Passenger Trains > No 50, eastbound Cardinal, today (25)

Got word from a passenger booked in a sleeper on 50(25) CHI-WAS  that the train has been annulled past Indianapolis account damage to tracks from flooding in WV.  Appears Hoosier State is covering the CHI-IND territory.  

Passenger said that no sleeper space was available on 30, so they are opting for to take the bird to BWI instead.  

 

RevRandy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Got word from a passenger booked in a sleeper on
> 50(25) CHI-WAS  that the train has been annulled
> past Indianapolis account damage to tracks from
> flooding in WV.  Appears Hoosier State is
> covering the CHI-IND territory.  
>
> Passenger said that no sleeper space was available
> on 30, so they are opting for to take the bird to
> BWI instead.  
>
>  

Amtrak should be able to get three Superliner sleepers to pinch hit - one for each of the Capitol's consists IF demand warrants whereby passengers are actually using the Cardinal to get all the way to Eastern destinations. I don't think this is going to be a quick fix on the Cardinal route....Even transferring to Regional or other LD trains at Washington DC to get to some of the Cardinal's shared destinations would work. 
 

Where are the 2 Cardinal consists right now? Likely 2 coaches and a dinette are covering an Indy stub train. As for the rest of the route, its equipment, and its passengers, it looks like Amtrak's general disinterest and lack of agility is rearing its ugly head again. I figure 4 coaches and 2 - 3 sleepers ought to be available. The route suspension looks like weeks at this point. 

Seems to me they could add a VL sleeper and an Am2 coach to the head end of the Capitol Ltd at least on Cardinal's days of operation. Keep it simple, sell the space only for Chicago, PGH, and Washington. With some hours faster running timer, connecting trains could get them to the NEC and most of Virginia. Then have Bustitution between DC and CVS to cover the east end, connect with trains 79 and 188/182 to/from NY. They could even go nuts and add an Am-2 coach to a Regional Lynchburg train.

But no. Amtrak's lurkers on this board will no doubt mumble to themselves "No' + a cockamamie excuse.
 

50 (23) on Thursday night had 48166 plus four Horizons on the rear for "revenue space" behind all of the Beech Grove junk that was being ferried south after a 2 week lull.
The "dead" set from 51-22 plus 851-24 ran north Friday covering that trip;then 51 (25) as they called it IND-CHI ran yesterday and brought Beech Grove releases up plus that 5-car cut on the rear for paying masses.So much color on that one it looked like 1971 all over again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/16 06:38 by Dispatcher68.

I've often wondered why they would cut the train off at Indy when they could run to at least Ashland, Ky.  on the west end of the route.  The eastern section could run New York to maybe Charlottesville.  I haven't looked but I suspect both places have a wye to turn the trains.  As with any train, there are a lot of people traveling to and from some of the locations that are cut off.  I realize that those places are probably not normal places for crews to overnight, or rest.  They also don't have service facilities to service the train completely but for the passengers, it would sure beat a night time ride on a bus.  Ashland and Charlottesville are not loaded with buses but Amtrak is going to have to get them form somewhere anyway.  Why not bring the buses from the larger cities to those towns and run the bridge link between  those points?  

I guess the bean counters have figured it's cheaper to do it they way that they are doing it now, or some manager somewhere doesn't want to put forth the extra effort to make a few calls to arrange the turn around, the hotels, and other items  

I know, I don't have the "el Photo Grande,"  the big picture.  I have done the bustitution ride from Chicago to Indianapolis and then Cincinnati and it was the worst part of any Amtrak trip I have ever had.  I don't wish it on anybody.  I just know that, "Inquiring minds want to know."

John

If memory serves, there have been times that 50 on the west end (North end actually) turned at Cincinnati when there was an unexpected problem in West Virginia.
Maybe even once or twice at Huntington.
There are available yard tracks to sit on in both places.
But difficulty comes in replenishing supplies, fueling, dumping toilets, etc. when at other than a normal terminal.
While Indianapolis is not a terminal per-se, crews are now quite used to moving equipment back and forth from Beech Grove on Cardinal days, and servicing that can't be done in the station track can take place there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/16 12:37 by NewRiverGeorge.

NewRiverGeorge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If memory serves, there have been times that 50 on
> the west end (North end actually) turned at
> Cincinnati when there was an unexpected problem
> in West Virginia. 
> Maybe even once or twice at Huntington.
> There are available yard tracks to sit on in both
> places.

​Seems that I've seen that also. 

> But difficulty comes in replenishing supplies,
> fueling, dumping toilets, etc. when at other than
> a normal terminal.

Fueling should not be a problem.  Amtrak normally stops to fuel at Maysville anyway.  There should be a "Septic sucking service" in the area that could dump the toilets.  As far as supplies, since the train has only covered less than half of it's normal run, it should still have most of the supplies it needs.  Add some ice and water and send someone to Wally*World for a few odds and ends (chips, snacks, etc...)   

> While Indianapolis is not a terminal per-se, crews
> are now quite used to moving equipment back and
> forth from Beech Grove on Cardinal days, and
> servicing that can't be done in the station track
> can take place there.

I guess you could say that unusual conditions require unusual thinking.  Unusual facilities and activities.  I took a quick look at Ashland and I didn't see a wye laying around anywhere.  There were two in Huntington.  One was on NS, I think.  The other was a few miles east and looked like it was an industrial track that went onto the Marshall University campus.  If nothing else, they could turn the engine and run the coaches in reverse order, turning at least half the seats.  It would require some extra work but it could be done if someone wanted it to happen.  They manage to get things handled when something happens at a grade crossing accident in Dead Horse Gully, Az. or some other unheard of outpost.  It seems that providing the service as far as Ashland or at least Cincinnati would be easier to explain than telling someone they can't get from Chicago to Cincinnati because it rained inn West Virginia.  Of course, there was the time I had to spend an extra day in the hospital in Louisville because it snowed in Atlanta but that's another story.  I wasn't a happy camper.

Anyway, Thanks for your comments NewRiverGeorge.  

John