Passenger Trains > What ails the Sunset, redux

Sunset Limited 2(28) lost three hours at Tucson. Cause: "ENG"

Arrived with the AMTK 186 and 197.

Departed with the AMTK 197 and 186.

State of Good Repair.

Where is all the stimulus money that Amtrak got going?  I would guess, based on the number of locomotive issues that we've seen, that it isn't going to fixing equipment. 

I will be writing to my Congressman today, urging an investigation into Amtrak's maintenance practices. 

The maintenance practices, like the customer service aboard the trains, is wildly inconsistent from terminal to terminal.  I saw that during my years as a private car owner after spending many, many days and nights in the yards all over the system.  I think that the two most efficiently run facilities were Ivy City and New Orleans.  Whenever we observed ATK equipment being worked upon or whenever we needed service or running repairs on our car, the staff at both locations were swiftly responsive.  Chicago, in my opinion and to no one's surprise, was the poorest performer.

-John

Amtrak likes to play victim on how the Class I's handle them, sues them, grades them, entices NARP to their pitty-parties, but comes to table with dirty hands with broken down engines, old or new, departs initiating terminals late, runs with one unit, or breaks down en-route right on the main line. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/21 06:20 by joemvcnj.

I was on #2 in the through sleeper that connects to the Texas Eagle. Texas Eagle left so they put everyone on a bus to Longview to catch the Eagle.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/21 10:28 by hippieelmo.

Been like this for years, be nice if Amtrak could clean house and actually revive the RCM System wide!

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/21 18:52 by ProAmtrak.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sunset Limited 2(28) lost three hours at Tucson.
> Cause: "ENG"
>
> Arrived with the AMTK 186 and 197.
>
> Departed with the AMTK 197 and 186.


Had a similar issue with two Genesis locomotives on #5 about 10 years ago when riding from GSC to EMY, using my scanner to listen in on train talk.
About halfway to GJT, we came to a "safety system initiated stop".  Happened again 15 minutes later.  Overhead the engineer tell the conductor via radio 
that he figured the "dead man pedal annunciater" (whatever they call it) was not working correctly.
Not sure if the next crew change got the word, for it happened again twice while climbing out of Helper, UT.
At this point, the new engineer had enough, and requested permission from the dispatcher to reverse positions of the two engines (running elephant style) at 
Soldier Summit -- in a snowstorm -- with the conductor occupying one locomotive cab while the engineer moved the other locomotive, using the opposing 
main to run around.
I think we lost about 90 minutes on the timecard during this dance.

I bet it wasn't an issue from that engine swap!

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