Signal Issue Attleborough to Providence

The family's first overnight trip on the train is off to an inauspicious start. We left Boston right on time on train 195 at 6:40 am. Shortly after passing Attleborough, we stopped briefly and started cruising at a stately 15-20 mph. The conductor just announced that there is a signal issue (based on our stop and go, it seems there is a lack of signals) and we'd be slow-rolling all the way to Providence. The 40 minute connection to the Silver Star seems a little dicey. Sigh. This may be the first and last family overnighter.

Finally moving again. Yay! I think my geography was off in my original post. Slowdown was from about Mansfield to Attleborough.

First Mr. Noah, I'm certain that those who consider themselves to be Her Majesty's Subjects around here, will appreciate your use of the name of the municipality as it is in the Mother Country, as distinct from the shortened "boro" adopted by "the Colonists".

Now 195-WAS-91 is a guaranteed connection on Sundays, and I sincerely hope that 195 (19) does not lose any more than the 28ML it was reported at PVD. Of interest, if not already aware, is that Train Status reports your train as OT at WAS. However, there are simply too many obstacles ahead to put too much credence in such.

Good luck; however, I'm placing my bets you and family will be OK.

30 minutes down as of now. You should be okay.

According to news reports, there was a 13 year old boy that threw a piece of metal across the catenary. He drew an arc and was badly burned. Not the first time that something like this has happened. I suspect the fault caused some damage to the signal system. I heard the dispatcher mention that she lost data communications with the interlocking around the time of the occurrence.

RRCOMM wrote:According to news reports, there was a 13 year old boy that threw a piece of metal across the catenary. He drew an arc and was badly burned. Not the first time that something like this has happened. I suspect the fault caused some damage to the signal system. I heard the dispatcher mention that she lost data communications with the interlocking around the time of the occurrence.

New nominee for Idiot teenager of the week...

As mentioned above, these signal issues are a result of that kid climbing a cat pole and causing major headaches during the Friday evening rush.

Since Friday night, dispatchers have been unable to give signals westbound at Mansfield interlocking and cannot display signals eastbound at Hebronville.


Btw, at least you weren't on 65 last night.

We ended up arriving closer to 45 minutes late in DC, but the Star was held to accommodate the late arrivals. We are ensconced in our roomettes and eagerly awaiting dinner. My seven year old son is in love with the top bunk.

Mr. Norman, I can assure you that my localties lie with the USA though I am a bit of a traditionalist.

I hope the kid is ok. It wasn't a smart thing to do, but that's a pretty harsh price to pay.

FatNoah wrote:We ended up arriving closer to 45 minutes late in DC, but the Star was held to accommodate the late arrivals. We are ensconced in our roomettes and eagerly awaiting dinner. My seven year old son is in love with the top bunk.

Mr. Norman, I can assure you that my localties lie with the USA though I am a bit of a traditionalist.

I hope the kid is ok. It wasn't a smart thing to do, but that's a pretty harsh price to pay.

It's a shame they didn't book you on 195 to New York and then 91 south to Florida, you would have gotten to enjoy your sleeper for an extra 3 hours (and grab lunch)

Mr. HI, it appears Amtrak avoids having passengers transfer at NYP. That is a good point that Mr. Noah's Roomettes were likely unoccupied NYP-WAS, but likely the Accommodation charge was less out of WAS. But what counts is that he and family were not looking at a catch up flight, as I think they wanted a train ride.

i was on 2168 on Friday and 195 Sunday caught in the same 40 min time tunnel. I would of thought Amtrak would of been able to recover on Friday night and Saturday.
At least with the shift on 195 schedule is meshed better with my Metro North connection at NRO.

At least from what I've read on local newscasts people aren't blaming Amtrak yet for having energized wires where a the kid "wasn't supposed to be" according to a local fire chief.

When the Town of Attleborough was charterd as a city in 1914, the official name City of Attleboro was adopted.

I understand that the arc, that resulted from the kid throwing a metal object onto the catenary, took out Holden interlocking. What I don't know is whether Amtrak had to use diesels to bring the first few trains thru the area right after it happened. Are both tracks open between Holden and Mansfield?
Andy
Jacksonville, FL

It's a shame they didn't book you on 195 to New York and then 91 south to Florida, you would have gotten to enjoy your sleeper for an extra 3 hours (and grab lunch)

The NYP connection would have been pretty short. I don't have the schedule handy, but it was on the order of 10-15 minutes. To Amtrak's credit, they handled things as well as possible. During the slow stretch, they made it clear what the issue was, how long it would last, and the impact in the overall schedule. Those of us on 195 that were connecting to 91 were informed well in advance that the train would wait for us. At DC, they brought us in on an adjacent track so we could do a cross platform transfer.

And FWIW. we arrived at our destination in Florida 1 minute behind schedule.