# Tracking the moderator



## Superliner Diner (May 16, 2003)

Alan should be on the Auto Train tonight, Friday 5/16. Amtrak's website says that the train left Lorton 19 minutes early (they can do that if everyone is aboard and the train has been fully assembled) at 3:41 PM. But it says that the train is expected in Sanford at 9:25 AM, 55 minutes late. I suspect they could have run into CSX speed restrictions due to rainy weather and the threat of flooding.


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## Superliner Diner (May 17, 2003)

As of 8 AM Saturday, this train is projected to arrive in Sanford at 9:55 AM, one hour 25 minutes late.


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## Viewliner (May 17, 2003)

Superliner Diner said:


> As of 8 AM Saturday, this train is projected to arrive in Sanford at 9:55 AM, one hour 25 minutes late.


Thanks for the Update on His Progress Superliner Diner. I'm sure he won't mind the extra time on the train, its not like he'll arrive at his station at 1 am, like I did (Courtesy CSX).


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## Superliner Diner (May 17, 2003)

Official arrival time was 10:10 AM, or 1 hour 40 minutes late.


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## AlanB (May 17, 2003)

Superliner Diner said:


> Official arrival time was 10:10 AM, or 1 hour 40 minutes late.


Well I clocked us into Sanford as of 10:09 AM, but hey I won't quibble over a minute.


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## battalion51 (May 17, 2003)

But is your watch set to CSX standard time Alan? A buddy of mine was on 52-16, they arrived in Lorton about the same time. I personally I'm hopin 98'll be late when I go to Baltimore so I can sleep in and eat breakfast.


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## AlanB (May 17, 2003)

battalion51 said:


> But is your watch set to CSX standard time Alan?


Nope, my watch is set to my time. :lol:

Actually I set it the local news radio station in NYC.


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## tp49 (May 18, 2003)

Do you set it to the hourly tone on WCBS AM? That's how I do it (then subtract 3 hours for west coast time).


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## Anthony (May 18, 2003)

This is also helpful...

http://www.time.gov/


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## AlanB (May 18, 2003)

tp49 said:


> Do you set it to the hourly tone on WCBS AM? That's how I do it (then subtract 3 hours for west coast time).


Na, I set it to 1010 WINS.


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## Viewliner (May 19, 2003)

I set mine to my Sharper Image atomic clock, I don't know what my school sets it to, but its several minutes behind "real" time.


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## Amfleet (May 19, 2003)

> I don't know what my school sets it to, but its several minutes behind "real" time.


Keeps you in school longer! :lol: My school is 3 minutes fast. :blink:


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## Superliner Diner (May 20, 2003)

tp49 said:


> Do you set it to the hourly tone on WCBS AM? That's how I do it (then subtract 3 hours for west coast time).


TP49,

WCBS must have a very powerful signal, since they're in New York City and you're on the west coast!! :lol: :lol:


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## battalion51 (May 20, 2003)

My school is three minutes off CSX Standard, so I'm constantly having to do radio math when trying to figure out how long until I get out of that god for saken wasteland (it's a lot like Lorton).


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## Amfleet (May 20, 2003)

> until I get out of that god for saken wasteland (it's a lot like Lorton).


The station in Lorton is quite nice, however there is a maximum security prison only several minutes away. My mom took a drive up to it with my sister and me. I know what you mean about school though. <_<


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## Viewliner (May 21, 2003)

Amfleet said:


> > until I get out of that god for saken wasteland (it's a lot like Lorton).
> 
> 
> The station in Lorton is quite nice, however there is a maximum security prison only several minutes away. My mom took a drive up to it with my sister and me. I know what you mean about school though. <_<


Yeah, Lorton looks nice now. I know what you mean about (High) School as well, I've got 20 days left, 13 days till finals  .


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## battalion51 (May 21, 2003)

14 for me. Most of the Sanford employees call Lorton a god forsaken wasteland purely because there is nothing there. A least in Sanford we have a ghetto  .


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## Bill Haithcoat (May 22, 2003)

When does Alan come back?


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## tp49 (May 22, 2003)

Lorton is the home of the jails for DC, I remember seeing them on an HBO special once.


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## tp49 (May 22, 2003)

Superliner Diner said:


> tp49 said:
> 
> 
> > Do you set it to the hourly tone on WCBS AM?  That's how I do it (then subtract 3 hours for west coast time).
> ...


Diner,

Sometimes I have been known to have my dad let me know when the tone goes when I call him at home. Otherwise I use KCBS out of SF. B) :lol:


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## AlanB (May 23, 2003)

Bill Haithcoat said:


> When does Alan come back?


Bill,

I board the Auto Train bound for home this coming Sunday, arriving back home on Memorial Day.


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## Bill Haithcoat (May 23, 2003)

Alan,

Wish I was doing something as neat as that for Memorial Day. I assume you will be in a deluxe bedroom?

Bill


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## Viewliner (May 23, 2003)

AlanB said:


> Bill Haithcoat said:
> 
> 
> > When does Alan come back?
> ...


Enjoy Your return. And Bill, I completely agree with you.


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## AlanB (May 23, 2003)

Bill Haithcoat said:


> Alan,
> Wish I was doing something as neat as that for Memorial Day. I assume you will be in a deluxe bedroom?
> 
> Bill


Bill,

You are correct! Not only will I be in a deluxe bedroom, I'll actually be in two deluxe bedrooms. I will be returning with my brother, his wife, my two nephews 2 & 4, along with my mother. So I'll get to see for the first time a deluxe suite as they call it. 

Coming down to Florida, we had a family room and one standard bedroom. For that journey I had my sister-in-law, my two nephews, two of my nieces (my sisters girls), along with mom. My sister and brother-in-law drove down earlier with my youngest niece, a 1 year old. My brother flew down later to join all of us.

So it was a major family affair and we rented a house for the week.


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## Viewliner (May 24, 2003)

Enjoy the family get together.


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## Superliner Diner (May 26, 2003)

And now welcome back for the second half of that game, Tracking the Moderator! As of 1 AM on Monday morning 5/26/03, there is no report on Amtrak's website as to how the Auto Train (#52) is doing. It does say that it departed from Sanford at 3:45 PM, which is 15 minutes early. As we know from Alan's southbound trip, an early departure does not automatically mean an early arrival!  As it was for the previous trip, things may be a bit soggy. It's rained in the Northeast just about every day since Alan left on the 16th. CSX are you up to the task?


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## Viewliner (May 26, 2003)

Superliner Diner said:


> CSX are you up to the task?


Probably Not, look what happened on my trip...


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## Superliner Diner (May 26, 2003)

I checked Amtrak's website to see the progress of Alan's #52, which should have arrived in Lorton, VA 5 hours ago.

Things do not look good (unless you accent the positive and say that Alan is getting a lot more quality time on a train!), because the website shows no times other than the 3:45 Sanford departure, with this ominous note:



> Due to a service disruption, we are unable to provide estimated times of departure and arrival. Please call 1-800-USA-RAIL for more information.


This is one train where they won't put people on a bus, because they all have vehicles aboard the train. They also have no facilities to offload the vehicles other than the terminals. So if there is a blockage, they either have to take a detour to get to Lorton, or if still in the south, return to Sanford.

I'm sure we'll hear all about it whenever Alan and his family make it home!


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## Bill Haithcoat (May 26, 2003)

Seems Alan and his various family members got in about 10 this morning....not too bad. Hope the trip was enjoyed by all.


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## Superliner Diner (May 26, 2003)

Bill Haithcoat said:


> Seems Alan and his various family members got in about 10 this morning....not too bad. Hope the trip was enjoyed by all.


Bill, I guess you called Julie? The Amtrak train status page still shows nothing but the above message.


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## Bill Haithcoat (May 26, 2003)

Yes, I did call "Julie" and she put me in touch with a "live"person who told me it arrived at 10a.m. I agree, that note is extremely extremely ominious.....wish they would not use it so freely.


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## battalion51 (May 26, 2003)

OMG!!! Alan and I were within a few steps of each other. I was in Sanford yesterday visiting my buddies in Sanford. I spent a lot of time viewing the train from the safety of the crossing, but I did go up to the headend at one point, and walked right down the platform. Oh well!


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## Amfleet (May 26, 2003)

battalion51 said:


> OMG!!! Alan and I were within a few steps of each other. I was in Sanford yesterday visiting my buddies in Sanford. I spent a lot of time viewing the train from the safety of the crossing, but I did go up to the headend at one point, and walked right down the platform. Oh well!


This forum seems to make the world even smaller!


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## Viewliner (May 26, 2003)

Amfleet said:


> battalion51 said:
> 
> 
> > OMG!!! Alan and I were within a few steps of each other. I was in Sanford yesterday visiting my buddies in Sanford. I spent a lot of time viewing the train from the safety of the crossing, but I did go up to the headend at one point, and walked right down the platform. Oh well!
> ...


The Internet, its a beautiful thing


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## AlanB (May 27, 2003)

Bill Haithcoat said:


> Yes, I did call "Julie" and she put me in touch with a "live"person who told me it arrived at 10a.m. I agree, that note is extremely extremely ominious.....wish they would not use it so freely.


Well that's certainly close enough. I logged us into the station at 9:58 AM, however it was 10:06 before they had cut off the auto carriers, set the brakes and allowed us to detrain. Therefore I would consider our arrival to be 10:06 AM.

We all had a great trip, despite running at 15 MPH for about 35 miles through South Carolina. This caused the crew to outlaw and further delayed us. Thankfully we encountered one of the best sleeping car attendants that I've ever met in all of my Amtrak travels. Woody was simply outstanding!


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## Bill Haithcoat (May 27, 2003)

Glad you had a good trip, and were no later than you were. No doubt you will be sending a letter of commendation on Woody. I usually write good(or bad) letters as the need arises for exceptionally good(or bad) service.


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## Bill Haithcoat (May 27, 2003)

Viewliner, I could not agree with you more that the internet is a beautful thing.

When I was your age I would no more have believed that we could communicate in seconds with people all over the world who had the same hobby anymore than I would have believed that we could have, well, gone to the moon!


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## AlanB (May 28, 2003)

battalion51 said:


> OMG!!! Alan and I were within a few steps of each other. I was in Sanford yesterday visiting my buddies in Sanford. I spent a lot of time viewing the train from the safety of the crossing, but I did go up to the headend at one point, and walked right down the platform. Oh well!


B51,

Well if you were up around the head end at about 2:25 or so, then you might have seen me walking my brother and my two small nephews up to take a look at the engines.

We got into Sandford at about 2:05 or so. After settling everyone into a chair, I wandered off to record the consist. Upon my return to the outside sitting area, I then walked back to the front as I mentioned above. By the time we had finished that, it was time to start boarding. So thankfully we only sat outside in the heat for about 25 minutes or so.


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## AMTRAK-P42 (Jun 30, 2003)

Anthony said:


> This is also helpful...
> http://www.time.gov/


Thanks for the website!


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## Donctor (May 26, 2010)

AlanB said:


> We got into Sandford at about 2:05 or so. After settling everyone into a chair, I wandered off to record the consist.


Might you have that consist?

GML: record broken.


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## the_traveler (May 26, 2010)

*7 years* and counting!  Any more bids? :huh:

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Long Train Runnin' (May 26, 2010)

If you want to read old AU posts may I suggest visiting the reading room.

An index of posts pre 2002 I think.

Read away here


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## MikefromCrete (May 26, 2010)

Is there any point to this?


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