Ryan
Court Jester
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Empire Builder's Troubles continue into the Fall
- Thread starter montana mike
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Cue Dean Martin singing " Memories are made of this!"
TraneMan
Conductor
When did they charge the the time slot? I have not received a call about this on our upcoming trip on Friday.
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The increased dwell for #8 at MSP and the later schedule for points east is to accommodate an CP project. It started today (10/20) ends this Thursday (10/23). Your trip Friday will not be affected.
TraneMan
Conductor
andersone
Conductor
When in Lacrosse, don't miss Buzzard Billy's downtown
thoroughly enjoyed lunch there
thoroughly enjoyed lunch there
montana mike
Conductor
Strange timekeeping for the EB's today. Both #7's are running quite late-with the one in WA almost 6 1/2 hours late, while the two #8's are on time.
TraneMan
Conductor
Yeah. #7 will be sitting at SPUD for over 3 hours! Wonder if they are letting the passengers roam into the building?
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NorthShore
Conductor
Aboard the #8 just leaving LaCrosse. We needed the extra 3 hours in the schedule at St. Paul to catch up a bit and still left an hour late after a fifteen minute station stop. Were still an hour down. Then sat outside the station waiting n freight.
montana mike
Conductor
#8 in MN seems to have fallen into a dark hole, now about 4 hours behind. I was really hoping things would improve at least modestly so the EB's would be a little more consistent, but today's timekeeping appears to be back to big delays. Hopefully this one is a "one off".
:-(
Update:
#8 in MN is now 6 hours late and #7 in WA is now 7 hours late--not good runs for either train and everything appears to be back to the miserable status quo of last summer. Rats!
:-(
Update:
#8 in MN is now 6 hours late and #7 in WA is now 7 hours late--not good runs for either train and everything appears to be back to the miserable status quo of last summer. Rats!
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NorthShore
Conductor
Arrived in Chicago at 7:26 last night, only an hour late due to the CP construction schedule which offered a later expected arrival. Alas, not late enough for Dinty Moore.
TraneMan
Conductor
Here I was all excited for my #8 to be on time, untill just before Staples, and boom, fell behind over 3 hours late! LOL I am guessing freight issue in front of them.
A station agent in Saint Paul said the new schedule will apply Monday through Thursday for four weeks.
NorthShore
Conductor
It should probably be made semi permanent, as it is a lot closer to accurate in actuality with all the delays.
montana mike
Conductor
On today's #8 in Montana and we are about 3 hours late--ALL due to freight interference according to the conductor--and we haven't even hit the tough stuff in ND.
Not looking good for us--rats,
Not looking good for us--rats,
montana mike
Conductor
Update an hour later. Stopped again--more freight-again!! Now approaching 4 hours late--unreal. ALL of the sidings we have passed have been jammed with freights--every one! The big new three track siding just east of Glasgow had three long freights in it waiting for us to go by--and we did at about 10 mph--ugh......
montana mike
Conductor
Another hour gone by--spent sitting the entire time as 5 freights went by in the opposite direction. Now running 4 1/2 hours late and the conductor is thinking by the time we roll into CHI tomorrow night we could be 6-7 hours late--likely even worse. What a piece of garbage today. We have stopped for no less than a dozen freights this afternoon and he says it's actually slower up ahead thru ND. Currently moving thru eastern MT at about 1/2 normal track speed.
Looks like my gamble to connect with the LSL tomorrow night will go down the tubes. Rats.......and I cannot afford to wait an entire extra day to catch the following night's LSL. The pax on the train are just as frustrated as I am. Lot's of people saying why take the train when it is so unreliable. Very light load on this EB. I can see why.
Looks like my gamble to connect with the LSL tomorrow night will go down the tubes. Rats.......and I cannot afford to wait an entire extra day to catch the following night's LSL. The pax on the train are just as frustrated as I am. Lot's of people saying why take the train when it is so unreliable. Very light load on this EB. I can see why.
montana mike
Conductor
10 PM update on #8: We are stopped totally just outside of Stanley. Our crew ran out of time. So now we wait while Amtrak tries to taxi a relief crew out to us. Could be a while, since they have to come all the way from Minot and the conductor just called them for help!!! Running almost 5 hours behind now. Not looking good at all. I have not seen ANY improvement over my last trip this summer-which was a total disaster as well. BTW: In the dining car gone are all of the china and glasses and no linens whatsoever--paper everything. You should have seen the bags of trash they took off in Havre!!
Oh, well. I was hoping to see something better, sad to report what is happening.
:-(
Oh, well. I was hoping to see something better, sad to report what is happening.
:-(
acelafan
Conductor
It's no fun being late, that's for sure. But I'd rather be riding the Builder than hanging around the house (despite the cat being good company).
Try to enjoy it as best you can even though it's disrupting your plans. I love going to sleep on the train way out in the countryside.
Try to enjoy it as best you can even though it's disrupting your plans. I love going to sleep on the train way out in the countryside.
PRae_Train
Service Attendant
My entire first ride on the EB in late August was filled with this kind of anxiety. It really ruined the experience for me. Aside from a small note about the beauty of the Cascades, I don't remember anything about it except praying that I'd get a sleeper on 448 LSL and wondering how I would spend a day in Chicago if we missed it. As it turned out, we did get our connection just in time to hop over to the next track, but it was just too much overall.
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acelafan
Conductor
It looks like schedule padding (and the detour if it's still in effect?) helped you. #8 of 10/23 "only" down 3.25 hours now. Assuming you get to CHI 4.5 hours late, that's 8:30 PM and LSL doesn't leave until 9:30PM. You might be okay.
montana mike
Conductor
Yup. Just left MSP, although now stopped while several freights go by. Looks like an arrival time in CHI perhaps 3+ hours late. Just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat before I get on the LSL
Yes--the Surrey Cutoff detour helped a lot. We stayed at track speed the entire time!!!
Yes--the Surrey Cutoff detour helped a lot. We stayed at track speed the entire time!!!
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acelafan
Conductor
Glad to hear - with no catastrophes down the line you should be fine. Fingers crossed!
montana mike
Conductor
Arrived 7 PM, so I made the LSL with time to grab a snack--whew!
NorthShore
Conductor
Wow,you beat my trip (a couple days earlier) by an entire 26 minutes!
And, here, I was hoping to get some stew out of the situation.
And, here, I was hoping to get some stew out of the situation.
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