Passenger Trains > #49 Finally at Utica

Train left Penn Station 1:55:00 late at 5:40 pm
and arrived Utica 10:34 pm(1:50:00 late)
Estimated arrival Toledo 60 mins late

Other trains to upstate left on time. Maybe a problem with
equipment delayed 49's departure

mp16 Wrote:
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> Train left Penn Station 1:55:00 late at 5:40 pm
> and arrived Utica 10:34 pm(1:50:00 late)
> Estimated arrival Toledo 60 mins late
>
> Other trains to upstate left on time. Maybe a
> problem with
> equipment delayed 49's departure

Better time for the train to leave anyway! Even though it is in the middle of NYP's rush hour. I was always in favor of a later departure of the Lake Shore Limited. Whether it can make up some time remains to be seen.

As of 1:20 am Sat 49 is expected to be 2 hrs late at Buffalo
and 96 min late at Cleveland. But being a little over an hour
late is still estimated for Toledo

mp16 Wrote:
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> As of 1:20 am Sat 49 is expected to be 2 hrs late
> at Buffalo
> and 96 min late at Cleveland. But being a little
> over an hour
> late is still estimated for Toledo

And yet it is estimated to arrive 2 minutes early into Chicago! Go figure! We know there is padding in the Chicago trains from South Bend to Chicago - likely as much as an hour. And there's even some padding across Ohio. Should be interesting to see how this train performs or gets "later" as late trains often do!

49 can make up a full 30 minutes between Buffalo and Cleveland with a good run. Then the train can make up about 90 minutes between Cleveland and Chicago with a perfect run, but NS was congealed around Toledo this morning when 30 came in...departed Sandusky on time and took 90 minutes (for a 45 minute run) to get to Toledo. Was stuck behind at least two wb trains, and 3 eb trains were deparing or had departed Toledo so no way to get around it until 281.

The train finally arrived Chicago 75 mins. late at 11:00 am
Interesting that it seems to be frequently delayed lately
in the Sandusky area because of congestion. Is this a sign
of increased carloadings requiring more trains ? if so, maybe
the economy just might be picking up.

Old heads tell me Conrail ripped up all the excess track near Toledo, so NS must re crew/fuel trains on the main line right in front of the Amtrak station. When you run 60-80 trains a day, this can be a recipe for a very sloppy operation. It will go a few days where everything is smooth, then a few days where everything is a mess. You never know around the Toledo parking lot/Iron Curtain!

As it was today, the mess is from 256 to around 320. Even if Amtrak were gone tomorrow, I'm sure the poor NS dispatchers would love a 3rd main in spots! CP397 to CP426 is a whole mess in a different league....then the well documented Porter to Engelwood mess. (482-515)