Getting just a bit nervous about Isaac

[Ryan]

Thank you for links. They only confirm that the line between Tampa and Orlando has never been closed by CSX.

They only mentioned New Orlean and possibly Miami area.

I'm not sure how you think that confirms the line was never closed. Neither you nor I know what they mean by "near the Miami area".

 

[AlanB]

They only confirm that the line between Tampa and Orlando has never been closed by CSX.

Amtrak has no facilities for turning the train in Tampa. So when Miami is cut, they terminate in Orlando where the trains can be run back to Sanford for servicing and restocking.

 

[AlanB]

As for the buses, while the weather might have been fine today in Tampa, those buses go to Fort Meyers (something that I was just reminded of in a post above), where the weather wasn't fine today. In fact, even here in NYC, I saw a report on the news from Fort Meyers.

Sure, I suppose that Amtrak could have tried to get Martz to only run the Orlando - Tampa leg, but that only causes more confusion for people first off.

Do you really think that it's better to leave people without service than to make them "confused"?

What do you think people from Tampa or Sarasota feel when they come to the station just to find out that their bus is cancelled, but they see that the weather is fine?

Another sign that Amtrak doesn't care is that the bus for TOMORROW is still cancelled!!! It is obvious by now that hurricane moved away from Florida, we have only light rain and even some sunshine sometimes. So tomorrow will be a perfect day. Why the bus for tomorrow is still cancelled??? How would you explain that to people who have tickets for tomorrow?

Nice how you cut off the part of my paragraph that you didn't like. Again, you have NO idea what was going on down there other than what you saw out your window in terms of weather. People plan for the forecast because they have to have time to move equipment and personnel out of harms way. They don't wait to see if it rains first. New Orleans tried that with Katrina with disastrous results.

And of course as I've been saying all along, you're busy arm chair quarterbacking. Amtrak has restored service for tomorrow! So I don't have to explain anything.

 

[Brianf]

We are taking City Of New Orleans Friday 9/7 from Jackson to New Orleans. Do you think there will be service at that point? Of course this depends on what the storm does, but how long does service normally go down after a big storm?

Thanks.

 

[PRR 60]

We are taking City Of New Orleans Friday 9/7 from Jackson to New Orleans. Do you think there will be service at that point? Of course this depends on what the storm does, but how long does service normally go down after a big storm?

Thanks.

Based on the storm right now, I don't think Friday 9/7 should be a problem. New Orleans is below sea level and there are flood gates that get closed and block the tracks into the city. I expect the flood threat will be cleared and the gates reopened in plenty of time for 9/7.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Someone said that the trains run all the way down to the wye near Lakeland to turn the trains, then go up to Sanford for servicing, and then back to Orlando. First, is this what the Sunset did? Second, is this what the Auto Train still does? Third, is is really expensive to build a wye somewhere near Sanford? This whole process seems ridiculous, and I understand why it would take more than two hours to do the process. A LOT more than two hours.

 

[AlanB]

Someone said that the trains run all the way down to the wye near Lakeland to turn the trains, then go up to Sanford for servicing, and then back to Orlando. First, is this what the Sunset did? Second, is this what the Auto Train still does? Third, is is really expensive to build a wye somewhere near Sanford? This whole process seems ridiculous, and I understand why it would take more than two hours to do the process. A LOT more than two hours.

Actually, I made that post detailing what happens. Yes, this is what the Sunset used to do back when it terminated in Orlando. No, this is not what the Auto Train does. The Auto Train terminates in Sanford; not Orlando. They only turned the Sunset, and Silvers under circumstance like this, on the Lakeland Wye because they can't run backwards from Orlando to Sanford a distance of some 21 miles with dozens of grade crossings. Besides, CSX wouldn't let them do that back when they still owned the line.

Building a larger wye at Sanford, even if viable in terms of finding the land, would not help the Sunset or Silvers at all. The AT only deals with the engines, the train is not wyed, they just turn the seats.

 

[PRR 60]

Someone said that the trains run all the way down to the wye near Lakeland to turn the trains, then go up to Sanford for servicing, and then back to Orlando. First, is this what the Sunset did? Second, is this what the Auto Train still does? Third, is is really expensive to build a wye somewhere near Sanford? This whole process seems ridiculous, and I understand why it would take more than two hours to do the process. A LOT more than two hours.

At least in Orlando, CSX has a wye available just south of FL 528 (The Bee Line). No need for the train to trek all the way to Lakeland just to turn around. However, were I in charge (heaven forbid), I would just run the power around at ORL and pull the set up to Sanford. It can be serviced and wye'd there (there is a wye east of the Auto Train terminal), taken back to ORL. Then run the power around again, then we're ready to roll north.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Someone said that the trains run all the way down to the wye near Lakeland to turn the trains, then go up to Sanford for servicing, and then back to Orlando. First, is this what the Sunset did? Second, is this what the Auto Train still does? Third, is is really expensive to build a wye somewhere near Sanford? This whole process seems ridiculous, and I understand why it would take more than two hours to do the process. A LOT more than two hours.

At least in Orlando, CSX has a wye available just south of FL 528 (The Bee Line). No need for the train to trek all the way to Lakeland just to turn around. However, were I in charge (heaven forbid), I would just run the power around at ORL and pull the set up to Sanford. It can be serviced and wye'd there (there is a wye east of the Auto Train terminal), taken back to ORL. Then run the power around again, then we're ready to roll north.

Everybody always talks about running the power around. How are the engines themselves turned if there is no wye? Can't run both engines backward the whole way... Por que Amtrak no usa la wye en la linea de abejas?

 

[AlanB]

Everybody always talks about running the power around. How are the engines themselves turned if there is no wye? Can't run both engines backward the whole way... Por que Amtrak no usa la wye en la linea de abejas?

First, there actually is a very small wye in Sanford, such that they can flip the engines when needed or even a couple of cars. But it's not large enough to flip the entire AT; and I don't think it could flip an entire Silver set either, they'd probably have to break it into 2 or 3 sections to flip the entire consist.

However, returning to the engines for the AT, they also just keep all engine pairs back to back, instead of elephant style, so unless they're breaking up a set they have no need to turn the engines around. They just cut them off and run around the consist.

You can see the wye in this shot. The station is to the left side, the wye to the right side.

 

[Ryan]

We are taking City Of New Orleans Friday 9/7 from Jackson to New Orleans. Do you think there will be service at that point? Of course this depends on what the storm does, but how long does service normally go down after a big storm?

Thanks.

Based on the storm right now, I don't think Friday 9/7 should be a problem. New Orleans is below sea level and there are flood gates that get closed and block the tracks into the city. I expect the flood threat will be cleared and the gates reopened in plenty of time for 9/7.

Provided all of the pumping stations stay online and all of the post-Katrina improvements/repairs works as designed, I agree.

However if any of that fails, all bets are off.

The only other thing that I would be concerned about is that the storm is going to track a good ways up the Mississippi River - flooding further up the line may cause unexpected problems elsewhere.

Isaac is still struggling to strengthen, current predictions have the storm barely making it to hurricane status before making landfall. That said, it's still going to drop a heck of a lot of rain, and intensity forecasting is the hardest part of tropical weather.

 

[PRR 60]

Someone said that the trains run all the way down to the wye near Lakeland to turn the trains, then go up to Sanford for servicing, and then back to Orlando. First, is this what the Sunset did? Second, is this what the Auto Train still does? Third, is is really expensive to build a wye somewhere near Sanford? This whole process seems ridiculous, and I understand why it would take more than two hours to do the process. A LOT more than two hours.

At least in Orlando, CSX has a wye available just south of FL 528 (The Bee Line). No need for the train to trek all the way to Lakeland just to turn around. However, were I in charge (heaven forbid), I would just run the power around at ORL and pull the set up to Sanford. It can be serviced and wye'd there (there is a wye east of the Auto Train terminal), taken back to ORL. Then run the power around again, then we're ready to roll north.

Everybody always talks about running the power around. How are the engines themselves turned if there is no wye? Can't run both engines backward the whole way... Por que Amtrak no usa la wye en la linea de abejas?

True, if the two locomotives are arranged elephant style (both facing forward). If they are arranged back-to-back (one pointed forward and one backward), then a runaround is easy. The rear locomotive that was facing backwards becomes the lead facing forward.

 

[fishnerd01]

We are taking City Of New Orleans Friday 9/7 from Jackson to New Orleans. Do you think there will be service at that point? Of course this depends on what the storm does, but how long does service normally go down after a big storm?

Thanks.

Based on the storm right now, I don't think Friday 9/7 should be a problem. New Orleans is below sea level and there are flood gates that get closed and block the tracks into the city. I expect the flood threat will be cleared and the gates reopened in plenty of time for 9/7.

Ah, good to know. Now I just have to worry about the drive from St.Louis to Jackson next week.

 

[MattW]

I know this takes us off topic even more, but why couldn't they just use the wye for the utilities spur just south of the Airport? http://goo.gl/maps/7HCWh

 

[Casinocim]

Sharing some info.

I left on the CONO out of New Orleans on Sunday (26th). Watching the weather from Miami on our cruise, thought the storm would be in Florida.

So upon boarding the CONO in New Orleans, the attendant mentioned something about being moved. Talking with him he and some other employees were moved around, he usually worked in the lounge, this was due to the storm coming to New Orleans. He was expecting being held in Memphis.

He also said there were some last minute bookings because of the storm.

Great guy and really nice. Interesting talking with him about his Amtrak time during this storm.

 

[Dovecote]

I just called the Auto Train dedicated 800 number. The agent informed me that the Monday train out of Sanford is a go! Looks like I lucked out with the weather. So it is off tomorrow to Sanford for my wife and myself.

Thanks to everyone who provided updates with the weather since the thread started. I hope the rest of you traveling Amtrak who might be impacted by Isaac have similar luck as me.

Please be careful driving, especially on I4. It is raining in Orlando and already there are traffic backups due to accidents.

I made it safe and sound. Thanks for your thoughts. The rain was not that bad Monday morning on the drive to Sanford. It was an interesting Auto Train adventure that I will submit a trip report when I return to Georgia in a few weeks. One surprising element was I was able to upgrade on board from a roomette to the H room. This was performed by the Onboard Chief, John. There was not a saving in price had I upgraded at the station but it was welcomed none the less.