Empire Builder Cancellations Continue

[varnish]

Hi,

For what it's worth....

VIA Westbound from Toronto, 4 days ago, and due in Vancouver at 09;42hrs today, arrived at 08;52 hrs!!!!!

Its trajectory covered 6th thru 9th January with the middle portion somewhat North of NorthDakota/Montana where Amtrak is struggling to deal with ''extreme weather conditions'' without much success. On VIA, if anything, it was averaging about 5-7 degrees colder....( Northern part of Saskatchewan VS NorthDakota, for exemple...)

Hmmmmm.......

by the way, the motive power on #1 & 2 is still F40phs....~~ 24 years old, 2 rebuilds since birth.

Double ''hmmmm....''.

Lots of posters appear to point fingers at the P42s at Amtrak....seems right to me...

Cheers

claude

 

[Larry H.]

Yep, it seems to prove what I often say, the old time rail roads knew how to operate a train in all weather with much rarer exceptions. And to think the Canadian even got in early! Its government operation at its finest.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

Hmmmmm.......by the way, the motive power on #1 & 2 is still F40phs....~~ 24 years old, 2 rebuilds since birth.

Cheers

claude

theres been 3 or 4 rebuilds. 6400 6402 and one other that i know of

 

[yarrow]

Yep, it seems to prove what I often say, the old time rail roads knew how to operate a train in all weather with much rarer exceptions. And to think the Canadian even got in early! Its government operation at its finest.

as usual, i agree with Larry H. (and sometines even with bruce richardson)

 

[varnish]

Hmmmmm.......by the way, the motive power on #1 & 2 is still F40phs....~~ 24 years old, 2 rebuilds since birth.

Cheers

claude

theres been 3 or 4 rebuilds. 6400 6402 and one other that i know of

Hi,

Actually, the entire fleet has had at least one rebuild in its lifetime ....and a good chunk has since visited the shop for an extended yard visit for refits. Our own version of Stimulus money contains a good chunk for VIA, which is devoting some of it for a total rebuild of that fleet , which will probably buy another 16-18 years for them.

Cheers

Claude

 

[GAT]

Hmmmmm.......by the way, the motive power on #1 & 2 is still F40phs....~~ 24 years old, 2 rebuilds since birth.

Cheers

claude

theres been 3 or 4 rebuilds. 6400 6402 and one other that i know of

Hi,

Actually, the entire fleet has had at least one rebuild in its lifetime ....and a good chunk has since visited the shop for an extended yard visit for refits. Our own version of Stimulus money contains a good chunk for VIA, which is devoting some of it for a total rebuild of that fleet , which will probably buy another 16-18 years for them.

Cheers

Claude

I agree, Claude. And don't forget, we Canadians have an affinity for making things run in the cold. They don't refer to us as The Great White North for nothing! :lol: And have you noticed how the US always blames their bad weather on "a cold air mass from Canada? <_< (Really, folks, not trying to start anything here. Just have too much time on my hands on a Saturday evening in front of the Cowboys-Eagles game in 55-degree San Francisco. )

 

[amtrakwolverine]

Hmmmmm.......by the way, the motive power on #1 & 2 is still F40phs....~~ 24 years old, 2 rebuilds since birth.

Cheers

claude

theres been 3 or 4 rebuilds. 6400 6402 and one other that i know of

Hi,

Actually, the entire fleet has had at least one rebuild in its lifetime ....and a good chunk has since visited the shop for an extended yard visit for refits. Our own version of Stimulus money contains a good chunk for VIA, which is devoting some of it for a total rebuild of that fleet , which will probably buy another 16-18 years for them.

Cheers

Claude

i know but im talking about the ground up rebuilds with a new paint scheme that maches vias p-42 locos and they have a 3rd headlight extended cab and a extra engine to run the HEP.

 

[ScottC4746]

This is Amtrak's problem, not BNSF, which continues to push container trains through the Hi Line. I notice that even BNSF is warning about delays, though.
Unfortunately, the last two winters Amtrak's P42s seem to have had great problems functioning in temperatures that happen every winter. Whatever fixes they made after last winter's debacle don't seem to have worked.

Another snowy winter might well mean spring flooding on the Red River again. It all depends on how quick the spring thaw is.

Sounds like they need to talk to the Siberian Railroad about shipping over some winter engines.

 

[lyke99]

If the troubles with the Empire Builder are attributable to the P42s, why not use the former "Pepsi Can" P32s during the winter months? BNSF runs a lot of engines of a roughly similar design in the northern plains.

I do realize that most of the 18 P32s are used around the system for switching and as "protection" units. Just an idea for your consideration.

 

[Montanan]

Yep, it seems to prove what I often say, the old time rail roads knew how to operate a train in all weather with much rarer exceptions. And to think the Canadian even got in early! Its government operation at its finest.

Heh ... this reminded me of a column in the Missoula, Montana newspaper that reprints news articles from the good old days. They recently included an 1888 news report from the town of Belgrade, Montana (on the Northern Pacific main line) that stated, "It’s believed to be the coldest temperature in three years. All freight trains have been abandoned, and passenger trains are running 36 to 48 hours late."

And I have to say that all the gushing over the Canadian's timekeeping is more than a little short-sighted, especially when you consider the ridiculous amount of padding built into that train's schedule. The Canadian operates over a route that's only a couple hundred miles longer than that of the California Zephyr, and has less topography to contend with -- but the Canadian schedule requires three days and four nights to accomplish that trip, over a full day longer than the CZ.

The Canadian added that extra night of schedule padding a year or so ago, because the train was routinely running several hours late (regardless of the weather). So the Canadian's current timekeeping is basically just pointing out the fact that if you lower your expectations far enough, eventually they'll be met.

 

[yarrow]

Yep, it seems to prove what I often say, the old time rail roads knew how to operate a train in all weather with much rarer exceptions. And to think the Canadian even got in early! Its government operation at its finest.

Heh ... this reminded me of a column in the Missoula, Montana newspaper that reprints news articles from the good old days. They recently included an 1888 news report from the town of Belgrade, Montana (on the Northern Pacific main line) that stated, "It’s believed to be the coldest temperature in three years. All freight trains have been abandoned, and passenger trains are running 36 to 48 hours late."

And I have to say that all the gushing over the Canadian's timekeeping is more than a little short-sighted, especially when you consider the ridiculous amount of padding built into that train's schedule. The Canadian operates over a route that's only a couple hundred miles longer than that of the California Zephyr, and has less topography to contend with -- but the Canadian schedule requires three days and four nights to accomplish that trip, over a full day longer than the CZ.

The Canadian added that extra night of schedule padding a year or so ago, because the train was routinely running several hours late (regardless of the weather). So the Canadian's current timekeeping is basically just pointing out the fact that if you lower your expectations far enough, eventually they'll be met.

ok but at least the canadian is running and is on schedule. at least no one is stuck in toronto with "no alternate transportation".