursday morning. It will get to New York well into the morning rush hour. My original plan, after staying in Arlington, was to go back down to Alexandria for a split trip on 174 ALX-WAS and then 84 WAS-PHL. Because of the 10-1/2 hour late arrival, I had 8 minutes to purchase a ticket for and board the next Regional, #170, so that is where I write from now passing through Maryland with #50 still back in Washington changing the engine. So with the huge delay, I'll get home sooner than originally planned since the last hotel night I was treating myself to never happened.

Edited by KevinKorell, 24 July 2014 - 04:19 AM.

[BillMagee]

The freight that broke down had to be rescued by an engine sent from Cincinnati. Not sure why it took 7 hours to get there, but it did. I awoke to stare at the same backyard for many hours, including my entire breakfast period. After the freight moved, we did too, but slowly, until it could pull off into a siding so we could pass.

...

According to a post at Trainorders, your original issue was caused by a broken down Loram rail grinding train. Loram reportedly spent two hours trying to fix it at the site, then finally had to get CSX to send out two locomotives from Cincinnati to drag it out of the way. It the interim, your operating crew went over hours and had to be replaced, and the rested crew issues domino'd down the line, along with meets with trains that #50 does not normally meet. It sounds like the perfect storm.

The up side? You saved the cost of the hotel room in Crystal City.

[KevinKorell]

The up side? You saved the cost of the hotel room in Crystal City.

I saved the redemption of points for a hotel room in Crystal City, which have already been credited back to my account.

We also had a meet with 51 on the eastern end of New River Gorge. Usually the meet takes place about 1/2 hour west of Charlottesville.

The crew did in fact go dead at Cincinnati, in fact we just made it. Minutes before his time was up, the conductor set the hand brakes so that he could safely vacate the premises. We were there about an hour without a crew.

Edited by KevinKorell, 24 July 2014 - 07:30 AM.