Empire Builder late into Chicago??? why???

[amfan]

Anyone know what happened, it started 4 hrs late out of Seattle I guess?? Estimated in Chicago about 2AM

 

[EmpireBuilderFan]

According to a railroading mailing list that I subscribe to, #8 suffered a locomotive failure just outside of Seattle. Since this was the only unit, BNSF had to send a freight locomotive to replace the dead unit. The train continued to lose time, as it was limited by the freight unit's top speed of 73 MPH (speed limit is 79). Here's a picture of the Builder with freight engine.

 

[JayPea]

According to the website referred to by EmpireBuilderfan, the EB had to wait for a crew change at Wilson Creek, WA. I can think, of, oh, roughly 1,987,576 places I'd rather be stranded than Wilson Creek. :lol: I'm sure the passengers weren't appreciating this at this point, but at least they got a rare opportunity to see the scenery between Spokane and Whitefish. That can be pretty, particularly the bridge over Lake Pend Oreille at Sandpoint, ID.

 

[Mark]

Any reports on the diner service? This was the one I was supposed to return to Chicago on. I received a message from Amtrak on my cell telling me EB was running about 6 hours late due to mechanical problems. Instead of waiting in Tomah I asked my friends to drive me to Milwaukee where I caught a Hiawatha back to Chicago.

 

[rtabern]

One of the problems with the EB is the quick turn-time in Seattle.

The same trainset gets in at 10:00am-ish that leaves again at 4:45pm.

So if #7 is more than 4 or 5 hours late, there's a good chance #8 will be late because they have to wye-it and clean it in that time.

That happened several times this summer.

RT