D.P. Roberts
Conductor
I usually forget to write trip reports, and now that we have decent wifi on the train, I figured I'd use this opportunity to write one as it happens. Also, this trip may be a bit more of an adventure than most of our trips - and by "adventure" I mean we may miss our connection in Chicago, but more on that later.
We took the Southwest Chief westward from Chicago to LAX last weekend, spent the week in southern California, and are now on the way back. I'll probably throw in a few comparisons to the last trip, which was largely uneventful.
Our main concerns for this trip would be the two derailments on the SWC's route during the past week. On Tuesday, two BNSF trains collided in Arizona, causing a large derailment with one fatality. Yesterday (Friday, June 8th), another BNSF train derailed near Medill, Missouri. Fortunately, no one was killed in that second derailment, but numerous UPS truck shipments spilled over two tracks, causing a big mess.
As of right now (Saturday evening), both spills are mostly cleaned up. The Arizona mess was allegedly cleaned up a few days ago, but the new derailment is still a work in progress. One track was cleared this morning, but the other track is still closed - BNSF says they'll reopen the other track within the next hour. So, although it looks like we won't be detoured or experience a "bustitution", there might be a large backlog of freight.
This might mess up our schedule, as we only have a three hour window in Chicago to make our connecting train back home to Michigan. On the other hand, we're in no hurry to get back - as long as the delays don't leave us on a bus at 4:00 am we don't mind spending more time on the train. So, we'll see!
We took the Southwest Chief westward from Chicago to LAX last weekend, spent the week in southern California, and are now on the way back. I'll probably throw in a few comparisons to the last trip, which was largely uneventful.
Our main concerns for this trip would be the two derailments on the SWC's route during the past week. On Tuesday, two BNSF trains collided in Arizona, causing a large derailment with one fatality. Yesterday (Friday, June 8th), another BNSF train derailed near Medill, Missouri. Fortunately, no one was killed in that second derailment, but numerous UPS truck shipments spilled over two tracks, causing a big mess.
As of right now (Saturday evening), both spills are mostly cleaned up. The Arizona mess was allegedly cleaned up a few days ago, but the new derailment is still a work in progress. One track was cleared this morning, but the other track is still closed - BNSF says they'll reopen the other track within the next hour. So, although it looks like we won't be detoured or experience a "bustitution", there might be a large backlog of freight.
This might mess up our schedule, as we only have a three hour window in Chicago to make our connecting train back home to Michigan. On the other hand, we're in no hurry to get back - as long as the delays don't leave us on a bus at 4:00 am we don't mind spending more time on the train. So, we'll see!