More issues forCalifornia Zephyr

[Steve4031]

Apparently 5 never left Chicago today. The one that left Grand Junction today has experienced a service disruption.

6 that left EMY yesterday lost a few hours going over Donner pass, but made up time leaving Denver less than 2 hours late. Then it to a 4 hour delay between Denver and Ft. Morgan.

Hope this is all sorted about by April.

 

[PRR 60]

The pass got hammered yesterday (Thursday 3/24) and is closed today. Heavy snow, avalanches, downed trees, and a derailed UP spreader did the trick. Yesterday's arriving westbound made it through before the roof fell in. The eastbound was not so lucky. It was towed back to Emeryville by #5 in an 18-car monster train with two P42's on each end. Bus service was also cancelled, so getting to Reno on the ground was a no-go.

The Donner line is not expected to reopen until later today, at the earliest. The Feather River line is a possible for today, but there are reports of problems up there as well, so we'll see. Good think it's spring. If this were still winter, the weather would really be bad!

 

[busboy]

The pass got hammered yesterday (Thursday 3/24) and is closed today. Heavy snow, avalanches, downed trees, and a derailed UP spreader did the trick. Yesterday's arriving westbound made it through before the roof fell in. The eastbound was not so lucky. It was towed back to Emeryville by #5 in an 18-car monster train with two P42's on each end. Bus service was also cancelled, so getting to Reno on the ground was a no-go.

The Donner line is not expected to reopen until later today, at the earliest. The Feather River line is a possible for today, but there are reports of problems up there as well, so we'll see. Good think it's spring. If this were still winter, the weather would really be bad!

I'm taking the CZ from EMY to CHI next Tuesday (29th). Do you think things will be back to normal by then??

 

[PRR 60]

I'm taking the CZ from EMY to CHI next Tuesday (29th). Do you think things will be back to normal by then??

I'm betting it will be OK. The weekend weather forecast for the Sierras has lots of sun and temperatures knocking on the door of 50F. Once they clean up the mess, things should improve rapidly. I would expect a good ride and great snow covered mountain scenery.

Of course, I thought the Big East was going to get about five teams into the Elite Eight, so what do I know?

 

[busboy]

I'm taking the CZ from EMY to CHI next Tuesday (29th). Do you think things will be back to normal by then??

I'm betting it will be OK. The weekend weather forecast for the Sierras has lots of sun and temperatures knocking on the door of 50F. Once they clean up the mess, things should improve rapidly. I would expect a good ride and great snow covered mountain scenery.

Of course, I thought the Big East was going to get about five teams into the Elite Eight, so what do I know?

Thanks, looking forward to the scenery!!

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Time to call Roseville: "Send in the rotaries!"

 

[busboy]

what is that thing? Is that for real?

 

[WhoozOn1st]

what is that thing? Is that for real?

It's a rotary snowplow, and yes, for real. Unfortunately though, not so much anymore, and their use has become rare. Union Pacific has several sitting around below the Sierras at Roseville, still waiting for the call to duty. Most of the snow clearance over Donner is done by spreaders these days, of which some new rebuilds are based at Truckee.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I was watching one of the newer snow clearing machines on youtube and couldn't even see what exactly it was doing or how it was doing it. Rotary snowplows do their thing right up front with no questions necessary. ^_^ Now that vehicular roads can reach most mainline railroad tracks rotary plows are only used in those rarest of areas that receive more snow than can be removed with fix blade equipment and cannot be reached by conventional bulldozers and the like. In other words they are extremely rare and getting rarer by the day.

 

[Reno89502]

I know I am going to be catching the CZ on Sunday morning the 27th heading to Chicago and was getting a little nervous. I called Amtrak today and was told that through March 28th, the CZ would be originating in RENO and not Emeryville. Hopefully I am able to make my connection to Train 30.

 

[gswager]

Rotaries can be used in the plains where the strong winds can whipped up several inches of snow into several feet high!

 

[JayPea]

One of my boyhood thrills (OK, when you grow up in a town with a population of 500, life isn't usually that exciting :lol: ) was watching a rotary snowplow run along the tracks of the UP branch line that were (and still are) in back of my boyhood home. This was in February 1969, one of the worst winters recorded here in the inland Pacific Northwest. I got an advance tip from my pal the depot agent's son that the plow would be passing through, and, as it was on a Sunday morning, and, as I coughed once and my dad decreed I was too sick to go to Sunday School I was able to see it go by. And as it passed, my dad and I jumped in his pickup and drove to a crossing a quarter of a mile away and watched it clear the crossing. I wish now my dad had thought to use his old 8mm movie camera to record it. It was the first time in 19 years the UP had had to use the rotary plow and they never used it again after that.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Just to be gratuitous (and who knows when I'll get another quasi-legit chance to bring up rotaries?), here's a promotional clip that shows spreaders, flangers, and a STEAM rotary in action over Donner Pass:

 

[WhoozOn1st]

An excerpt from the 3-25-11 Trains News Wire:

"Update: Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said the California Zephyr is originating and terminating at Reno, Nev., for the foreseeable future. Due to extensive road closures, the railroad isn't offering alternate bus transportation. Yesterday's eastbound Zephyr started up the pass, but was forced to turn back. Union Pacific called out its Roseville, Calif.-based rotary plow to work the pass today, the first time that's happened since 1968." (emphasis added)

What'd I tellya!?!?! I can't believe I called it right!!

 

[PRR 60]

An excerpt from the 3-25-11 Trains News Wire:

"Update: Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said the California Zephyr is originating and terminating at Reno, Nev., for the foreseeable future. Due to extensive road closures, the railroad isn't offering alternate bus transportation. Yesterday's eastbound Zephyr started up the pass, but was forced to turn back. Union Pacific called out its Roseville, Calif.-based rotary plow to work the pass today, the first time that's happened since 1968." (emphasis added)

What'd I tellya!?!?! I can't believe I called it right!!

Trains typo'd the date of the last rotary use. The rotaries were last used on Donner in 1998 (February 25, 1998, to be exact), not 1968. That's still a good long while ago.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Trains typo'd the date of the last rotary use. The rotaries were last used on Donner in 1998 (February 25, 1998, to be exact), not 1968.

The typo was mine, made while hand-typing bold. Sorry. The item says rotary, singular, at Roseville. Last time I was through there on the CZ, last summer, I'm pretty certain I saw three sitting around. Of course that doesn't mean they're all operational.

 

[PRR 60]

Trains typo'd the date of the last rotary use. The rotaries were last used on Donner in 1998 (February 25, 1998, to be exact), not 1968.

The typo was mine, made while hand-typing bold. Sorry. The item says rotary, singular, at Roseville. Last time I was through there on the CZ, last summer, I'm pretty certain I saw three sitting around. Of course that doesn't mean they're all operational.

They use two rotaries in the operation - one on each end of the equipment train. That way they can clear in either direction.

 

[PRR 60]

I'm taking the CZ from EMY to CHI next Tuesday (29th). Do you think things will be back to normal by then??

I'm betting it will be OK. The weekend weather forecast for the Sierras has lots of sun and temperatures knocking on the door of 50F. Once they clean up the mess, things should improve rapidly. I would expect a good ride and great snow covered mountain scenery.

Of course, I thought the Big East was going to get about five teams into the Elite Eight, so what do I know?

True to the accuracy of my NCAA brackets, things have gotten worse on Donner. The UP is a mess with a flanger operation derailed and trapped by an avalanche. The rotary operation has been slow and has occasionally gotten stuck and risked derailment. They are calling in off-road snow equipment to help get the rotary through. For those with full access to Trainorders, there are several on-going discussions there with photos and even a video. There is quite a battle going on between man and nature in the Sierras today.

The Amtrak reservations site shows the first operation of the eastbound Zephyr on Tuesday, March 29 (your train). I think there's a decent chance this will happen, but I'm not as optimistic as I was yesterday.

 

[Train2104]

True to the accuracy of my NCAA brackets, things have gotten worse on Donner. The UP is a mess with a flanger operation derailed and trapped by an avalanche. The rotary operation has been slow and has occasionally gotten stuck and risked derailment. They are calling in off-road snow equipment to help get the rotary through. For those with full access to Trainorders, there are several on-going discussions there with photos and even a video. There is quite a battle going on between man and nature in the Sierras today.

The Amtrak reservations site shows the first operation of the eastbound Zephyr on Tuesday, March 29 (your train). I think there's a decent chance this will happen, but I'm not as optimistic as I was yesterday.

A rotary getting stuck? I thought that was impossible unless the snow is higher than the train!

 

[WhoozOn1st]

There is quite a battle going on between man and nature in the Sierras today.

The latest round in the 146-year-old (and counting) bout "Railroad vs. Sierra Nevadas." Just awesome.

 

[PRR 60]

A rotary getting stuck? I thought that was impossible unless the snow is higher than the train!

The problem with rotaries, and the reason railroads do not like using them, is that they cut a vertical trench through the snow. The vertical sides of the snowpack can be unstable, particularly on a mountainside. The rotaries were getting stuck when they would cut through deep snow and the snow would then cave-in on the rotary and the trailing equipment after it had passed through.

The conventionally used flangers and spreaders move the snow away from the tracks and establish a slope that is better at keeping the tracks clear after the work is done. Even once they are through, the trench left by the rotaries is susceptible to caving in on the tracks, or having blowing snow drift the tracks closed. Subseqent storms are more difficult to clear because the rotaries leave no room for the spreaders to dump snow. Because of the headaches caused by the rotaries, they are used very reluctantly and only if there is no other option. This is one of those cases.

 

[Trainmans daughter]

It is snowing hard up there right now and expected to continue throughout most of the day. You can view the CADOT traffic cams of Hwy 80 and 50 through the Sierras here: http://video.dot.ca.gov/ The cameras at Truckee, Kingvale, and Meyers give a good indication of what's happening at the higher elevations. (Sometimes you can see the CZ pass by the Floriston camera if you time it right--but not today!).

 

[PRR 60]

Score another point for mother nature. The rotary set working Donner has derailed. It does not sound like it's serious, but they have to get equipment to the set to put it back on the tracks, and that will not be easy.

 

[George Harris]

Just checked Greyhound for another piece of the geography and another thread, it at the top there was a Service Advisory. It said that buses were canceled between Sacramento and Reno. This being Saturday afternoon the 26th.

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

I'm taking the CZ from EMY to CHI next Tuesday (29th). Do you think things will be back to normal by then??

I'm betting it will be OK. The weekend weather forecast for the Sierras has lots of sun and temperatures knocking on the door of 50F. Once they clean up the mess, things should improve rapidly. I would expect a good ride and great snow covered mountain scenery.

Of course, I thought the Big East was going to get about five teams into the Elite Eight, so what do I know?

True to the accuracy of my NCAA brackets, things have gotten worse on Donner. The UP is a mess with a flanger operation derailed and trapped by an avalanche. The rotary operation has been slow and has occasionally gotten stuck and risked derailment. They are calling in off-road snow equipment to help get the rotary through. For those with full access to Trainorders, there are several on-going discussions there with photos and even a video. There is quite a battle going on between man and nature in the Sierras today.

The Amtrak reservations site shows the first operation of the eastbound Zephyr on Tuesday, March 29 (your train). I think there's a decent chance this will happen, but I'm not as optimistic as I was yesterday.

Quick question about the UP rotaries. In the videos I saw of one heading up to Donner from Roseville yesterday, it was venting off a great deal of steam. When I looked up UP's Roseville based rotaries, they were listed in a roster with the power described as "Power: Electric, power from F7B MW8208" and similar entries. Was that rotary steam powered, and is the second railcar behind the rotary some type of power car?

Thanks for any info as these machines are quite interesting.