Atlantic Coast (Silver/Palmetto/Carolinian) Service discussion 2024 H2

Palmland · Oct 5, 2024

Within an hour of each other a late 97 stopped in Deland followed by a mostly on time 98. 98 then met a 5+ hour late AutoTrain on the siding just north of town.

97 had only one unit and both it and 98 (2 units) had standard consist of 3 coaches, cafe, diner, 2 VL 1 sleepers and 1 VL 2 sleeper with baggage on the rear. The AutoTrain had 17 passenger cars and 25 auto carriers. It was flying so count may have been off.

In other news, soon to be hurricane, Milton takes aim at central Florida. ETA of Wednesday on west coast.

joelkfla · Oct 6, 2024

Palmland said:
Within an hour of each other a late 97 stopped in Deland followed by a mostly on time 98. 98 then met a 5+ hour late AutoTrain on the siding just north of town.

97 had only one unit and both it and 98 (2 units) had standard consist of 3 coaches, cafe, diner, 2 VL 1 sleepers and 1 VL 2 sleeper with baggage on the rear. The AutoTrain had 17 passenger cars and 25 auto carriers. It was flying so count may have been off.
View attachment 37960
In other news, soon to be hurricane, Milton takes aim at central Florida. ETA of Wednesday on west coast.

View attachment 37962

Although the track is worrisome, it is not really significant with a storm that is still developing. It's already shifted from south of Orlando to north of the city. The actual path could be anywhere within the cone.

As of 11pm Saturday, the probability of Orlando seeing sustained hurricane force winds is less than 10% thru Thursday night; it's as high as 30% along the coasts. The probability of sustained tropical storm force winds is 40-60% in the Orlando area.

Details can be viewed here: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?start#contents

RebelRider · Oct 6, 2024

With soon-to-be Hurricane Milton approaching, the following service adjustments have been made:

91 and 97 with originations of 10/7-10/10 terminate in JAX with no alternate transportation.

92 and 98 with originations of 10/8-10/11 originate JAX with no alternate transportation.

52 and 53 originating 10/7- 10/10 are canceled.

west point · Oct 6, 2024

If Milton should track father to the north then JAX will be in peril for any operation. Will not know probably until Wednesday.

Palmland · Nov 23, 2024

The southbound Floridian, 41, had a fifth coach today between the diner and cafe. Not sure if it’s for the holiday week or winter season. Or, I guess it could be deadheading but in an unusual spot for that. The train was about 1’20” late and any Chicagoans on board would be happy to leave the recent snow behind.

Palmland · 2024-12-22T13:40:20-0500

Finally, an eight minute early Silver Meteor actually opened doors on two coaches. One door for unloading and one for loading. It was completed in several minutes then had to wait 5 minutes so it could depart exactly on time.