Passenger Trains > Train 3 now expected over 3 hrs late

Train 3 today Friday departed CHI on time. Expected over 3 hrs late at Naperville!

What happened this time!

Returned after first departure to replace a chair car.

Have we left yet? Well, yes, but no, not really! Will we leave soon? Beats me!

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar

I'd rather have them go back and replace the car then to haul it all the way to LA where it probably can't be fixed.

Lack of good maintenance

Posted from iPhone

MEKoch Wrote:
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> Lack of good maintenance
>
> Posted from iPhone

Oh, so nothing ever breaks down in route?

Pretty sure they probably didn't need the 3rd coach anyway. CB&Q/ATSF probably would have set it out and continued on. Or they would have had extra coaches to add down the line. That's part of the problem with the way Amtrak is set up. In a perfect world they would have extra cars and engines stationed though out the system. The worst part is they could have made a good showing on Saturday morning with a snow storm, now they will probably be even later probably!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/17 21:23 by mp51w.

Was 3:25 late into first stop Naperville. Estimated 2:58 late into next stop Dodge City KS at 8:17 this morning.

Ret. Navy Chief Bob Jensen
Manteno, IL

DDG 828A 835A Arrived: 3 hours, 9 minutes late. | Departed: 3 hours, 10 minutes late.

What was wrong with the "chair" car ?

They got 1&1/2 miles out of town, someone heard loud banging and inspection revealed it was condemnable flat spots so, the train reverses back into CUS where the car was drilled out and it took over 2 hours to find a replacement car.

And no one in the coach yard noticed, or even the crew backing into CUS.

Typical Chicago, send a car out and don't take the time to check on it unless it was written on the report! Give me a break!

amanwtf Wrote:
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> They got 1&1/2 miles out of town, someone heard
> loud banging and inspection revealed it was
> condemnable flat spots so, the train reverses back
> into CUS where the car was drilled out and it took
> over 2 hours to find a replacement car.


There has to be a procedure put in place where it doesn't take a long distance train that is leaving Chicago Union Station TWO hours to try and find a replacement COACH. That's just not right. Take a coach from the Capitol Limited and then hunt around for another 3 hours to find a coach for it or take a coach off of an inbound for the Capitol Limited eventually. The Southwest Chief needed to have a coach and be GONE! Also each car has a log of its maintenance - where was the log and where was the note about the wheels? And then the key question - why wasn't it caught during inspection at Chicago Yard. Too typically and this is what gets Chicago Yard in trouble over and over again.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> And no one in the coach yard noticed, or even the
> crew backing into CUS.

MAYBE the flat spots were caused when a brake failed to release during the shove into CUS.......

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > And no one in the coach yard noticed, or even
> the
> > crew backing into CUS.
>
> MAYBE the flat spots were caused when a brake
> failed to release during the shove into
> CUS.......
>
> 66

After receiving the initial terminal air test or whatever the FRA calls it now.
Nobody gives it a roll-by? The towermen at Harrison St. certainly are not going
to hear it squeal. What about the brake lights on the side of the cars?

Based on my 11 years at Amtrak in Chicago I would say nobody even looked at the wheels.

The Map 21 from is a farce much of the time. Sure items are OK'd, but then fail again out on the road far too many time.

When I traveled a lot, I would always find the book, to see what one can expect in the car I was riding.

jp1822 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> There has to be a procedure put in place where it
> doesn't take a long distance train that is leaving
> Chicago Union Station TWO hours to try and find a
> replacement COACH. That's just not right. Take a
> coach from the Capitol Limited and then hunt
> around for another 3 hours to find a coach for it
> or take a coach off of an inbound for the Capitol
> Limited eventually. The Southwest Chief needed to
> have a coach and be GONE! Also each car has a log
> of its maintenance - where was the log and where
> was the note about the wheels? And then the key
> question - why wasn't it caught during inspection
> at Chicago Yard. Too typically and this is what
> gets Chicago Yard in trouble over and over again.

Based on experience the first step after the train gets stopped is
probably to argue with the crew. Then get everything set up for the
reverse move back to the main alongside 14th St. Then wait for the car foreman
to find his way out of the office to the main line with his wheel gauge. Then the
car foreman will argue with the train director about getting "blue flag" protection
which the TD can not give because the train is on a main track. Finally get the
gauge on the wheels. UH-OH! They ARE too flat to take. Car foreman calls TM.
"Car is bad order for wheels. Your crew must have put a hand brake on the car
after it left the yard because there was nothing wrong with it when we inspected it"
Car foreman has now wiped his hands clean of the issue and heads back to office.
TM makes many calls. Now after all this is a plan formulated to steal a car from a train
already in the yard. tick, tick, tick..............

That's the way it used to work, probably hasn't changed, nothing else has.