Amtrak #6(08) is Not Having the Best Day

[Agent]

The eastbound California Zephyr that is to arrive in Chicago later today is not having the best time getting there. In what I understand from a few conversations I heard over the radio, the lead engine of train #6, AMTK 182, has died (not loading more specifically). The second unit, AMTK 159, is doing all the work, but the fuel gauge is broken, the sight glass is too dirty to read (or damaged, there was a burst of static at that point), and when the engineer looked under the fuel cap he couldn't see the fuel so that means the unit has less than 1,200 gallons. Unsure if they had enough to reach Chicago, the engineer wondered it they should refuel at Galesburg, Illinois. Someone with that authority decided it would be refueled there a little while later.

Might just be a minor bump in the road compared to what else Amtrak has been dealing with lately.

 

[64]

This train arrived into Chicago 9 minutes early today, a good day after all.

 

[Bjartmarr]

Since the train can run on time with only one engine, why do they run two? Is it more efficient? (Or so that if one engine dies, the train can still make it to the runway for an emergency landing?)

 

[Ryan]

If this train had one engine, it would have been massively delayed.