Yesterday's.... ehh today's Empire Builder...

[BuzzKillington]

Yesterday's scheduled arrival of the Empire Builder into Chicago, actually arrived less than an hour ago at 6:58am... a full 15 hours and 3 minutes late. What happened? There must have been some SERIOUS problems, or Amtrak needs to be held responsible for poor planning to a situation.

 

[jmbgeg]

Yesterday's scheduled arrival of the Empire Builder into Chicago, actually arrived less than an hour ago at 6:58am... a full 15 hours and 3 minutes late. What happened? There must have been some SERIOUS problems, or Amtrak needs to be held responsible for poor planning to a situation.

Here is where the delay first materialized. Don't know the carse.

GGW * * 2 347P * 442P Departed: 55 minutes late.

* WPT * * 2 433P * 528P Departed: 55 minutes late.

* WTN * * 2 709P * 824P Departed: 1 hour and 15 minutes late.

* STN * * 2 811P * 926P Departed: 1 hour and 15 minutes late.

* MOT 2 922P 2 942P 1014P 1011A Departed: 12 hours and 29 minutes late.

 

[VentureForth]

Can't imagine. The shutdown happened between Devils Lake and Grand Forks. Can't find anything on Google as to a reason. Webcams in the area show snow, but nothing severe.

Best guess is that the equipment froze.

 

[Mackensen]

Can't imagine. The shutdown happened between Devils Lake and Grand Forks. Can't find anything on Google as to a reason. Webcams in the area show snow, but nothing severe.
Best guess is that the equipment froze.

That wouldn't surprise me. I was on a WB Empire Builder in early January last year and we had a Genesis break down and a frozen switch. Got held up in Devils Lake for 4 hours. That train was eventually 10 hours late and ended in Spokane. Moral of the story? Don't take the Empire Builder in the dead of winter .

 

[Ispolkom]

Can't imagine. The shutdown happened between Devils Lake and Grand Forks. Can't find anything on Google as to a reason. Webcams in the area show snow, but nothing severe.
Best guess is that the equipment froze.

That wouldn't surprise me. I was on a WB Empire Builder in early January last year and we had a Genesis break down and a frozen switch. Got held up in Devils Lake for 4 hours. That train was eventually 10 hours late and ended in Spokane. Moral of the story? Don't take the Empire Builder in the dead of winter .

Which isn't really an option for those of us who have Christmas obligations up on the Hi Line. In any case, I'd rather be stuck on a late Empire Builder than to try to drive from St. Paul to Minot in wintertime.

In any case, the problem seems to be limited to that particular train. The west bound #7 passed through Minot yesterday morning while #8 was sitting there, and while the stop took longer than scheduled, it's only 45 minutes late in Washington state.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Engine failure resulting in dogcatch. My best guess.

 

[Rafi]

The Builder and Zephyr sure have been taking their lumps this past week due to weather. In the case of this particular Builder (8(12)), the engines had air problems at Minot with frozen lines in the middle of night. After a few hours of trying to wrestle with it, BNSF sent in a rescue engine, but they had to wye the entire train just to get the unit pointed properly on the head end. I can only imagine the conditions: wind, driving snow, black of night, etc, all while trying to muscle frozen air hoses into place to get a clean seal. Must've been hell out there.

Rafi

 

[amtrakwolverine]

Engine failure resulting in dogcatch. My best guess.

does dogcatch in English mean the crew outlawed and had to wait for a new crew.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Engine failure resulting in dogcatch. My best guess.

does dogcatch in English mean the crew outlawed and had to wait for a new crew.

Yes but according to Rafi that's not what happened.

But yes, a dogcatch is when an outlawed crew needs to be rescued.

 

[jmbgeg]

Can't imagine. The shutdown happened between Devils Lake and Grand Forks. Can't find anything on Google as to a reason. Webcams in the area show snow, but nothing severe.
Best guess is that the equipment froze.

That wouldn't surprise me. I was on a WB Empire Builder in early January last year and we had a Genesis break down and a frozen switch. Got held up in Devils Lake for 4 hours. That train was eventually 10 hours late and ended in Spokane. Moral of the story? Don't take the Empire Builder in the dead of winter .

Don't say that. I have a 1/1/10 eastbound EB trip with two downline connections before I get to sunny Florida. The EB will be right on time with no delays, right?

 

[DET63]

Engine failure resulting in dogcatch. My best guess.

does dogcatch in English mean the crew outlawed and had to wait for a new crew.

Yes but according to Rafi that's not what happened.

But yes, a dogcatch is when an outlawed crew needs to be rescued.

Then the outlawed crew has to be taken to the dog pound.

 

[the_traveler]

Engine failure resulting in dogcatch. My best guess.

does dogcatch in English mean the crew outlawed and had to wait for a new crew.

But yes, a dogcatch is when an outlawed crew needs to be rescued.

Then the outlawed crew has to be taken to the dog pound.

Only if they can be caught! :lol:

 

[anir dendroica]

Does BNSF have as many cold-related problems with their equipment, or is there something about the P42s that makes them more vulnerable to winter conditions?

 

[jmbgeg]

The Builder and Zephyr sure have been taking their lumps this past week due to weather. In the case of this particular Builder (8(12)), the engines had air problems at Minot with frozen lines in the middle of night. After a few hours of trying to wrestle with it, BNSF sent in a rescue engine, but they had to wye the entire train just to get the unit pointed properly on the head end. I can only imagine the conditions: wind, driving snow, black of night, etc, all while trying to muscle frozen air hoses into place to get a clean seal. Must've been hell out there.
Rafi

Several major storms have navigated west to east. Has anybody looked at a ten day forecast to see if it will be improving, woresening or about the same for the rest of the year?

 

[MattW]

Why did they have to turn the entire train? Wouldn't then train itself then be pointed in the wrong direction? And wouldn't it have been simpler just to turn the locomotive?

 

[Montanan]

I'm not sure why it had to be done that way, but apparently they coupled a BNSF loco to the rear of the train, wyed the train so the BNSF locomotive would be in the lead, and then and left town that way, with the Amtrak locos on the rear providing electrical power for the passenger cars.

 

[Ispolkom]

Several major storms have navigated west to east. Has anybody looked at a ten day forecast to see if it will be improving, woresening or about the same for the rest of the year?

I'm taking the Empire Builder on 12/23 and 12/26, so this is of interest to me. The temperatures are supposed to rise in the next few days, and there's no big storm forecast before Christmas, but a ten-day forecast this time of year isn't usually worth much.

 

[jmbgeg]

Several major storms have navigated west to east. Has anybody looked at a ten day forecast to see if it will be improving, woresening or about the same for the rest of the year?

I'm taking the Empire Builder on 12/23 and 12/26, so this is of interest to me. The temperatures are supposed to rise in the next few days, and there's no big storm forecast before Christmas, but a ten-day forecast this time of year isn't usually worth much.

I am not traveling until 1/1, and I agree, a winter 10 day forecast has lower odds of accuracy than winning in Vegas.

 

[Bierboy]

..I am not traveling until 1/1, and I agree, a winter 10 day forecast has lower odds of accuracy than winning in Vegas.

What continually amazes me is this -- if WE did our jobs as poorly as weather forecasters do theirs, we'd be out of a job in no time flat....

 

[MattW]

..I am not traveling until 1/1, and I agree, a winter 10 day forecast has lower odds of accuracy than winning in Vegas.

What continually amazes me is this -- if WE did our jobs as poorly as weather forecasters do theirs, we'd be out of a job in no time flat....

You mean if you did our jobs as poorly as the weather models, not forecasters. The forecasters actually do a darn good job at trying to sort through the model data spit out by the computers and knowing which model runs are garbage and which are to be believed. For instance, the main model used here in the U.S. the GFS usually shows the Southeastern United States buried under a blizzard at hour 384, think that's happened?

 

[Rumpled]

If we all picked another occupation and got things right 30% of the time - we'd be about the best in the world and rewarded with something like $9 million a year.

But we all can't be baseball players.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

..I am not traveling until 1/1, and I agree, a winter 10 day forecast has lower odds of accuracy than winning in Vegas.

What continually amazes me is this -- if WE did our jobs as poorly as weather forecasters do theirs, we'd be out of a job in no time flat....

Weather forecasting is the hardest thing in the world if you're trying to be scientific about it. I'm damned good at predicting the weather- but I couldn't sell the skill since its just a gut sense that is usually (60% of the time?) accurate. Some weather comes out of nowhere sometimes, and it messes up everything previously predicted.