Passenger Trains > Ultra Late 49 and Just About to Get Much Later

As reported in other threads here on TO, the westbound Amtrak Lake Shore Limited that left New York City on Saturday had a rough go of it. The train had left New York six hours late after a Saturday afternoon rock slide near Peerskill, N.Y., blocked the tracks. It then lost three more hours.

Hmmmmm. If this keeps up, No. 49 will be through Cleveland in late morning or early afternoon. No. 49 is scheduled to arrive into Cleveland at 3:27 a.m. and although it is frequently late, it seldom is late enough to be seen in daylight.

I kept an eye on No. 49 and decided to capture it at Olmsted Falls. Amtrak Julie predicted a 1:44 p.m. arrival in Cleveland before I left my house just after 11 a.m.

At some point, the Amtrak website put No. 49 into "service disruption" mode and the last report was departing Buffalo Depew station at 10:44 a.m., 10 hours and 45 minutes late.

I would later learn that No. 49 had arrived in Cleveland at 2:06 p.m., 10 hours and 33 minutes late.

With Julie of no help, I had to rely on radio reports on the NS road channel. The NS dispatchers had their hands full, particularly the Toledo East dispatcher who had to contend with 18 miles of single track west of CP 216 near Vermilion.

At one point, trains 21Z, 21G, 27J, 15N and 417 were backed up waiting for track as a small fleet of eastbounds was allowed to move on the single track.

On the Cleveland Terminal side, westbound 19A tripped the detector southeast of Cleveland. Trains 65R and 65K were re-crewed in the Cleveland area and from the sound of things on the radio more westbounds were coming.

The first report I heard of No. 49 was about 2:10 p.m. when the Cleveland Terminal dispatcher reported that Amtrak had just left the station. Shortly thereafter, the terminal dispatcher called Amtrak 49.

"Hey, do you guys have any passengers on that train?"

"Oh yeah, we're packed."

Presumably, the dispatcher took this information into account in deciding what trains to move and when. His immediate interest was the 65K, which had re-crewed at CP Max and was ready to leave. At first the dispatcher told the 65K that it would follow Amtrak out of CP Max.

Then the 65K was told to take 'em down to Eastland Road. Ultimately, the 65K was told to watch for signal indication at CP 194 (Berea). No sooner had that information been conveyed but the Toledo East dispatcher came on to tell the 65K not to go past Lewis Road (MP 195) until instructed to do so.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/14 03:29 by SDP40F600.

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Amtrak typically leaves the Cleveland station on Track No. 1 but must crossover to Track No. 2 to work the platform at Elyria. I am not sure if No. 49 crossed over at CP Max or at Berea. Whatever the case, the engineer called a clear signal for Track No. 2 at 195.

No. 49 came through Olmsted Falls at 2:35 p.m. Shown in Photo 4 is private car Mount Vernon on the rear of No. 49 with a couple of the passengers waving at me.

After Amtrak had passed Olmsted Falls, I heard the Toledo East dispatcher tell the foreman at the single tracking site that five eastbounds would the next movements.

The dispatcher told Amtrak that it would go two to one at CP 210 I think it was and would pull in behind a freight at CP 216. If I understood this correctly, it meant that No. 49 would be waiting for the five eastbounds plus the westbound in front of him to get out of the way.

I would find out later that I had heard correctly. A friend who had gone to Vermilion reported that No. 49 went through there at 5 p.m. It had taken an hour and a half for No. 49 to travel about 20 miles.

Here is what my friend reported:

"It [No. 49] ended up sitting for six eastbounds and the 15N went ahead of it through the single lining. We never did see the 417; it was the low man on the pole and then some. They ran the 65R oil train around it, as well.

"The 65K was still being held as were the 145, 11V and at least two others. The 18N was coming out of Bellevue and wondering why he was going into the siding at Avery with the trains it was meeting no where in sight. "No where for you to go once you get to Vermillon," came the explanation from the dispatcher.

"The dispatcher shifted the traffic direction to eastbound for the 20E, just as we were leaving about 6:15 p.m.

"There were some good chuckles from listening to the radio conversations. The 65R and the foreman were having a tough time hearing each other, but everyone else on the railroad could hear both of them just fine."

A report here on TO indicated that No. 49 terminated at Toledo and the passengers were taken by bus to Chicago. Passengers for No. 48 on Sunday night were to travel by bus to Toledo.

At about 6 a.m. on Monday morning, the Amtrak universe in Northeast Ohio had returned to normal. No. 48 was doing 79 mph east of Sandusky and appeared to be operating about an hour late on the Track a Train feature. The status mechanism said information on arrival and departure times at Cleveland were unavailable due to a service disruption.

As for No. 49 today, it was running about an hour and 16 minutes late. I'm sure some passengers grumbled about that. If they only knew what they missed had they been scheduled to board their train a day earlier.

In photos 3 and 4 the object standing in the ballast to the left is a pair of microphones set up by a couple who were railfanning at the Olmsted Falls depot.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/14 03:35 by SDP40F600.

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So how did they end up handling the PV? Still in Toledo to be picked up later or heading back east ?

Posted from iPhone

PV is now on 29(20) heading to Chicago. Has to make a same day with 7(21) heading to MSP.

None of this mess sounds like Amtrak's fault. Except why do they continue to put trains that are running on their normal routes with normal station stops into service disruption? They are only really late. Not disrupted. What is someone say in Elyria where there is probably no agent suppose to do to get accurate information as to when their train will arrive? Would intermediate passengers from Cleveland on ward be put on #29 (that's a number sign, not a hash tag for younger readers) instead assuming it hasn't already gone through?

Amtrak does attempt to reaccommodate passengers whose trains are going to be really late, if it has alternatives. With this particular train taking a six-hour hit in the Hudson Valley, I imagine #49's passengers out of Cleveland and points west on Sunday morning were put on #29 to the extent space was available. I once was ticketed for a late-running #49 to go to Chicago and they called to try to place me on a train out of Ann Arbor instead so that I'd get to Chicago closer to on-time, but I was meeting other passengers on #49 so I rode the late train.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/14 06:06 by toledopatch.

The NS dispatchers had their hands full, particularly the Toledo East dispatcher who had to contend with 18 miles of single track west of CP 216 near Vermilion.

At one point, trains 21Z, 21G, 27J, 15N and 417 were backed up waiting for track as a small fleet of eastbounds was allowed to move on the single track.

Is this in an area where NS is going to double track due to capacity constraints?

The entire NS west of Cleveland to Chicago has at least 2 tracks, reverse-signaled.

rombout137 Wrote:
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> PV is now on 29(20) heading to Chicago. Has to
> make a same day with 7(21) heading to MSP.


More correctly, the PV HOPES to make a same day connection to 7(21). If not, they will likely go on 7(22) and have one less stopover day in MSP.

knotch8 Wrote:
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> The entire NS west of Cleveland to Chicago has at
> least 2 tracks, reverse-signaled.

I believe one track is out of service in various places for summer track rehab program. There has been regular delays on NS between Cleveland and Chicago - of the order of about two hours at least.

chakk Wrote:
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> rombout137 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > PV is now on 29(20) heading to Chicago. Has to
> > make a same day with 7(21) heading to MSP.
>
>
> More correctly, the PV HOPES to make a same day
> connection to 7(21). If not, they will likely go
> on 7(22) and have one less stopover day in MSP.


The connection with 7(21) was made and now enroute to MSP.