Train From Hell

[Cody J]

I was watching the NBC Nightly News during dinner and saw this video:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#34774474

It takes a while to get to the train part but just be patient.

[jettrainfan]

BLOODY........!!! Thats got to be a nightmare!

[Jim Banner]

Some years ago, my wife I took the train from Saskatoon to Vancouver at Christmas.  The train was late due to the cold.  Real winter cold, not that 0^o spring and fall stuff.  But nobody much cared.  After we were a few hours late, VIA made all the food and drink free so we were are well fed and happy.  When we got to Vancouver almost 12 hours late, they gave us vouchers for a free trip the next time.

I don't know if the difference between us and the people in that news video was a result of Amtrak's versus VIA's reaction to the situation, or whether Canadians are more laid back about delays because we know they are going to happen in the winter and there is nothing we can do about them.  But whatever the reason, I never heard a single complaint.  Most of us felt we had had a great time, meeting new people, talking, and partying.  Even the staff let their hair down and joined in.

Jim

[Michigan Railfan]

Ha. I was just watching that on Nightly News. That did seem terrible. Just a question. I seen the snowplow, and I think I saw a tender behind it. Were my eyes fooling me? If I'm not mistaken, they don't use those kind of snowplows anymore, do they? My friend said they don't, but I just want to make sure.

[Paul M.]

Also, Amtrak's Texas Eagle #21, from San Antonio to Chicago, has derailed twice in the past two days!

EDIT: Here's a link to the first derailment:
http://thundertrain.org/Amtrak21Derail-010610.html

[jbsmith]

Even the RRoads must sometimes bow to Mother Nature.
Those people should stop whining and complaining and be thankfull
that they got to their destinations alive.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

I don't know if the difference between us and the people in that news video was a result of Amtrak's versus VIA's reaction to the situation, or whether Canadians are more laid back about delays because we know they are going to happen in the winter and there is nothing we can do about them.  But whatever the reason, I never heard a single complaint.  Most of us felt we had had a great time, meeting new people, talking, and partying.  Even the staff let their hair down and joined in.

Jim

I suspect Canadians have a more realistic attitude toward winter than a lot of folks in the U.S.

And I bet the folks who were shown on the NBC news were traveling in coach rather than in the sleepers. 

Me, if I'd been on the train, I wouldn't have cared--as long as there was heat in the cars and the toilets still worked. ...

[mf5117]

Is this cold snap due to global warming . Eat your words Al Gore . Tis the season and I love it . It -9 c or 15 f here in houston tonight . there making it like it's a winter hurricane . Although in 1989 it froze for 3 days and the power was out for a week . And we even got snow in early november this year . Shut the Airports down for awhile . I agree as long as the toilets worked and there was food and water . Enjoy the trip . As long as everybody got there safe . Could have been like old Sully "and went water skiing in the Hudson " If people were waiting at the station I'm sure there was a BAR close .    Looked like she was the only one B@#$%^ing about it .

[BestSnowman]

Showing Minnesota as 0F or is kind of an understatement. As I type this the temperature where I live is -18F (Actual temperature, not wind chill).

I agree with Jeff especially as the train originated in California. I'd also go a bit further and say the younger generations are much less patient and calm in this type of a situation as evidenced by the passenger that called it from the train from hell. I'd be annoyed with snow delays or even a road crossing accident and an extra 19 hours on board but to me a hell train would be one where I felt lucky to walk away alive or worse.

To Jim's point as someone who has never ridden Amtrak before I don't know what their policy is in these situations but I wouldn't be surpised it its not as good as VIA rails based on your story based on their financial state. Despite the government assuring that they would be profitiable by 1974 they have run deficits every year since they began operating. There are some Amtrak routes with a single person's ticket has to be subsidized by tax money in the range of $400-$1,000. That is on some routes a trip costs Amtrak $800-$1200 per passenger but only charge $200-$400 so they don't exactly have money to throw around keeping passengers happy.

[Loco Bill]

Indiana,

I too thought I saw a tender, but at my age my eyes are not so good any more.  It looks much like some of the older UP & BN rotary plows I have seen.  they were Oil fired and the tender carried the oil to power the blade.   The power to push the  plow comes from two to four Loco's.  With all the trouble UP & BNSF are having with the snow they may have brought  the older unit into service. The newer ones have all electric power usually from a trailing loco.   In recent years the Railroads kept the older Rotary plows in deep standby.  This huge cold spell and all the snow may have force them to put them back in servi

One time I watched an oil fired UP Rotary clear the Rock Island Line between Colorado Springs and Limon Colorado.  It was an incredible sight!!

[BestSnowman]

I didn't catch a tender though it might have been a snail. The UP and at least some of the BNSF rotarys use an older locomotive (like an old F or GP) that has its prime mover but no traction motors. They run heavy cables to the rotary which has been retrofitted with traction motors powering the rotor.

I've seen some photos of one of BN's rotarys with an old F-B unit as its power source, possibly that was what looked like a tender?

[Michigan Railfan]

Bill, two to four loco's? I thought it only took one or two. Oh well. I agree, they may have brought in older units, since this winter has been pretty bad, but not here in Metro Detroit. It did'nt start snowing real hard pretty much until this month.
BestSnowman, what I saw may have been a high nose GP9. Not completely sure though, but I have Athearn's model of this snowplow, and the front looked exactly  the same as the model.

[Paul M.]

I'm prety sure I saw a F-unit.... of course, the footage could have been decades-old stock footage...

[jettrainfan]

EDIT: Here's a link to the first derailment:
http://thundertrain.org/Amtrak21Derail-010610.html

What happened to cranes?

[Guilford Guy]

Looks like a diesel plow, followed up by a slug.