Eastern Railroad Discussion > Sand Patch Lull

Just spent the day wandering around Sand Patch & Meyersdale. 13 movements between 8:15 - 12:47 or so, and then things totally shut down until I left for Cumberland at about 5 or so. My question is this: when this lull occurs, is this deliberate planning or just the way things work out?

Attached is the second motor I caught coming into Cumberland Wednesday- taken at Mexico tower. Only caught it in the rear view mirror as I left, so made a real fast u-turn.

dharris

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it is deliberate , they want you to get bored and leave. all railroads do that.

Always happens. Around 1:00 til around 3:00 in Pittsburgh,pa:-)

"It always happens" Yes, because the trains are typically put out based on the crew schedule for the yards. Towards the end of the shift, all the trains get put out, then there's a big gap until they get the next batch humped and ready.

There is a curfew between Martinsburg and Weaverton. By noon, anything that got by before they started work has probably been by you too.

Sounds like a bit of an anomaly on you particular day, but the work curfews on the Keystone sub and the subs nearby to the east and west will impact train ops this summer. One impact I've seen is that many trains in the eastbound fleet (Q148,Q134,Q296,Q384, Q368,Q641) which were often were getting over the mountain before dawn (with some trains running a couple hours ahead of schedule many days) appears to have slid back a bit into early, but shootable AM light. If you get the bulk of these trains, coupled with the AM westbound parade (Q133,Q297,Q249,Q135,Q137) it makes for quite a busy morning, especially when Amtrak enters the mix. Aside from a trickle of eastbounds (Q358 and Q136), early afternoon looks pretty sparse, as the schedules for usual afternoon westbounds Q375 and Q217 have been pushed back (they are both now set for 16:00 departures from Cumberland) followed by Q353,which has been pushed to 17:30. The message: get up early, nap in the afternoon!

Mike