Passenger Trains > UP dings Starlate again

There was almost a miracle today with number 14. It left Klamath Falls and Eugene on time and was only 3 minutes late out of Albany. That, however, was too much for WS 68 to handle, so he stuck it in Renard for half an hour (beginning around 1:55 pm) to let a freight set out cars in Salem yard. (I believe that the freight had arrived at Labish around 12:15). While there's no way for 14 to get to Portland on time, at least it will make the connection with 28 (unless WS 68 has more fun with it), and the BNSF should be able to get it to Seattle on time. So not all is lost.

And, to add to the problems, number 11 was stuck at Clackamas for at least as long to meet number 14 because Coalca is plugged with empty intermodal cars. Clackamas is a good meet on the rare occasions when both trains are on time--as would have happened today except for the problem at Salem, which thus has given serious hits to both trains. UP is truly a fluid and well-dispatched railroad.

I've noticed that this string of intermodal mt's have been there for way too long. Why weren't they put in the house track at Clackamas which is oner 7000' long. It's hard to believe these haven't been moved into Brooklyn and left out at Coalca to screw up operations.

Butch,,,,,here we go

BobB Wrote:
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> And, to add to the problems, number 11 was stuck
> at Clackamas for at least as long to meet number
> 14 because Coalca is plugged with empty intermodal
> cars. Clackamas is a good meet on the rare
> occasions when both trains are on time--as would
> have happened today except for the problem at
> Salem, which thus has given serious hits to both
> trains. UP is truly a fluid and well-dispatched
> railroad.


Fluid railroad? Yeah, whatever, they still refuse to run Amtrak on time!

That southbound freight ties up Labish daily while they do the switching at Salem. The train is long enough that if it were taken into Salem it would block grade crossings while the switching was done. So they break the train apart at Labish and take the Salem cars on into town for the switching. Then they go back to Labish. This takes the Labish siding out of service for any meets even while they are inside the Salem yard. That train is frequently doing its work at #504 time. (10:45AM)

Everybody has lost track of how long the baretables have been at Coalca. I think they were the ones parked on Main two at Brooklyn three weeks ago when the #504 I was on took six hours getting from Salem to Portland. Their being parked there was one of the reasons we sat for three hours at Brooklyn and two hours at Willsburg. Then they were moved to Coalca. The next week on #507 we got to sit at Clackamas for 30 minutes while a northbound freight left Hito and passed the plugged Coalca.

Just for info: The siding at Clackamas is being rebuilt with welded rail. Sometimes there is a slow order there for the length of the siding. Oregon City and the UP have reached an agreement about replacing the ties at the new station and that work has a daily slow order. Up into December I was hearing that the station was to be completed by Thanksgiving. (the past Thanksgiving) Then it was middle of March, and the latest is the middle of April.

With the way the UP can hold trains on a siding for hours, Coalca isn't a good place for a meet. It has grade crossings so that if a train is going to sit for a while they have to break the train at the crossings. The baretables are broken for those crossings.

jb