Current floodwater status on Empire Builder

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On Train 8 right now coming into Minot only about 15 minutes down. The conductor got word from a station agent at Shelby that the re-route had been canceled. That said, he later was chatting with another employee about tons of slow orders. Thus far that hasn't come to fruition...we'll see where we are in the morning.
 
Red Wing got more than a foot of snow last night (yes, that's right, in May) and power is out in much of the city. I hope #8 doesn't encounter any signal or switch problems because of the power outage.
 
Crazy weather. Looking at other reports in the area and radar the band of snow is only 30-40 miles wide with little or no precip, or rain on either side. With temps above freezing, even in Red Wing it should end up being a slushy mess by mid-morning
 
montana mike said:
Crazy weather. Looking at other reports in the area and radar the band of snow is only 30-40 miles wide with little or no precip, or rain on either side. With temps above freezing, even in Red Wing it should end up being a slushy mess by mid-morning
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Yes, it is freaky...here in Madison this morning it's sunny and beautiful....it was 81 yesterday. That band you speak of is just about 60 miles NW of here.
 
On our way to Red Wing now...no mention of any power issues but it sounds like there was an issue with a rock slide or the fence so we're down to just one track and expect delays.
 
atm79 said:
On our way to Red Wing now...no mention of any power issues but it sounds like there was an issue with a rock slide or the fence so we're down to just one track and expect delays.
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Yes, there's an electric rock-slide detector fence just south (or east) of the Red Wing station where the tracks are close to Barn (or Barnes, or Bjorn's) bluff on one side and the Mississippi on the other side.

If only one track affected, probably not a big problem.

With the ice officially out on Lake Pepin for a couple weeks, there's a good chance for seeing the eagles and maybe some other bird species doing their early-season fishing.

Thanks and keep us posted when you can.
 
Didn't lose much time there but got held up after Winona due to an issue with a switch. Just left La Crosse just over an hour down.
 
Are we looking good for summer travel (June, July)? Any forseen possibliities of delays? Got a tight connection to the Cardinal from the EB eastbound this July.
 
I'd imagine that there will be the occasional delay because of heavy traffic to and from the oil patch in western North Dakota, or a grade crossing accident, or a freight derailment if BNSF doesn't get maintenance under control, but it's impossible to predict. I personally don't like the Empire Builder-Cardinal connection, both because it's so tight, and because the Cardinal isn't a daily train.
 
It is a tight connection. Certainly no flooding issues--the "event" this spring is for all intents and purposes over and never caused any major issues anyway. Ispolkom hit the nail on the head-I travel the EB frequently in the summer and the main drivers of any delays are "heat" restrictions (when temps get above 85 degrees BNSF slows passenger trains down, which has caused as much as a 2 hour loss of time between eastern MT and MSP), the larger number of passengers getting on and off trains (summer is boom time for the EB-they are almost always full), increased freight traffic, the infrequent derailment and maintenance. BNSF is scheduled to do more track upgrades again this summer (most in Eastern MT and parts of ND), so that will be a factor as well.

If the last couple of summers are any indication, the EB will be arriving in Chicago 1-3 hours behind schedule at least several times a week and perhaps more often.

Just the nature of the trip in the summer.

:(
 
I don't believe the EB was on time for even one day of July 2012. Heat and slow orders, plus congestion/freight traffic are certainly issues on this route in the summer.
 
In the case, say the EB is running maybe 3 hours late, I assume they will not hold the Cardinal? What would be the chances of them busing us ahead to catch up with the Cardinal? I think putting us on the CL would be rediculous and pretty much ruin a trip after already having bought rooms and would be forced to coach. Vouchers would be usless as well since I only hit the rails once every few years as a treat.
 
Teamster said:
In the case, say the EB is running maybe 3 hours late, I assume they will not hold the Cardinal? What would be the chances of them busing us ahead to catch up with the Cardinal? I think putting us on the CL would be rediculous and pretty much ruin a trip after already having bought rooms and would be forced to coach. Vouchers would be usless as well since I only hit the rails once every few years as a treat.
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Holding the train is done on a case by case basis. Generally they wouldn't hold the Cardinal for you if you are going to the East Coast - they would put you on the CL or the LSL if you make it in tme. If you can't make the LSL, you will overnight in Chicago in a hotel room on amtrak's dime.

You are always at risk of a forcable downgrade to coach if you miss your original connection.

When I was on a very, very late eastbound EB in July 2012, I had a planned overnight in CHI and was booked on the next day's LSL. There were lots of people in my sleeper that had missed connections. One of them got downgraded from a bedroom to a roomette on our train, but I saw another guy in coach (not sure if he just didn't push for the roomette or what). There ended up being empty roomettes in my car, but the train the day behind us was late as well and also misconnected to the LSL. So I am sure some folks had rooms on the LSL from that day's EB that were then freed up for folks on my train.
 
amamba said:
Teamster said:
In the case, say the EB is running maybe 3 hours late, I assume they will not hold the Cardinal? What would be the chances of them busing us ahead to catch up with the Cardinal? I think putting us on the CL would be rediculous and pretty much ruin a trip after already having bought rooms and would be forced to coach. Vouchers would be usless as well since I only hit the rails once every few years as a treat.
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Holding the train is done on a case by case basis. Generally they wouldn't hold the Cardinal for you if you are going to the East Coast - they would put you on the CL or the LSL if you make it in tme. If you can't make the LSL, you will overnight in Chicago in a hotel room on amtrak's dime.

You are always at risk of a forcable downgrade to coach if you miss your original connection.

When I was on a very, very late eastbound EB in July 2012, I had a planned overnight in CHI and was booked on the next day's LSL. There were lots of people in my sleeper that had missed connections. One of them got downgraded from a bedroom to a roomette on our train, but I saw another guy in coach (not sure if he just didn't push for the roomette or what). There ended up being empty roomettes in my car, but the train the day behind us was late as well and also misconnected to the LSL. So I am sure some folks had rooms on the LSL from that day's EB that were then freed up for folks on my train.
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So, there would be a chance of holding the train if the final destination was southern WV?
 
It depends on how late you are going to be - but they generally don't hold the train for one late passenger.

if your destination is somewhere that only the cardinal goes, maybe chances are better.

I'm not an expert, hopefully others will chime in.
 
They'll never hold it if you're more than 1 hour late. And sometimes they won't even hold for 30 minutes. It will come down to how many are going to mis-connect and just how late it will make the Cardinal.
 
Thanks Alan. They held the CONO and the LSL when I was 30 hours late, but I think the LSL was held for a variety of reasons, the most important that the previous days LSL was late incoming into CHI. The CONO folks were boarded directly from the EB platform. For the LSL, we went into the lounge.
 
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