Fire on the Eastbound California Zephyer Yesterday!

[Loco Bill Canelos]

My son did a weekend run on Friday from Denver to Reno on the westbound CZ and as I write this he is riding on Train 6 eastbound returning to Denver.  The train is running 6 hours late due to a fire on the brakes of one of the coaches.   The Train was about an hour east of Elko running on time when the fire was discovered when one of the two coaches filled with smoke.  The train stopped on the main and the crew put out the fire. The passengers in the coach were moved to the remaining coach.  After about an hour the conductor(assuming after discussions with management) decided to back the train three miles to a siding and cut out the coach. This decision was made because if the bad ordered  coach were to remain on the train it would have been restricted to a max speed of 40 MPH due the fact that there were not enough working brakes to allow faster speeds under the rules.

The rules also required that the last car in the train had to have all brakes functioning.  This set up and elaborate switching operation at this remote siding in the middle of nowhere because the last sleeper did not have all the brakes functioning.  My son's sleeper was the one with all good brakes next to the dining car.

When the train reached the siding the conductor decided to swap the sleepers first.  The train was running in the latest configuration of baggage, lounge, coach, coach, dining car, sleeper, sleeper.  The last sleeper was backed into the siding and cut off.  the second sleeper was then set out on the main.  They then went back and got the sleeper on the siding and backed it up on the main to couple on to the other sleeper putting my sons car last on the train.  All this time the ventilation and heat was disabled and the cars got pretty cold. At this point they uncoupled the two sleepers and the dining car leaving them on the main.  My son then went to the door on the diner hand had a good look at the remaining switching operations thru the window on the diner door.  They then set out the bad ordered coach.  At this point a UP maintenance truck showed up and assisted the Amtrak crew.  After the car was set out the baggage had to be moved from it to the remaining coach.  Since the coach had to be left behind, all the fluids had to be removed from the car to keep it from freezing up in the desert cold.  At this point they backed up and coupled up to the diner and sleepers. Once coupled up all the HEP cables and brake lines had to be reconnected and inspected under the rules before the train could proceed.  After all was in order and the train began to proceed it was over six hours late.

My son was excited at seeing all this action and is happy about the delay because he will now be going over soldier summit in the daylight.  He has already seen a Utah Railway train pass his train.  He was unable to get a shot, but the units were painted in the Utah Ry colors which was a surprise since they are using so many lease units.

So the train will get to Denver around 11 PM with only one coach, if there are no further problems, and some of the lost time is made up.   Due to the loss of the coach, passengers expecting to board at Glenwood Springs will be bussed to Denver.   As always on these trips we befriend the conductor and in this case my son did as well.  Turns out the conductor is on an Amtrak working group dedicated to improving service.  He told my son that the train has been rearranged because with fewer baggage cars and sometimes no baggage cars there were times when the sleeper passengers complained about diesel smell in their car.  Turns out that in many cases the baggage compartments in the Superliners are enough to accommodate all the baggage without the need for a separate baggage car.  So for now the lounge car will be first in the consist after the baggage car(if any)and the sleepers will be at the end of the train.

I wish I could have been with him on this trip, but have been stuck with following the train on the Track a Train feature on the Amtrak website and frequent cell phone reports.  Even at that it has been an interesting few days!

All you model railroaders who are into operations might have fun including this scenario into one of your operating sessions

Loco Bill