Both 7 & 8 are stopped in Wisconsin due to derailment tonight. My 8 is tomorrow... This could be a long day.
Empire Builder February 2019 delays
- Thread starter TamarackTom
- Start date
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cubeguide
Train Attendant
Now, both 7 and 27 (2/25) are 11 hours late. It seems like it lost another 5 hours between Whitefish and Libby. What happened? Did the locomotive break down or something?
I took the 8/28 out of St Paul to Chicago yesterday. It was unusual to have the 7/27 arriving minutes prior to my train. Both sat at the platform for about 15 minutes. The initial 11 hour delay was a freight train derailed at a frozen switch east of Tomah, WI. The rest was more of the cold and freight interference that has been a curse on it over the last month. My 8/28 was 80 minutes behind leaving St Paul and lost another 30 arriving around 6:30 last night. Not bad considering it's recent stats.
tim49424
Engineer
There is a video that is posted on the Empire Builder Facebook page made by the administrator of the MSP meet from the webcam at SPUD. He also posted it on YouTube.
They cancelled enough trips on the EB to get equipment where it belongs. I'm not sure it will accomplish much before spring weather starts but hopefully it will work out for you. The Coast Starlight though is completely at the mercy of Mother Nature.
tim49424
Engineer
I’m hoping things straighten out on the CZ, CS & EB in the next couple of weeks. The stranded CS made me a bit nervous about my upcoming trip.
cubeguide
Train Attendant
Are you taking the Coast Starlight?
tim49424
Engineer
CS would be the Coast Starlight
Sauve850
OBS Chief
While not my favorite train from west coast to Chicago Im riding in early September. The price was right for a bedroom. Ive been on the EB several times over many years. I have found this train to be late often every year for the last 30 years. Since I wish to spend some time in Chicago I am staying two nights so i should be safe.
Seaboard92
Engineer
Portland isn't a bad place to misconnect. It's probably my favorite city to misconnect in. Of course it's usually my final destination.
tim49424
Engineer
About 5 years ago we took an Empire Builder trip from CHI-SEA. It was late 6 hours to SEA and on the return trip got into CHI at 3 AM. This set us back a day to catch the CL and we missed our Saturday event because of this. The trip on the train was wonderful but the history of lateness on this route causes us to shy away. The 100+ car long oil trains in the Bakken oil region were leaving continuously 24/7 Starting in MT it was sit and wait until we were well past Minot, ND up to about St Paul. BNSF has since put in some double tracking on that route but the rail traffic seems to exceed the capacity. Amtrak does not have priority or so it seems. When the train gets back on schedule we hope to take another CHI-SEA trip. Its a great experience.
yarrow
Engineer
just called amtrak to check on the arrival of 7 into sea today. after 10 minutes on hold and being told 7 would arrive at 10:25(on time) i was able to tease out of the agent that it is actually running 14 hours late(weather and engine problems) and there is no eta. i have been away from this board for a few years but it is good to see that some things never change
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tim49424
Engineer
Actually the huge delay was caused in part by a BNSF freight derailment in Montana.yarrow said:
tim49424
Engineer
Exactly what I was talking about. Somebody posted about this on facebook.
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