Which Train Just Passed My House?

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SarahZ

Quality Control
Joined
May 8, 2011
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8,427
Location
KAL
I just heard an Amtrak train pass my house (2:35 AM Eastern time, Kalamazoo).

I checked to see if it was a delayed Blue Water or Wolverine, but the status maps (on Dixieland and Amtrak) both show that all trains have arrived at their end points. I don't see any trains passing Kalamazoo right now.

I thought it might be a re-routed CL, like we had last winter, but wouldn't that show up on the map?
 
I thought it might be a re-routed CL, like we had last winter, but wouldn't that show up on the map?
Amtrak Status Maps can only show trains which are off their normal route if,

  1. the "detour" places it on someone else's regular route because the stations/railroad lines have to be defined in the system
  2. I have intervened to set it up.
I haven't set up anything like that since the last time the Palmetto (90) detoured through Raleigh, sometime last year, as far as I can recall.

jb
 
Are you sure it was not freight as many freight engines use K5LA Horns; I sometimes hear one in the middle of the night and have to think twice, knowing the Heartland Flyer is parked quietly on the siding in OKC.
 
NS is a big user of the K5LA. Also CSX has some on their locomotives with a few BNSF.
 
I live between freight tracks and the NEC. Even with my poor hearing, I can tell the difference. The freights go clickity-clack, clicktiy-clack and the Amtrak trains go whoosh. :p
 
These tracks are only used by Amtrak trains. That made it easy to figure out. ;)
 
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Assuming you just heard it, and not see it, I would bet, at that hour, it's a work train operating during non-normal passenger hours. Maybe hauling rail, ballast, or other MoW equipment. Of course, if you SAW it, and it was passenger equipment, I'm obviously wrong!
 
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There was a hospital train for locomotive number 35 last night. The brakes melted.
 
Work train is a possibility. Are those short like a passenger consist? It had the exact same sound as Amtrak, and it took the same amount of time to pass the house. I can hear the rumbling, even with our windows shut. We live REALLY close to the tracks, as in just a few houses away.

I wasn't about to run outside and check it out because it was below zero and snowing, and I was in pajamas. :)

It was a bit difficult to determine if it was heading east or west, though, as the sound bounces off the other houses sometimes. It sounded like it was heading west.
 
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There was a hospital train that ran recently. It probably was that. I don't know the ins & outs of what happened. But here is what someone on railroadfan.com reported:

I don't know the nature of its troubles but Genesis 34 is laid up in Pontiac and they don't want to to move on a revenue run to get back to Chicago. The brakes must be part of it based on the extra equipment they have for train line brake power. The additional units and 2 super liners will be cut off in Pontiac, 355 will leave with a regular consist, and the "hospital' train will leave sometime after with 34 in tow.
I think it would be train number 963.

peter
 
There was a hospital train that ran recently. It probably was that. I don't know the ins & outs of what happened. But here is what someone on railroadfan.com reported:

I don't know the nature of its troubles but Genesis 34 is laid up in Pontiac and they don't want to to move on a revenue run to get back to Chicago. The brakes must be part of it based on the extra equipment they have for train line brake power. The additional units and 2 super liners will be cut off in Pontiac, 355 will leave with a regular consist, and the "hospital' train will leave sometime after with 34 in tow.
I think it would be train number 963.

peter
Yup. Amtrak says the scheduled arrival for #963 was 10:39 PM, meaning it would have left Pontiac an hour after #355 departed. The website doesn't have an actual arrival time for KAL, though.
 
I wasn't about to run outside and check it out because it was below zero and snowing, and I was in pajamas. :)
I'm starting to wonder if you really are a railfan? ;)
By the time I put on my shoes and coat, ran downstairs, and ran to the sidewalk, it would have been gone. :)

Plus, I was busy enjoying my heated mattress pad and an adult beverage. I love trains, but nothing could have dragged me out of bed last night.
 
I wasn't about to run outside and check it out because it was below zero and snowing, and I was in pajamas. :)
I'm starting to wonder if you really are a railfan? ;)
By the time I put on my shoes and coat, ran downstairs, and ran to the sidewalk, it would have been gone.
A real railfan would have setup a remote camera with floodlights and an RFID reader to confirm their suspicions during adverse weather conditions. ;)

I am getting this vision

Sarah,

in the snow

in her jammies
You forgot the adult beverage and perhaps a bit of tipsy slipping. ^_^
 
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It can be very enjoyable to wake up at night to the sound of a heavy freight in the distance; in my case it will either be fighting to climb a slight grade or kicking in the Dynamics to slow if going the other way.
 
It can be very enjoyable to wake up at night to the sound of a heavy freight in the distance; in my case it will either be fighting to climb a slight grade or kicking in the Dynamics to slow if going the other way.
Agreed. The freight lines are about a mile away, so the horns sound more like a mourning dove, but I can still hear them. :)
 
I knew a old rail fan that had light installed on the side of his home shining toward the tracks with a switch located next to his bed. His home was about 100 feet from the tracks. I was jealous, my house was 400 ft. From the tracks!
 
I wasn't about to run outside and check it out because it was below zero and snowing, and I was in pajamas. :)
I'm starting to wonder if you really are a railfan? ;)
By the time I put on my shoes and coat, ran downstairs, and ran to the sidewalk, it would have been gone.
A real railfan would have setup a remote camera with floodlights and an RFID reader to confirm their suspicions during adverse weather conditions. ;)

I am getting this vision

Sarah,

in the snow

in her jammies
You forgot the adult beverage and perhaps a bit of tipsy slipping. ^_^
When I've had adult beverages in sufficient quantity I'm seeing and hearing Amtrak trains even when there aren't any. :)
 
I just heard an Amtrak train pass my house . . .
Wow! You can tell just by the sound?
I used to live next to the tracks and could tell freight, Amtrak, and VRE apart from sound because, well, they all sound different.
Agreed, and the horn doesn't have a lot to do with it. Amtrak trains are faster and shorter.
Amtrak hums at a higher pitch and there's less squealing and squeaking. VRE had a lower pitch than Amtrak. WMATA is noisier than all of them. Including freight.
 
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