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I'm on the Missouri River Runner headed for St. Louis...and basically throwing this together with chewing gum and bailing wire.
 
VentureForth said:
This may sound a little bit nasty - but here goes.

The older Amfleet I (?) toilets that use "blue water" like the older aircraft are very well suited for this sort of environment. They are recirculating - meaning that they recycle the water and filter out "solids" between each use. The blue color is the extremely powerful disinfectant. The advantage is that it takes no additional water source to flush. The containment is limited by use - in other words, the level rises as "stuff" is put into it. Yes - they can overflow, but the rate that it increases is limited in that the flushing water is reused. In the case of these trains, if I were a conductor, I would likely say to heck with the rules and dump the tanks into the western Illinois farmland. It's more sanitary than overflowing in the lavatory.

The problem with the vacuum waste systems - though 95% of the time more sanitary - they are useless when you run out of potable water to flush with. These tanks can be emptied out the side of a train, too, if necessary in an emergency, but can't be flushed when the water runs out.
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Yeah, but it ain't like there's a lack of water around. Just grab some snow and put it on the stove if you gotta. Honestly, in such a situation, I'd say "do so and plead sanitary emergency to the FDA if they find out".
 
I'm totally OK with that. Seriously, I get more upset with Amtrak when the toilets get full during a REGULAR run. They had to once call for a truck in Savannah because the tanks got filled before the train could get to Jacksonville. Savannah has the equipment to handle everything, but they are generally out there for the Palmetto which is off-shift when the Silvers come around...
 
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If you're reading, Sarah Z, thanks for explaining the number system yesterday. I'm more used to the airline world of "123/5 ORD"

So anyway, does anyone know what happened to 354(6)? The Amtrak site showed it was going to be leaving Chicago at 11p ET, or 5 hours late. Today it says status unavailable for that train. Did it cancel, did it leave the station? Is it on some indefinite hold?
 
Man, I really feel for all of the agents in the call center(s). Talk about a nightmarish week to be at work.
 
SarahZ said:
Man, I really feel for all of the agents in the call center(s). Talk about a nightmarish week to be at work.
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Yup. Not just trying to "fix" things for lots of people, but dealing with upset and angry people.

Both the agents I talked to were quite good. The second one, especially, who had to help me with changing reservations (early in the morning, when I was worried and shaky because I realized there was no way in frozen heck I was getting out Monday) was really efficient.

I try to remind myself, when dealing with people like customer service agents, that they didn't MAKE the problem, they are doing their best to FIX the problem, and they're just trying to make a living like everyone else. I don't always succeed at being cheerful and pleasant but I do try.
 
fillyjonk said:
I try to remind myself, when dealing with people like customer service agents, that they didn't MAKE the problem, they are doing their best to FIX the problem, and they're just trying to make a living like everyone else. I don't always succeed at being cheerful and pleasant but I do try.
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And we truly appreciate you for it. :) Seriously. You have no idea how just one simple "thank you" or "you've been so helpful" can turn a crappy day into a good one. One kind word can erase all of the negativity I've received that day the same way one jerk can turn a good day into a bad one. So really, we do appreciate it.
 
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The only issue I've had is that Reaccommodation has kept calling me. In particular, I got a call about last night's train this afternoon between WSS and CLF. I politely asked them to look into why I was getting the calls, since if I'm getting "bad" calls, someone else probably is as well.
 
I give credit Amtrak employees as someone who lived the Chicago meltdown as my Monday train the 7/27 was canceled the people on the phone were nice but they don't know much about amtrak or trains. They just read computer screens. I say the average person who reads this board can do a much better job. I wish amtrak would try to hire agents who know something about trains and amtrak.

But the amtrak employees were nice in Chicago. As I stood waiting seven hours for 7/27 to go. The employees were all very nice and the passengers were pretty cool. I think we all understood how this severe weather impacted things. As I said earlier I would prefer that Amtrak at Union Stations give us estimates on the screens instead of flashing "delayed"

But I imagine it will take a full week to get things more normal. I do worry about the Michigan Services though. On Tuesday my Wolverine 351 was combined with the 365 blue water so we had stops in Dowagic, Niles, and New Buffalo which added to 3 hour plus delay. They have cancelled the mid day trains 352/353 and the 354 and 355 have been horribly late. the Tuesday 351 was delayed over an hour between Pontiac and Detroit due to traffic and it got to Jackson one hour and 40 minutes late and Battle Creek about 2..5 hours late since we had slow orders between Albion and Battle Creek due to switches and or something not work due to the cold. It lost time due to some sensors not working just after New Buffalo due to snow so we had to wait 15 minutes as the conductor and crew had to walk the train to determine everything was okay. So combing with 365 was not a real problem. It was a weather and traffic.

So without traffic issues we would have been only 1.5 hours late due to weather and combining with 365. KZO to CHI took about three hours.

The line for ticket agents at Union Station was the longest I've ever seen. Like 300 people in line.
 
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It should be fine fairly soon. We don't have any snow in the forecast, so that'll help with track clearing. Additionally, it's supposed to be 38 on Friday and 40 and rainy on Saturday.

40 is going to feel downright balmy after the weather we've had.
 
Yes, the "nice" thing about a deep freeze is that generally it doesn't cause problems to infrastructure (in the same way that a hurricane

does) so it's theoretically easier to rebound once your crews and equipment are in place.
 
SarahZ said:
Man, I really feel for all of the agents in the call center(s). Talk about a nightmarish week to be at work.
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Not half as nightmarish as the guys working out in subzero weather trying to fix these trains. At least the phone staff has heat.
 
In this kind of "mini-disaster" with few fatalities but mega-hours of lost time and expense and frustration - everybody who helps even a bit is worth their weight in palladium.

Clearing one frozen switch in the cold where all that damn cold steel around just sucks the heat out of you.

Or keeping calm and taking 3 deep breaths and taking the next call about a problem that you have no easy fix for, and no solid information, and your backup is stranded elsewhere.

Or even sitting in the crowded waiting room, getting out of yourself enough to quit hating that screaming child and helping to calm the kid and the parents.

Or looking at the crew list, the equipment list, not knowing what will be available, and then looking at how few tracks out of CUS are available - and NOT jumping in the Chicago River.

Thanks to everybody who helps.
 
guest said:
SarahZ said:
Man, I really feel for all of the agents in the call center(s). Talk about a nightmarish week to be at work.
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Not half as nightmarish as the guys working out in subzero weather trying to fix these trains. At least the phone staff has heat.
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That too. I was just tacking onto the recent discussion about calling Amtrak. Obviously I feel for the workers out there in the cold.
 
Hallelujah, it looks like the 21 is going to run more or less normally today. Monday morning when I had a real bad feeling about the 21 that day, I got the last available roommette on today's 21.

Here's hoping this time tomorrow I am almost home. (I have a 2 1/2 hour drive once I get off the Eagle....)
 
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