Passenger Trains > No CHI-STL activity

There is no Chicago-St. Louis corridor activity at present. Only train on the line is long-distance TxEagle 22(27).

May have to do with a panic attack in Delaware at the Operations Center, over predicted snow late in the day. Don't want Chargers getting their tootsies cold and breaking down in winter weather.

301 and 302 cancelled "due to local municipalities working in the area."

Whatever the hell that means....

319 is out and running.

Large warehouse fire adjacent to the wye where the Lincoln Service trains wye on the TRRA. I suspect that's throwing a wrench in things. Someone on #22 took a video leaving STL this morning showing the smoke and FD on scene right up against the elevated tracks. 

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/massive-fire-engulfs-multiple-warehouses-in-downtown-st-louis/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/25 09:09 by SunsetLtd.

SunsetLtd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Large warehouse fire adjacent to the wye where the
> Lincoln Service trains wye on the TRRA. I suspect
> that's throwing a wrench in things. Someone on #22
> took a video leaving STL this morning showing the
> smoke and FD on scene right up against the
> elevated tracks. 
>
> https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/massive-fire-eng
> ulfs-multiple-warehouses-in-downtown-st-louis/

My former neighbor from when I lived in Wisconsin was posting photos of it from the train.

Posted from Android

Couldn't put a north facing unit on the rear of No.301 and operate to Alton ?
Was it even thought of ?  Will wait for report from NARP.

If there was a fire on the NEC just outside Washington, D.C., would all New York - D.C. traffic be halted ?

To Englewood - yes ,    FD calls the railroad "we have a fire" , or not long ago west of Albany " building on the verge of collapse "  . More trains will be held where the problem is .

mvrr10 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To Englewood - yes ,    FD calls the railroad
> "we have a fire" , or not long ago west of Albany
> " building on the verge of collapse "  . More
> trains will be held where the problem is .

Well, Chicago, Dwight, Pontiac, Normal, Lincoln, Springfield, Alton are nowhere near where the problem was.
These are all intermediate stations served by the Lincoln Service trains on the way to St. Louis.
The problem was 200+ miles and many hours from Chicago.
Probably a few places in the St. Louis terminal to wye a train, or engine, 

This is not some podunk route.  It is the PRIDE of Illinois DOT.   The Illinois High-Speed Route !!!!

Englewood Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mvrr10 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > To Englewood - yes ,    FD calls the railroad
> > "we have a fire" , or not long ago west of
> Albany
> > " building on the verge of collapse "  . More
> > trains will be held where the problem is .
>
> Well, Chicago, Dwight, Pontiac, Normal, Lincoln,
> Springfield, Alton are nowhere near where the
> problem was.
> These are all intermediate stations served by the
> Lincoln Service trains on the way to St. Louis.
> The problem was 200+ miles and many hours from
> Chicago.
> Probably a few places in the St. Louis terminal to
> wye a train, or engine, 
>
> This is not some podunk route.  It is the PRIDE
> of Illinois DOT.   The Illinois High-Speed Route
> !!!!

So run the train to Alton and then what? Leave it until the return trip? Tying up the single track through that area? Where you gonna refuel and restock the train? Or it just makes one run to Alton and comes back to Chicago light?

AmtrakMidwest Wrote:

>
> So run the train to Alton and then what? Leave it
> until the return trip? Tying up the single track
> through that area? Where you gonna refuel and
> restock the train? Or it just makes one run to
> Alton and comes back to Chicago light?

Your amtrak mentality shows.
I don't know if you actually work for amtrak or if your name just shows a wannabe status.
Either way you do or will fit right in.

Maybe you already work in an amtrak "ops center" somewhere. Listen closely.
If the train can't get to the St. Louis station you take the passengers for St. Louis to the closest station.
Find out how many passengers there are for St. Louis and arrange for alternate transportation to St. Louis.
Instruct the Conductor to leave the Cafe Car and notify the St. Louis passengers about what is going on.
Perhpas some will arrange to be met by friends or relatives at Alton, others may arrange their owner ride share.

Operating the train also allows all the passengers for points north of St. Louis to actually ride the train instead of
just being told to pound sand with apologies.

After passengers detrain at Alton the crew takes the train to a location you have arranged with the UP for
temporary storage. If you were able to get a properly faced unit on the north end of the train all is well.  If no
engine on the north end arrange with the TRRA to wye or loop the train. There are wyes on both sided of the
Merchants Bridge.

No. 301's equipment, no doubt, makes up a northbound train from St. Louis.  Only in your world would the equipment
deadhead to Chicago.  In my world the equipment is used for its normal northbound assignment.  If the St. Louis station
is still blocked northbound passengers are bussed to Alton and board the train there.

During my time as an actual amtrak employee there was a well-staffed Operations Center on the 5th floor of the 14th St.
yard tower who arranged for such moves throughout the Amtrak Midwest. Admittedly, all this requires some knowledge of the
territory and a good working relationship with freight railroad counterparts.  The UP should be especially sensitive in working
with its amtrak partners in order not to bring any amtrak complaints before the STB in the upcoming NS purchase.


 

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/25 13:39 by Englewood.

Englewood Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is not some podunk route.  It is the PRIDE
> of Illinois DOT.   The Illinois High-Speed Route
> !!!!


You think that actually means anything?   If you do have I got a deal on a slightly used, one owner bridge for you!

"Englewood's" comments on stubbing the train at Alton, busing the St. Louis passengers from there, and then turning the train or the power on the big TRRA wye at SH Tower at the east end of the Merchants Bridge and north throat of Madison Yard for the trip back north all make sense. That would be the nearest wye to Alton, both today and in Amtrak's past. Then hold the train on TRRA track at SH or Madison Yard, or in Granite City, until the time it is needed to run to Alton to pick up pax northbound, with customers from St. Louis bused there to start their trip.

There are tracks directly adjacent to streets in Granite City where it could be at least partially restocked by a caterers truck, and the power fueled by a contract fueler (probably the same one who does it at the Amtrak station in downtown St. Louis - they drive all over the area to refuel all manner of equipment), and perhaps even the toilets dumped if the "honey truck" just makes a 20 minute trip from the Amtrak station over the river. Watering the cars would be possible too with a little help from the local fire department.

Or if this isn't done, then have UP and TRRA haul the train to the Amtrak station in St. Louis for servicing and boarding as usual. Doesn't matter if there's no HEP - the train is empty, with all of the pax having been detrained at Alton. Run the power that's been turned at SH light over the bridge and down to the station, or have TRRA haul it over, to tie onto the train now pointed back northbound. Then depart northbound from the Amtrak station in St. Louis as normal for the next trip north to Chicago.

All of this kind of stuff is done with steam excursion trains all over the country, and has been for years. Why can't Amtrak do it?

Such moves were made a few times for some reason I've long forgotten in the long ago Amtrak past. All practical, then and now. And it maintains the service - which is the important thing.

And that's what I find so objectionable, in this case and others: that the service is sacrificed - for whatever reason. Whether poor operational management, or lack of knowledge of the local rail infrastructure to make the needed moves, or lack of desire to do the hard work, or unwillingness to bear the costs, or ....??? --- whatever. Who knows? Amtrak managers in Chicago and St. Louis managed these kinds of contingencies in the past, as "Englewood" notes from his Chicago experience, and I would note from mine as a non-railroader who hung around Union Station in St. Louis a lot, with friends who worked for Amtrak there and at the later stations. They all knew what to do and how to do it when situations like this arose. And they often enough made the necessary accommodations and moves. And knew how to do it.

Especially on one of the most travelled and most important operational weekends of the entire year.

A building catching fire right next to your engine-turning wye (and that's all it will turn, one or two engines - the tail track is very short) is beyond Amtrak's control. Working out alternative arrangements to keep trains running and serving passengers at one of the most important travel periods of the year is not.

MC
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/25 19:38 by ironmtn.

STLFD cut power to the Gratiot wye signals as well as all power to the area to deal with the fire. There was just not another good option on short notice.

Posted from iPhone

AltiplanoRailtours Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> STLFD cut power to the Gratiot wye signals as well
> as all power to the area to deal with the fire.
> There was just not another good option on short
> notice.
>
> Posted from iPhone

Gratiot St. is a long way from Merchants Bridge and railroad equipment usually has some type of back-up power.

It couldn't have been that short of notice if all this was decided before the train left Chicago, some hours from Chicago.

Coincidently, I was paging through an issue of Rail Travel News from shortly before amtrak came into being.
The fans were lambasting the SP for not running the San Joaquin Daylight for days between Oakland and L.A.
There had been an earthquake close to L.A.  The line was shut down south of Bakersfield.  SP could have still operated
the train between Oakland and Bakersfield but didn't. Just because. Wait till the government takes over the trains
and runs them like the should be run !  What trains ?
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/25 15:57 by Englewood.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Englewood Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > This is not some podunk route.  It is the
> PRIDE
> > of Illinois DOT.   The Illinois High-Speed
> Route
> > !!!!
>
>
> You think that actually means anything?   If you
> do have I got a deal on a slightly used, one owner
> bridge for you!

No, I know it doesn't mean anything.
I think you have already bought a bridge of your own.

Englewood is just thinking like lots of us that have some RR experience think.
It’s called “Institutional knowledge” and the chief dispatcher here has commented before on how it’s being lost in the industry nationwide.
That’s why I call it Modern North American Railroading as it encapsulates the I don’t give a sh!t, don’t know, don’t care attitude that has been promoted by management; and sadly I and many others have had to adopt in order to survive to retirement. Either that or have a stroke, or heart attack or be fired for speaking truth to power.

The entire industry is sick, and they that hold the power don’t care.

Just trying to survive.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

"Lack of redundancy" or having alternatives is a serious problem in many industries.  Is having alternatives necessary for quality service, or a wasteful use of share owner assets?

(The same conversation was on Bloomberg this morning, discussing the failure of the cooling system in a large data center processing stock transactions last week.  No cooling = no stock trading.)

(The same conversation was on Bloomberg this morning, discussing the failure of the cooling system in a large data center processing stock transactions last week. No cooling = no stock trading.)

That gets attention because when the patricians are affected it’s an all hands on deck situation; the plebs? Who cares, the untermench are just to serve at the pleasure of the Owners and not complain. Bread and circus will placate them.

It all comes down to Wall Street sucking the money up and tomorrow be damned.
It’s the American way.

Regards

Posted from iPhone