EB - Lateness Problems This Summer

[amamba]

We are now just leavIng Whitefish about 2 hrs late.

 

[fairviewroad]

I'm on #8(16) and we got delayed about an hour outside of sEA bc of a suspicious package by the tracks.

Man, if it's not one thing, it's another. At least BNSF didn't close everything down for 48 hours.

http://www.thenewstr...attle-rail.html

At least in this case, this event did not ultimately delay the Builder except for those traveling to points btw SEA and Spokane, since thanks to padding,

#8(16) arrived in Spokane just 11 minutes late despite the earlier 50 minute delay. Of course, it had to wait around for the PDX section to show

up.

 

[amamba]

Major derailment in Montana. I am on #8(16) and I believe we will be in Glasgow Montana for hours. The scanner is blowing up with cars on fire and supposedly at least 16 BNSF cara detailed. They have been discussing on te scanner whether we might go back to havre and be bussed or stay here in Glasgow for the duration until the track is clear.

 

[fairviewroad]

Wow, the EB just can't catch a break. At least 7(16) appears to have made it through, since it's west of Havre by now.

 

[yarrow]

Major derailment in Montana. I am on #8(16) and I believe we will be in Glasgow Montana for hours. The scanner is blowing up with cars on fire and supposedly at least 16 BNSF cara detailed. They have been discussing on te scanner whether we might go back to havre and be bussed or stay here in Glasgow for the duration until the track is clear.

good grief. good luck

 

[Trogdor]

Just can't catch a damn break.

 

[RRUserious]

Well, during the whole tax-cutting, military gorging last 30 years, a few timid voices asked what was going to keep this a first-class economy with so little infrastructure investment. I think maybe parts of the answer are coming clear. You misallocate for decades, and eventually you end up with the consequences. And, of course, now we have such a crushing debt load, the decisions are not any easier. Things don't crumble all at once. Little bits fall off daily, and given enough time, the change is enough to notice. I'm guessing the parts that are falling apart the fastest are those least interesting to the money behind the throne. That's the way of all empires.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

I'm planning on riding behind #8 from MSP on Friday. This could get 'interesting' hboy:

 

[Hawkeye]

Wow, I'm so glad I switched to the CZ in Omaha for our Friday trip back east! The poor EB cannot catch a break!

 

[amamba]

Yeah now the Amtrak folks are saying we are welcome to roam Glasgow for the next four hours (until midnight mountain time) at which point our crew will have timed out anyway. I talked to a BNSF guy and apparently they need a hazmat crew at the scene and the say we aren't making it through until 12 tomorrow at the earliest. It is 8 pm and I just had dinner in the diner and will now proceed to drink the bottle of wine I won st the wine tasting. Wish me luck in catching the Thursday zLSL ( 30 hr connection).

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Major derailment in Montana. I am on #8(16) and I believe we will be in Glasgow Montana for hours. The scanner is blowing up with cars on fire and supposedly at least 16 BNSF cara detailed. They have been discussing on te scanner whether we might go back to havre and be bussed or stay here in Glasgow for the duration until the track is clear.

Thanks for the 'on the scene' information! Please keep us posted!

EDIT: Just read your latest... :wacko: Truly best of luck with the LSL connection! Usually an extra day is enough time to make it!

 

[amamba]

On a plus note we still have hEP and my Verizon mifi is working. It could be worse!

 

[musikdude]

Pardon me in advance if this seems a naive or dumb question, but is this stretch of track that the EB travels on (where this derailment happened) considered, in general, that safe of an area in terms of passenger train travel??

 

[Ispolkom]

I'm planning on riding behind #8 from MSP on Friday. This could get 'interesting' hboy:

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have prepaid for that room at the Palmer House for Friday night. Mrs. Ispolkom was looking forward to riding the Cedar Rapids in the morning.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

I'm planning on riding behind #8 from MSP on Friday. This could get 'interesting' hboy:

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have prepaid for that room at the Palmer House for Friday night. Mrs. Ispolkom was looking forward to riding the Cedar Rapids in the morning.

Well maybe we can at least sit in it and dream? :unsure:

Or maybe a couple of people can take turns sitting in it while the rest of us push really hard. :blink:

Whatever the case, I hope to meet you and say 'Hi!"

 

[Ispolkom]

Well maybe we can at least sit in it and dream? :unsure:

Or maybe a couple of people can take turns sitting in it while the rest of us push really hard. :blink:

Whatever the case, I hope to meet you and say 'Hi!"

We live in hope. Here's an article with picture about the derailment. My favorite quote: "A similar derailment happened in November 2011, about 5 miles east." I thought BNSF was pretty good about maintenance of way, but this year on the Hi-Line, I'm beginning to doubt.

Amamba, good luck! Look on the bright side. It's not January.

EDIT TO ADD: Oh, shoot. I'm going to be going through on the Empire Builder next January.

 

[amamba]

The rumor on the train is that a bunch of the cars that detailed had hazardous materials in them. Don't know how accurate that is. Thanks for the link to the Billings Gazette.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all of us.

Hate to think of how my hands are going to feel in the morning.

 

[TraneMan]

Ugh.. Poor EB...

Wonder how long it will to get the traffic back to norm? 7(16) done pretty good all the way though.

 

[Texan Eagle]

Is it just me or really the freight railroads, particularly BNSF's EB route, is having one way too many derailments too frequently? Infrastructure crumbling? Cutting corners to squeeze in more freight? Something's gotta give.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The rumor on the train is that a bunch of the cars that detailed had hazardous materials in them. Don't know how accurate that is. Thanks for the link to the Billings Gazette.

I can't wait until they finally open up Yucca Mountain and spend the next few decades transporting the world's largest stockpile of nuclear waste by truck and train to its next temporary resting area. We might be OK with one derailment. Maybe even two or three. But eventually some structural or manufacturing anomaly is going to give and it when it does it certainly won't be pretty. Just imagine how long the tracks will be unusable after that. Months? Years? Decades? Who knows.

 

[anir dendroica]

I wonder how many millions of $$ it costs BNSF or insurance companies when a Z train derails? Certainly a lot more lost value and less potential for salvage than grain or coal.

Looks like quite a pileup from the photos - I would guess at least 24 hours to clear, especially if they try to salvage cargo from the less-damaged trailers.

Mark

 

[Montana traveller]

All the derailments appear to be freight, and so thankfully no injuries. Has anybody got any ideas why only freight and not passenger services are having problems?

 

[Eric S]

All the derailments appear to be freight, and so thankfully no injuries. Has anybody got any ideas why only freight and not passenger services are having problems?

Well, for one thing there are many times more freight trains than passenger trains operating in the country, and on the BNSF tracks in question.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Looks like Amamba's #8 is in a service disruption. :angry2: And today's #8(18) is ALREADY running 36 minutes late into DVL. Definately a bad sign, but there is still time for things to improve. I kinda get the feeling I might be starting to watch a train wreck... oh wait. hboy: