Mid-Atlantic/NE snowstorm and Amtrak

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The Metropolitan said:
Local news here in Baltimore just reported that the Bears have not yet made it into Baltimore for their game tomorrow, and are quite possibly going to fly to New York and take the train into town instead!
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If they can't fly into Baltimore due to the weather, how do they expect to fly into New York? :huh: The weather is going to be the same - or worse! :rolleyes:
 
MrFSS said:
Must be getting pretty bad in Virginia.
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My parents reported an hour ago that it's 12" just outside their door (Lynchburg), and appears deeper out in the open (but they don't want to venture further outside!). They said there were 24" reported in Charlottesville by noon today! Still falling heavily in both places.

Heavy snow all day in Philadelphia. The forecast for Philadelphia at Wunderground.com says "Current Conditions: Heavy Snow Blowing Snow Freezing Fog"! Freezing Fog is a World of Warcraft magic spell. It may also be a technical weather term I'm unfamiliar with, but I think a meteorologist is just having a little fun :lol:
 
It only started snowing in NY about an hour ago, around 2:00 and it's still very light at this point. So getting into NY would be possible. However I heard around 1:00 maybe on the weather channel that the DC airports had been shut down. No flight in or out.
 
the_traveler said:
Still no snow falling on the ground in RI. The radar has shown snow all around for hours!
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The air mass over NY, RI, Boston is so dry that it gobbles up the initial moisture. We had the same thing here in NY, from at least 10:00 AM till around 1:30 to 2:00 before the first flakes hit the ground.
 
AlanB said:
It only started snowing in NY about an hour ago, around 2:00 and it's still very light at this point. So getting into NY would be possible. However I heard around 1:00 maybe on the weather channel that the DC airports had been shut down. No flight in or out.
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BWI and National are closed. Dulles is open, but with very limited operations. I bet the Beltway is a little slice of heaven today.
 
the_traveler said:
The Metropolitan said:
Local news here in Baltimore just reported that the Bears have not yet made it into Baltimore for their game tomorrow, and are quite possibly going to fly to New York and take the train into town instead!
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If they can't fly into Baltimore due to the weather, how do they expect to fly into New York? :huh: The weather is going to be the same - or worse! :rolleyes:
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Don't shoot the messenger!

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/22014880/detail.html

"Other possibilities obviously would be considerations to send them to another city northeast of her and train them down and get them here."
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We have between 18 and 24 inches here in Millersville, MD (near BWI), and it is still steadily snowing. BWI airport is closed down. It is very quiet here with no airplanes going overhead. At this moment, MTA website says "minor delays" for buses and light rail, subway is OK, major disruptions for Maryland Mobility.
 
MrFSS said:
Must be getting pretty bad in Virginia.
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HokieNav would know the place very well. I-81, around MP 124 in Montgomery County, closed in both directions for the better part of 8 hours. Still moving at a crawl in some areas. Trafficland.com has good views of the VA highways. Interesting to see people walking thier dogs in the middle of an interstate. No passnger trains in that vicinity.
 
PRR 60 said:
BWI and National are closed. Dulles is open, but with very limited operations. I bet the Beltway is a little slice of heaven today.
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According to the TV news, Philadelphia airport is also closed, but JFK and LaGuardia are still open. From the predicted snowfall maps I saw this morning, the worse part was expected to be in a wide band from central VA to north central NJ. The storm is moving up the coast, so it makes sense for the Bears to fly into one of the NYC airports ahead of the storm and then try to take Amtrak south to Baltimore. But the snowfall is so intense this afternoon here where I am in Sterling, VA (NW of DC), one has to wonder if Amtrak can keep enough of the NEC tracks clear to keep the trains moving. However, the current train status info at the Amtrak website shows that most trains from NYP to BAL are running only 10 to 30 minutes late.

The DC Beltway has to be a total mess. With Washington Metro shutting down for the above ground part of it's system; parts of I-81 out to the west reportedly closed, lousy day to travel by car or air.

As for the Bear, I wonder how it works for a large sports team making last minute travel arrangements on Amtrak? Do they try to book tickets for everybody on regular trains? What happens if there are not enough seats left? "Ok, let's get the defense to Baltimore first and they will have to stop the Ravens until the offense gets there?" :blink: Seriously, can they charter Amtrak to add a extra Amfleet car or two to the consist of a Regional headed from NYP to Baltimore on short notice?
 
I'm in Northern New Jersey, 24 miles west of Manhattan. We have about 1 inch of snow now with a forecast of 8 to 12 inches.

Newark, JFK and LGA were operating on schedule at 1:00pm with lighter than normal passenger loads.

The major direction of the storm is central NJ, eastern Long Island and over the water to Boston.

The_Traveler may be lucky and avoid the heavy snowfall.

I have my snow blower ready to go - tomorrow morning!!
 
afigg said:
According to the TV news, Philadelphia airport is also closed, but JFK and LaGuardia are still open. From the predicted snowfall maps I saw this morning, the worse part was expected to be in a wide band from central VA to north central NJ. The storm is moving up the coast, so it makes sense for the Bears to fly into one of the NYC airports ahead of the storm and then try to take Amtrak south to Baltimore. But the snowfall is so intense this afternoon here where I am in Sterling, VA (NW of DC), one has to wonder if Amtrak can keep enough of the NEC tracks clear to keep the trains moving. However, the current train status info at the Amtrak website shows that most trains from NYP to BAL are running only 10 to 30 minutes late.
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I also wonder how the 49ers are getting to Philadelphia for their game tomorrow. Theoretically they would be arriving into town today, but maybe they arrived Friday ahead of the storm? The start-time of the game has been pushed back to 4:15pm (not sure what the original start-time was going to be, but the delay is a big news story here).

I like your theory of sending the defense down first in the event there isn't enough space for everyone :)
 
wayman said:
I also wonder how the 49ers are getting to Philadelphia for their game tomorrow. Theoretically they would be arriving into town today, but maybe they arrived Friday ahead of the storm? The start-time of the game has been pushed back to 4:15pm (not sure what the original start-time was going to be, but the delay is a big news story here).
I like your theory of sending the defense down first in the event there isn't enough space for everyone :)
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The 49ers arrived PHL Friday night.

Flight Info

The game was scheduled to start at 1pm. The delay is to permit the stadium to get cleaned. Snowballs and Eagles fans are a lethal combination.
 
Shanghai said:
The major direction of the storm is central NJ, eastern Long Island and over the water to Boston.The_Traveler may be lucky and avoid the heavy snowfall.

I have my snow blower ready to go - tomorrow morning!!
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I hope you're right. But if as you say "eastern Long Island and over the water to Boston", right in between is ... Rhode Island! :eek: They're still calling for 10-15 inches and blizzard conditions! But as of 5:15, still no snow - I was just out driving!

I have something better than a snow blower - it's called a sister and her fiance! :lol:
 
PRR 60 said:
Flight Info
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I'm curious, how do you know this was the 49ers' flight?

The game was scheduled to start at 1pm. The delay is to permit the stadium to get cleaned. Snowballs and Eagles fans are a lethal combination.
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So far as I know, Ed Rendell isn't going to be there -- if he's pelting anyone with snowballs this weekend, it's the state legislature! That reduces the odds of a snowball pelting at the Eagles game a bit :)
 
One local DC tv station reported 22 inches of snow so far in Harpers Ferry. It is still snowing here as well as in DC. Predictions are that it will continue to snow significantly in these areas until around 8-9:00 PM. There was a live report from Union Station that reported the average delay time going north on Amtrak ranges from 60 to 90 minutes. Also, the average wait time to catch a cab there ranges from 45 minutes to an hour.
 
Dovecote said:
One local DC tv station reported 22 inches of snow so far in Harpers Ferry. It is still snowing here as well as in DC. Predictions are that it will continue to snow significantly in these areas until around 8-9:00 PM. There was a live report from Union Station that reported the average delay time going north on Amtrak ranges from 60 to 90 minutes. Also, the average wait time to catch a cab there ranges from 45 minutes to an hour.
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I came through WAS today - most delays seemed to be in that range for service on the NEC, but my train was delayed 4.5 hours. Once we got underway we still managed to reach 110MPH on the straight segment in central NJ through blinding snow. Pretty cool!
 
I just saw a story on CNN about an Amtrak train without power just outside Alexandria, VA. A woman on the train was being interviewed. She was traveling from Atlanta to Washington and was complaining. She said she wanted to be compensated immediately because there was no power for 30 minutes, the rest rooms are not working, and they only fed the passengers rice. It sounded like she was in coach. The CNN commentator said they would try to get in touch with Amtrak to get the story from them.

BTW - it was beautiful in Orlando today.
 
The local news just showed some video of the DC area, sure DIDN"T make me homesick! They mentioned the airports being shutdown, the delays out of here going to the NE (even though it was 70 today with sun! )and that Amtrak had extra crews on duty in case the overheads froze up or snow had to be cleared! :eek:

That woman complaining must be a lawyer (sorry Penny!) or have in mind getting a windfall from Amtrak! There's a word for her but won't use it here, it's still early!I'd rather have the rice than the infamous beefstew served on the western trains, and 30 minutes down, wow, guess the airlines,busses and vehicles are all rolling up 85 on time! :rolleyes:

Ya'll stay warm and stay out of the snow, were fixing to watch the Cowboys hopefully finally win a December game, tough assignment in the Big Easy, wish I could be there for sure! :D
 
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pennyk said:
I just saw a story on CNN about an Amtrak train without power just outside Alexandria, VA. A woman on the train was being interviewed. She was traveling from Atlanta to Washington and was complaining. She said she wanted to be compensated immediately because there was no power for 30 minutes, the rest rooms are not working, and they only fed the passengers rice. It sounded like she was in coach. The CNN commentator said they would try to get in touch with Amtrak to get the story from them.
BTW - it was beautiful in Orlando today.
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Why do I have a hunch that woman has probably never ridden Amtrak before. Rice only? She must not like the Dinky Moore Stew that was likely offered with it :lol:
 
jimhudson said:
The local news just showed some video of the DC area, sure DIDN"T make me homesick! They mentioned the airports being shutdown, the delays out of here going to the NE (even though it was 70 today with sun! )and that Amtrak had extra crews on duty in case the overheads froze up or snow had to be cleared! :eek:
That woman complaining must be a lawyer (sorry Penny!) or have in mind getting a windfall from Amtrak! There's a word for her but won't use it here, it's still early!I'd rather have the rice than the infamous beefstew served on the western trains, and 30 minutes down, wow, guess the airlines,busses and vehicles are all rolling up 85 on time! :rolleyes:

Ya'll stay warm and stay out of the snow, were fixing to watch the Cowboys hopefully finally win a December game, tough assignment in the Big Easy, wish I could be there for sure! :D
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I am guessing the complaining woman was not a lawyer (and I do not take any offense with your calling her a lawyer in a derrogatory manner), but I assume there are lawyers out there willing to assist her if she claims she has suffered damages as a result of this train delay. I am not a personal injury lawyer, but I cannot believe that she has any case. If she were not on a train, she would still be in Atlanta or stuck in a car on an interstate or stuck on a runway somewhere. Unfortunately, there are people out there that think they should be compensated for every thing that goes wrong in their lives (and there are lawyers willing to help them [for 30%]).

Train delays happen in good weather; in bad weather, what do you expect?
 
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