Jacob Goes By Jack
Train Attendant
Hey all - I've always been curious, and just got reminded again when buying tickets for Thanksgiving travel: why are some of the long-distance trains scheduled appreciably faster (end to end) in one direction than the other?
The case I'm most familiar with is the Lake Shore Limited... 49 leaves New York at 3:40pm eastern and gets to Chicago at 9:45am central, which is 10:45am eastern so that's 19 hours 5 minutes. But 48 leaves Chicago at 9:30pm central which is 10:30pm eastern, and gets to New York at 6:23pm eastern so that's 19 hours 53 minutes. Where do those extra 48 minutes come from... is there more congestion heading eastbound than westbound? Something about which parts are traveled during the day and which at night? I can't imagine it's uphill vs. downhill since that route is so flat.
I recall it was or is also like this on the California Zephyr but that was a while ago, so maybe it is just the LSL.
If this is already on the forum somewhere, feel free to point me there... I googled a little and couldn't find it...
-Jack
The case I'm most familiar with is the Lake Shore Limited... 49 leaves New York at 3:40pm eastern and gets to Chicago at 9:45am central, which is 10:45am eastern so that's 19 hours 5 minutes. But 48 leaves Chicago at 9:30pm central which is 10:30pm eastern, and gets to New York at 6:23pm eastern so that's 19 hours 53 minutes. Where do those extra 48 minutes come from... is there more congestion heading eastbound than westbound? Something about which parts are traveled during the day and which at night? I can't imagine it's uphill vs. downhill since that route is so flat.
I recall it was or is also like this on the California Zephyr but that was a while ago, so maybe it is just the LSL.
If this is already on the forum somewhere, feel free to point me there... I googled a little and couldn't find it...
-Jack