Passenger Trains > 4(28) - Bad Order Sleeper

Well, they almost got to Chicago. 4 sets out their only full sleeper in Galesburg. They made the cut, pulled east through the plant, set out the sleeper for the BNSF yard crew to retrieve and take to the yard. The two motors and transition sleeper then backed up to the platform to reconnect with the train. Luckily it will only be 3 hours in the lounge car for the sleeper passengers. It took about 2 hours to do the switchwork. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/26 13:25 by sethamtrak.

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Good captures, Seth.  I was just about to post the same thing, having followed the progress on the Galesburg railcam this morning.  I show the arrival of Amtrak 4 at 11:55am and the departure at 13:59pm, so just over 2 hours for the stop.

The set-out sleeper was the 32011.

Here's an additional pic of the power reconnecting with the train, after the car was removed.

Rich



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/26 12:21 by PasadenaSub.

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PasadenaSub Wrote:
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> Good captures, Seth.  I was just about to post
> the same thing, having followed the progress on
> the Galesburg railcam this morning.  I show the
> arrival of Amtrak 4 at 11:55am and the departure
> at 13:59pm, so just over 2 hours for the stop.
>
> The set-out sleeper was the 32011.
>
> Here's an additional pic of the power reconnecting
> with the train, after the car was removed.
>
> Rich

Thanks, for some reason I had 11:30 in my mind.

I'm surprised Amtrak didn't just tell the sleeper passengers, "No alternate transportation provided," and haul them off into the yard along with the car.

Flat wheels?  Brakes?  Any known issue?

Last week we had the transition sleeper up front with no working bathrooms.
Joe

No working bathrooms is nothing new for the LD Superliner train sets!!!! Happens frequently. I've been on the eastbound Empire Builder when we've had to stop at Browning, MT to have a tanker truck come and pump out the "Portland section" of the Empire Builder, or on another occasion, the Portland sleeper, and on another occasion the Seattle sleeper next to the Diner and Seattle Coach. 

sethamtrak Wrote:
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> It took about 2 hours to do the switchwork. 

This doesn't surprise me but I still find it totally ridiculous that it took that long to switch out one bad order car.

Amtrak had to switch out a bad-ordered 2nd Seattle Empire Builder Coach at Minot. It was in the middle of the consist. I was shocked - took us no more than 20 minutes, and that included re-assigning the passengers while we were stopped at Minot to other coaches, and then backing into the yard etc., splitting the train, unloading the bad order car, and re-connecting. I thought this was amazing. Unlike the four hour locomotive bad-order switch out that took place AT the LA Union Station with 8th street yard just "down the ROW" and the spare locomotive sitting on the track adjacent to where the Coast Starlight I was that needed the substitute locomotive. Amazing how some of this stuff takes place. Amtrak needs to send its workers to check out switching operations at the Strasburg RR in Pennsylvania, or VIA Rail. 

I thought that comment about also taking the Southwest Chief's passengers to the yard was hilarious!  Actually, 32011 was a sleeper on one of the first Superliner Empire Builders back in 1978. I think the Empire Builder was running three days a week at the time and only three sets of equipment were needed, but only two Superliner sleepers were available (and no lounges, yet, by the way). So the third set in the rotation used a Heritage sleeper. With the on-board crew having to go on that sleeper, I don't think many sleeping car passengers were on board that trainset in those days. Amtrak was in a frantic hurry to convert the Builder to HEP because the old steam-heated equipment was falling apart.

stevelv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sethamtrak Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It took about 2 hours to do the switchwork. 
>
> This doesn't surprise me but I still find it
> totally ridiculous that it took that long to
> switch out one bad order car.

Well let's go through all the steps shall we.

1. Wait for management to actually decide that they want to remove the car from the train, this can take a while.
2. Set a sufficient number of hand brakes so the rest of the train won't roll.
3. Shut down the HEP power.
4. Disconnect the HEP cables and uncouple the bad order car from the train.
5. Set out the car.
6. Couple back up to the remainder of the train and reconnect the HEP cables and the air lines.
7. Restrart the HEP power and make sure it works in the entire train.
8. Do the required air brake tests.
9. Tell the Dispatcher you're ready to go.

Remember you only have the Engineer, Conductor and the Assistant Conductor to do all of this. The Car Attendants will be busy with the passengers.

Actually getting a decision from the "powers that be" to actually set out the car will probably take the longest.

Thanks for the explanation with all the steps.  I'm old enough to remember the 10 minutes or less it took for an engine change from GG1's to E units at South Amboy, NJ back in the day and I still can't believe in the few times I've taken the Pennsylvanian to Pittsburgh that it takes 30 minutes in Philly to detach an engine from one end of the train and put one on at the opposite end.

>
> Well let's go through all the steps shall we.
>
> 1. Wait for management to actually decide that
> they want to remove the car from the train, this
> can take a while.
> 2. Set a sufficient number of hand brakes so the
> rest of the train won't roll.
> 3. Shut down the HEP power.
> 4. Disconnect the HEP cables and uncouple the bad
> order car from the train.
> 5. Set out the car.
> 6. Couple back up to the remainder of the train
> and reconnect the HEP cables and the air lines.
> 7. Restrart the HEP power and make sure it works
> in the entire train.
> 8. Do the required air brake tests.
> 9. Tell the Dispatcher you're ready to go.
>
> Remember you only have the Engineer, Conductor and
> the Assistant Conductor to do all of this. The
> Car Attendants will be busy with the passengers.
>
> Actually getting a decision from the "powers that
> be" to actually set out the car will probably take
> the longest.

lotta or most places they have to get signals to make some moves, denver terminal can slow things, they have to stretch the train a couple times i would think as well, 20 min is crazy , i wish it was common

stevelv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the explanation with all the steps. 
> I'm old enough to remember the 10 minutes or less
> it took for an engine change from GG1's to E units
> at South Amboy, NJ back in the day 

But, in fairness, they had to allow enough time for people to get off the train, buy two more tall boy beers at the open sided bar counters lined up along the trackside, and get back on the train,

You don't want to make the engine swap too fast, the local merchants and bar maids need that money.  Old times!!

stevelv Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the explanation with all the steps. 
> I'm old enough to remember the 10 minutes or less
> it took for an engine change from GG1's to E units
> at South Amboy, NJ back in the day and I still
> can't believe in the few times I've taken the
> Pennsylvanian to Pittsburgh that it takes 30
> minutes in Philly to detach an engine from one end
> of the train and put one on at the opposite end.

10 minutes or less because it was a planned engine change. Everything was all ready to go when the train got there.
Unplanned engine changes and car set-outs are a totally different thing.

#4 arrived Chicago 2' 42" minutes late today. Would have made connections to both the Floridian and LSL.  For Amtrak, that is a job done! (Seinfeld reference).

Although it's gone from the cam now, I believe chatter yesterday indiicated there was smoke (or smell of) inside the car.  Further chat today says it was a bad axle and/or sticking brake.

Interestiingly, the car has been placed on the lead for the Galesburg Railroad Museum spur track - as seen this morning on the cam (beyond the musuem's boxcar).  Waiting to be picked up by Amtrak Chicago I would presume?



regalstream1516 Wrote:
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> Flat wheels?  Brakes?  Any known issue?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/26 09:22 by PasadenaSub.

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PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> stevelv Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > sethamtrak Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > It took about 2 hours to do the
> switchwork. 
> >
> > This doesn't surprise me but I still find it
> > totally ridiculous that it took that long to
> > switch out one bad order car.
>
> Well let's go through all the steps shall we.
>
> 1. Wait for management to actually decide that
> they want to remove the car from the train, this
> can take a while.
> 2. Set a sufficient number of hand brakes so the
> rest of the train won't roll.
> 3. Shut down the HEP power.
> 4. Disconnect the HEP cables and uncouple the bad
> order car from the train.
> 5. Set out the car.
> 6. Couple back up to the remainder of the train
> and reconnect the HEP cables and the air lines.
> 7. Restrart the HEP power and make sure it works
> in the entire train.
> 8. Do the required air brake tests.
> 9. Tell the Dispatcher you're ready to go.
>
> Remember you only have the Engineer, Conductor and
> the Assistant Conductor to do all of this. The
> Car Attendants will be busy with the passengers.
>
> Actually getting a decision from the "powers that
> be" to actually set out the car will probably take
> the longest.

And also re-initialize PTC. With the change in train consist length the engineer needs to input new info into the onboard computer.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> stevelv Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > sethamtrak Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > It took about 2 hours to do the
> switchwork. 
> >
> > This doesn't surprise me but I still find it
> > totally ridiculous that it took that long to
> > switch out one bad order car.
>
> Well let's go through all the steps shall we.
>
> 1. Wait for management to actually decide that
> they want to remove the car from the train, this
> can take a while.
> 2. Set a sufficient number of hand brakes so the
> rest of the train won't roll.
> 3. Shut down the HEP power.
> 4. Disconnect the HEP cables and uncouple the bad
> order car from the train.
> 5. Set out the car.
> 6. Couple back up to the remainder of the train
> and reconnect the HEP cables and the air lines.
> 7. Restrart the HEP power and make sure it works
> in the entire train.
> 8. Do the required air brake tests.
> 9. Tell the Dispatcher you're ready to go.
>
> Remember you only have the Engineer, Conductor and
> the Assistant Conductor to do all of this. The
> Car Attendants will be busy with the passengers.
>
> Actually getting a decision from the "powers that
> be" to actually set out the car will probably take
> the longest.

2ND longest will always be the cables they gotta disconnect/reconnect!

As a followup, a crew is working on replacing the bad axle this morning, seen here lifting up the car end with a crane.

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