Passenger Trains > #50 loses nearly 5 hours

Last evening the Cardinal lost nearly five hours between Dyer and Rennsalear.  The culprit?  A locomotive assessment.  I have no idea what went down, but you can catch her on the Glendale webcam in about 20 minutes...unless something else happens first!

Let's see if a Charger is in the lead this morning.  My bet is yes.  ..

She just hit Glendale.  Yes, Charger leading the way.

I noticed the other night, and again just now, that the bird has two Viewliner sleepers and a standard baggage car now, along with a couple of coaches and a cafe.  When I saw it the other day I just figured it was an equipment move or shift.  I am now wondering if maybe two sleepers are now operating on the Cardinal.  That seems unlikely, especially in the winter, but who knows?

She should roll by the Covington camera around 9:05-9:10 am.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/26 05:55 by Chessie1963.

333 died at REN. A fitter turned up to bring it back from the dead by inserting new rubber bands and fencing wire. It will now be good for another couple of hundred miles. 

It just went past the Covington, KY cams at 9:17am!

Nice clean train.  And while I don't like late trains, I might not complain about a nice ride along the Ohio River in daylight.

It has until Wednesday morning to make it to Sunnyside to head back as 51. 

That should be enough time.  If it were Chicago it would be delayed on departure due to "late arrival of inbound equipment."

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It has until Wednesday morning to make it to
> Sunnyside to head back as 51. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/26 09:05 by Chessie1963.

And Chicago would cut corners to get 50 out as usual!

Posted from Android

FYI - Saturdays NER 160 (DC - Boston) departed DC on time, arrived Baltimore four minutes late / departed Baltimore approx. 4'15 " and operated at four plus hours to Boston . Late arrival of 160 caused 167 to be delayed .   Sorry you can't blame Chicago or the  ALC42s  !  

Here's a crazy thought --

If the locomotive in question seems to be "a problem child", how about sending along the "mechanical assessment" technician to fix it when it breaks?

Seems to me years ago, Rohr had to do that on the Turboliners in Empire Service.

I know, I know, I need to stop making sense.  Sensible costs money, anathema to AmManagement.

Chessie1963 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> She just hit Glendale.  Yes, Charger leading the
> way.
>
> I noticed the other night, and again just now,
> that the bird has two Viewliner sleepers and a
> standard baggage car now, along with a couple of
> coaches and a cafe.  When I saw it the other day
> I just figured it was an equipment move or shift.
>  I am now wondering if maybe two sleepers are now
> operating on the Cardinal.  That seems unlikely,
> especially in the winter, but who knows?
>
> She should roll by the Covington camera around
> 9:05-9:10 am.

Last Tuesday, Jan 6, 2026, the Cardinal left Chicago heading east with just a Viewliner II Sleeper and Viewliner Bagg-Dorm - and regular set of cars. So it was a "normal consist." Maybe one train set of the Cardinal is assigned a full Viewliner Sleeper instead of a Viewliner Bagg-Dorm (due to a bad-order)? There are FOUR Viewliner II Bag-Dorm's as spares - or at least there should be = so not sure why they couldn't have just swapped one out with the Cardinal if one was bad-ordered (by now). They are NOT short of inventory. Operating inventory may be another issue though - but should NOT be!!!

Frankly. the Cardinal needs two full Viewliner Sleepers, a Viewliner II Diner, an Amfleet II Diner Lite, and at least three Amfleet II coaches for its meandering and tri-weekly route from Chicago to NYP (multiple markets along this train's route with LOTS of turnover). Yet as a LD tri-weekly train - it comes up woefully short of that capacity consist though!