Good morning to all the snowbirds up there in the NE! Hope everyone is dug out, warm and if on a train @ least getting to eat something other than rice! Looks like the Crescents, the Cards and a few regionals along with the Silver trains got hit the worst and ALC got to watch #29 while eating lunch in Alliance, that's pretty late!!
I think Amtrak deserves kudoos for their work during this storm, hope the media ,local and national, give them their due and don't let malcontents like that woman penny mentioned poision the view that people that don't know about trains have!
Dont miss the winters @ all, glad I'm not on the Beltway or 95 but wouldnt mind being on a train up there in the NEC, it's late, show me the beef stew! :lol:
How bout them Cowboys! Go Niners and Redskins! (Heresy down this way but it helps the boys win the East!!) :lol:
Hi all, I wanted to post some of this last night but it was a little snowy upon my arrival into BOS on #82...and I was preoccupied trying to get to the curb without getting blown over by all the snow...wow!
We arrived into BOS 6h 36m hours late - and all in all it wasn't that bad...sitting in a nice cozy Amfleet watching the winter wonderland outside is a heck of a lot better than sitting at a closed airport in my book!
The first big delay for #82 came in ALX where some switches apparently froze as reported by Amtrak839 - and this caused things to back up quickly. #82 and #88 both got stuck in that mess (as well as other trains behind them, obviously) but then there was some sort of additional problem in WAS where #82 and #88 were delayed for another few hours. Ironically, I was coming up on #98 from Miami and scheduled to transfer to #82 in WAS. I was worried that since #98 was 3 hours behind I was somehow going to miss my connection to #82 in WAS - and what a silly thought that turned out to be!
When I boarded #82 in WAS at 1:30PM (scheduled departure 10:20AM) there was no HEP since the crew was switching engines. Fair enough...about 20 minutes went by and it was apparent they were still trying to switch engines since the train jolted a tad. But then it jolted and jolted and jolted a good bit more, but the power never came back. So...it was obvious they were having some sort of problem with the engine change.
About an hour passed by and the passengers started asking the conductors (who were very surly....understandably...but still a little overly rude) about the delay. Basically the staff gave a reason which I don't understand fully - the on board attendant said the frozen switch(es) in ALX caused some sort of damage to the diesel engine and now they were having a hard time moving the diesel off our train onto separate tracks in WAS. (?) Maybe the various cables and other hardware got frozen in place? He said the locomotive was damaged by frozen switches, which I don't really follow but of course I don't work for the railroad!
About 10 minutes later, they pushed our train backwards about 1 coach-length, and we sat for another 20 minutes before one final lurch occurred and the HEP came back on. The remaining passengers then boarded the train and we departed 4h 45m late shortly thereafter. The funny thing is that once we started moving everyone in my coach started clapping! It was great.
I give Amtrak maintenance kudos to all their hard work, because while they were working on the engines, the snow never let up and the platforms were covered in snow every 30 minutes! It was a true blizzard.
So we finally left WAS and we had no further problems all the way into BOS. A good old AEM-7 pulled us there through all the wind and snow (I forgot to note its number) and the other delays accrued in route because we didn't hit maximum speed on the NEC. The highest speed I recorded on my GPS was 112MPH in central NJ on that straight section of track, and then we hit about 90 on the section between PVD and BOS. Most of the time we were going 75-80 or so. I imagine the engineer had really terrible visibility, and while there are cab signals, it's just not safe to have a 9 car train barreling along without the ability to see down the track! My favorite part of the route was along the Connecticut shoreline - the tracks are smooth and we just kept moving along while I-95 was crawling.
When we all got off in Boston, the whole train looked like a giant icicle! I wish I had stopped to take a picture of it but it was so darn cold. Even a few of the vestibules had 4 or 5 inches of snow in them - you needed a shovel to remove all the snow! Apparently some of the doors became frozen in their positions and the crew had to leave a few doors open...even while the train was traveling. The doors frozen shut caused some passengers to have to move to different coaches for detraining. The vestibule I departed from in BOS had a large collection of "rime ice" if anyone knows what that is - it's when ice collects to frozen surfaces in high winds such as at the top of mountains. So I have to say those Amfleets take a licking and keep on ticking - plus they were so comfortable and quiet throughout the trip and plenty warm.
Overall the delays didn't bother me - it was great to look out the snow-covered windows and watch the storm from inside the train. My family thought I was crazy to not mind a 6 hour delay, but I still think it's better than dealing with closed airports and airline delays.
Below are a few pics.
Alexandria in the snowstorm of December 19, 2009:
From my seat on #82, looking at a snowy switcher:
A pair of HHP-8's in the snow:
Corridor Clipper:
A few delays on the NEC, Dec 19 2009:
