Eastbound Empire Builder-Train #8

[mike moffitt]

What happened to the eastbound EB today? It left Libby 4 minutes late, now it's well over 3 hours late and still not into Whitefish--the two stations are barely 60 miles apart. I see no BNSF advisories posted yet. Did the EB breakdown?

:-(

 

[johnny.menhennet]

just showed up: 3:45 late into WFH

 

[EB_OBS]

BNSF freight train with a broken knuckle at Wolf Prairie, MP 1282.2. EB was delayed almost 4 hours.

 

[EB_OBS]

Today's #28 is now being delayed by another BNSF freight train disabled at Skamania. Then delayed further due to same freight train dragging equipment. It's looking like at minimum a 2 hour delay so far.

 

[taking the cars]

We are boarding the eastbound EB in St. Paul tomorrow (Monday) morning. We've just been notified by AMTRAK that we will need to take the bus to Chicago to meet our connection on the evening Wolverine tomorrow. We are disappointed as this is our third EB trip that required bus service. The trip west last Tuesday was right on time (Wolverine ad EB). I didn't see anything on the weather map that might cause a delay out west.

 

[mike moffitt]

We are boarding the eastbound EB in St. Paul tomorrow (Monday) morning. We've just been notified by AMTRAK that we will need to take the bus to Chicago to meet our connection on the evening Wolverine tomorrow. We are disappointed as this is our third EB trip that required bus service. The trip west last Tuesday was right on time (Wolverine ad EB). I didn't see anything on the weather map that might cause a delay out west.

Looks like the East Bound EB is over 4 hours late, which would cause you to miss your connection in Chicago. I also see the #7 West bound EB just went from essentially on time to a "service disruption" at Cutbank. Good Grief! The EB just cannot buy any decent luck these days-bummer.

 

[EB_OBS]

We are boarding the eastbound EB in St. Paul tomorrow (Monday) morning. We've just been notified by AMTRAK that we will need to take the bus to Chicago to meet our connection on the evening Wolverine tomorrow. We are disappointed as this is our third EB trip that required bus service. The trip west last Tuesday was right on time (Wolverine ad EB). I didn't see anything on the weather map that might cause a delay out west.

Looks like the East Bound EB is over 4 hours late, which would cause you to miss your connection in Chicago. I also see the #7 West bound EB just went from essentially on time to a "service disruption" at Cutbank. Good Grief! The EB just cannot buy any decent luck these days-bummer.

BNSF reports 70 - 80 MPH winds. There is no way the train can proceed over the bridge there with wind speeds that high.

 

[fairviewroad]

BNSF reports 70 - 80 MPH winds. There is no way the train can proceed over the bridge there with wind speeds that high.

Operationally speaking, what is the reason for this? Would winds that high potentially blow the EB off the bridge?

Or is the bridge shaking/unstable due to the winds? Or is it the risk of airborne debris?

 

[EB_OBS]

BNSF reports 70 - 80 MPH winds. There is no way the train can proceed over the bridge there with wind speeds that high.

Operationally speaking, what is the reason for this? Would winds that high potentially blow the EB off the bridge?

Or is the bridge shaking/unstable due to the winds? Or is it the risk of airborne debris?

Honestly, I don't know. I'm not an expert in that area. I could see that while the train is very heavy, it's also very large, flat and tall, kinda like a sail. Seems it would be at high risk to be blown over.

 

[gn2276]

The part of that route between East Glacier and Browning the track goes from running east/west to running north/south and the winds come right off the Rocky Mountain Front which is only 20-30 miles to the west. With the Superliners being so tall when the wind blows at high speed the risk is high for blowing them off the track.

 

[TraneMan]

The part of that route between East Glacier and Browning the track goes from running east/west to running north/south and the winds come right off the Rocky Mountain Front which is only 20-30 miles to the west. With the Superliners being so tall when the wind blows at high speed the risk is high for blowing them off the track.

Why don't they have wind screen/block on this bridge like they do further west on this track? (I don't recall for sure where this was at)

 

[gn2276]

The bridge in question is the Two Medicene bridge which runs east/west. The Two Medicene runs through a deep canyon so there is no way to put a wind break there, but the wind problems preatty much run all the way from Browning 20 miles to East Glacier.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

BNSF reports 70 - 80 MPH winds. There is no way the train can proceed over the bridge there with wind speeds that high.

Operationally speaking, what is the reason for this? Would winds that high potentially blow the EB off the bridge?

Or is the bridge shaking/unstable due to the winds? Or is it the risk of airborne debris?

Honestly, I don't know. I'm not an expert in that area. I could see that while the train is very heavy, it's also very large, flat and tall, kinda like a sail. Seems it would be at high risk to be blown over.

While riding The Canadian we crossed over a bridge where you could look down and see smashed up stack containers lying at the bottom. Upon further inquiry we were informed that these containers had been blown off the bridge by nothing more than a gust of wind. Generally we tend to think of trains as being extremely heavy, but when they're propped precariously over a tall bridge they can still go tumbling over if the wind hits them with enough force. That would not be an event I'd ever want to experience. Extremely late trains aren't much fun but they would be much more agreeable than a quick decent off a high bridge.

 

[smee]

You have to remember that the only thing holding the train to the rails is the flanges on the wheel and the weight of the train. If a gust of wind catches the trin the right way and lits/tilts the cars enough the flange wil become "disengaged" from the rail and a derailment could occur.

 

[gn2276]

Here is a link to a pic of the Two Medicine Bridge http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=302114

pic of Grizzly which is just Northeast of East Glacier http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=338845

 

[RRUserious]

I think I looked down from that bridge and could only see the valley below. For some reason, that was more exciting than looking down from a plane that was more than 30,000 feet up. More sense of the distance down.