Noticed/Questioned Major Delays, Annulments, Reroutes

Does anybody know why #19 (1st) southbound Crescent lost 7' 00" from BHM to NOL on the 2nd?

shlustig wrote:Does anybody know why #19 (1st) southbound Crescent lost 7' 00" from BHM to NOL on the 2nd?

NS was involved in a grade crossing collision and they also encountered a minor derailment scene.

JoeS wrote:I rode the w/b Lake Shore Limited yesterday/today, from Rochester NY to Chicago Union. It left ROC 1 hour 15 minutes late, although it had departed Albany 14 minutes late.

We departed Bryan, OH an hour and 28 minutes behind when things took a turn for the worse, schedule wise. Amtrak 29 had stopped on track 2 at MP 361.7 due to engine failure, and a plan was developed in which 49 would tie onto the head end of 29 and bring it along to CHI.

First thing out of Bryan: an unexplained penalty brake application brought us to an abrupt halt, after which we continued to Waterloo. After 49's station work there we backed down TK 2 to tie on to 29. After making the connections and starting west again we had to stop at Waterloo again for 29's work. Of course two stops were made at both Elkhart and South Bend to pick up and drop off passengers, but it was high green all the way from Waterloo to CHI.

The final tally was 2 hours 57 minutes behind schedule. I thought I would share the behind-the-scenes reason for the bulk of the delay.

Although we were late into Chicago we still reached our final destination in plenty of time and felt pretty good about rescuing a sister train stuck out on the line.

I know the story all to well, I was scheduled to board 29 at South Bend, when I was informed of the breakdown. I was scheduled to make the connecting 333 at Chicago to Milwaukee Airport which I obviously missed.

To make matters worse, the following 335 was canceled in its entirety due to that train breaking down somewhere near Sturtevant. I ended up having to take a replacement bus to Milwaukee Airport.

^ was the Southshore not suggested as an option? I know its a schlepp from Randolph st to Union but its seems better than being stuck in South Bend.

Does anybody know if #307 (3rd) really lost 3' 10" from ALN to STL?

Bob Roberts wrote:^ was the Southshore not suggested as an option? I know its a schlepp from Randolph st to Union but its seems better than being stuck in South Bend.

There is that option, but on the return trip my car would be at the airport and not at Bendix. Also considering the bitter cold that day walking between Millennium and Union Station was not an option either.

Auto Train 52(05) arrived Lorton at 4:40 PM Friday. A serving of beef stew over rice was provided for lunch. It was an unexpected treat, as passengers assumed there would be no food on board. Scheduled arrival is 9:30 AM.
The waiting room was nearly full with train 53 passengers when train 52 passengers detrained. Train 53 departed at 9:15 PM, scheduled 4:00 PM.

Last car of the Cardinal derailed last night south of Odenton making a royal mess of the NEC.

Vermonter 55 cancelled yesterday after NECR put a propane tank car on the ground in Essex Jct VT. Passengers handled by bus to SPG, assume 56 turned as 55 with 56's passengers bussed north. NECR finished cleanup so 57 should run normally today with yesterday's 55.

I was on Amtrak 92 (Silver Star) which left Florida on Sat. March 7th. Upon reaching Columbia, SC on the 8th, it sat at the station until a bit after 8 am EDT. Then the conductor informed us that "a car loaded with spikes fell over and dumped all the spikes on the tracks, blocking the line between Columbia and Hamlet, NC." So 92 was backed to Cayce yard (ex SAL), then proceeded forward to Devine Jct.where it was switched onto the ex-ACL Eastover sub. (MP 374) traversing that line to Sumter, SC (MP 332) at 9:55 am. It then proceeded over the ex-ACL Lane sub.(MP 382-Sumter) to Lane SC (MP 341) on the Silver Meteor route reaching Lane at 12:20 pm, having been held at Greeleyville for over an hour enroute. Track on these two subdivisions was good, 40 mph most of the way. 92 continued north without further incident, running about six hours late most of the way, one hour of which was due to the time change enroute. It reached New York about 1 am EDT on the 9th. I missed my commuter train connection of course so had to sleep on the floor of the lounge until I got a morning train home.
Passengers for points north of Columbia were allowed off at Rocky Mount, NC, and put on busses for the journey back south. I shudder to think how many hours late these unfortunate folks were getting to points like Hamlet NC and Camden SC. One might have thought that they could have gotten off the train at Columbia and continued by taxi, probably not that many for those towns, but no, Amtrak kept them on all the way to Rocky Mount, getting there at 4:30 pm.

ACeInTheHole wrote:Last car of the Cardinal derailed last night south of Odenton making a royal mess of the NEC.

Its interesting no one commented on this yet. Reading some articles from the local Odenton Md. paper, its stated that "a wheel lost contact with the track." I believe speeds in that area for the Cardinal are 90-100.

Everyone:

Today's northbound Carolinian was involved in a grade crossing accident in Halifax County, NC...
P42 185 is on its side and one of the Heritage baggage cars look to have suffered significant damage...
There have been no life threatening injuries - and fortunately no fatalities - in this incident...

From the Amtrak Unlimited forum site:
http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.p ... -accident/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MACTRAXX

including cellphone video of hit.
http://7online.com/news/nyc-bound-amtra ... na/550742/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

srock1028 wrote: Reading some articles from the local Odenton Md. paper, its stated that "a wheel lost contact with the track."

That silly phrase now appears to be Amtrak's standard newspeak for "derailment", which seems to have become a naughty word, so the paper probably copied it from an Amtrak press release.

TomNelligan wrote:

srock1028 wrote: Reading some articles from the local Odenton Md. paper, its stated that "a wheel lost contact with the track."

That silly phrase now appears to be Amtrak's standard newspeak for "derailment", which seems to have become a naughty word, so the paper probably copied it from an Amtrak press release.

Based on the MARC service advisory and the location of the damaged track the derailment may have occurred in the vicinity of the D.F. Sullivan yard. The advisory said that two sets of points were damaged, which would suggestthat the turnout from the yard reception road to Track 1 and the connection to the Academy Yard siding were the points affected.

I'm sure Amtrak feels very fortunate that the derailment didn't occur any further north of there and smash up the points in GROVE.