Western Railroad Discussion > Amtrak Train 6 Stuck

Sounds like big trouble on Donner Pass! KCRA 3 in Sacramento, is reporting Amtrak Train 6, to Chicago is stopped in Auburn, ca. Also, a freight train stopped just behind 6. Must be something going on on the hill? Train 6 should have been through the area around 1:30pm.

Valleyman

Just snow problems, #6, Fun train, a no-grainer and a KOAMN all stacked up.. I wouldn't say its "stuck", just waiting.

Blizzard over Donner. Must be doing Spreader cleanup work, along with everything else.

waiting for flanger escort or is avalanche control work needed?

dan Wrote:
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> waiting for flanger escort or is avalanche control
> work needed?


There was mention of a decent sized slide around Shed 10 earlier but the flangers cleared it up.

Yes, KCRA mentioned Amtrak's snow removal equipment :-)

Tom Y

kodachrome9319 Wrote:
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> dan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > waiting for flanger escort or is avalanche
> control
> > work needed?
>
>
> There was mention of a decent sized slide around
> Shed 10 earlier but the flangers cleared it up.

Flangers don't clean up snowslides. Spreaders do.

WAF Wrote:
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> Flangers don't clean up snowslides. Spreaders do.

Bring that up with them.. "UP 585 flangers DS 74, small slide around Shed 10 but we cleared it up, over."

Crew said "small slide", you said "decent size slide". "Decent size slides" require spreaders

Heard the Donner DS commenting a while ago that "other than three feet of snow", everything was fine. The sarcasm was not very veiled. Then, after giving a crew a train order, he joked "please, don't let anything else happen for the next hour and 45 minutes". i.e., after the next trick comes on duty.

Not to worry, they're sending out rotary with a Cab forward down the other main, that should take care of it.

OK, I'll wait 'til April.

Heard them say there's a Reno Fun Train out there as well. I guess they just started running again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/11 20:28 by TCnR.

How the heck did the SP run Donner when there was real snow. During WW2 Im sure there was little excuses for not getting trains through come hell or high water. I know the City got stuck up there but for the most part they ran trains.

At 2020, Amtrak #6 was given a clearance from MP RV140 to RV171. I am unsure of the location of the Fun Train other than it is still part of the mess. UP flanger 585 is working somewhere in the area at this time.

photobob Wrote:
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> How the heck did the SP run Donner when there was
> real snow. During WW2 Im sure there was little
> excuses for not getting trains through come hell
> or high water. I know the City got stuck up there
> but for the most part they ran trains.

Seems like this question gets asked every time any railroad, anywhere breaks down these days because of the weather. And the key difference was that decades ago, the railroads had armies of employees who lived and worked along their main lines and were pretty much on call to respond to emergencies. These days that ready workforce just doesn't exist, and when "peak" conditions occur the preparedness just isn't there -- it has been rationalized away in the name of economic efficiency.

Update to my post above, AMTK 51 (?) was just cleared eastward behind Amtrak #6, same limits.

Sometime in the 1950s, trains stopped being essential to intercity movement of people and if a freight is delayed it isn't a big deal. So...all those people who used to clean out switches, knock snow off of trackside telegraph/telephone lines, and all the rest became more of an economic burden on the railroad than a late freight. How many people flew from Chicago to San Francisco today? I don't know, but I'm sure it was a lot more than on the #6 delayed by the snow. When I get on a long distance passenger train, I do so because I want to, not because I have to be at a certain place by a certain time. It's a different story in the corridors where a lot of people do depend on some degree of punctuality from the trains they ride.

photobob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How the heck did the SP run Donner when there was
> real snow. During WW2 Im sure there was little
> excuses for not getting trains through come hell
> or high water. I know the City got stuck up there
> but for the most part they ran trains.


Yeah... SP got trains stuck on Donner all of the time. I love how the UP lets one amtk get stuck every 5 or 10 years and everyone forgets that the SP had the same problems... So easy to remember the good times and not the bad. SP even let their fair share of amtks get trapped on Donner. My Grandfather was on one of them.

Its caled running trains. The more you ran, the less plowing by flangers. Just don't have the volume like they did in the 60s and early 70s to do it.

WAF Wrote:
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> Crew said "small slide", you said "decent size
> slide". "Decent size slides" require spreaders

Or rotaries.

For all the legendary problems on Cumbres Pass the Rio Grande had only minor problems as long as the San
Juan ran daily. Donner during WWII probably didn't even have the ties covered with snow based on the train
frequency. If you ran 80-100 trains per day precious little snow would even hit the tracks.