AMTRAK-P42
Conductor
Day 2, June 9, 2004. Train #1. NOUPT-LAUPT
This morning I woke up to clear skies and a clear head, ready for the next 3 days of nothing but railroading. I checked the status of #1 and found it to be running about 3 hours late, but with the amount of padding into New Orleans it should be in around 10. I ate a leisurely breakfast and checked out around 930, making it to the Amtrak station by about 945am. I went into there “First Class Lounge” which is basically a side room with a few nice chairs, a TV, and coffee. It was alright, but the major problem was that there was no Amtrak employee inside the room, so a lot of coach passengers managed to find there was inside. At about 11am there was still no sign of #1, although very faint radio chatter began to come in over the scanner. Finally, at 1125am, #1 backed into the station, with a good safety stop a minute thereafter. Boarding commenced around 1145, with hopes of an ontime departure at 1155. At 1206pm, highball was given, and #1 departed New Orleans, LA for points west. The consist was as follows:
2 Ponies (171 and 72)
1 Baggage
1 Transition Sleeper
2 Superliner I sleepers (I was in room 9 of the first sleeper)
1 Diner
1 Lounge
5 Coaches
1 Express Boxcar
I was slightly disappointed with our close-to-ontime departure but was also glad in the sense that I didn’t miss anything of great importance on its run up from Orlando. We crossed the many switches and started up the crossing of the Mississippi on the Huey P. Long bridge. About 20 minutes had gone by since our departure from New Orleans and I began to just toy with the idea of how long it would take before we stopped for our first freight. Less then 30 seconds later my question was answered, as an approach was given to #1 while still on the bridge, and a mile later, we stopped. We waited 14 minutes for a freight to clear the UP/BNSF junction at the bottom.
We sped past Schriever, LA without stopping, but if we had it would have been right at 29 minutes late. A few slow orders showed in our 35 minute late arrival into New Iberia, LA. Shortly after our departure here was the first of the big delays #1 would face. As we began leaving town the dispatcher came on over the radio and let us know that 4 consecutive crossings were malfunctioning about 2 miles ahead and we would be forced to flag for every one of them. He then came back on to inform us that we were going to take the siding in-between two of these broken gates, at Cade, and allow a freight to come by on the main. Now this would not have been so bad for #1 had he given us a box-21 on our warrant. This would have allowed us to continue forward as soon as the forward switch was cleared, however what ended up happening was that we had to wait 40 minutes, not only for the freight to pass, but also to clear the switch behind us. Finally we were moving again, slowly, but moving nonetheless.
We arrived into Lafayette, LA 1 hour and 20 minutes behind schedule. The ride almost to Beaumont, TX was uneventful, skirting the many bayous and river crossings, however about 15 miles out we were stuck following a UP freight (gotta love em’), causing us to arrive into Beaumont 1 hour and 46 minutes late.
Houston, TX came and went around 1 hour and 30 minutes late, but shortly after departure another huge delay awaited us. About 25 miles outside of Houston, TX we were told to take the siding for a UP freight. We did so a mile later and waited…..and waited…..and waited…. Finally 1 hour and 20 minutes later the faint lights of a UP freight could be seen rounding a corner in the distance. After the freight roared by, the engineer fired up the lights and awaited the clear signal…and waited….and waited. He then broke the hour-long radio silence, asking the conductor “You don’t think we are waiting for ANOTHER one do you?”. About 20 minutes later, and still no green, the lights of another freight could be seen in the distance. After waiting about 2 hours in the same siding, we cleared it and headed on our way. I slept for an hour between this siding and San Antonio, TX, awakening at the fuel racks just outside the city. We arrived into San Antonio 3 hours and 7 minutes late, and I realized I had yet to sleep more then 1 hour. So I decided that upon departure I would get at least 2 more hours. Well I did not count on being so late, and as we waited on the platform for nearly an hour and a half, the sun began to rise. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes, because I knew that now I wouldn’t be getting any more sleep. I made an effort to run back to grab a few pictures of the steam engine that sits at the station.
The switching of #21 was finally complete and we departed later then we arrived, despite the padding, 3 hours and 17 minutes behind schedule. The run between here and Del Rio, TX is where the scenery really changes from the greenery of the south, to the deserts of the southwest. We crossed the Pecos River and continued through Del Rio, TX, now 3 hours and 50 minutes behind schedule due to some more slow orders. We continued to zip through the desert, passing through Sanderson, TX without stopping, and through Alpine TX, where our crew going dead resulted in only a 5 minute stop on the main line. When we began our arrival into El Paso, TX things got interesting. First off, we had numerous crossing out and had to flag at everyone of these. Next, I was looking out the lower window at the adjacent mainline track. As I was watching, I saw something in the distance on each one of the rails. As we got closer I knew what it was. Someone thought it was funny to place large cement piping on the rails, in an attempt to presumably derail or cause damage to the train. I ran through our sleeper and up into the crew transition sleeper to find the conductor. When I told him what I saw, he mentioned that the head-end got rocked pretty good, as there was also piping on our track.
Next, when we neared the station, we had to stop in order to wait for the 4 hour late #2 to depart El Paso so we could pull in. We stopped in the yard just outside the station for about 10 minutes. Finally, we arrived into EL Paso, TX-3 hours and 47 minutes late.
The scenery immediately outside of El Paso is quite drastic. We depart heading towards the west, and thus must climb the hills out of the city. As we begin our climb, you can see the US/Mexican border virtually 50 feet on the left of the train. It was amazing to be able to see right over the fence. The hills send us on many twists and turns until we finally crest, revealing a wide-open desert landscape, with hills far off the in the distant appearing to scrape the sky. At this moment the sun dipped behind the mountains, casting an orange glow over everything as far as the eyes could see. Its these moments that remind us why our ancestors fought so hard to reach the western sky.
As the sun-set over the desert, #1 raced into the night. Deming, NM, Lordsburg NM, Benson AZ , and Tucson AZ came and went without a hitch. Upon departing Tucson was when we hit our last, but definitely one of the biggest delays. The dispatcher got on the radio within minutes of our departure to let us know that he was going to hold us at the station. Well naturally that was a little bit late, but he held us the next available signal. He reported that a train “up on the hill” had tripped a hotbox detector and that we would have to wait until things were clear ahead of us. Well the wait was not to bad, only about 30 minutes, allowing me to time to shower, but its what happened afterwards that made us so late. While UP did do a good job getting about 15 freights out of the way, there was one stuck in front of us. I knew something was fishy even before I learned this, because we received approaches at about 4 consecutive signals, until finally the fifth would reveal an all stop. Apparently, we would have to do a “stop and go” at everyone of the Reds, in order to keep our distance between the freight that we were pacing ahead of us. Well this pattern continued for the ENTIRE distance between Tucson and Maricopa, AZ, where we FINALLY arrived 5 hours and 37 minutes late.
The run through the rest of the night was uneventful. The desert landscaped shot by at 79mph for most of the night. As the sun rose over the desert, we were greeted by the by clear skies of southern California. Shortly after our departure from Palm Springs, CA that morning, we tripped a defect detector box. The conductors and engineer got out to walk the train. What they found was fairly astonishing. A carcass of a dead animal, a small calf, had lodged itself in-between the baggage car and the transition sleeper. The engineer was given the fun task of removing it. We were on our way about 10 minutes later. Our final delay of any surmountable importance was our 20-minute stop for 2 UP freights to come off the single tracks ahead. The starlight passengers were removed at Ontario, CA and quickly boarded the 2 tour busses that awaited them train side. Pomona came shortly thereafter at 6 hours and 22 minutes late, the second latest I have been in any of my travels, and the latest we would be on this trip. The enormous amount of padding into Los Angeles (41 minutes) would provide for a sub-6 hour late arrival.
Our run down the middle of the highway was quite entertaining, and before I knew it we crossed the bridge and passed by mission tower on our way into LAUPT.
We arrived 5 hours and 35 minutes late.
June 11, 2004. Southbound Surfliner #578, Business Class.
Our run to San Diego was quick. The most interesting thing that happened was during our stop at San Juan Capistrano. An older gentleman on the lower level of our business class coach had a stroke, resulting in a 20 minute stop. I was very impressed with how quick the Medics got there, about 8 minutes. We departed running right at 20 minutes late, but thanks to padding, we arrived into San Diego right on time, concluding another wonderful trip on Amtrak.
This morning I woke up to clear skies and a clear head, ready for the next 3 days of nothing but railroading. I checked the status of #1 and found it to be running about 3 hours late, but with the amount of padding into New Orleans it should be in around 10. I ate a leisurely breakfast and checked out around 930, making it to the Amtrak station by about 945am. I went into there “First Class Lounge” which is basically a side room with a few nice chairs, a TV, and coffee. It was alright, but the major problem was that there was no Amtrak employee inside the room, so a lot of coach passengers managed to find there was inside. At about 11am there was still no sign of #1, although very faint radio chatter began to come in over the scanner. Finally, at 1125am, #1 backed into the station, with a good safety stop a minute thereafter. Boarding commenced around 1145, with hopes of an ontime departure at 1155. At 1206pm, highball was given, and #1 departed New Orleans, LA for points west. The consist was as follows:
2 Ponies (171 and 72)
1 Baggage
1 Transition Sleeper
2 Superliner I sleepers (I was in room 9 of the first sleeper)
1 Diner
1 Lounge
5 Coaches
1 Express Boxcar
I was slightly disappointed with our close-to-ontime departure but was also glad in the sense that I didn’t miss anything of great importance on its run up from Orlando. We crossed the many switches and started up the crossing of the Mississippi on the Huey P. Long bridge. About 20 minutes had gone by since our departure from New Orleans and I began to just toy with the idea of how long it would take before we stopped for our first freight. Less then 30 seconds later my question was answered, as an approach was given to #1 while still on the bridge, and a mile later, we stopped. We waited 14 minutes for a freight to clear the UP/BNSF junction at the bottom.
We sped past Schriever, LA without stopping, but if we had it would have been right at 29 minutes late. A few slow orders showed in our 35 minute late arrival into New Iberia, LA. Shortly after our departure here was the first of the big delays #1 would face. As we began leaving town the dispatcher came on over the radio and let us know that 4 consecutive crossings were malfunctioning about 2 miles ahead and we would be forced to flag for every one of them. He then came back on to inform us that we were going to take the siding in-between two of these broken gates, at Cade, and allow a freight to come by on the main. Now this would not have been so bad for #1 had he given us a box-21 on our warrant. This would have allowed us to continue forward as soon as the forward switch was cleared, however what ended up happening was that we had to wait 40 minutes, not only for the freight to pass, but also to clear the switch behind us. Finally we were moving again, slowly, but moving nonetheless.
We arrived into Lafayette, LA 1 hour and 20 minutes behind schedule. The ride almost to Beaumont, TX was uneventful, skirting the many bayous and river crossings, however about 15 miles out we were stuck following a UP freight (gotta love em’), causing us to arrive into Beaumont 1 hour and 46 minutes late.
Houston, TX came and went around 1 hour and 30 minutes late, but shortly after departure another huge delay awaited us. About 25 miles outside of Houston, TX we were told to take the siding for a UP freight. We did so a mile later and waited…..and waited…..and waited…. Finally 1 hour and 20 minutes later the faint lights of a UP freight could be seen rounding a corner in the distance. After the freight roared by, the engineer fired up the lights and awaited the clear signal…and waited….and waited. He then broke the hour-long radio silence, asking the conductor “You don’t think we are waiting for ANOTHER one do you?”. About 20 minutes later, and still no green, the lights of another freight could be seen in the distance. After waiting about 2 hours in the same siding, we cleared it and headed on our way. I slept for an hour between this siding and San Antonio, TX, awakening at the fuel racks just outside the city. We arrived into San Antonio 3 hours and 7 minutes late, and I realized I had yet to sleep more then 1 hour. So I decided that upon departure I would get at least 2 more hours. Well I did not count on being so late, and as we waited on the platform for nearly an hour and a half, the sun began to rise. I just shook my head and rolled my eyes, because I knew that now I wouldn’t be getting any more sleep. I made an effort to run back to grab a few pictures of the steam engine that sits at the station.
The switching of #21 was finally complete and we departed later then we arrived, despite the padding, 3 hours and 17 minutes behind schedule. The run between here and Del Rio, TX is where the scenery really changes from the greenery of the south, to the deserts of the southwest. We crossed the Pecos River and continued through Del Rio, TX, now 3 hours and 50 minutes behind schedule due to some more slow orders. We continued to zip through the desert, passing through Sanderson, TX without stopping, and through Alpine TX, where our crew going dead resulted in only a 5 minute stop on the main line. When we began our arrival into El Paso, TX things got interesting. First off, we had numerous crossing out and had to flag at everyone of these. Next, I was looking out the lower window at the adjacent mainline track. As I was watching, I saw something in the distance on each one of the rails. As we got closer I knew what it was. Someone thought it was funny to place large cement piping on the rails, in an attempt to presumably derail or cause damage to the train. I ran through our sleeper and up into the crew transition sleeper to find the conductor. When I told him what I saw, he mentioned that the head-end got rocked pretty good, as there was also piping on our track.
Next, when we neared the station, we had to stop in order to wait for the 4 hour late #2 to depart El Paso so we could pull in. We stopped in the yard just outside the station for about 10 minutes. Finally, we arrived into EL Paso, TX-3 hours and 47 minutes late.
The scenery immediately outside of El Paso is quite drastic. We depart heading towards the west, and thus must climb the hills out of the city. As we begin our climb, you can see the US/Mexican border virtually 50 feet on the left of the train. It was amazing to be able to see right over the fence. The hills send us on many twists and turns until we finally crest, revealing a wide-open desert landscape, with hills far off the in the distant appearing to scrape the sky. At this moment the sun dipped behind the mountains, casting an orange glow over everything as far as the eyes could see. Its these moments that remind us why our ancestors fought so hard to reach the western sky.
As the sun-set over the desert, #1 raced into the night. Deming, NM, Lordsburg NM, Benson AZ , and Tucson AZ came and went without a hitch. Upon departing Tucson was when we hit our last, but definitely one of the biggest delays. The dispatcher got on the radio within minutes of our departure to let us know that he was going to hold us at the station. Well naturally that was a little bit late, but he held us the next available signal. He reported that a train “up on the hill” had tripped a hotbox detector and that we would have to wait until things were clear ahead of us. Well the wait was not to bad, only about 30 minutes, allowing me to time to shower, but its what happened afterwards that made us so late. While UP did do a good job getting about 15 freights out of the way, there was one stuck in front of us. I knew something was fishy even before I learned this, because we received approaches at about 4 consecutive signals, until finally the fifth would reveal an all stop. Apparently, we would have to do a “stop and go” at everyone of the Reds, in order to keep our distance between the freight that we were pacing ahead of us. Well this pattern continued for the ENTIRE distance between Tucson and Maricopa, AZ, where we FINALLY arrived 5 hours and 37 minutes late.
The run through the rest of the night was uneventful. The desert landscaped shot by at 79mph for most of the night. As the sun rose over the desert, we were greeted by the by clear skies of southern California. Shortly after our departure from Palm Springs, CA that morning, we tripped a defect detector box. The conductors and engineer got out to walk the train. What they found was fairly astonishing. A carcass of a dead animal, a small calf, had lodged itself in-between the baggage car and the transition sleeper. The engineer was given the fun task of removing it. We were on our way about 10 minutes later. Our final delay of any surmountable importance was our 20-minute stop for 2 UP freights to come off the single tracks ahead. The starlight passengers were removed at Ontario, CA and quickly boarded the 2 tour busses that awaited them train side. Pomona came shortly thereafter at 6 hours and 22 minutes late, the second latest I have been in any of my travels, and the latest we would be on this trip. The enormous amount of padding into Los Angeles (41 minutes) would provide for a sub-6 hour late arrival.
Our run down the middle of the highway was quite entertaining, and before I knew it we crossed the bridge and passed by mission tower on our way into LAUPT.
We arrived 5 hours and 35 minutes late.
June 11, 2004. Southbound Surfliner #578, Business Class.
Our run to San Diego was quick. The most interesting thing that happened was during our stop at San Juan Capistrano. An older gentleman on the lower level of our business class coach had a stroke, resulting in a 20 minute stop. I was very impressed with how quick the Medics got there, about 8 minutes. We departed running right at 20 minutes late, but thanks to padding, we arrived into San Diego right on time, concluding another wonderful trip on Amtrak.
