Eastern Railroad Discussion > Enola PA - before the derailment at Altoona?

I spent a few hours on Friday evening and Saturday morning at the Bridgeview Inn, and it seemed like the Harrisburg Terminal was locked in ice. Very little was moving, with two trains tied down north of Cove, two waiting eastbounds at Rockville, with a third waiting at Marysville, a relief crew boarding an intermodal to bring it into Harrisburg, etc. You know things are bad when three different crews are within 2 hours of outlawing, and just a few miles from the terminal.

It sounded like there was congestion at the fuel pad, among other issues. Anybody know what was happening on Friday afternoon and evening? By Saturday morning, it looked like things were back in business before the derailment in Altoona.

Crew shortages are impacting operations on NS in a big way. I was along the Middle Division on Friday and heard the Altoona East dispatcher tell a couple of trains that they were going to be held at Mifflin and at Longfellow because there was no room at Altoona for them due to crew shortages.

birdman Wrote:
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> Crew shortages are impacting operations on NS in a
> big way. I was along the Middle Division on
> Friday and heard the Altoona East dispatcher tell
> a couple of trains that they were going to be held
> at Mifflin and at Longfellow because there was no
> room at Altoona for them due to crew shortages.

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. Harrisburg seemed to be trying to get priority trains into position to be re-crewed, using relief crews, etc. Several trains were tied down, and the vans were busy.

CSX has been having problems of their own along the River Sub in NY and NJ recently with congestion and crews outlawing...They can doubletrack the entire River Sub or 4 track the Pittsburgh Line to add capacity but if the yards are clogged, the extra mainline trackage will only serve to park trains...Dave W



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/14 17:22 by dwi189.