Working the North Pole Express in Nashville

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Seaboard92

Engineer
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
4,698
Location
South Carolina
Well as some of you guys know I had a work trip last Friday and Saturday the first weekend of December to Nashville, TN here is my very basic trip report.

I was tempted to over sleep my alarm before packing up the remainder of things from my college dorm for the end of semester to bring back home. As my last day just happened to be the day I was flying out. I finally made my departure around 0630 from my college apartment, then got gas because you don't want to get gas in North Carolina if you can help it. I drove two hours to the Charlotte airport. It was a good smooth drive across the Sandhills of South Carolina and suburban Charlotte. I always enjoy driving in suburban Charlotte for whatever reason. I made it to the airport around 830 and had no trouble parking and getting the parking lot shuttle.

I had no trouble checking my small suitcase on Southwest at the gate and going past security. The TSAPre line was four times as long as the regular security line. After security I went and got brunch at the airport Burger King with a friend of mine whom is a flight attendant for American. We lost track of time talking as I looked down and it was past time for my flight to begin boarding. So I ran down to my gate and ended up boarding out of my group but I still managed a window seat. Our gate had a flight No. 2016 to the North Pole listed. I thought that was a nice touch by Southwest.

The flight was very smooth I ended up reading half of it and looking down on the Smokey's from the air. It took forever to deplane from the rear of the plane but that was just extra reading time :) Our gate was one of the furthest away from the terminal and by the time I made it to baggage claim our bags were already coming out so I was able to grab it and get on the city bus. If you are ever going to Nashville take the city bus to the downtown hotels it runs express from the Airport to the Omni for 1.70 vs the expensive tourist buses. I dropped my bags off at my hotel that overlooked the River then hiked the mile to work.

Work Day 1:

When I arrived at the Tennessee Central Railroad Museum whom I was working for this weekend I immediately talked to the Vice President of the operation and he gave me my assignment list for what they wanted me to look at. He wanted me to vacuum out the floor heaters from all of the stuff that gets dropped on them, or somehow gets missed. I also noted that they hadn't swept vestibules in what appeared to be a long time. So I went ahead and swept all of their vestibules free of dirt and gunk before starting on their floor heaters. Each car is an EX Amtrak heritage fleet coach, Buffet Diner, or Diner and still has its Amtrak interior so red seats.

And as any person in operations who works in a coach yard knows rail cars tend to bake under the sun regardless of the outside temperature. And luckily in their yard they have ground power plugs so the train even in the yard has 480V Head End Power. So as I would clean a car I would venture into the electrical locker and run the compressor and blowers on the cars I was working on. It was rather funny because there was a group of tourists wandering the yard and museum property right as I turned the blowers on the dome car No. 9400 on and they were surprised that the power was on. If you've ever heard a blower you would know as those things can be loud depending on the car. And because I didn't feel like I was doing much I took them on a short impromptu tour. I'm not sure how good of a tour I did as it was my first time working out of this yard and on this equipment. Highlights to me for them were electrical lockers, hand brakes, and mechanical features.

Once I finally finished getting the floor heaters clean. I went by all of the seats made sure the seats weren't reclined, the foot rests were in their proper position. And turned off the HEP to each car. The miracle of Amtrak cars means my coach key works nationwide. Once I had every car turned off and locked up minus the one they were storing food and drinks in I clocked off and went downtown.

I walked up and down Broadway several times just enjoying the incredible atmosphere of live music coming from every bar. I turned down early.

Work Day 2:

I checked out of my hotel at 430 AM and took a six dollar cab ride down to the yard to arrive by five AM. I got started by turning the HEP on for all the cars in the consist, battery, and battery charger. Once that was done I went up to the cab to say hello to our head end crew. I ended up staying up there for the entire switching move because they didn't need me in the coaches. And as I always do I missed the safety briefing. I always end up missing those.

I walked by the safety briefing as I was turning the blowers on for each car. And I was introduced to the entire train crew a great bunch of guys.

Once the blowers were on and everything was running smoothly I spent some time with the President talking to him about his expectations of me. After awhile it was time to board our train for our short Christmas run of 64 miles. I worked out of Boarding location 4 and I went straight to work correcting the problems I saw. Should always have one foot on the step box to keep it steady, two people on the ground, and one on the train. And I arranged their boarding location similar to ones I'm used to. It took us a full thirty minutes to load five cars of cheerful and happy families for their first train ride.

Once it was time to button the trap up I called Board for any kids that were listening to give them a better experience. I walked back to the last car on the consist and popped the top half of the dutch door and made sure as we left the platform that we had no stragglers. I then started my sweeps of the train crew making sure they had all of their supplies and that the cars were in good shape. I kept running into the same issue in each car the story teller who had all of the kids on the floor in the middle of the coach. And it doesn't matter how important I think my job is I shouldn't interfere with the show. There were times I could have hated Santa because he wouldn't leave the aisle.

I had one major mechanical issue where one car was overheating and felt like a sauna so I went in the locker there and turned the heaters off and the compressor on. Came back in twenty minutes and turned the HVAC unit off and it stayed decent all day. Personally I preferred the last part of the show which were the Elves who were amazing actors. But better yet the carolers they hired to come sing to the train. Four of them and they were amazing. They sounded great and they also understood I had an operational job so if they saw me coming they made a path for me which was lovely of them. The morning run was easy.

The lunch break consisted of food made on train Beef Brisket and all the fixings. I sat down with the dining car crew for lunch mostly because I didn't fit in anywhere else. I wanted to be with the entertainers but I'm not part of that elite guild for this run. We boarded the second run soon after. The second run was very smooth. And in between my runs checking on my crew and the cars mechanically I could be found riding in vestibules with the top half open. The best way to ride a train but if you aren't crew please don't do this.

After arriving in Nashville after the afternoon run we tied the train down fairly fast. And we had it cleaned and I caught a ride with one of the volunteers to the airport. I arrived two and a half hours prior to my flight. The airport was completely dead there were almost no people in the terminal it was kinda freaky. Especially for six in the evening. I had dinner and then relaxed for my seven o clock flight.

The flight back was very easy I had a screaming baby next to me but other then that a good flight. Charlotte airport takes forever to get baggage unloaded and to the baggage claim. After that a quick ride on the shuttle bus and I was back on the road and home.

I will post photos sometime later on tonight.

I'll be in Portland, OR working another train next weekend and riding the Cascades for lunch with Charlie. Then I'll be working a wine train in Nashville in the early spring.
 
Thanks for the report--very thorough, with lots of interesting details. And you worked hard!

It's a shame that Santa was blocking the aisle, but he gets to stand wherever he wants, especially if he brings me train tickets to the Gathering next year! :p

Please say hello to Charlie from those of us not lucky enough to get to the west coast just yet!
 
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Thanks for the report--very thorough, with lots of interesting details. And you worked hard!

It's a shame that Santa was blocking the aisle, but he gets to stand wherever he wants, especially if he brings me train tickets to the Gathering next year! :p

Please say hello to Charlie from those of us not lucky enough to get to the west coast just yet!
Your welcome. Always working hard is a good thing. That's how I earn my check and it's a very good things. If he brings me train tickets I might help him down the train. I will say hello to Charlie for you.
 
ImageUploadedByAmtrak Forum1481306426.782420.jpg

Charlotte Douglas International

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Downtown River

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Our eastbound power

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Our westbound power.

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Main level of 9400 dome.

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It's a nice coach yard.

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Nashville and Eastern locomotive.

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The coach yard by sunset.

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Music City Star with a Surfliner locomotive.

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Downtown Nashville after hours.

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Good morning Nashville from team head end.

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Open Dutch door

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Open Dutch door.

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Ex NP 551 ex AMTK 9400(2)
 
Nice report! Always nice to make kids happy.

How does one get this sort of position? (I notice you've been working with all different tourist railroad operations, presumably unrelated)
 
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Nice report! Always nice to make kids happy.

How does one get this sort of position? (I notice you've been working with all different tourist railroad operations, presumably unrelated)
That's a great question. A lot of how I got started was by who I knew. A lot of it is a who you know. For me I knew the head of PVs for Iowa Pacific and he got me started working his cars. Which got me connected to VMT from one of their trips. So when I left IP I had an operator to jump too. Friends I made there got me to FWRHS. And that's led me to being a logistics/mechanical/compliance staffer for every railroad I work with.
My advice to you is if you want to get in the business start volunteering at a museum. Especially ones with mainline excursions (using private cars) that's where I made most of my connections. And that gives you experience. And it's the experience that gets you paid like me. Mood museums to be with NCTM, VMT, 261 group, IRM
 
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