Passenger Trains > Last Nights Cardinal out of Chicago

Watching the late Cardinal going through Lafayette Indiana on the railcam at 1154pm you can see cars heading to Beech Grove.   While we celebrate cars returning from Beech Grove it seems that Amtrak is keeping the shops busy.  Heading there were 2 Dash 8's, a P-42, 1 Superliner Sleeper, 1 Superliner Diner, 2 Superliner Coaches, and 1 Baggage not all in that order.  The Cardinal consist still have 3 coaches so hopefully that will be a permanent feature for this sad train.

amtrakbill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Watching the late Cardinal going through Lafayette
> Indiana on the railcam at 1154pm you can see cars
> heading to Beech Grove.   While we celebrate
> cars returning from Beech Grove it seems that
> Amtrak is keeping the shops busy.  Heading there
> were 2 Dash 8's, a P-42, 1 Superliner Sleeper, 1
> Superliner Diner, 2 Superliner Coaches, and 1
> Baggage not all in that order.  The Cardinal
> consist still have 3 coaches so hopefully that
> will be a permanent feature for this sad train.

Looked like a consist one might see on a model RR layout!

We pause to note WV US Senator Shelly Moore Capito is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and chairs the Environmental & Public Works Committee these days.

In the past, she has supported expanding the Cardinal to daily service.  We shall see.

It would be helpful if she would put pressure on CSX to do a better job of removing dead trees along the route in order to reduce the frequent delays and damage caused by fallen trees. 

MrBill13 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It would be helpful if she would put pressure on
> CSX to do a better job of removing dead trees
> along the route in order to reduce the frequent
> delays and damage caused by fallen trees. 

That’s the case on all the railroads these days. If you look at pictures taken in the 1960s on the same routes, the trees were kept away from the right of way a lot better. And the right of way had already been there for 80 to 100 years so, it’s not like they didn’t have time to grow. The railroad just used to keep after them. It truly does cause a lot of problems.

Posted from iPhone

alan2955 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MrBill13 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It would be helpful if she would put pressure
> on
> > CSX to do a better job of removing dead trees
> > along the route in order to reduce the frequent
> > delays and damage caused by fallen trees. 
>
> That’s the case on all the railroads these days.
> If you look at pictures taken in the 1960s on the
> same routes, the trees were kept away from the
> right of way a lot better. And the right of way
> had already been there for 80 to 100 years so,
> it’s not like they didn’t have time to grow.
> The railroad just used to keep after them. It
> truly does cause a lot of problems.
>
> Posted from iPhone

You assume the trees are on the RR ROW, they may not be...

amtrakbill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Watching the late Cardinal going through Lafayette
> Indiana on the railcam at 1154pm ........... Late?
Well at least it's running and not cancelled like
The Floridian because of a minor snow event.

I've been on the Cardinal several times through the area and there are more dead and decaying trees adjacent to the tracks than any other place I've been. I've also had five major delays on the Cardinal from hitting trees on the track and never experienced similar problems on any other train. 

Back in the old days, when the railroads had section gangs, that was one of their duties including working on the track and handling ice in flange-ways, clearing snow from switches, etc.. Of course, they cleared the right-of-way before the trees became big enough to be a problem.

Victor Baird

MrBill13 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It would be helpful if she would put pressure on
> CSX to do a better job of removing dead trees
> along the route in order to reduce the frequent
> delays and damage caused by fallen trees.