Sunset Limited Getting Some Daylight Desert Running

[TinCan782]

Was looking at the Track-A-Train maps and noticed a VERY late Sunset Limited #2(19). Left LA last night 19 minutes late; Palm Springs (PSN) 1:42 late and Yuma 11:25 late! Hasn't even arrived in Maricopa yet.

I'd love to be on this train be able to see the Salton Sea and the other SE California and SW Arizona desert that is usually transited in darkness.

I'll be watching the map tomorrow to see how the TE connection at SAS goes, or doesn't.

EDIT added info: Just saw the reason on Trainorders..."Broken rail between PSN and YUM."

 

[oregon pioneer]

We had a broken rail at Yuma on our first trip on the SL. I think that was the trip where we got put on a siding right out of LAUS, and sat for five hours watching them shuffle freight cars. So by the time we got to Yuma, we'd had a crew "go dead" in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere. They couldn't figure out where we were, and had to put the replacement crew on a freight and run down the line till they found us. Then there was the broken rail at Yuma (daylight by then), and at least one more timed-out crew, and some rail work in Texas -- they were not expecting us at that hour, so we had to wait while they finished and got out of the way. We were 14.5 hours late by the time we got to SAS, which was our destination.

 

[unitedstatesfan]

All unfortunate, oregon pioneer, but thank goodness in such circumstances Amtrak does not merely 'put on a bus (road coach)' as some railways overseas - I'm thinking Australian long distance - might in such circumstances.

 

[oregon pioneer]

All unfortunate, oregon pioneer, but thank goodness in such circumstances Amtrak does not merely 'put on a bus (road coach)' as some railways overseas - I'm thinking Australian long distance - might in such circumstances.

Oh, it was a great adventure for us. We got to see the cacti in Arizona, because we went through there in the daylight. Here's a photo of everyone standing around on one of our stops. Can't say why we stopped this particular time, but the conductor just got off the train and wandered around in the desert where no one could ask him what the problem was. Might have been a work crew ahead.



We didn't have to spend any money for a hotel when we got to San Antonio, LOL. We just went straight to the bus station and got on the bus for Corpus Christi (we were headed to Port Aransas). That was the trip where we said "we're not doing coach on long distance again." But I really do like the scenery on the SL, and when it's late, you get to see what you might miss on the other trips.

 

[dogbert617]

That'd be pretty cool to see things that normally you don't at night, due to a train being late! One of the few good things I could see from being held on a siding, due to freight trains passing by or another incident like this bended/broken rail one. I was thinking to myself as we were going through the Cleveland to Toledo part on Lake Shore Limited, if only this was in daylight! The sun didn't start to rise on that March 2013 trip going west, till around Waterloo, IN.

 

[seat38a]

OH wow, I'm surprised that they just opened the doors in the middle of the desert and let people out. When we were 5+ hours late on the SWC into LAX, the crew timed out and new ones had to be uploaded at San Bernardino. What was funny about it was, it seemed that the crew did not know they were getting a new crew and there was "this and that, call so and so" over the intercom before they figured it out and we were on our way to LAUS. Its seems hard to believe that in this day in age, people don't know where the train is or know if they are getting a new crew or not.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Had a similar expierence on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago when the fans inside the Cascade Tunnel quit, resulting in an 8 Hour delay on the Western side awaiting a Repair and T&E re-crew from Seattle to arrive.

We were allowed to get off the train on the ballast and the Conductor climbed up the hill to Highway 2 to be able to use his Cell Phone since there was no service down on the tracks.

Luckily we were well fed since the Builder used to be a Premium Train with Enhanced Dining, and once we got rolling were able to see Idaho and the Western edge on Montana in Daylight, absolutely Beautiful scenery!

Upon reaching Wisconsin Dells ( now 6 hours down) a Customer Service Rep boarded and set up shop in the Diner and let everyone making connections in CHI know the plan that CS had set up for them, whether a bustitution or van ride, a hotel/meal/cab fare/rebook package etc. ,

We were fed a late meal in the Diner from the Regular Menu, the Coach pax got the Stew and Rice Emergency Rations.

Upon arrival into CHI (4 1/2 Hours Down) we barely made our connection to the CONO (no checked bags) which was held 30 minutes, literally running through Union Station accompanied by a Gate Dragon.It was an Adventure, not a trip from Hell!

This was the first of many such expierences in CHI with late Trains, and was the one that worked the smoothest since Amtrak was prepared in advance instead of waiting until we arrived in Union Station and sending everyone racing to CS to be assisted!

 

[C&O RR]

So what happens to the people (headed for Chicago) on the 422 sleeper when the train does not make it to San Antonio before 22 leaves for Chicago, like today?

 

[ToniCounter]

how do they detect broken rail? is there some kind of device that automatically notifies dispatch or the train driver?

 

[Bob Dylan]

So what happens to the people (headed for Chicago) on the 422 sleeper when the train does not make it to San Antonio before 22 leaves for Chicago, like today?

This is a guaranteed connection so Amtrak could either:1)Bus or Fly connecting passengers from ELP to SAS or FTW to catch up with #22/#422( there is often a spare Sleeper and Coach in SAS on the siding)

2)Cutout the #422 Sleeper and Coach Upon reaching SAS and have the Passenger layover in the siding at the Sunset Station that has ground power, and then hook them to the next mornings #22 for CHI that leaves @7am. This is the most likely scenario!

 

[TinCan782]

So what happens to the people (headed for Chicago) on the 422 sleeper when the train does not make it to San Antonio before 22 leaves for Chicago, like today?

This is a guaranteed connection so Amtrak could either:

1)Bus or Fly connecting passengers from ELP to SAS or FTW to catch up with #22/#422

2)Cutout the #422 Sleeper and Coach Upon reaching SAS and have the Passenger layover in the siding at the Sunset Station that has ground power, and then hook them to the next mornings #22 for CHI that leaves @7am. This is the most likely scenario!

I too was figuring your #2 option. It will just be on the TE a day later than normal.. BTW, just checked (Sun 8/21 1100 Pacific) and #2 still hasn't reached SAS!

 

[oregon pioneer]

OH wow, I'm surprised that they just opened the doors in the middle of the desert and let people out.

As I said, this was some time ago (actually 2006), so maybe they don't today. But when you are on a siding for over 2 hours, the smokers get antsy. The conductor warned everyone that the duration of the delay was undetermined, but not to stray from the side of the train. When Hubby and I saw him wandering in the desert, we figured he had a cell phone and the train wouldn't go anywhere without him and we took a short hike (but kept a close eye on where the conductor was).

Had a similar expierence on the Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago when the fans inside the Cascade Tunnel quit, resulting in an 8 Hour delay on the Western side awaiting a Repair and T&E re-crew from Seattle to arrive.

We were allowed to get off the train on the ballast and the Conductor climbed up the hill to Highway 2 to be able to use his Cell Phone since there was no service down on the tracks.

Those were the days! Hey, maybe the conductor was wandering around looking for a better cell signal. The SL was NOT a premium train (you can see the condition of the Superliner Coach we were in). We were not going all the way to the terminus, so we were offered nothing at all. I did not yet have a cell phone, and begged till the conductor relented and let me use his to call the relatives in Port Aransas to let them know when we'd be arriving in Corpus on the bus. But hey, it was STILL an adventure!

 

[Ryan]

how do they detect broken rail? is there some kind of device that automatically notifies dispatch or the train driver?

Also known as the engineer, yes.

The signal system works by being able to tell when the two rails are electrically connected to one another by a train. That doesn't work so well when the rails are broken, so folks know right away when that happens.

 

[west point]

But a broken rail does not necessarily mean a pull apart. It may be the head of a rail broke off but the web remained intact. That way no signal system would detect the break. If a rail pulls apart MOW can relatively quickly attach a couple joint bars to rail and issue a slow order. If the rail head broke then a replacement rail needs to be found of the correct weight and then the old rail section removed by cutting rail past any suspect part of broken rail which might be some distance, pull replacement rail into place cutting it to size, spiking the rail and attaching joint bars at both ends of replacement rail.

Your time waiting appears to not be a pull apart. As well as hot as the ambient temp was a pull apart may have been less likely . But who knows ?,