IHO my EB delay

I am just curious to see what the longest delay you have ever personally been on.

Share your stories, too!

This was the city of new Orleans from new Orleans to Chicago. Delay was caused by flooding and a washout at pass manchac. We sat in station 5 hours and then list another 5 enroute to Hammond. Delay was no hardship to me because we did not ride busses nor run out if food.

25 to 29 hours! 6 was my limit. Any more and I'd opt for some alternate transportation. Actually, if I'd know beforehand what a hassle my 6 hours would become, I would have declined the stay in the hotel. But the first time it happens, you HOPE the carrier can handle it professionally. Experience showed me otherwise. In the future, I won't extend my trust as I did last time.

i voted for our 16 hour late arrival into chi on the eb last year (this was followed by an 18 hour bus ride to was courtesy of amtrak). this doesn't count amtrak cancelling a train with no alternate transportation in the middle of a trip. oh well, looking forward to going spk-chi-was-atl in september

yarrow, what happened when your train got cancelled in the middle of a trip with no alternate transportation?!

Amamba, were you really delayed almost 30 hours? Holy Cow! No wonder your husband does not want to get on a train for a while. What happened? ( I guess I should look for a trip report)

I was delayed about 4 hours on the LSL about 6 years ago on my way to Chicago. It did not bother me too much because Chicago was my final destination, however most other pax were bussed to Chicago for connections. We had slow orders due to flash flooding risks.

I was delayed about 7 hours on the Canadian due to a freight derailment.

Penny I was delayed for 29.5 hours on the EB this week! Check out my trip report in the travelogues! Freight derailment in Montana.

I am finally home and on my sofa with my dog on my lap, but before I left my in-laws a few hours ago, I heard the train whistle from the house, and I actually kind of missed the sound of the whistle and the gentle rocking of the train car....

amamba said:

Penny I was delayed for 29.5 hours on the EB this week! Check out my trip report in the travelogues! Freight derailment in Montana.

I am finally home and on my sofa with my dog on my lap, but before I left my in-laws a few hours ago, I heard the train whistle from the house, and I actually kind of missed the sound of the whistle and the gentle rocking of the train car....

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Just read your trip report. WOW. What an adventure. Too bad you ended up with less than adequate food and much less than adequate service on the LSL.

Yeah I took the LSL last year and don't remember the dining staff being so rude. Now my H is on the fence about our trip on the silvers to Deerfield Beach this November. Give me some good news about the silvers to get him on board.

My longest delay was on #14. 13 hours. Train was annulled at 4AM in Portland and we were forced onto busses. I really didnt appreciate getting awaked by a surley conductor who ordered me 'Off his F*****g train in 10 minutes" This was during the Warrington era and George and I communicated frequently. I received a personal apology for the conductor's behavior and a voucher for 100% of the trip. I later found out that that was the straw thet broke the camel's back, and this disagreeable conductor was finally fired.

amamba said:

I am just curious to see what the longest delay you have ever personally been on.

Share your stories, too!

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My worst story was SPK-BFD with a bus to LVS. There was a derailment on a bridge outside of Albany, Oregon, and we waited forever. Missed my connection in BFD. Put in AmHotel with broken AC (100+) and no elevator to second floor (with lots of luggage). Maybe equal was a trip out of Emeryville. Shooting on the tracks north of the CS route. Full bustitution to SPK.

amamba said:

yarrow, what happened when your train got cancelled in the middle of a trip with no alternate transportation?!

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He was on vacation, IIRC in the Bay Area, and was to return via the CS. A week or so before his return trip, a huge mud slide in the mountains of Oregon took out a large chunk of the mountain. That slide took out the tracks, not once, but twice, as the tracks looped around and were hit by the slide a second time. It took about 2 months just to stabilize the mountain, and even longer to put back the tracks.

amamba said:

Yeah I took the LSL last year and don't remember the dining staff being so rude. Now my H is on the fence about our trip on the silvers to Deerfield Beach this November. Give me some good news about the silvers to get him on board.

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Wow, I just had one of the best waiters ever on Amtrak coming west on the LSL; Alex. I'm hoping that we get to see him again on our return trip.

amamba said:

Yeah I took the LSL last year and don't remember the dining staff being so rude. Now my H is on the fence about our trip on the silvers to Deerfield Beach this November. Give me some good news about the silvers to get him on board.

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I am on a Silver now with Vic as my SCA. Dark chocolate on the counter and he remembered I like extra pillows. I have 5!!!!

I am in a bedroom and it is not as nice as a super liner 1 renovated, but it is pretty darn nice. I am very happy right now.

Direct from South County!

I have been on both Silvers twice this year (both times) and they are both great trains - especially if you are lucky enough to get Leo or Vic as your SCA! And the Dining Car staff is great. Also Deerfield Beach has a nice station with a museum! But on the overnight turn, I didn't get to see it!

My worst delay really wasn't a delay. #50 arrived into CVS "on time" at 2:47. The problem was it arrived at 2:47 AM instead of the scheduled 2:47 PM! So "only" 12 hours late, with a bustitution thrown in!

The longest I was ever delayed on a train (the delay actually happened while I was on a train) was 6 hours on an eastbound Empire Builder (an EB EB, for those who like abbreviations). I was fine with it, since I got to see the mountains between Spokane and Whitefish, and didn't have a connection to make.

I just rode a 5 hours late EB EB yesterday, departing St. Paul at 11:30ish, and arriving in Chicago at 9:00 p.m., 5 hours late. I didn't have a connection to make, and was riding in three of the Friends of the 261's private cars (a rebuilt hospital car parlor, the Super Dome, and the Cedar Rapids), so losing more time only meant that I got enjoy my favorite rail cars and drink more tasty Summit beer with The Davy Crockett.

I've never experienced an epic delay like amamba, but I've learned that late trains are made much more pleasant by four things:

1) lots of trashy reading material. I used to buy used paperbacks and toss them when I was finished, but now I have a Kindle.

2) gin.

3) snacks. I'm partial to smokehouse almonds. I'm old enough to remember their slogan, "as served on airplanes."

4) music. I'd never travel without an mp3 player.

Nothing like a few almonds, a stiff martini, and Bach's "Art of the Fugue," to restore one's composure.

Add another to the list of two more passengers subjected to a late arriving eastbound EB. Nine hours late for my wife and I from MSP to CHI on New Years Eve a few years ago. Actually had we been notified by phone from Amtrak we would have taken the supplied charter bus and not suffered the ordeal.

The trip had some redeeming features though such as watching fireworks along the route in several small towns in Wisconsin. Customer Service took care of us in CHI with a nice hotel and per diem expenses.

Honorable mention for us was a 6 hour delay on a southbound Auto Train. We had the ever delicious Mystery Stew for lunch and had the displeasure of driving on Orlando interstates during rush hour traffic.

amamba said:

yarrow, what happened when your train got cancelled in the middle of a trip with no alternate transportation?!

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we had taken the cs spk-lax and our return trip was booked lax-sfo and sfo-spk to spend 3 days in sf on our way home. at the end of our 3 days we took our tickets and went to emeryville to catch the cs only to be informed it was cancelled due to a slide in oregon with no alternate transportation. the agent refunded our tickets at the station and we rented a car and drove 900 miles home in a january snowstorm. the kids were small then so it was not such a good thing

Alan, my surly server on the LSL was Miles. I did not see an Alex in the diner.

Ipsolkom I had everything on your list except snacks. I should have gotten some at the grocery store in Glasgow while we were allowed to wander.

We were 8 hours late last August getting into CHI on the CZ. Had to catch the Cardinal. Amtrak gave us two nights in CHI and they still had a roomette left on the next train out, so we got that too. I like being late on the trains. Though this year I'm 50% on being late in coach, and 100% on being way early in sleeper, dang.

7 1/2 hours, westbound Empire Builder, January 2-4, 2009.

Cold snowy trip. Headlight issues in Minot (1 hour), dynamic brake and signal problems in western MT (1-2 hours). Two engines died in Spokane, including compressor failure on our lead engine so they couldn't release the brakes. 3 hour delay. My #28 got the one remaining good engine, but the horn was frozen, forcing us to slow to 20 mph for all grade crossings (1 hour). BNSF engine added in Pasco (1 hour delay). Smooth sailing from Pasco to Portland.

Mark

The irony is that my longest delays have generally been on the NEC. Can't recall a LDT trip more than a couple of hours late after endpoint padding.

The longest ive been delayed is 6 hours both of which happen to have been the Empire Builder.

Mine was 2 behind going to WFH last summer, lost time in WI by an hour, and then another hour though ND flooding.