8 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

As some of you know, Alan Burden is currently on a whirlwind trip through the Midwest, in order to meet some of our online friends from this board, as well as to use what could be his final opportunity to ride trains that most likely won't be there in a few months.

He has been letting me know his status by text messaging me from his trains.

He started out on the LAKE SHORE LIMITED from New York on Tuesday 2/24. This train left New York Penn Station about 3 minutes late. Its timekeeping across New York State was great. The train came into Utica 5 minutes early and left on time. Likewise in Syracuse, Train 49 arrived at 8:50 PM, and had to wait to depart at the advertised 9:06 PM.

On Wednesday morning 2/25, his LAKE SHORE arrived into Chicago a little late. Julie the robot said 23 minutes late, Alan said 25 minutes late. Either way, not at all bad for this train with a reputation for much worse. Perhaps the through-routing of equipment to and from Florida and the temporary cessation of through service to and from Boston is really helping this train.

Presumably, Alan had time to ride the CTA Blue Line Cermak branch, something we missed doing last July during our Windy City Fest due to a very late arrival of that very same LAKE SHORE LIMITED.

He departed from Chicago on the SOUTHWEST CHIEF at 3:15 PM, and was 22 minutes late into Kansas City, arriving 10:32 PM.

This morning, Thursday 2/26, he left Kansas City on the ANN RUTLEDGE, Train 304. This has been his worst timekeeping so far; at one point it was running almost 3 hours late. I heard from Alan when he was in Kirkwood, MO at 3:48 PM CST (due 12:53), and in Springfield, IL at 6:24 PM CST (due 4:00), so the train made up a little bit of time via the padding and less dwell time in St. Louis. I estimate his arrival into Chicago to be about 10 PM CST tonight.

Tomorrow he goes east to Michigan and back again to Chicago.

[AlanB]

Well we made it into CUS at 9:54 PM last night, thanks UP. Freight traffic was so bad on the sub from Kansas City to St. Louis, that it was approaching total gridlock. I don't know if the dispatcher was simply that bad or if they were trying to push as much traffic through as they could before the start of track work on Monday. However it wasn't just Amtrak that was left sitting around. UP had thousands of dollars just parked on the rails as we dodged frieght trains switching from track to track and back. Once past St. Louis though, by and large things moved well. Although we did make an unscheduled stop in Gardner, stopping right in the middle of town to have the police remove an underage drunk. He was apparently hitting on some of the young women on the train. So now he's got a room free of charge at the local jail. As for Chicago, I did indeed manage to cover the Cermak branch of the Blue Line, plus I rode out to Forest Park, before returning to the loop for lunch prior to heading back to CUS for the Chief. And with regard to the Lake Shore, we were early into almost all stations, often sitting to wait for departure time. We pulled into Toledo 6 minutes early, which apparently was a good thing, since I'm told that a coach passenger was found unconcious in a pool of vomit. So they had to call for help removing the person. No word on if this was an illness or simply another drunk. That's it for now, time to get ready for the Wolverine.

[KevinKorell]

Alan's eastbound Train 350 (the WOLVERINE) was 12 minutes late at Jackson, MI. But by the time it got to Detroit it was able to leave that station 10 minutes early. It ran early up to Pontiac, getting there at 3:47 PM (23 minutes early!). Alan heard that his train ran hot so that its engineer would not outlaw. Only 354 is marked with "D"'s in the timetable, allowing it to run ahead of schedule if it can, so I would guess that in the interest of not outlawing, a few passengers for 350 could possibly miss the train. And then, what if the train is delayed coming east? Does it then have to sit waiting for a new engineer, becoming even later?

So Alan had more dwell time in Pontiac than expected. 350's equipment turns into the westbound TWILIGHT LIMITED, Train 355. It left Pontiac on time, but by the time this train got to Dearborn, it was five minutes late.

[KevinKorell]

355 ended up getting into Chicago early last night.

Today, Alan has met Mike Hammond, and together they rode METRA out to Elgin. I heard from them when they were laying over between runs in downtown Elgin. When that train gets back into Chicago, they will walk 3 blocks to Quincy/Wells and take the Orange Line down to Midway Airport and return.

[KevinKorell]

It's Monday morning, and I got word from Alan in Chicago that he somehow missed the INTERNATIONAL departure there. Instead he will be taking tonight's LAKE SHORE LIMITED back to New York. Scratch Canada from his itinerary.

[AlanB]

Only 354 is marked with "D"'s in the timetable, allowing it to run ahead of schedule if it can, so I would guess that in the interest of not outlawing, a few passengers for 350 could possibly miss the train.

Actually they checked with someone, I couldn't make out who, to ensure that there were no passenges scheduled to board at any of the final stops.

[AlanB]

Well I’m back from my round about trip through the mid-west a day earlier than expected. Thanks to a silly, stupid mistake on my part I was forced to rework the end of my planned trip. While I will do a full trip report eventually, I did want to tell the a bit of my story. So to that end, here goes. My original itinerary was as follows: Leave NY on the Lake Shore Limited on Tuesday Feb 24th. Transfer to the SW Chief in Chicago, riding that to Kansas City. Then overnight in KC. Catch the Ann Rutledge on Thursday, which runs back to Chicago via St. Louis Check into a Chicago Hotel for 4 nights as a base of operations. Ride the Wolverine to Pontiac, MI. on Friday, returning that night on the Twilight Limited. Saturday & Sunday, riding CTA & METRA trains with a friend. Monday the 1st, catch the International to Toronto. Spend one night in TWO, then catch VIA’s Enterprise the overnight run between TWO & Montreal. Returning home from Montreal to NY on Wednesday, via the Adirondack. Well things went quite well for the first 6 days with most trains running very close to on time. The worst was the Ann Rutledge, which thanks to UP, was 3 hours late into St. Louis. My luck ran out on Monday morning, when I made the mistake of thinking that the International left at 9:50 AM. It leaves at 9:40 AM and I have no idea how I got that time into my head. I was actually in Chicago Union Station long before that time. I stopped and grabbed breakfast at the McDonalds in CUS. Then I had a client page me and thinking that I still had time I decided to return that call from the McD’s since reception is better upstairs, than it is down in the waiting room. After talking for about 5 minutes, I ended the conversation since I knew that I was getting close. As I headed down the escalator, I heard the engineer of the International say goodbye to the gate agent. My 10-minute mistake in departure times had cost me my ride. For that matter, had I not removed my earpiece for the scanner, I probably would have heard the call for passengers my scanner. But I had removed that for a few minutes so that I could better hear on the cell phone. So after watching the taillights of my train fade into the distance, I sat and quickly considered my options. Trying to get to Toronto on my own, postponing my trip by one day, or just giving up and returning home. I decided that I would save the money and return home. So I traded in my International & Adirondack tickets towards the price of a sleeper on the Lake Shore. I then went into the Metropolitan Lounge, got on-line with my laptop, and canceled my VIA reservations and my Toronto hotel reservation. So word to the wise, always take your breakfast food to the waiting area. By the way in a final stunning end to my week on the rails, the so-called Late Shore was really the Lake Shore today. We arrived 9 minutes early today into Penn Station.

Edited by AlanB, 02 March 2004 - 11:11 PM.

[EllisSimon]

You've got to keep riding, Alan. You seem to bring Amtrak good luck. Now if you can do something about your own OT performance

[AlanB]