Eastern Railroad Discussion > Amtrak DPU

On August 8, 2021, I was at Butler, Indiana marking time at one of my common perches, when a very late running Amtrak "LateForSure Limited" approached out of the hazy sunshine to the east.  It seemed a longer looking consist than the typical when I realized that the powers that be apparently combined Trains 49 and 29 at some point as they made their ways west to Chicago.  I can't say that I have ever seen that before, although the westbound moves are often one close behind the other as they head for their station stop at Waterloo, Indiana.

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I think the 166's train was involved in an accident, and the crew ran out of time.

103 has the older and better-looking squared-off headlight housing...

Heard it was a mechanical failure on 166 in Toledo, Ohio.

Michael Fair
Royal Oak, MI

All it needs is a BNSF ES44C4 on the point and it would look familiar,

Out 

VIA Rail has combined trains like this for years on the Kingston Sub and the remote service trains north of Montreal. I would guess the big problem for this Amtrak one would be spotting the train at the platforms.

Great catch though and thank you for posting!

Jim

Leaving Mobile, Al back in 2004ish. I met The Sunset at Akka, Al just out of  Mobile. I was surprised to see the American Orient Limit with Locomotives coupled on the rear of the Sunset.
Sunsets Engineer said Amtrak was out of Crews in Jacksonville, thus combining the two trains.

Steve

I was on a Train 49 where due to a Chicago Line derailment, Amtrak had to detour via the Porter Branch and IHB.  Because there was only 1 NS pilot available Amtrak combined Trains 49, 29 and two Wolverine trains into one giant detour move.