EB 6 hours late out of MSP?

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Actually, it left MSP "only" 1 hr, 27 minutes late...then took a 5 hour hit between MSP and St. Cloud.

They made up 2 minutes of that delay by reducing the dwell time at St. Cloud from 6 minutes to 4. :wacko:
 
Locomotive died, then the BNSF freight unit that was supplied had a bad air valve so it was Bad Ordered. Had to wait on another freight locomotive to be supplied by the railroad.
 
anir dendroica said:
the_traveler said:
But the EB has 2 locomotives!
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Yeah, we know, and we know you know, and this was a somewhat sad story even with most of the details unavailable -- but -- yeah -- it sounds like one of those old bad-luck good-luck jokes -- parachute - haystack - dah-dum.

:mellow: Starting from CHI or SEA 2 locos is true. Later along the run that might be less true. And no doubt it takes both motors to get the combined train with 11 Superliners in tow over Marias or Flathead, or indeed to get that tow anywhere on time. And no doubt that diesels now-a-days are pretty darn reliable, compared to the older versions, or old-time steam, whatever.

Unfortunately the MTBF is one of those random variables. :(

Fortunately, #7 got out of MSP only 1:25 late, and only 20-25 minutes to BNSF Northtown -- where there is (I believe there still is) a serious diesel loco shop of the BNSF :) !! Likely the best source of a good spare BNSF locomotive for a thousand miles :) -- Unfortunately -- whatever happened, happened. :angry2:

So lucky to have the engine problem before that long lonely hi-line. And with a BNSF loaner right on-line. But sometimes - luck is pre-determined to be bad no matter what.

Probably means they've decided to turn the train in Spokane with buses to/from the west coast. This to prevent a many-hour-late #8/28 departure from SEA/PDX.
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Hope that 7(6) can turn in Spokane - that would be better than turning sooner and busing farther.

Here's a thing to speculate about --

Of the presumably two motors the EB 7(6) departed CHI with almost 32 hours ago -- Where are they now?

Of the presumably two BNSF loaner freight engines it seems were borrowed for this run -- same question -- Where are they now?

:mellow: Third - and the only really important question now --

how may this affect the EB #8 runs in the short term?

Any ideas of possible delays or bustitutions between SPK and, say MSP? Thinking especially of what happens if the broke-down 7(6) doesn't make it as far as Spokane?
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TraneMan said:
The turned around train has 3 P42, and 2 BNSF so far!
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It still had all 5 of those units on the front when it arrived MSP about 12 minutes ago - about 7:10 behind schedule. The big orange BNSF motors (with DASH-9 44 [something]) written on them) those were in front, then the 3 AMTRAK engines, then the usual cars. The windows of the SSL were a bit dirty, but I didn't see anyone sitting there.
 
NW cannonball said:
TraneMan said:
The turned around train has 3 P42, and 2 BNSF so far!
Click to expand...
It still had all 5 of those units on the front when it arrived MSP about 12 minutes ago - about 7:10 behind schedule. The big orange BNSF motors (with DASH-9 44 [something]) written on them) those were in front, then the 3 AMTRAK engines, then the usual cars. The windows of the SSL were a bit dirty, but I didn't see anyone sitting there.
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DASH 9-44CW. Can also be written as C44-9W.

Anyone have pictures or videos of this train?
 
Agent said:
NW cannonball said:
TraneMan said:
The turned around train has 3 P42, and 2 BNSF so far!
Click to expand...
It still had all 5 of those units on the front when it arrived MSP about 12 minutes ago - about 7:10 behind schedule. The big orange BNSF motors (with DASH-9 44 [something]) written on them) those were in front, then the 3 AMTRAK engines, then the usual cars. The windows of the SSL were a bit dirty, but I didn't see anyone sitting there.
Click to expand...
DASH 9-44CW. Can also be written as C44-9W.

Anyone have pictures or videos of this train?
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Yup I have a couple pix (3x5MB jpg) from the arrival in MSP - any idea of where would be a good place to post them? This digital camera stuff is all new to me - my grandad and 2/3 of his kids worked for Eastman Kodak back in the day - but this digital stuff is daunting even for this IBM machine expert. A few sites i looked at want me to crop or "dunno- something with wasting data form the 5 GB photos - blah blah" - this would be super-compressing the jpegs the camera makes? -- no discussion of digital images wanted on this forum - any place anyone knows good for digital noobs?

Do I have to learn digital image standards to upload the pix? (even at this late date I can probably learn that stuff - I learned the assembler codes on the IBM 360 mainframe [bAL -- almost nobody remembers that - what register stores the return address - almost as old-timey as steam engines])

SO - any good place to upload to? It was an extremely unusual power configuration on the EB - I'm figuring 3 times the usual axles on the pointy end.

And maybe a PM would be more appropriate than adding to this dead tread?
 
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The EB continues to struggle with the schedule-especially eastbound. One day it's close to on time, the next it's many hours late. I note again that the Eastbound EB is over 3 hours behind again, after having trekked thru ND/MN. Are all of the delays over the past week or so unrelated, bad luck, or is there a common thread? I didn't see any major weather events that could have caused this AM's delay.

Just curious why the EB's travel times have become so erratic lately.
 
Over on Trainsorders a passenger currently on the EB says the delays overnight in the Dakotas were attributed in part to:

"Apparently a snow plow took out a signal and caused the major delay."
 
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