Raton Pass Closed

[Trogdor]

Union Pacific has said in order for the Eagle to be a daily train Amtrak would need to pay for 800 million dollars in track work. Now maybe if Amtrak said they just need to do it temporarily until things on the other lines calm down UP could make an exception, but otherwise its going to take at least 800 million to get the daily TE running.

Even in the unlikely situation that they do make an exception, I am sure they will make sure that it runs 12 hours late, just so as to be able to say, see, we told you so. We really do need that extra capacity to run it daily.

I suppose one could extract one more day of service out of them since in the past they have run SAS - ALX 4 times a week for a period.

You're still forgetting the inconvenient fact that Amtrak does not have enough qualified T&E crews on that route to cover a daily service. You'd need approximately twice as many conductors, engineers, etc. Even if you could take an Albuquerque or Minot or Omaha crew and fly them to El Paso, it would take a few weeks to get them qualified on the route.

 

[Anderson]

Assuming that this is a lengthy diversion, how would this affect ABQ/FLG times?

 

[printman2000]

#3 departed Amarillo at 10:35

 

[printman2000]

#3 departed Amarillo at 10:35

PV on the rear.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

You're still forgetting the inconvenient fact that Amtrak does not have enough qualified T&E crews on that route to cover a daily service. You'd need approximately twice as many conductors, engineers, etc. Even if you could take an Albuquerque or Minot or Omaha crew and fly them to El Paso, it would take a few weeks to get them qualified on the route.

If I understand correctly if a UP crew is traveling an unfamilar route on the UP network they need a pilot for the first two or three runs or so, correct? So what I'm curious about is why would an Amtrak crew that normally runs on UP track would need a few weeks of preparation before they could even start service? Not saying you're wrong, I'm just trying to understand why this would be so different.

 

[printman2000]

Printman2000, I do know what time the train will go through Clovis on an eastbound trip, about 7:00 pm. Do you know what time the westbound will go through Amarillo?

Greg, are you going to go see it in Clovis? If so, could you report here the exact time it goes through? That will help me guesstimate arrival time here.

 

[MrFSS]

HERE are some pretty good pictures of the area around Raton and downtown Raton. Put it on slideshow if you like.

 

[rtabern]

I was planning to do a daytrip from Chicago to Galesburg, IL and back today using #381 and #4.

When I went to check status of #4 last night, I noticed it came up with a 'service disruption'.

I found out that my #4 made it to almost the Raton Pass... had to back up to ABQ... and then went on the detour route through the Oklahoma and Texas panhaldes.

Opting not to do the bus... or a 12 hour late train... I just cancelled.

Checking the map:

http://www.dixielandsoftware.com/scripts/getmap.pl?mapname=West

It's sooooooooo weird to see no Empire Builders, California Zephyrs, and Southwest Chiefs on the map!! I dont know if I ever saw that before all at one time like that.

I guess I'm glad I have no major Amtrak trips planned right now...

 

[RPE]

Thanks for the pictorial update

 

[gswager]

Printman2000, I do know what time the train will go through Clovis on an eastbound trip, about 7:00 pm. Do you know what time the westbound will go through Amarillo?

Greg, are you going to go see it in Clovis? If so, could you report here the exact time it goes through? That will help me guesstimate arrival time here.

I don't know yet. It may be a spur of moment to check it out or not. I think I put the time when Colorado/Kansas were closed due to heavy snow several years ago on this AU forum so I'll look for it.

Found it: http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?/topic/7954-34-to-detour-via-amarillo/ I went there only once in January 2007. It came at 6:34 pm and you said that it hasn't arrived yours. So I'm assuming you miss it.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It's sooooooooo weird to see no Empire Builders, California Zephyrs, and Southwest Chiefs on the map!! I dont know if I ever saw that before all at one time like that.

Maybe this is just a preview of what's coming in another year or few. NARP is currently warning of a nearly zeroed-out budget courtesy of the House Appropriations Subcommittee. Should be interesting to see the next Amtrak funding battle coming down the pipe. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future we'll all be fondly reminiscing about the good times when only half the LD network was down.

 

[frugalist]

Looks like Amarillo it is.

Three questions:

1. What scheduled stops will this detour miss?

2. Any guess as to when the regular route will be reopened?

3. How will this affect arrival time into LAX?

Anyone?

 

[printman2000]

Looks like Amarillo it is.

Three questions:

1. What scheduled stops will this detour miss?

2. Any guess as to when the regular route will be reopened?

3. How will this affect arrival time into LAX?

Anyone?

I assume all stops between Albuquerque and Newton. Arrival into LAX is a big unknown.

 

[Rail Freak]

How is this detour affecting OTP of the #3?

 

[The Davy Crockett]

It's sooooooooo weird to see no Empire Builders, California Zephyrs, and Southwest Chiefs on the map!! I dont know if I ever saw that before all at one time like that.

Maybe this is just a preview of what's coming in another year or few. NARP is currently warning of a nearly zeroed-out budget courtesy of the House Appropriations Subcommittee. Should be interesting to see the next Amtrak funding battle coming down the pipe. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future we'll all be fondly reminiscing about the good times when only half the LD network was down.

I'm sure this is in the back of a lot of our minds. :help: Makes me want to break open the piggy bank and ride, ride, ride...

 

[GlobalistPotato]

It's sooooooooo weird to see no Empire Builders, California Zephyrs, and Southwest Chiefs on the map!! I dont know if I ever saw that before all at one time like that.

Maybe this is just a preview of what's coming in another year or few. NARP is currently warning of a nearly zeroed-out budget courtesy of the House Appropriations Subcommittee. Should be interesting to see the next Amtrak funding battle coming down the pipe. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future we'll all be fondly reminiscing about the good times when only half the LD network was down.

Gosh, you're a pessimist... hboy: I wouldn't be surprised if the House would zero out Amtrak's budget, but I'd want to say that Amtrak has more of a following today than they did back in the 1990s and such.

The most likely way Amtrak's LD routes get cancelled complete is if there's a complete dollar failure or shutdown of government, and trust me, lack of Amtrak service would be the LEAST of what we'd have to worry about... :help:

How is this detour affecting OTP of the #3?

Status Maps just say "service disruption"

 

[Rail Freak]

Looks like Amarillo it is.

How will that affect #3 into ABQ?

It will not be affected into ABQ. It has a wye south of ABQ with conductor in rear of train while the engineer is in the front.

Correct me if I'm wrong, please.

The # 4 comes thru ABQ ,drops off passengers, does the wye turn around and becomes the #3 picking up pax in ABQ headed to LAX?????

 

[printman2000]

No. 4 is wyed and then sent back down to the transcon through Amarillo and continues to Chicago.

 

[AKA]

NOW IS THE TIME TO RUN THE TEXAS EAGLE DAILY TO LAX!

Got $800 million dollars handy somewhere?

For what? Equipment? The same equipment that is not being used right now. Crew? The same crew that's getting paid for sitting around waiting for the lines to open. It'd take about a day to reroute equipement sent to the TE to get back to the CZ, and about 2 days to get back to the EB. Possibly less if the timing is right and the trains make it to CHI just right.

Meanwhile, there are folks who want to get to California and with 3 of the 4 arteries in jepoardy, someone's gotta start thinking out the box.

But I'm sure Amtrak is taking advantage of the down time to get some good deep cleaning done on the equipment, performing deferred maintenance, etc.

Its nice to have a dream. :lol:

 

[frugalist]

Looks like Amarillo it is.

Three questions:

1. What scheduled stops will this detour miss?

2. Any guess as to when the regular route will be reopened?

3. How will this affect arrival time into LAX?

Anyone?

I assume all stops between Albuquerque and Newton. Arrival into LAX is a big unknown.

Does that mean #3 would run normally from Chicago to Newton, then run on the detour non-stop to Albuquerque, then continue its normal run into Los Angeles?

 

[Rail Freak]

I guess by 4:45 tomorrow, I should have this figured out!!!! :giggle:

 

[printman2000]

Looks like Amarillo it is.

Three questions:

1. What scheduled stops will this detour miss?

2. Any guess as to when the regular route will be reopened?

3. How will this affect arrival time into LAX?

Anyone?

I assume all stops between Albuquerque and Newton. Arrival into LAX is a big unknown.

Does that mean #3 would run normally from Chicago to Newton, then run on the detour non-stop to Albuquerque, then continue its normal run into Los Angeles?

Yes.

 

[Steve4031]

The second track in abo canyon opened just in time.

 

[gswager]

UPDATE: the fire has reached Colorado and I-25 is still closed on both directions, so are the railroad tracks. Burned approx. 6,000 acres (1 sq mile equals 640 acres) and it's still at 0% containment.

 

[Anderson]

Again...how is this doing to times into FLG/ABQ westbound and the timetable in general eastbound? I know that running "limited" from Kansas into NM may cut some time off of things, but I'm not sure what the reroute does.