Longest Amtrak delays ever

That BNSF derailment west of ABQ that blocked both tracks is creating some pretty lengthy Amtrak delays as a corollary to the major freight disruptions. As far as I can tell, Southwest Chief 3 (14) caught up to Southwest Chief 3 (13) in ABQ as both await the tracks to reopen. It appears Southwest Chief 4 (14) has its own lengthy delay, waiting in Winslow.

Edited UPDATE from @AmtrakAlerts: Due to extensive delays Southwest Chief Train 3 that departed CHI on 6/13 & Train 3 that departed on 6/14 are coupled operating as one Train en route to LAX. Back on the move & currently operating approx 28 hr 35 min/ 4 hr 35 min late.

That was around midnight Eastern Time. A look at the train status at noon Wednesday finds #3 (13) (14) has apparently lost an additional five hours.

All of which made me wonder: what have been the longest service disruptions to passenger trains in the Amtrak era and why? This would apply to those already in motion that eventually resumed their runs.

Major airline delays can be far more widespread and impact far more people, but which Amtrak trains can we be most thankful we were not aboard for much, much longer than scheduled? Or, conversely, has anyone out there been unfortunate enough to be aboard one of the title contenders?

I could not find an earlier thread on this. Apologies to Mods if I created a duplicate.

It will be interesting to hear from Mr. Lang, as I believe he is aboard #3(13).

For myself, such was a #53. Auto Train circa '96. Owing to a late arriving #52, then icy conditions through the Carolinas operating at restricted speed until Charleston, arrival at Sanford SFA was not until 1230A, or 930ML..

My personal record is 30 in 2018, we ended up getting to DC about ten hours late. The pro of this was leaving Pittsburgh at noon and getting daylight over the Patch, plus a Chik-Fil-A box at Cumberland.

In early 2020, just ahead of COVID, I remember seeing an Eastbound 4 at 1AM in Union station Kansas City.

It was only about 18 hours off the advertised... Supposedly, Amtrak lost a locomotive, which explains why there was a fourth unit on the train (where it came from, I don't know).

Then, there was the small matter of at least one crew dying on the law without ever having touched a grab iron.

Needless to say, it was a cluster....

The longest I have had is about 2 hours when there was a NJT derailment in NYC that led to problems at Sunnyside holding up a Keystone in 2018. I ended up changing to a Regional. The Keystone was over 2.5 hours late to Philadelphia that evening.

The former NS bottleneck in Indiana combined with the influx of North Dakota frack fuel trains certainly created some (very) "late for sure" scenarios on the LSL. Stalled outside of South Bend on Chicago bound awaiting new crew was a lowlight...

In 2005, my wife and I returned from Williams, AZ on #4. It was quite late arriving there; talk from the SCA was that they "had to replace an engine" at LAUPT. After some running, I saw on a curve what was up; A BNSF freight engine (C44-9 it looked like) was leading.

Sure enough, we never saw more than 65-69 MPH. It was like one of those algebra word problems: "If Johnny normally has passenger gearing and the schedule assumes posted track speeds, when will he arrive in Chicago if...." We arrived 15 hours late and missed the Lake Shore, naturally. That's including the pad Amtrak put in for the last hour.

Whilst working the night yard job sign up 1700H in ALB I do recall tying on the LSL B&A section power at 0455 the following morning and the NY section leaving somewhere around that time, Cause of the delay?? I cant remember. Coming back from CLE while in the greys outlawed on the Mohawk around Ft Plain,maybe. Account the roadrailers blew a brake pipe, that was the final nail in the coffin. Once you had an issue with those you had to drop them all there was no cutting the problem child out. In this case we couldn't move the train. Two of my more memorable times many more..

Yes Mr. Norman I was on 3/13 my destination was Albuquerque.We came in 90ML The next morning I went back to catch the 9:15 Rail runner to Santa Fe. Much to my surprise 3/13 was still on track 3 with the 2 PV's on the tail. Now I know what was going on after after I read the form just now. When I came back around 6 o'clock Train 3/14 was backing down track 3 to pick up the 2 private cars and the baggage car that 3/13 had left behind. I'll be leaving tomorrow on number 4 Hopefully I will not be over 6 and a 1/2 hours late getting into Chicago so I don't miss the Lake shore back home.

#3/13 at Albuquerque

J.D. Lang wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 3:23 pm Yes Mr. Norman I was on 3/13 my destination was Albuquerque.We came in 90ML The next morning I went back to catch the 9:15 Rail runner to Santa Fe. Much to my surprise 3/13 was still on track 3 with the 2 PV's on the tail. Now I know what was going on after after I read the form just now. When I came back around 6 o'clock Train 3/14 was backing down track 3 to pick up the 2 private cars and the baggage car that 3/13 had left behind. I'll be leaving tomorrow on number 4 Hopefully I will not be over 6 and a 1/2 hours late getting into Chicago so I don't miss the Lake shore back home.

3(14) is running 9h40m late at the time of this post, and would need to turn/restock/refuel for the next run. It's scheduled to arrive at 8:15a... but if we assume 10 h late, that's 6:15p, which is past the 6:10p scheduled departure.

Um... how fast can they turn/restock/refuel that train? Anyone know?

Quick tracking for Mr. Lang... 4 (16) is running 40 min late, but may take a few hour hit around Flagstaff if 4(15) is any indication.

Mr. Lang, when I was at MP18 (my auto was parked at the MP) to observe your passing aboard #3(13), I did note the two PV's; one the NP Dome you photoed at ABQ and the other a UP 10-6 "Pacific Home".

However, the named NP Dome is a PV owner's fantasy. "--Pass" was a series of 6RM-5BR-2C GN Sleepers. Hardly a surprise, but "Stampede Pass" was not one of such, as Stampede Pass was the NP's Cascade X-ing.

Like the SP, NP did not have any named passenger equipment, save their Slumbercoach "Loch--" fleet. That was named for something "Scotch" to define "sleep on the cheap".

You sure lucked out that ABQ was your destination, and experienced only a "par for the course" delay.

Incidentally, there are videos of #3(13 & 14) at YouTube and other sites. The Western railfan community obviously got the message, for away from the Auto Train, twelve Superliners on one train is a "rarity".

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 7:03 am Incidentally, there are videos of #3(13 & 14) at YouTube and other sites. The Western railfan community obviously got the message, for away from the Auto Train, twelve Superliners on one train is a "rarity".

One of them:

That said, I see that Mr. Lang's 4(16) is 5h8m late, having hit congestion around Winslow, AZ.

I think it was Memorial Day two years ago, when I was on the CZ going from Denver to Chicago and then connecting down to St Louis. Slept well in my sleeper despite terrible storms across Nebraska including tornado warnings. Amtrak was travelling at restricted speed and we were way behind schedule into Lincoln and Omaha. My GF had to be at work the next day and it looked like we would miss most (if not all) connections down to St Louis. Accordingly, we got off at Osceola IA. The local station caretaker closed up the station immediately after the train left and called the one cab in town to get us. Cabbie insisted on cash only so we had to drive around town to find a working ATM. $50 bucks or so later, we were dropped off at the Des Moines airport and then rented a one way car. We drove down to St Louis and arrived at a reasonable time in the afternoon (well before the CZ arrived in Chicago) plus we had a memorable travel story.

So when travelling Amtrak, always helps to have a sense of adventure and expect the unexpected.

I have had several memorable delays on Amtrak:

Eastbound Southwest Chief - locomotives low on fuel so we stopped at Barstow to refuel. Lead locomotive air horn gave out so we stopped in Iowa where the locomotives were turned on a wye and trailing locomotive with working air horn became the leader. Several more incidents which resulted in a ten hour delay into Chicago and I missed my connection. I was first passenger off the train and got to the Amtrak office fast and they provided me with a luxurious hotel suite (bedroom, sitting room, large bath, three phones), cash for cab fare and breakfast. I was in no rush so I was not terribly inconvenienced and made my connection the next day.

Eastbound Lake Shore Limited - lost lots of time over the entire trip including a crew outlawing in the middle of nowhere in New York State and a wait at a grade crossing. Ten hours late into GCT so I missed my connection south. Amtrak provided me with a modest room at the Hotel Pennsylvania, cash for cab fare and breakfast. No real inconvenience once again.

Northbound Crescent - train hit a small aircraft that had crashed on the tracks which caused a delay and train also stopped for one hour during the night to fall behind to adjust for daylight savings time ending. Scheduled time for arrival in Charlottesville was 6:00 AM and my connection for Williamsburg was leaving around 11:00 AM. Actual arrival time was 10:00 AM so I had a one hour wait which was better than five hours. I had a sleeping car on the Crescent so got some welcome extra sack time. No inconvenience and actually the delay was beneficial.

Many other less memorable delays.

I have travelled over virtually all of Amtak's routes, most multiple times, and I always advise potential travelers to approach a trip with the "right attitude" and as StLouSteve says "expect the unexpected."

BAR